The other day I was in Whole Foods picking up some dried cranberries in order to make my dried cranberry/cereal/toast almond mix for after work out pick me ups when I noticed a lady getting this weird looking stuff from one of the bins. So, I asked her what it was and what it was used for. It turned out to be soy protein or other wise known as Textured Vegetable Protein. Now vegetarians might be more familiar with this product as this lady was one and used it a lot in her diet. You can use it as a rice substitute in Indian cooking to cut down on the carbs and increase your protein according to her. I tasted the raw product and it reminded me of crunchy nuts. In fact I took some home to put into my mix and it was quite good. I also sprinkled some over my yogurt and cereal. I haven't tried it cooked yet, but the directions say to boil water and pour over the product and let it sit until the grain absorbs the water or broth, then eat. Well, I was wondering if this product would be good in granola bars as an oatmeal substitute or just an add in to add protein into the bars. I'm looking for a recipe now in order to try it out soon. I need something low in sugar high in protein for after my work out that can also count as my afternoon snack so I won't be eating back a whole bunch of my meager exercise calories since I don't use up that many to begin with.
Anyway, this is a new product for me to play with. It does solve a problem of where to get some extra protein in the afternoon as I can eat it with some fruit in some soy yogurt and get both protein, calcium, and a fruit all at one time in a low sugar package since I make my own sugar free soy yogurt cup now. Today's peach yogurt tasted good with the TVP crunchy topping ! If you don't have a Whole Foods or a Central Market, Bob's Red Mill Products carries a package of this. A lot of supermarkets carry Bob's RED Mill products or you can get these products on line. I'm sure up North your Trader Joe stores will have this product. Now since I know about it I will check out my regular grocery store and see if it is there at the Bob's Red Mill display.
I'm beginning to feel human now. This cold has had me down all week. I didn't even exercise this week opting to stay home and sleep when my body would let me. I still feel crampy in the legs from all the coughing I have been doing. I wonder if I caught this at the gym. One day when I went in it was really hot in there and everyone was sweating big time and coughing. A few days later I started to feel bad ???
I had my last PT visit this week and the re-val went really well. I improved 100% in all areas. I left with two more machines for my shoulders and a warning about certain other machines from my therapist on which ones where not good for me and the average joe unless you are a body builder. Yep, that's right, she mentioned that a few of the machines in the gym were not meant for you and I, but people use them anyway. She sees more shoulder injuries due to a few of them too. The one she talked about was the one where you sit down and your arms are up in the air and you take the bars that are to the side of you and bring them to the front of you. I will get the name of this machine. She told me that for most people, they hurt their shoulders when the weight is coming back and the socket can't handle it. The machine she put me on will strengthen my shoulder and do the same thing without stressing it out. Neat. Then I told her my gym actually has a trainer who is a PT assistant by day and a trainer for the gym at night. This would be the only trainer I would feel comfortable with as long as my PT's wrote out the program for me to follow and her to train me on. I think we might do something like this if my insurance doesn't approve of more PT sessions.
This week end as lot of people will be grilling, think of the alternatives to hambugers. The Houston Chronicle had a lot of recipes this week in their food section from Salmon, Mushroom. Black Bean, and other recipes to try. Just go to the Houston Chronicle and go to their food page and look up the recipes. We are having out famous Turkey burgers, corn on the cob, fresh veggies, and seasonal fruit, green beans. Have a good Holiday and talk to you latter.