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Spring is right around the corner, but for now, the air outside still bites back. This warm-spiced beef pho recipe is just what you need to warm up. Starting with a steaming bowl of rich broth, you build your soup with your favorite ingredients and allow the flavors to get to know each other as they quick-cook right in your bowl.

While you may love to have an occasional bowl of pho at your favorite neighborhood pho place, you may want a more paleo, Primal, or keto-friendly option. Some places use excessive MSG, and traditionally pho is built upon a substantial pile of carby rice noodles. When you make it yourelf, you can put whatever you want in your bowl.

The Best Beef for Pho, and How to Prepare It

For this recipe, we used top sirloin and carefully sliced it extra thin with a sharp knife. That’s it! You can also use other types of steak, like eye of round. Fattier cuts may be more difficult to slice thin, so opt for leaner cuts of beef for pho.

How to Make Beef Pho at Home

Ingredients

For the broth:

• 2 lbs marrow bones
• 2 lb oxtail
• Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil Spray
• 1 onion, cut into quarters
• 3 green onions
• 2 inch piece ginger, cut into thick slices
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp. coriander seed
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorn
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1-2 star anise
• 1/4 cup coconut aminos
• 1/2 tbsp. coconut sugar or 1-2 carrots
• Optional: 1-2 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 6-7 cups water

Beef Pho Add-in Ingredient Ideas

• 1/2-1 lb. very thinly sliced top sirloin
• Noodle of choice: shirataki noodle, kelp noodles, zucchini noodles, hearts of palm noodles
• Herbs: mint, basil, cilantro
• Thinly sliced vegetables like daikon radish and/or carrot
• Hot peppers
• Sriracha, fish sauce, coconut aminos, red pepper flakes
• Lime wedges

Directions

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Lay your marrow bones and oxtail on a sheet pan.

Roast for 20 minutes, then flip them over and roast for an additional 20-25 minutes.

On a second tray, toss the onion, green onions, garlic and ginger in a spray of avocado oil. Roast for 15-20 minutes.

In a small skillet, toast the coriander, peppercorns, cinnamon and star anise for about 1 minute over medium heat, or until fragrant.

Once the bones and vegetables are roasted, place them all into an instant pot. Add the toasted spices, coconut aminos, and coconut sugar.

Pour in 6-7 cups of water, or until the liquid is halfway between the 1/2 and 3/4 fill lines. Secure the lid on the Instant Pot and set it to the Soup/Stew Function. Set the Instant Pot to high pressure for 1 hour 45 minutes. After the pot finishes cooking and beeps, allow it to naturally release for 20 minutes. Allow the broth to cool slightly, then strain the broth into containers. Reserve any meaty bits from the oxtail for the soup or other purposes.

At this point, you can either refrigerate the broth to let the fat separate from the broth, or immediately use it. If you refrigerate, refrigerate overnight and scrape off the fat layer that forms at the top of the broth.

Place the broth in a pot and bring it to a boil. Allow it to simmer for a few minutes.

Very thinly slice your beef. You may find it easier to freeze the piece of beef for a few minutes to help it firm up and be easier to slice.

Traditionally, you pour the hot broth over the beef which cooks it to rare, but you can also place the beef into the simmering soup for a short amount of time to cook it more if you’d like. Arrange your bowls with your beef, noodles of choice, and any other add-ins, such as cilantro, basil, mint, daikon radish, and scallions. Feel free to add in any red pepper flakes, sriracha, coconut aminos or fish sauce to taste.

Tips

• This broth is made in an instant pot to save time. You can also make it on the stovetop. If cooking on the stovetop, allow the broth to simmer for 8+ hours. When the vegetables start to fall apart, remove them from the broth to prevent them from making the broth cloudy.
• For the noodles, you can use shirataki or kelp noodles for low carb options, or even zucchini noodles. You can also use thin rice noodles if you want to keep it similar to your favorite pho spot.

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Beef Pho Recipe

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  Author: Courtney Sperlazza

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Description

Rich, flavorful beef pho that you can customize with your favorite ingredients.

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Ingredients

For the broth:

2 lbs marrow bones

2 lb oxtail

Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil Spray

1 onion, cut into quarters

3 green onions

2 inch piece ginger, cut into thick slices

4 cloves garlic

1 tsp. coriander seed

1/2 tsp. black peppercorn

1 cinnamon stick

1–2 star anise

1/4 cup coconut aminos

1/2 tbsp. coconut sugar or 1–2 carrots

Optional: 1-2 Tbsp. fish sauce

6–7 cups water

Add-in ideas

1/2–1 lb. very thinly sliced top sirloin

Noodle of choice: shirataki noodle, kelp noodles, zucchini noodles, rice noodles

Herbs: mint, basil, cilantro

Thinly sliced vegetables like daikon radish and/or carrot

Hot peppers

Sriracha, fish sauce, coconut aminos, red pepper flakes limes

---

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Lay your marrow bones and oxtail on a sheet pan. Roast for 20 minutes, then flip them over and roast for an additional 20-25 minutes.

On a second tray, toss the onion, green onions, garlic and ginger in a spray of avocado oil. Roast for 15-20 minutes.

In a small skillet, toast the coriander, peppercorns, cinnamon and star anise for about 1 minute over medium heat, or until fragrant.

Once the bones and vegetables are roasted, place them all into an instant pot. Add the toasted spices, coconut aminos, and coconut sugar. Pour in 6-7 cups of water, or until the liquid is halfway between the ½ and ? fill lines. Secure the lid on the Instant Pot and set it to the Soup/Stew Function. Set the Instant Pot to high pressure for 1 hour 45 minutes. After the pot finishes cooking and beeps, allow it to naturally release for 20 minutes. Allow the broth to cool slightly, then strain the broth into containers. Reserve any meaty bits from the oxtail for the soup or other purposes.

At this point, you can either refrigerate the broth to let the fat separate from the broth, or immediately use it. If you refrigerate, refrigerate overnight and pick off the fat layer that forms at the top of the broth. Place the broth in a pot and bring it to a boil. Allow it to simmer for a few minutes.

Very thinly slice your beef. You may find it easier to freeze the piece of beef for a few minutes to help it firm up and be easier to slice. Traditionally, you pour the hot broth over the beef which partially cooks it, but you can also place the beef into the simmering soup for a short amount of time to cook it more if you’d like. Arrange your bowls with your beef, noodles of choice, and any other add ins, such as cilantro, basil, mint, daikon radish, and scallions. Feel free to add in any red pepper flakes, sriracha, coconut aminos or fish sauce to taste.

Notes

This broth is made in an instant pot to save time. You can also make it on the stovetop. If cooking on the stovetop, allow the broth to simmer for 8+ hours. When the vegetables start to fall apart, remove them from the broth to prevent them from making the broth cloudy.

For the noodles, you can use shirataki or kelp noodles for low carb options, or even zucchini noodles. You can also use thin rice noodles.

The post Pressure Cooker Beef Pho Recipe appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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Research of the Week

A large portion of COVID complications were due to metabolic co-morbidities.

You are mostly what you eat.

Keto improves daily function and quality of life in dementia patients.

Giving testosterone to men with type 2 diabetes causes remission in some.

Improving road safety reduces crime.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 472: Mitch Webb: Host Elle Russ chats with Mitch Webb about how he survived Lyme disease, mold toxicity, chronic fatigue, and debilitating anxiety.

Health Coach Radio: Chloe Maleski is focused on fostering the whole human.

Media, Schmedia

Unintended consequences of COVID.

Interesting Blog Posts

What “science” forgot about pandemics (but not everyone).

The biggest findings in archaeology (2020).

Social Notes

Play more video games to “reduce depression” in kids? No thanks.

Everything Else

No.

Under new food school requirements, meat can “safely” be completely replaced with nuts, seeds, cheese, and soy.

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

Epidemiological study alert, albeit one that agrees with my preconceived ideas: High glycemic index-linked to higher cardiovascular mortality.

Podcast you should listen to: The one where I explore what I did before becoming the mayo and MDA king of Malibu.

Feel-good story: Turkish garbage workers create a library from all the books they’ve found over the years.

I heard Peter Attia’s cry of joy from hundreds of miles away: Topo Chico reports having cut PFAS levels in half.

More unintended consequences: People have been missing out on cancer screenings.

Question I’m Asking

Should kids wear masks in school? I see the arguments for both sides.

Recipe Corner

• I’ve been looking for a good mango sago recipe for years.
• These air-fryer sesame cauliflower bites would be fantastic appetizers for a dinner party.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Feb 12 – Feb 18)

• Will Red Meat Cause Your Heart to Explode? – Well, will it?
• How to Exercise While Fasting – How to do it right and safely.

Comment of the Week

“Was Bill Gates elected? No? I’m nervous about people having so much power and influence without a democratic mandate.”

-I’m also worried about people having so much power and influence with a democratic mandate, Hazel.

The post Weekly Link Love — Edition 119 appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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Hi Folks! In this week’s edition of Ask a Health Coach, Erin is here to share her insights on the different ways we cope with stress, what to do when you live with a saboteur, and how accountability and self-efficacy can help you stay on track. Got more questions? Go ahead and post them down in the comments below or over in the Mark’s Daily Apple Facebook group.

Lance asked:

I’ve been doing my fair share of stress eating over the past year and I’m ready to clean up my diet. I like the idea of using exercise as a way to de-stress instead of downing junk food. What kind of workout routine do you recommend?

You’re not alone in wanting to reel in your habits. But let’s start by pulling back the curtain on your motivation.

First Off, Is Stress Eating Actually Bad?

Anytime we eat for reasons other than to satisfy hunger, it can be classified as emotional eating (and that includes stress eating).¹ It’s a way to cope with or numb the feelings we don’t want to deal with. We’ve all done it. Even me. And although the term gets a bad rap, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

People who recognize their stress-eating behaviours have better odds of finding healthier ways to cope.² Why? Simply because we can’t change the things we don’t know we’re doing! That being said, chronic emotional eating can come with negative consequences as you’ve noticed, in addition to harboring feelings of guilt, shame, and the potential to develop more serious disorders.

Chronic Exercise is a Coping Mechanism Too

When it comes to diet culture, we get the message that binging on bags of chips or overdoing it on ice cream after a tough day is something to be ashamed of, while throwing around free weights to blow off steam should be something to celebrate. Coping is coping. We deal with (or completely avoid) our emotions in so many ways — food, alcohol, TV, and yes, exercise.

Some are just deemed more “acceptable” in the name of health.

Healthier coping strategies, like exercise, may help you tolerate stress or temporarily offer a distraction, but it’s important to face your emotions at some point. And while I firmly believe that movement is imperative for your metabolic health, diving headfirst into workout routine to offset stress-eating sounds like it’s got some less-than-healthy intentions behind it. When you swap one coping mechanism for another, you’re not really doing yourself any favors.

Consistency is the Best Approach

My recommendations for workout routines are ones you enjoy doing — things you can see yourself doing consistently. ³ And there’s research to back it up. One study followed participants who’d lost and kept off 30 or more pounds and found that the secret to their success was the consistency of their workouts.⁴

Instead of using exercise as a form of punishment to off-set your behaviors during the pandemic or to cope with guilt or shame, do it because your body is a miraculous organism that deserves to be honored and moved daily. Trust me, you’ll see results without having to spend the better part of your day in the gym.

Jim asked:

Every time my wife and I eat out, she has something snarky to say about what I order. I’m not trying to make her eat like I do, I’d just like her to quit giving me such a hard time simply because I don’t want to eat my burger with a bun. Any tips for dealing with difficult spouses?

People love to judge, don’t they? Unfortunately, humans are wired that way. When they perceive someone’s actions as a threat to their own personal beliefs, they often retaliate with unnecessary snarkiness.

What Your Spouse’s Comments Really Mean

Even though her comments are more about her than they are about you, it still makes dining together an uncomfortable experience.⁵ I see this all the time with my health coaching clients. One-half of a couple decides they’re done feeling fat and foggy, while the other feels “fine” and finds no reason to change how they’re eating. You want their love and support, but instead, you’re stuck with someone who acts irritated or may even try to sabotage your efforts.

How to Deal with a Difficult Partner

I’m a firm believer that you can’t change other people, but you don’t have to let your spouse’s judgements derail your own goals. Here are a few strategies I use with my own clients to help them manage partners who aren’t on the same page:

1. Have an agreement in advance. Often, there’s a disconnect between what couples expect from each other. Your spouse might know you’re eating paleo, but may not realize that means all the time (not just at home or when you’re being “good”). Let her know what you’re doing, why it’s important to you, and that you’d love to have her support.
2. Be empathetic. It’s easy to feel annoyed in this situation, but consider the emotions your spouse might be experiencing. There’s a good chance she feels insecure, jealous, or worried about your future together, which is causing her to act out.
3. Find common ground. The two of you might not be able to agree on what’s on your plates, but by finding something you both enjoy (hiking, walking, watching movies), you’ll reduce the perceived separation that’s causing tension between you.

Get more tips on dealing with a difficult partner in this article I wrote for Mark’s Daily Apple last year.

Rhonda asked:

I’m loosely following a paleo and keto diet, but always seem to let too many treats creep in. I know it’s not good for me (I’m pre-diabetic and heart disease runs in my family), but I keep trying, then falling off the wagon and getting discouraged. What can I do to stay on track?

I’ll start by saying that “falling off the wagon” is kind of a cop out. To me, it’s an excuse people use to give themselves permission to give up. So easy right? You just fall off the wagon and then get back on when it’s convenient for you.

Here’s the deal though. There is no wagon. Which means, there’s no wagon to fall off of or get back on to. This isn’t a diet you try and if it doesn’t work you just shrug your shoulders and chalk it up to “not being right for you”. This is your life, and you have the ability to decide what you want to do with it. And that includes how you feed yourself and whether or not you’re cool with taking actions that contribute to chronic disease.

Start by Believing You Can

There’s a concept in psychology called self-efficacy.⁶ It’s basically the idea that if someone believes they can change their behaviors, they’ll be more successful at doing so.

Self-efficacy is measured by how well you deal with temptation or situations that are triggers for you (i.e. treats creeping in). You might want to avoid desserts or stop buying processed foods altogether, but if you feel like you’re incapable of handling the commitment, the challenges, and the ups and downs that inherently come with it, you’re sabotaging yourself from the get-go.

Strong self-efficacy looks like:

• Thinking of challenging problems as tasks that can be mastered
• Valuing yourself and your actions
• Staying dedicated to your goals even when the going gets tough
• Getting back on track without wallowing in guilt or shame after a setback 

Then Hold Yourself Accountable

Let me ask you this: do you believe you can prevent diabetes and heart disease through your food choices? Or do you believe you’ll always be addicted to sugar or can’t stick with a plan or that everyone in your family is overweight so you will be too?

Admitting that you’re “loosely” following a plan is a serious disservice to yourself. Get clear on what you’re doing. And I don’t mean “paleo” or “keto”. What are you eating for breakfast tomorrow? What will you do when you get hungry? When and where are you shopping for more meat and veggies? Then, identify the actions you’ll be taking and assess how you’re doing. Most importantly though, figure out why this goal is important to you. Finding your why is a key element for uncovering your real motivation for change — and staying on track.

What else would you add? Share your thoughts in the comments.

The post Ask a Health Coach: Stress Eating, Sabotagers, and Why There’s No Wagon to Fall Off Of appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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This article is the fourth and final installment in the exercise recovery series.

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In past posts, I’ve said how I’d change grade school, PE class, medical school, and school in general. Today I’ll tell you how I’d change higher education—colleges and universities. This was the hardest one yet to write because the “purpose” of college is so open-ended and vast.

What is the purpose of the university? Is it to train people get good jobs? Establish careers? Is its purpose to help students figure out who they are and what they believe—to “find themselves”? Is it a grand filter, a way for society to establish and separate the “elite” from the rest? Or is college the grand equalizer, a way for anyone and everyone to obtain a quality education and find their way up in the world?

It can’t be all of those things, and yet it tries to make it work.

It’s where elites go to get eliter.

It’s where kids from poor backgrounds can go to make it and stand out, where your background doesn’t matter anymore—only your ability.

It’s where you experiment with substances and subcultures and belief systems.

It’s where you buckle down and work hard to get ahead.

It’s where you go to party and make friends for life.

Are these disparate goals and identities sustainable?

This is why it’s so hard to make blanket recommendations about college. College is many things at once. If I were to change higher education, though, a safe starting bet would be to make personal responsibility the highest guiding principle. Not blame. Not guilt. Yeah, responsibility would undergird everything the school did—professors, administrators, and students alike.

Responsibility Over Blame and Guilt

Blame foists the problems onto “those people.” It removes you from the equation, changing you into a child who can’t do anything but whine and point fingers. Even if “blame” is accurate, it doesn’t get you anywhere. Blaming others absolves you of the responsibility and most importantly ability to change the trajectory of your life (or the world). It allows you to flail and complain and that’s about it.

Guilt feels like it’s enough. Guilt feels like you’re doing something, but you’re really just feeling sorry for yourself. Nothing moves forward. If anything, because you feel worse about yourself, you’re less likely to make any positive changes or take any steps forward. Also, guilt is often blame in disguise.

Responsibility is the answer to almost all ills.

The beauty of this is that it takes care of itself. If you just stop blaming others or indulging your sense of guilt, you naturally shift toward taking responsibility for your thoughts, actions, and future. If wallowing in unproductive guilt and blame aren’t options, assuming the responsibility and taking the reins are all that’s left over.

Eliminate unnecessary general ed requirements.

As I remember it, everyone, no matter the major, had to take basic classes in literature, math, biology, and other sciences and humanities. It sounds good, right? We all want well-rounded individuals entering society with a broad overall knowledge base. Right?

Well, that’s not how it goes. Kids end up taking classes they don’t really care about, often going over things they already took in high school. Either that or the introductory classes are also “weeder” classes that make the material so onerous and boring to filter out the people who are majoring in the subject and don’t really have what it takes. It filters out people who aren’t serious about really being an English major, but it also makes students who are just taking it to fulfill a Gen Ed requirement lifelong haters of reading (or biology, or art, etc).

Incorporate physical culture into the college experience.

Instead of loading up on general ed requirements, require that students take at least one physical training class every quarter or semester.

• Teach boxing or jiu jitsu.
• Have a wide range of Olympic lifting, strength training, sprinting classes.
• Bouldering and rock climbing and rappeling and parkour.
• Dance of all sorts.

Imagine if, instead of just packing on the freshman 15 and binge drinking every weekend, college students were also engaged in the pursuit of physical culture. Movement sessions before tests. Walking lectures. You can’t really stop the partying, but at least you can try to balance it out with some healthy physical activity.

The ability to move one’s body, to strengthen it, to extend its utility and improve its aesthetics is the most general human requirement of all. Higher education should not neglect it.

Outdoor classes.

I will never stop banging this drum. Move it all outside. Move entire classes outdoors. If COVID persists, moving classes outdoors would mitigate (and probably mostly eliminate) spread and enhance innate immunity. Furthermore, studying and working outdoors has been shown to improve attentional capacity in people, allowing them to focus on the task at hand more easily.

More internships. Paid ones.

Medical school has a great “internship” system. You actually perform work as a doctor as part of your education. You do the thing you’re going through school to become. This is an obvious requirement when you’re training to save people’s lives and decide how to proceed on life or death matters, but I’d argue it belongs in all majors.

An internship would throw people straight into the fight to see who’s actually a good fit. Students who aren’t great students but excel actually doing the work in a realistic environment would rise to the top. Students who aren’t actually suited for the work would be identified and given the chance to switch paths before getting in too deep.

Make it more like technical or trade schools.

In a technical school, you get in to learn the skill or set of skills and get out. You’re there to learn a skill and prepare for a career. You’ll often have a job guarantee upon graduation. Employers have close relationships with the schools, both promoting and supporting the curriculum. This would work with other disciplines, too—not just car mechanics and computer technicians.

The “mystique” of the “college experience” is important, but not for everyone. Some people just want to learn a marketable skill and join the workforce.

Reduce costs.

I’m not going to go too deep into how we can reduce costs. There are entire books written on the subject, and I won’t try to squeeze it all in here. But the price of a college education has risen dramatically since I was applying and it’s either making college unaffordable for people who could thrive there or forcing people into assuming massive debt just to get a degree. Here are some ideas:

Make colleges accountable for some portion of student debt. If a graduate is 200k in the hole with no sign of being able to pay it back, the education they received probably wasn’t very good. A college should shoulder some of the load. This sounds “unfair” and would be at first but would incentivize better lending. This could go hand-in-hand with job guarantees—student doesn’t get a job within the allotted time frame, the school starts picking up some of the loan.

Eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy. An enormous portion of a college’s education budget goes toward paying administrators who have little to nothing to do with actually providing education. I’d love to see colleges become more spartan institutions, focusing on teaching and research rather than accruing an ever-growing population of administrators.

Alter government-backed loans. A government loan is a free license for colleges to continually raise tuition costs because the most powerful entity in the nation will always be there to pay for it. I would suggest implementing accountability measures on the shoulders of academic institutions who accept government-backed monies, and placing limits on tuition increases in a given timeframe. As it is, it remains largely unchecked.

Make it easier to start a university. Provide more supply and the price drops. A bonus is that it will also introduce more interesting, innovative institutions. I’m not talking about scam universities that take your money without providing a sufficient education. I’m referring to legitimate, accredited institutions. More of those.

Break it up?

Maybe colleges should be broken up into smaller schools that specialize in specific disciplines. Every major becomes its own technical school, perhaps loosely affiliated with other schools so that a student could take an elective in a different discipline if he or she so desired. I don’t know if that would eliminate the institutional bloat and inertia or just rearrange it under a different name, but I think it would be a step in the right direction.

As always, the devil is in the details. These are big picture items that would need to be fleshed out in a forum beyond the capacity of a blog post.

But one thing occurs to me as I read over this post: Maybe we should just blow the whole thing up and start all over. The university is ultimately a medieval institution—not in a bad sense, but in a different sense. It was created for a world that no longer exists, a world where knowledge was secret and bound up in physical tomes. If you wanted access to that knowledge, you had to enroll and be accepted. Today, knowledge is cheap, widely available from the comfort of your own pocket, yet the existence of the modern university still assumes the presence of secret knowledge only obtained through direct physical access to exclusive halls of learning.

Is college still relevant? I don’t know anymore. Can it be preserved? Probably, but it’ll have to change.

What do you think, folks? What would you change about higher education?

The post How I’d Change Higher Education appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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In part one of this series, Train Hard, Recover Harder, I explained that stress is a double-edged sword. To make adaptations, you need to impose stress, but too much stress will interfere with your recovery.

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Dr. Steven Bratman coined the term orthorexia (“right appetite”) more than two decades ago to describe what happens when health-conscious diets go too far.

Although it still hasn’t been accepted as an official medical diagnosis, orthorexia nervosa is a proposed eating disorder that involves an extreme obsession with eating a “correct” diet. People with orthorexia nervosa strive to eat only foods they consider healthy and strictly avoid foods they deem to be unhealthy or impure. Their obsession with eating a healthy diet takes over their lives, eventually impairing their mental, social, and even physical well-being.

The topic of orthorexia is controversial within health circles. On the surface, it can be hard to distinguish between folks who are simply health-conscious and those who have crossed the line into disordered eating. Any diet—even relatively mainstream ones like Mediterranean or paleo—could veer into orthorexia depending on the individual.

People who raise concerns about orthorexia often get accused of “fit-shaming.” Then the straw man arguments begin: “Oh, so I guess it’s healthier just to eat Twinkies and Big Macs, then?” No, obviously not. Orthorexia starts with food rules or following diets, but it’s much more than that.

To be clear: Wanting to be healthy is not orthorexic. Neither is believing that some foods are healthier or more nutritious than others. Cutting out certain foods, tracking macronutrients, or following a specific diet is not inherently problematic.

However, those behaviors can be stepping stones to orthorexia, so this is a conversation we need to be willing to have.

What is Orthorexia Nervosa?

Orthorexia nervosa is a preoccupation with healthy eating that ultimately interferes with health and well-being.

The first stage involves setting rules and restrictions around what foods you will and will not eat. Specific rules vary from person to person. An individual might avoid gluten, food additives, GMOs, dairy, animal products, nightshades, sugar, artificial sweeteners, grains, or whatever they deem to be unhealthy.

Before you get defensive, understand that food rules are only step one. They are necessary but not sufficient for developing orthorexia nervosa. Many people follow set diets or restrict certain food groups without developing orthorexia. Diet behaviors don’t cross the line into orthorexia nervosa until they start to interfere with quality of life.

Definition of Orthorexia Nervosa

Eating disorders and other mental health disorders each have a set of diagnostic criteria. These are like checklists that help doctors and therapists decide when a particular diagnosis is warranted. Currently, orthorexia nervosa is not recognized as an eating disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). That means there are no agreed-upon diagnostic criteria.

Nevertheless, researchers and practitioners need to be able to differentiate an ardent healthy-eating enthusiast from someone who has crossed the line into disordered eating. Experts have proposed various ways of defining orthorexia nervosa.¹ While the specifics deviate somewhat, they share common features:

1. Behaviors: Obsessive preoccupation with eating only foods one deems “healthy.” Strict avoidance of foods deemed “unhealthy.”
2. Negative effect on mental health or well-being: Behaviors and/or thoughts around food cause stress, distress, fear, or anxiety.
3. Negative impact on social relationships or work: Preoccupation with diet detracts from one’s ability to engage in usual social relationships or do one’s job properly

Right away, you can see that orthorexia nervosa goes beyond mere dieting. Someone can have elaborate, rigid, even seemingly illogical food rules for themselves, but as long as they don’t significantly impact their well-being, those behaviors wouldn’t be considered orthorexic. Orthorexia nervosa requires both dieting and negative psychosocial consequences.

Typically, even the strictest eating behaviors are not considered disordered in people who follow their diet for religious reasons, because they have food allergies or sensitivities, or because it has been prescribed by a doctor to treat a medical disorder.

How Orthorexia Nervosa Compares to Other Eating Disorders

There’s some debate about whether orthorexia nervosa is an eating disorder on its own or whether it’s a variant of anorexia nervosa. The two share common features:

• Restricting food
• Preoccupation with food rules
• Structuring one’s life around one’s diet
• Deriving some psychological benefits from being compliant

However, there are also clear distinctions. Weight and body image concerns are central to anorexia nervosa, whereas orthorexia is mainly about health or purity. Both disorders may result in weight loss due to food restriction, but that isn’t the primary goal with orthorexia. Also, people with anorexia usually hide their food restrictions, while people with orthorexia tend to be open about them. They may even try to recruit others to their way of eating.

Orthorexia nervosa also shares features with another eating disorder called Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, or ARFID. Folks with ARFID eat an extremely limited number of foods too, but it’s because they find eating to be frightening or discomforting. They aren’t motivated by health or purity concerns.

Warning Signs that Your Healthy Eating Might Be Sliding Toward Orthorexia Nervosa

Many people, probably most people, can try different diets and eliminate specific foods or food groups without ever going down this path. However, for some people, it’s a slippery slope. Some potential red flags include:

• Food rules get stricter over time, so there are fewer and fewer foods you can eat “safely.”
• Spending excessive time and/or money preparing food. Planning and preparing food starts to crowd out other activities.
• Self-esteem becomes wrapped up in diet and how well you adhere to your rules. You may start to feel morally superior to others who don’t eat like you.
• Extreme anxiety or inability to eat food that you didn’t prepare because you can’t be sure it’s clean.
• Fear, anxiety, or guilt following diet transgressions, perhaps followed by compensatory behaviors like fasting.
• Strong belief that you can control your current and future health by eating correctly (beyond what would generally be considered reasonable).

Again, let me stress that these behaviors exist on a spectrum. You may see glimpses of yourself here, but that doesn’t mean you have an eating disorder. With orthorexia nervosa, your diet and food beliefs significantly impact other areas of your life for the worse.

Who Is at Risk for Orthorexia Nervosa?

Orthorexia shares certain features with obsessive-compulsive and anxiety disorders. Individuals with one of these issues may be at greater risk for developing orthorexia nervosa.² Perfectionism and narcissism may also contribute to orthorexic tendencies.^{3 4} More research is needed in each of these areas.

It’s not clear whether orthorexia nervosa is related to gender, age, or BMI.⁵ Studies have found high rates of orthorexic behaviors among folks like yoga teachers, dieticians, gym-goers, and athletes—sometimes exceeding 80 percent of people studied. However, most of these studies used an instrument called ORTO-15 to measure orthorexia. Other researchers have widely criticized this scale for measuring the behavioral component of orthorexia only.⁶ We’d expect these folks to prioritize healthy eating, but that doesn’t necessarily mean their beliefs or behaviors are problematic.

Healthy Orthorexia Versus Orthorexia Nervosa

Although the concept of orthorexia is more than two decades old at this point, researchers and clinicians are still trying to draw a clear line between healthy and unhealthy concerns about food. In 2018, researchers from two Spanish universities proposed a new tool called the Teruel Orthorexia Scale to separately measure “healthy orthorexia” and orthorexia nervosa.⁷

Healthy orthorexia is meant to capture a “non-pathological interest in healthy eating.” Scale items for healthy orthorexia include:

• I mainly eat foods that I consider to be healthy
• I don’t mind spending more money on food if I think it is healthier
• I’d rather eat a healthy food that is not very tasty than a good tasting food that isn’t healthy
• I try to convince people from my environment to follow my healthy eating habits

As you can see, people who score highly on this dimension care about their food quality more than the average person, but their behavior isn’t maladaptive (though their friends and partners might not love it).

In contrast, orthorexia nervosa is characterized by items like:

• Thoughts about healthy eating do not let me concentrate on other tasks
• I feel overwhelmed or sad if I eat food that I consider unhealthy
• If, at some point, I eat something that I consider unhealthy, I punish myself for it
• I avoid eating with people who do not share my ideas about healthy eating

A 2019 follow-up study showed that healthy orthorexia is associated with experiencing more positive and fewer negative emotions in everyday life, while the opposite is true for orthorexia nervosa.⁸ Because this is a new measure, we’ll have to wait for more studies to provide insight into this vital distinction.

Conclusion

At its core, orthorexia is “clean eating” taken too far.

Hopefully it’s clear that orthorexia is about much more than simply being health-conscious. As Dr. Bratman explains:

“Adopting a theory of healthy eating is NOT orthorexia. A theory may be conventional or unconventional, extreme or lax, sensible or totally wacky, but, regardless of the details, followers of the theory do not necessarily have orthorexia. …Enthusiasm for healthy eating doesn’t become ‘orthorexia’ until a tipping point is reached and enthusiasm transforms into obsession [sic].”

You can believe that diet profoundly impacts health, avoid specific foods, weigh and track all your food, and still go about your merry way without developing orthorexia nervosa.

But, if you feel your diet taking over your life, or if the thought of eating something off-plan makes you break into a cold sweat, it’s a good idea to seek help. Even though it’s not an officially recognized mental health disorder, many eating disorder specialists focus on treating individuals with orthorexia nervosa. The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) hotline is a good place to start.

Orthorexia Nervosa FAQs

Is orthorexia an obsession with healthy eating?

“Orthorexia” means wanting to eat “correctly.” The term may be used to describe disordered eating, as in orthorexia nervosa. That is an obsession or preoccupation with eating only specific foods that you consider healthy and avoiding foods you think are unhealthy.

What are the main warning signs or symptoms of orthorexia nervosa?

The defining characteristics are: (1) having strict food rules about what you will and will not eat based on your definition of “healthy,” and (2) those rules negatively impact your psychological, social, and/or physical well-being. Truly healthy diets should enhance, not detract from, your quality of life.

How common is orthorexia nervosa?

No one really knows because of problems with how orthorexia nervosa has been measured in the past. Estimates range from as few as 3 percent of people in the general population to more than 80 percent in health-focused communities, but those numbers may not be reliable.^{9 10}

Is fasting or eating only one meal a day the same as orthorexia?

Orthorexia nervosa has to do with beliefs about food quality and eating only “healthy” foods. People may also use fasting to try to achieve health, but that isn’t the same as orthorexia. The same goes for excessive exercise. Both can co-occur with orthorexia, but they aren’t themselves orthorexic.

Is my ______ diet orthorexic?

No diet is inherently orthorexic, no matter how restrictive it is. Context always matters. You can’t decide if someone’s diet is orthorexic without knowing why they are following it and how it is impacting their emotional health, physical health, social relationships, occupation, and overall quality of life.

The post Orthorexia: Where to Draw the Line Between Healthy Eating and Obsession? appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss

What if I told you that by improving your training program, you could dramatically improve your recovery and your results?

In part one of this series Train Hard, Recover Harder, I explained that training was one of many stressors that your body has to deal with and that stress management is the key strategy to increasing your capacity to train hard and recover harder.

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Sometimes, trending recipes aren’t what you were expecting. Other times, they’re a hit with your whole family. This is one of those times. This TikTok tortilla hack turns a plain old tortilla into a hearty meal or treat in just a few minutes, and the possibilities for fillings are endless. We’re offering up a few recipes to get you started, but soon you’ll find yourself adding a little of this or that to put your own creative spin on the popular folded tortilla wrap.

Have the Kids Make Their Own Folded Tortilla

Kids are more likely to eat foods that they prepared themselves. Give them a sense of control by letting them choose what goes in each quadrant. Folding tortillas this way solves a challenging part of eating wraps when your hands are little – it turns the tortilla into a cup that holds all the goodies inside!

Other Ideas for Tortilla Fillings

Savory

• Sauteed peppers and onions
• Sliced sausage
• Sauteed kale
• Feta or goat cheese
• Buffalo sauce
• Ranch dressing
• Pesto mayo

Sweet

• Blackberries
• Strawberries
• Homemade nutella
• Homemade marshmallows

Here’s how to make a bacon avocado breakfast folded tortilla, and a chocolate strawberry bacon breakfast tortilla.

Avocado Bacon Breakfast Tortilla Wrap

Ingredients

Almond flour tortilla (Siete or Whole Foods brand)
1 fried egg
2 slices cooked bacon, broken into a few pieces
1/4 sliced avocado
1/2 oz. cheese of choice
Primal Kitchen® Avocado Oil Spray or Avocado Oil
Salsa for dipping

Directions

Preheat a seasoned cast iron skillet on the stovetop over medium heat. Once hot, add a little avocado oil or use avocado oil spray. Place the tortilla in the pan and let it heat up for 15 seconds on each side. You want the tortilla to be pliable and soft, but not to the point where it gets too toasted and gets tough.

Quickly cut a slit halfway through the center of the tortilla. Orient the tortilla so the cut side of the tortilla is facing you.

Arrange the fillings in each quadrant of the tortilla.

Fold the bottom left flap of the tortilla up to meet the top left. Flip that section to the right to cover the top right quadrant. Then flip one more time to cover the bottom right quadrant.

Add a little more avocado spray to the pan. Once the oil is hot, place the folded tortilla in it. If needed, you can gently press the tortilla down with a small skillet or bottom of a heavy jar.

Flip the folded tortilla over with a spatula until both sides are nice and browned.

Repeat with additional tortillas and fillings.

Eat your tortillas as is, or dip the savory breakfast tortillas in salsa!

Print

Tortilla Hack: Avocado Bacon Breakfast folded Tortilla

---

• 
  Author: Mark’s Daily Apple
• 
  Prep Time: 5
• 
  Cook Time: 2
• 
  Total Time: 7
• 
  Yield: 1 serving
• 
  Diet: Gluten Free

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

That tortilla hack you saw on TikTok? We made it Primal using an almond flour tortilla. Here’s a savory avocado bacon breakfast tortilla wrap that takes just minutes to make.

 

---

Ingredients

Almond flour tortilla (Siete or Whole Foods brand)
1 fried egg
2 slices cooked bacon, broken into a few pieces
1/4 sliced avocado
1/2 oz. cheese of choice
Primal Kitchen® Avocado Oil Spray or Avocado Oil
Salsa for dipping

---

Instructions

Preheat a seasoned cast iron skillet on the stovetop over medium heat. Once hot, add a little avocado oil or use avocado oil spray. Place the tortilla in the pan and let it heat up for 15 seconds on each side. You want the tortilla to be pliable and soft, but not to the point where it gets too toasted and gets tough.

Quickly cut a slit halfway through the center of the tortilla. Orient the tortilla so the cut side of the tortilla is facing you.

Arrange the fillings in each quadrant of the tortilla.

Fold the bottom left flap of the tortilla up to meet the top left. Flip that section to the right to cover the top right quadrant. Then flip one more time to cover the bottom right quadrant.

Add a little more avocado spray to the pan. Once the oil is hot, place the folded tortilla in it. If needed, you can gently press the tortilla down with a small skillet or bottom of a heavy jar.

Flip the folded tortilla over with a spatula until both sides are nice and browned.

Repeat with additional tortillas and fillings.

Eat your tortillas as is, or dip into your favorite salsa!

Notes

If your eggs are large, you might need to cut the fried egg in half before placing on the tortilla. You could also try using small or medium eggs instead. I simply fried them in a cast iron pan until the yolks were soft, but feel free to prepare them however you like!

The tortillas I used were Whole Foods Brand grain-free almond flour tortillas – Siete brand tortillas work too. They are about 7 inches wide. If you use a larger tortilla, you may want to add more of each filling.

In lieu of heating the tortilla in a skillet, you can also wrap it in a damp paper towel and place in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, but I found the skillet to be easier and faster.

After some testing, the arrangement of the fillings in each of their quadrants in the images seems to be the best way to get the tortilla to stick together, but of course feel free to put the ingredients wherever you’d like!

• Category: Breakfast
• Method: Stovetop

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 wrap
• Calories: 423.9
• Sugar: .7g
• Sodium: 620.3mg
• Fat: 34.5g
• Saturated Fat: 10.4g
• Unsaturated Fat: 5.3g
• Trans Fat: .2g
• Carbohydrates: 9.1 g
• Fiber: 4.3 g
• Protein: 16.9 g
• Cholesterol: 229 mg

Keywords: tiktok tortilla, tortilla hack, tiktok tortilla wrap, breakfast tortilla, breakfast burrito, avocado egg and bacon breakfast burrito

Bacon Chocolate Strawberry Folded Tortilla Wrap

Ingredients

Almond flour tortilla (Siete or Whole Foods brand)
1-2 slices cooked bacon, broken into a few pieces
1-2 thinly sliced strawberries
1/2 tbsp. melted dark chocolate (we used 95%)
1/2 tbsp. nut butter of choice
Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil Spray or Avocado Oil
Dark chocolate for dipping

Directions

Preheat a seasoned cast iron skillet on the stovetop over medium heat. Once hot, add a little avocado oil or use avocado oil spray. Place the tortilla in the pan and let it heat up for 15 seconds on each side. You want the tortilla to be pliable and soft, but not to the point where it gets too toasted and gets tough.

Quickly cut a slit halfway through the center of the tortilla. Orient the tortilla so the cut side of the tortilla is facing you.

Arrange the fillings in each quadrant of the tortilla.

Fold the bottom left flap of the tortilla up to meet the top left. Flip that section to the right to cover the top right quadrant. Then flip one more time to cover the bottom right quadrant.

Add a little more avocado spray to the pan. Once the oil is hot, place the folded tortilla in it. If needed, you can gently press the tortilla down with a small skillet or bottom of a heavy jar.

Flip the folded tortilla over with a spatula until both sides are nice and browned.

Repeat with additional tortillas and fillings.

Eat your tortillas as is, or dip the sweet tortillas in melted chocolate!

Print

Tortilla Hack: Chocolate Strawberry Bacon Wrap

---

• 
  Author: Mark’s Daily Apple
• 
  Prep Time: 5 min
• 
  Cook Time: 2 min
• 
  Total Time: 7 min
• 
  Yield: 1 wrap
• 
  Diet: Gluten Free

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

Everyone’s favorite combination: salty and sweet. This chocolate strawberry bacon wrap uses an almond flour tortilla to keep it gluten-free and grain-free.

 

 

---

Ingredients

Almond flour tortilla (Siete or Whole Foods brand)
1–2 slices cooked bacon, broken into a few pieces
1–2 thinly sliced strawberries
1/2 tbsp. melted dark chocolate (we used 95%)
1/2 tbsp. nut butter of choice
Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil Spray or Avocado Oil
Dark chocolate for dipping

---

Instructions

Preheat a seasoned cast iron skillet on the stovetop over medium heat. Once hot, add a little avocado oil or use avocado oil spray. Place the tortilla in the pan and let it heat up for 15 seconds on each side. You want the tortilla to be pliable and soft, but not to the point where it gets too toasted and gets tough.

Quickly cut a slit halfway through the center of the tortilla. Orient the tortilla so the cut side of the tortilla is facing you.

Arrange the fillings in each quadrant of the tortilla.

Fold the bottom left flap of the tortilla up to meet the top left. Flip that section to the right to cover the top right quadrant. Then flip one more time to cover the bottom right quadrant.

Add a little more avocado spray to the pan. Once the oil is hot, place the folded tortilla in it. If needed, you can gently press the tortilla down with a small skillet or bottom of a heavy jar.

Flip the folded tortilla over with a spatula until both sides are nice and browned.

Repeat with additional tortillas and fillings.

Eat your tortillas as is, or dip the sweet tortillas in melted chocolate!

• Category: Dessert
• Method: Stovetop

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 wrap
• Calories: 323.73
• Sugar: 2.2 g
• Sodium: 281 mg
• Fat: 25.9 g
• Saturated Fat: 8.8 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 3.6 g
• Trans Fat: 0
• Carbohydrates: 11.13 g
• Fiber: 5.7 g
• Protein: 8.76 g
• Cholesterol: 15 mg

Tips

• If your eggs are large, you might need to cut the fried egg in half before placing on the tortilla. You could also try using small or medium eggs instead. I simply fried them in a cast iron pan until the yolks were soft, but feel free to prepare them however you like!
• The tortillas I used were Whole Foods Brand grain-free almond flour tortillas – Siete brand tortillas work too. They are about 7 inches wide. If you use a larger tortilla, you may want to add more of each filling.
• In lieu of heating the tortilla in a skillet, you can also wrap it in a damp paper towel and place in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, but I found the skillet to be easier and faster.
• After some testing, the arrangement of the fillings in each of their quadrants in the images seems to be the best way to get the tortilla to stick together, but of course feel free to put the ingredients wherever you’d like!

The post That Tortilla Hack You Saw on TikTok (Savory and Sweet Options!) appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss

Based on my email inbox and Instagram DMs, recovery from training is a hot topic. I get asked all kinds of questions about recovery techniques.

read more