Hey Reader!

In the 74th issue of The MF Kitchen, you'll slice into the details of:

• Recipes for my Turkey, Avocado & Cheese Hot Pockets and Red Velvet OREO Cheesecake Protein Ice Cream!
• Need a high protein breakfast recipe? Here are 50!​
• Is celery really negative calories?
• My experience and unfiltered take on cheat days...
• Macro friendly coffee is a thing (here's how you order it)...

Preheat your ovens…

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Weekly Recipe Roundup 🍽️

Turkey, Avocado & Cheese Hot Pockets These Hot Pockets are one of my favorite way to take a boring sandwich and take it to the next level! Only 303 calories with 35g protein! Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​​​Turkey, Avocado & Cheese Hot Pockets.pdf​

Red Velvet OREO Cheesecake Protein Ice Cream You can make delicious homemade ice cream WITH low calories and high protein! One pint is 428 calories and 47g of protein! ​​Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​​​Red Velvet OREO Cheesecake Protein Ice Cream.pdf​

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Recipe Recreations Of The Week 🤌

🍕 102 Cal Pepperoni Pizza Pockets

Macros for each Pizza Pocket:
​102 Cals, 8g Carbs, 4g Fat, 8.5g Protein

Here's the recipe:
👉 https://www.instagram.com/p/C5ToKgcRTZT/​

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Zach's Beats 🎧

This is one of my private playlists but fu*k it, I’ll share the vibes with you guys 🎵❤️ ​Click here to check it out​ ​

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This Week’s Flavor 🎥

We don't give breakfast the love it deserves. So I compiled 50 high protein, low calorie recipes that you can enjoy for breakfast every day. ​Click here to watch the video.​

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Weird Food Fact 🤓

There's was always that one kid in the cafeteria...

You go to chomp on the celery sticks that came with ranch at lunch and someone says:

"Did you know, celery has negative calories..."

Well I'm here to tell you, that's kind of true… but mostly not.

Here's the truth:

Celery is incredibly low-calorie (about 6 calories per stalk) and packed with fiber and water.

So when you chew, digest, and process it, your body burns energy doing all that work.

But does it burn more calories than the celery actually has?

Almost, but not quite.

Studies suggest it’s close, but celery isn't literally calorie-negative.

Still, celery is about as close as food gets to being a "freebie."

Making it a solid pick for snacking or adding crunchy volume to meals.

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One FAQ ❓

Answer: I used to have cheat days myself, so I get it.

I want to share my experience with this and how I transitioned out of it.

Because in my eyes, if you have cheat days, that means you're still holding back for 90% of the week.

And that will always build up.

So let's rewind to 2011 when I finally took it upon myself to learn about nutrition.

I had just had major hip surgery to repair a torn iliopsoas which ended my college basketball career before I really was able to get started.

Lol my college basketball career is quite hilarious how mediocre it was. Maybe I'll cover that in the future 🤣

But because I had that major surgery, I wanted to finally learn about nutrition to help speed up my recovery.

So I went to the most trusted university in the world for the answer...

The University of Google lol.

And my brilliant 20-year-old self decided to google, “what is the best diet?”

WOW, what a brilliant search Zach!

At the time, the Paleo Diet was on a meteoric rise in popularity so that's the diet that popped up.

So at that moment, I decided to give my first-ever diet a try! How exciting!

I went from a diet consisting of eating nothing “healthy” to a diet that was eating “like a caveman” (aka nothing processed whatsoever).

Paleo is basically eating foods like meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, similar to what cavemen supposedly ate. And you avoid processed foods, grains, and dairy.

The good was I actually learned I liked eating more than 50g of protein in a day haha.

And I actually enjoyed eating fruits and veggies as well.

BUT the bad takes me back to a grocery store parking lot...

At 20 years old, I developed my first-ever relationship with food.

Paleo-approved foods were “good.” All other foods were “bad.”

And so the first 4 months or so on Paleo, I was perfect!

Never cheated once!

But then I learned about “cheat days” and that they were “ok” to do every once in a while.

It was as if I had found the holy grail!

These cheat days became an obsession.

My one day to be a “bad boy” haha.

They would be once every 2 weeks.

I would be like Santa, making a list and checking it twice.

But this list was my cheat day foods list.

Before I even knew what calories were, I was pretty much having an 8k-10k calorie challenge once every two weeks with these cheat days.

Alone. By myself. Because I was embarrassed to the extreme extent I would go.

To the point that I gasped leaving the grocery store one day.

I mean a gasp that nearly left my body with no more oxygen.

And a grateful gasp that left happy tears in my eyes because I had remembered that I had forgotten something on the cheat day list.

I would've had to go another 2 weeks without being able to “get that craving out of my system.”

That moment freaked me out.

Every cheat day after that day never felt the same.

Food now had this crippling control over my whole life.

I thought about food 24/7.

What I was going to eat to stay on track with Paleo.

And every single thing I was going to eat for my massive cheat days.

So that one “gasp” is what eventually led me to my next diet which was Flexible Dieting (aka tracking macros).

Which allowed me to learn moderation of the foods I love instead of having to be gluttonous with them.

So why share all this to explain my take on cheat days?

Because I believe that everyone should transition away from cheat days.

Something to remember here...

Food is emotional. And that’s ok.

It wasn’t always emotional for us. We all had a moment where the veil was lifted and we developed our relationship with food for the first time.

Maybe it was really young for you. Or later in life like me.

Nonetheless, that relationship is really important.

We all have to eat.

We all should enjoy what we eat.

We all should know how to have food help us live our best lives.

And that just takes time!

Live, eat, learn, repeat.

Be kind to yourself.

Your relationship with food will thank you.

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Serving Surprise 😮

I think it’s pretty obvious I love OREOs lol.

But unfortunately, they are super dense in calories.

So I wanted to compare three different size OREOs to see which one gives the most volume for the calories.

Here’s the lineup:

So what I wanted to do was compare 140 calories of each since that’s usually the amount I use for toppings.

• 9 OREO Minis
• 4 OREO Thins
• 2.65 Regular OREOs

As a topping, my goat is the OREO Thins since they crumble up really well.

But these OREO Minis are a great option too.

And if you want to eat A LOT of OREOs for not A LOT of calories, I made the perfect video for you.

​Click here to watch it.​

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Remember, food shouldn't stress you out or control your life.

It should add to your happiness (not take away from it).

Building a healthy relationship with food takes time, so keep learning, experimenting, and finding your balance.

You got this.

Much love and happy cooking,​
Zach

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