Shelvic Exam: Athlete’s Honey Milk
Athlete’s Honey Milk
Mooove over yucky tasting protein shakes and make way for the goodness of milk… Athlete’s Honey Milk, that is.
Athlete’s Honey Milk (AHM) is a designer milk product from the Good Cow corporation. Good Cow specializes in designer milk formulations where reverse osmosis and ultra-filtration technologies concentrate milk proteins and minerals while eliminating lactose and fat leaving behind higher calcium and protein milk products. Honey is added for flavor and sweetness and as a source of available carbohydrate.
Nutrition Smackdown
This is some SERIOUS milk! Besides what it doens’t have, being lactose and not a lot of fat (only 3.5 g per 11 ounce serving), AHM is loaded with:
- Calcium – a whopping 60% of your daily value (DV)!
- Vitamin D – 25% of the DV
- Protein – 26 grams!
The carbohydrate source is honey in place of lactose. This is most welcome news for those with lactose intolerance and does provide athletes, from serious triathletes to the weekend warrior, with both glucose and fructose to meet immediate and endurance energy needs. Calories clock in at 240 per 11 ounces – not bad as a replacement drink with so much nutrition in it. But I think it would be great if they came out with a lower calorie version, too. In fact, I spoke with Anders Porter, spokesperson for Athlete’s Honey Milk who said
“We recognize the need for a lower calorie and carb version and I am thrilled to announce that we wil be offering two new flavors that are lower in calories: chocolate and coffee. They will be available in May of this year. Both flavors contain 150 calories and just 11 grams of carbs while supplying an amazing 20 grams of protein.”
And though this is not intended to be a meal replacement or a therapeutic nutritional beverage, it could easily be one with a few nutritional tweaks. Hmmm…food for thought, AHM!
Cost and packaging
AHM is sold in a case of 12 direct from the company. You can also find it at some sporting goods, specialty stores and gyms. The company does plan on increasing its presence in retail stores around the country. If you purchase it online, it costs $25.00 for a case of 12 which breaks down to $2.08 per unit. Add on shipping and tax and you may be looking at around $3.00 a unit. In comparison, AHM is less expensive than its nearest competitor Muscle Milk. AHM is running a special – buy 1 get 1 case free. [Correction - their new deal, I was just told, is order a free case and just pay for shipping.] The coupon will be sent to you in an email when you order online.
Presently, AHM comes in an aseptic container without an attached straw. Adding a straw would be nice. Mr. Porter also added that they are looking into different packaging that may resolve that issue. Stay tuned!
Taste?
Sharon and I LOVED it! We were pleasantly surprised that it didn’t have that overly-sweet-chaulky-protein taste. Instead it had a nice clean taste like milk that had some honey added to it. In essence, that is what AHM is, except with more nutrition bang. And of course, a Shelvic Exam wouldn’t be the same unless the three Grotto girls weighed in with their ranking. They were unanimous on this one!
Dean Ornish, MD Podcast
For your listening pleasure, I dusted off an interview with Dr. Ornish on his book The Spectrum that I featured last year. Enjoy!
Yummy Food Pics and “Ask the Guyatitian”
My Cooking Classes at Dorothy Lane Market School of Cooking in Dayton, Ohio
I recently was interviewed by a journalist who asked me, “Do you have any regrets about the two books you wrote?” My response was “Yes! Not having pictures of the recipes!” So I thought I’d share a few with you today.
What has been so cool about writing these two books of mine are the fantastic recipes that are featured in them. In fact, they are soooooooooo good that I double-dare the most worldly foodie to find tastier, healthy recipes that can make taste buds jump for joy like these recipes can!
Participants who attended my cooking demo this past Tuesday and Wednesday night at the Dorothy Lane Market School of Cooking agreed – the recipes are über delicious. And let me clarify, it wasn’t really my cooking demo. In fact, I didn’t cook a darn thing. It was these two wonderful chefs (Chef Elizabeth Wiley from the Meadowlark Restaurant and Chef Carrie Walters from the Dorothy Lane Market School of Cooking pictured below) and their able assistants who made my latest book, 101 Optimal Life Foods come alive on all the plates that evening.
Why were the following dishes so special? I literally gave each of these chefs a list of ingredients to use for their recipes in the book and said to them ”Make something that tastes amazing”. And everyone agreed that evening that great taste and good health lived as one in those recipes. Here’s a sampling of the dishes we featured and the corresponding page numbers in the book.
Gazpacho with garlic croutons, creme fraiche, local veggies and a hint of Tabasco! (page 276)
Boy… this soup is so easy to make, fun to eat, and so refreshing. One bowl is only a 130 calories and meets most of your veggie requirements for the day!
Asparagus-Sesame Stir Fry (page 362) Such a wonderful dish. The key is to not overcook the asparagus – leave it fairly crispy. This is a fave recommendation to my patients who have digestive complaints. Asparagus contains inulin which promotes friendly bacteria in the gut. Perfect for IBS sufferers.
Chicken Thighs with Red Wine, Prunes and Garlic (page 323) Only 3 grams of saturated fat per serving!
See that white stuff that looks like whipped potatoes on the top left of the plate? Yes, the stuff that is sopping up that delish wine-prune-garlic gravy. That’s not whipped taters at all – it’s creamy mashed cauliflower. It was a recipe by Chef Walters that was dreamt up the first day of the class. Let me tell you, it was EXCELLENT and a huge hit with the class. It is not featured in my book. But it is your lucky day – Chef Walters just sent me the recipe – here it is!
“Optimal” Cauliflower
by Chef Elizabeth Wiley and Chef Carrie Walters
Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets
2 T olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ C chicken or vegetable Stock
4 T Greek yogurt
2 t balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
In a large pot of boiling water, cook florets until tender about 8 minutes. Drain well and return to pot. Meanwhile heat the olive oil in a small sauté pan and briefly sauté the garlic until fragrant but not brown and remove from heat. Mash or process the cauliflower with the olive oil, chicken stock and yogurt until desired consistency is reached. We like it with some texture. Add the balsamic vinegar and season to taste with the salt and pepper. Enjoy!
Beanie Greenie Brownie (page 309)
This was a dessert that was submitted by Deb Schiff of Altered Plates. This is one of the best brownies I have ever had and contains carob NOT cocoa. Nothing wrong with cocoa – it’s in my book – but this recipe is perfect for those who may have a sensitivity\allergy to cocoa. Besides, carob is wonderful for the digestive tract. And if you don’t want to use carob, swap it out for cocoa powder and chocolate chips.
Lastly, we ended our exhausting two-day cooking demo and lecture at Dorothy Lane Market School of Cooking with our own song “Pans on the Ground”. Enjoy!
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Ask the Guyatitian
David, for about 10 years, all different friends of mine have been swearing by these drinks. Genesis, Noni, Goji, Xango, Limu, and MonaVie, Z Radical Health Juices. *My nail guy swears by Monavie, others Limu, and Xango. Just inquiring what you think about these drinks? I look forward to hearing from you. Do any of your patients ever talk about using these drinks? I would like your feedback.
Kristy
Kristy:
Coming from a guy who wrote about 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life, not one of them, in my opinion, were so fantastic that they were $30+ bucks a pop! Unfortunately, many of these superfood drinks don’t contain enough of the good stuff to warrant the often outrageous price tag that goes with them.
That said, some of my patients swear by them. There may be positive research on some of the featured ingredients (notice I did NOT say MAIN ingredients), rare is it that the actual formula is featured in the actual research. Bottom line. Save your money and eat the real deal. Can’t find some of the more exotic superfruit at your local grocery store, then turn to the ol’ standby superfruits such as Strawberries, Cherries, Blueberries, etc, which have substantially more research behind them than the bottled stuff does. And heck, its cheaper and tastes better. Hope that helps!!
The Guyatitian
Happy National Nutrition Month, Announcements and Tackling Arthritis Pain
I had a wonderful weekend and hope you did, too! By the way, happy National Nutrition Month! For great information on good nutrition, be sure to visit the American Dietetic Association website.
News:
I will be presenting at the Dorothy Lane School of Cooking in Dayton, Ohio, tomorrow and Wednesday. My co-presenters and recipe contributors, 
Chef Carrie Walters, who is the corporate chef at Dorothy Lane Markets, and Chef Elizabeth Wiley, who is the chef\owner of The Meadowlark restaurant in Dayton, will be cooking up a storm with me!
On Saturday, I presented at Serene Teaz in Elmhurst, Illinois and also signed books. It was so cool to hear how my first book was helping so many people. Many in attendance were looking forward to reading my new book, 101 Optimal Life Foods, because they were dealing with many of the same health challenges that most of my patients contend with daily: fatigue, digestive disorders, poor circulation and lots of chronic pain. The good news is that adding in the right foods while also keeping an eye on limiting “offending” foods can certainly help. My ninety-year old (almost) father was in attendance, too!
Arthritis Story:
Many in attendance loved the story about my father who called me in the middle of the night to take him to the hospital a few years back. Long story short, turns out that dad had a considerable amount of arthritis in his spine at the time. He wasn’t overly thrilled about treating it with more medications than what he was already on. So he said to me, “Son, is there anything I can do diet-wise that might help?” I told him that my patients seemed to do well by adding in foods like tart cherries, which are rich in anti-inflammatory nutrients like ellagic acid, which has been shown to reduce arthritis pain. He remembered this as something I recommended for him years ago when he was plagued with gout (a form of arthritis). He loved cherries so this was an easy “fix” for him.
Though I’m all about the “add-in, NOT take away” approach, I also suggested that he might want to try avoiding nightshade vegetables which include tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and eggplant. He looked at me like I was a madman. “Did you forget that we are Italian?” I knew this wasn’t going to go over well. I told him that some of my patients responded well to avoiding nightshades. Nightshade vegetables belong to a family of plants that thrive during the night\shade called Solanaceae. But truth be told, the scientific literature to date has not made a firm connection between nightshades and arthritis pain aggravation. And in my clinical experience, it was hit and miss results, at best.
My father tried adding in tart cherry juice and avoiding the nightshade vegetables. In less than a week, it was virtually pain-free! He was an obvious responder to my recommendations. He was thrilled!
Fast forward about a month later, I noticed that he was wincing in pain when he moved certain ways. I asked him if he was still on the “program”. He replied rather sheepishly, “Uh…no…”. I asked him why he wasn’t sticking to my program when he was having such good results. He did tell me that he was faithful with his tart cherry juice consumption and did feel better because of it but also stated that I had “cut him to the quick” with the avoidance of nightshades. To him, life was more “optimal” when they included his fave vegetables…the pain was worth it.
Podcast: Mike Roizen, MD and Mollie Katzen Talking Walnuts
I’m really having fun with this new blog\website. One of the neat things I like is being able to post pictures, videos and podcasts right into the posts.
There were so many cool interviews I had the opportunity to conduct last year that I thought I’d dust a few of them off and share them with you again.
WYLL is a local station here in Chicago where I hosted a radio show that broadcasted many of these interviews and many of my followers told me that sometimes they couldn’t catch the show at the times it ran. So, the good news is that I made podcasts out of all the shows and my game plan is to archive all of them here on this site under “podcasts”.
The game plan is also to do all new podcasts and videos this year too as a result of some very exciting partnerships that are in the works – I’ll let you know more about them as soon as I can 
In the meantime, please enjoy my wonderful conversation with Mike Roizen, MD, creator of Real Age and YOU: The Owner’s Manual and Mollie Katzen, celebrated James Beard award-winning cookbook author, talking about the health and culinary benefits of walnuts.
My Podcast Interview with Diana Dyer, RD Discussing the Health Benefits of Kale
I was inspired after my trip to Italy to dig out a great podcast interview from last year on the topic of Kale from my 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life radio program. I posted a recipe that uses “Black Cabbage” (aka Kale) in a traditional Tuscan dish called Ribollita last week – you may be inspired to make it after hearing my interview with Diana Dyer, RD, a kale lover and nutrition expert in the field of cancer care.
Diana Dyer is a wife, mom, long-time organic gardener and farmer, Registered Dietitian and author of the book A Dietitian’s Cancer Story. She is also a three-time cancer survivor and her website focuses on nutrition information for cancer survivors. She began a blog in June 2007 to share a wider scope of her thoughts about life as a cancer survivor, food and nutrition, gardening, recipes, our environment, and the urgent need for developing food systems that promote health not disease, ecological sustainability, and social justice.
In January 2009, she began the blog “365DaysOfKale” to write about her passion for one of her favorite (and mine) vegetable. The following is a podcast interview with Diana where we discuss the amazing health benefits of Kale. Enjoy!
My Exclusive Interview with Brian Wansink, PhD: Mindless Eating
Ever wonder why you eat more than you should? Believe it or not, it can be something as simple as the size of the plate that you eat off of!
I had the pleasure of interviewing Brian Wansink, Ph.D author of Mindless Eating, who is the director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. He is a Fulbright Senior Specialist in food marketing and nutrition, and in addition to writing Mindless Eating, he is author of the books Marketing Nutrition, Asking Questions, and Consumer Panels. His award-winning research on food has been published in the world’s top marketing, medical, and nutrition journals. It has been presented, translated, reported, and featured in television documentaries on every continent but Antarctica.
His research findings have also contributed to the introduction of smaller “100 calorie” packages (to prevent overeating), the use of taller glasses in some bars (to prevent the overpouring of alcohol), and the use of elaborate names and mouth-watering descriptions on some chain restaurant menus (to improve enjoyment of the food).
Click here for more information and to take the “Mindless Eating Quiz” !
Shelvic Exam: Chobani Champions
First, let me profess my love for Chobani greek style yogurt – YUM! It is certainly a fave around the Grotto house. My kids especially love the thick Greek yogurt texture and real fruit chunks in the Chobani line of yogurt.
I was excited to hear that Chobani launched a kids line of Greek yogurt late last year which they call Chobani Champions. They come in four flavors: Verryberry, Strawnana, Honeynana and Chocolate. All 40z cups contain 110 calories except for the chocolate variety which is 120 calories. Champions boast 5 active cultures for digestive wellness and all fruit varieties contain real fruit – very healthy, indeed!
My daughters (Madison (11), Katie (12),and Chloe (15)) taste-tested all flavors of the Chobani Champions except for the Honeynana and here are the results.
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- Chobani Champions VerryBerry
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- The “Taste”
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- The Reaction – “GREAT!!”
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- Chobani Chocolate Champions
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- The “Taste”
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- The Reaction – “So, So”
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- Strawnana
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- The “Taste”
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- The Reaction – “So, So”
My wife Sharon and I also tried all flavors, enjoyed them, but thought they could be a tad sweeter for the kiddies. None-the-less, two of the daughters were not that impressed and asked us to keep the fridge stocked with the regular Chobani though Madison would like to see Veryberry Champions again, berry soon!
My Exclusive Interview With Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, Author of the Ultimate Diet Log
You may know here best as the creator of The “Flatbelly” Diet but Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD has also created a new tool to help you stay on your diet called The Ultimate Diet Log!
Check out my interview with Cynthia!
About David
David Grotto, RD, LDN’s first interest in nutrition started over twenty-five years ago when he worked in the natural foods industry, having owned and operated his own natural food store. He decided to become a registered dietitian and attended the University of Illinois at Chicago and graduated with honors with a degree in medical dietetics and nutrition.
After school, he worked in various clinical and food service settings and even tried his hand as a broadcaster where he hosted his own radio show called Let’s Talk Health, CHICAGO! for over 10 years and hosted the national health-focused television show Health & Lifestyles, Weekly for two years.
Enjoying working in a media setting, Dave proudly served as a national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association which he held that position for over six years. He is now the founder and president of Nutrition Housecall, LLC, a nutrition consulting firm that provides nutrition communications, lecturing and consulting services, and also offers personalized at-home dietary services.
Inspired to help his patients without depriving them of their favorite foods, Dave wrote the acclaimed book, 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life which is now out in sixteen different languages (to date). 101 Optimal Life Foods, with a foreword written by Montel Williams, is his latest effort and debuted in January 2010.
One of Dave’s passions is improving the health of children through good nutrition. He is the advisory board chair for Produce for Kids® and PBS Kids™ health initiative. Dave also loves to laugh and lectures extensively on the health benefits of humor and laughter. He received additional training in humor therapy and is a Certified Laughter Leader. He also attended The Second City in Chicago receiving further training in improvisation.
Dave lives in the Chicagoland area with his wife Sharon; three daughters Chloe, Katie and Madison; and two-female dogs Abbey and Gracie and feels he is an expert in unopposed estrogen.
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