1. Endurance Athlete Performance Nutrition and Supplements Blog: Advanced Cheese

This is the first blog of a series that will specifically talk about Endurance Athlete Performance Nutrition and Supplements (EAPNS). I have been reading a book written by Dr. Feil, which unfortunately is only available in German, most of the information provided will be inspired by the boo. Today’s blog is a little out of sequence, but there was a specific need to extend on my favorite subject “CHEESE”.
            It took me a while to find a real good reason to eat cheese; cheese contains Chromium. Thus far I have only found out that there are differences in how much they contain, Edamer and Gouda (95 micro grams/100g) seem to be high on the list, as well as American Cheese. Other sources list all cheeses at 56 micro grams/100g. The daily needs of Chromium for adults are 35 microgram for men and 25 microgram for women, athletes and diabetics tend to have higher daily needs. The reason therefore is that Chromium is an essential nutrient that helps the body use sugar, protein, and fat. Daily intake beyond 200 micrograms can lead to health risks. A blog that specifically talks about Chromium will follow. On a side note wine and beer also contain considerable amounts of Chromium :).

Here are some facts about cheese:

The fat content in the cheese impacts the flavor of the cheese, the community of cheese connoisseurs thinks that the fat content should be between 20-30% for ripened cheeses.

The biological value of protein in cheese is generally not as high as that in milk. Reason being is that the higher valuable whey protein is excluded in the process of cheese making. However, there are some repined cheeses that have up to 15 % whey protein, whereas most other cheeses only have 4-6% whey protein. On the plus side, ripened cheese also has a greater digestibility compared to milk (96-97% vs. 92%). Vitamin A and Calcium are of course valuable and should be considered as something positive when eating cheese.

If you would like to find out more about protein in cheese, here is an interesting article from www.dairyforall.com

3. Recipe: Tuna with Peach Salsa, Eggplant over Cuscus

Cook time: 15 min, prep time 20 min

3-4 entree servings

Ingredients:

1 pound sushi grade tuna

1 large eggplant

1- 1 ½ cups of whole wheat cuscus

Lemon pepper

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Peanut Oil

Italian Seasoning (salt free)

Sea Salt

Peach or Mango Salsa

Red Wine 

Directions

Prepare the marinate for the tuna, take 4 table spoons of olive oil, 2 table spoons of balsamic vinegar and add the lemon pepper. Add the tuna, the longer the better, 15 min minimum.

Cut the eggplant in ½”by 1” pieces, gently cook/fry in a frying pan, add the Italian seasoning and some sea salt. Brown the eggplant, be careful that you don’t overcook it. It start falling apart. The eggplant will take the longest from all three main ingredients, depending on how rare you like your tuna.

Heat up 1 ¼ cup of water in the microwave (2 min) and add the cuscus and some sea salt. Stir the cuscus when initially adding it to the water; let sit for 5 min.

Add the peanut oil to a frying pan, turn on high. Be careful the smoke point of peanut oil is lower than some other oils. Add the marinated tuna and cook to your liking.

Serve on a large plate, pour some Peach or Mango Salsa over the eggplant/cuscus.

Ready is a wonderful, easy, relatively quick and healthy dinner. We had a glass of Amos Malbec with it, it turned out really well J!