Body Media FIT vs FitBit at the Disney Marathon Weekend

I love on body trackers. I've had a Fitbit for a few years now.  When I leave home without it, I feel naked.  I got a BodyMedia Fit this year for Christmas.  I always kind of wanted one, but I don't like the idea of paying for the band and then paying for the service too.  Fitbit's service is free.  The BodyMedia FIT came with a free three month trial.  Since this is my marathon season, I figured I should use it and get some data.  I'll post a full comparison of the two once I've had more time with the BodyMedia Band, but here are some of the differences in data from the marathon this past weekend. 

One thing to note is that I got a bit chafed by the BodyMedia Fit, so I wore it for the marathon and then took it off for the rest of the day.  I've only posted data for the period that I wore both, but the "steps" on the BodyMedia data seem significantly lower.  That's because I visited a park after the marathon and I wore my fitbit, but  not the BodyMedia band. 

Both devices give you your activity level, more or less, in  Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET).  The Fitbit translates it to easy to view colors and activity levels.  MET  is a physiological measure expressing the energy cost of activities.   It is the ratio of your metabolic rate (or energy consumption) during a specific physical activity to a reference metabolic rate.  It allows you to gauge how much energy is consumed during various physical activities.  Sedentary, sitting activties are rated at 1.0 METs, moderate exercise is about 2-4 and vigorous exercise is around 8.

Half Marathon:

Here are the calorie overviews of the race.  You can get specific time data for Fitbit by setting an activity record.  However, I like the colors in the general overview.

Fitbit

The colors on the Fitbit graph represent activity level and loosely translate to METs.  The pink would be vigorous or very active (around 8 METs), yellow moderately active (4 METs) and blue fairly active (over 1 MET).  For me, fairly active is walking about 20-25 minute miles or the equivalent activity.  Moderate is 15-16 minute miles and very active is above that.  Cross Fit earns me vigorous activity, but just weight training at home earns me moderate.

It's interesting to see how BodyMedia breaks it down into actual METs, but the Y axis for the graph is actually calories (which relate pretty closely to METs, since calories are a measure of energy consumption too).  You can mouse over a time period and see your METs in the acitivity center with the BodyMedia FIT.   

BodyMedia

Note that the Fitbit's estimated calorie consumption seems higher only because the X-Axis of the fitbit's graph is in 5 minute increments.  Bodymedia elongates the graph and uses 1 minute increments (so if you're burning 10 calories a minute, one data point of 50 looks more impressive than 5 data points of 10).  The calories burned are very similar on both (1269 vs 1392), though the BodyMedia FIT band is supposed to be more accurate. 

You can get more detailed with the fitbit by setting up an activity record.  It will show pace, elevation (this marathon was fairly flat so it's not very interesting...wait until March's marathon.  I'll show you that one) and more.

Fitbit

The remarkable thing is the pace and distance figured up by the Fitbit is pretty close to what my Garmin calculated and pretty close to my timing chip.  I find the Fitbit's pace calculation is less accurate over short distances.  It uses stride length.  That varies, but averages over a longer distance.  Even over short distances, it normally does a pretty decent job.

The BodyMedia FIT has some neat color coding as well. This is the daily overview.

BodyMedia

Marathon

Here's what marathon data looks like like with these devices.

BodyMedia

Fitbit. 

You can tell the difference between running a marathon steps and visiting a park afterwards steps. No pink in those afterwards steps, which shows you that "I walk all day at work" steps probably aren't very high METs.  If you're noticing the activity spurt at the end of the day, it's because I noticed I had 70,000 steps and I wanted to know what the highest Fitbit badge was.  A staff member told me it was 70,000, but Fitbit always displays your "next highest" badge and it was displaying a 75,000 step badge.  I ran a quick few miles around the hotel to see if there was a badge after that.  Turns out that 75,000 is the highest possible badge (as of Jan 2013).

BodyMedia

Just for fun, I'll show you this graph.  I spent all day Monday in the Magic Kingdom and walked about 10 miles, almost a half marathon.  However, look at the METs.  It's nothing compared to the actual half marathon.

So, "walking around the house" or work probably won't help with physical fitness or weight loss as much as pointed physical activity. You just don't get the amount of metabolic push needed with these moderate activities.  Believe me, you don't feel like treking around the Magic Kingdom is taking it easy.  I think my feet and legs hurt more after walking around the parks than after walking the whole marathon.  However, I don't think I got much physical benefit from it.  You probably need to at least be doing moderate activity to get any really health benefits. 

It's arguable, and backed by some good data, that running marathons is bad for your heart too.  So, you probably want to shoot for somewhere between the two graphs in your daily life.  I like that these trackers do keep us mindful of exactly what our daily activity amounts too.  I think sometimes we give ourself too much credit for being "active" when we're not.

Disney 20th Anniversary Marathon Weekend 2013

Bling Shot

I've done several marathons and half marathons and the Disney has been the most fun so far.  I did the Goofy, which is a half marathon on Saturday and a whole marathon on Sunday. I went into it thinking I was going to try for a PR in the whole, and goof off during the half.  During the half, it became clear that with the mid-80s weather and humidity, that wasn't going to happen. It was the hottest Disney marathon ever, according to an official I talked to.  So, I just decided to have fun.  I'm not built for speed anyway.

The Disney marathon is great if you love Disney World. I would do it again (it's costly).  The marathon takes you through all four parks (the half just went to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot) and all around Disney property.  I didn't think enough of it was in the parks, but I guess that can't be helped.  The best parts were inside the parks.  The worst part was the additional loop through ESPN World of Sports at around mile 18.  I'm not sure what those miles were like last year, but that part was brutal for me.

The half and the whole started pretty much the same.  The first few miles you make your way to the Magic Kingdom.  It was dark at this point, and not that hot at all.  During the half, I slipped off some uneven pavement and fell a little.  I thought I twisted my ankle, but thankfully it seemed ok.  During the whole, I stayed away from the edges.

Magic Kingdom

I'm Tinkerbell

The fun part came at around mile 6 when you entered the Magic Kingdom and got to run through Cinderella's Castle.  The park was filled with spectators cheering you along, yelling out "Go Merida" (I was dressed as Merida from "Brave"), and holding up fun signs ("Sweat is liquid Awesome", "What do you mean this isn't the 3:00 parade?", "I'm a stranger, and I'm proud of you.").  The crowds in the parks were really uplifting.  You didn't really need it at mile 6, but it was still nice.

At this point in the race, I had decided not to stop for photos, though there were a few characters here and there for runners to stop and meet.  I remember Jack Sparrow, Ariel, Buzz Lightyear, Alice and Mickey and Minnie dressed as king and queen.

The Speedway

Vroom!

Attention runners, course narrows ahead.  It narrows right to the Walt Disney World Speedway.  The speedway was a new edition this year and it was great.  I loved it.  I can't imagine doing the long loop between the Magic Kingdom (mile 6) and Animal Kingdom (mile 10) without some sort of distraction.  You're in Disney.  Why not run somewhere fun?  There have always been character stops along the way to Animal Kingdom, from what I understand, but I think the race looked pretty boring before they added this section.  Lightening McQueen was hanging out with some classic cars.   This was probably my second or third favorite part of the race. 

Animal Kingdom

You gotta stop for Mickey.

I love Animal Kingdom and I was a little disappointed that this loop (mile 10-13) was so short.  Animal Kingdom is Disney's largest park. It deserves more mileage.  It was also this part of the trek that I was getting hot and thought I should cut back my effort.  As I cut back, a runner jogged up next to me and asked my pace.  I told her I was doing 14-15 minute miles, and I was just going to take it easy.  She asked if we could run together since I seemed to be keeping a consistent pace (I had two Garmins - I'm a geek). That was fine.  We talked a bit about the last Disney race, since she ran in it. Then I saw Rafaki, and he didn't have a line.  I stopped for a photo and figured I would catch up, because I wasn't  tired and I can run a lot quicker than I was running.  I never saw her again, because I stopped quite a bit more after that.  Oh well.  Sorry, if you read this.  I hope you finished in the time you wanted to finish in!

I think my phone said it was 85 degrees when I stopped to take a photo with Rafaki.  I decided that it was too hot, and if I'm going to have a photo with Rafaki, I need to get Minnie and Daisy (dressed in safari gear), and Mickey and Pluto, and a few more too.  From then on, my time flew out the window.  That's what Disney is about though.  If I hadn't stopped for the photos, I don't think I would have had as good a time.  I decided after Mickey (his line was about 20 minutes long) that as long as I finished in under 7 hours so I qualified for my Goofy medal, I would be ok.

Animal Kingdom also had some petting zoo animals on the route and it took us "behind" some parts of Animal Kingdom (before then I think I we went by some sort of waste plant.  It smelled even to me, and I'm used to working with animals).  Expedition Everest was open and runners got a "fast pass" to ride it.  It was a real blast.

ESPN World of Sports

This is how I felt at ESPN, though it was taken earlier in the race.

Contrast the "blast" of Animal Kingdom to the cruel and unusual punishment of ESPN World of Sports.  What was Disney thinking adding this?  This was new this year too, and it was awful. Though, I've read that other runners enjoyed it (could be the old route was even worse), this was the only part of the course that I felt overheated and sick. It might have actually been fun if it wasn't so hot.  There was no cloud cover and tons of concrete on the way to World of Sports, I'm sure that didn't help, but there was also very little in the way of shade at World of Sports.  We got to run around the baseball field, but I didn't even pay attention to the announcer or the crowd at that point.  I always thought I was too slow to "hit the wall," but around mile 18,  I did.  I could barely see straight.  I was thinking of trying to find a medical tent.  A water and banana stop came just in time.  After some Powerade and a banana, I felt ready to go again.  Thank goodness, because the special 20 mile spectacular Disney promised was right around the corner.  I couldn't bail out before that!  I was so excited to see what it would be.  A band?  A party?  A parade or fireworks?  Something only Disney could imagine, right? OMG I CANNOT WAIT! It's right around the corner . . .

The 20-mile Spectacular

Can my wish be for something more spectacular than this?

Uh wait, this is the spectacular, or should we say not so spectacular?  The big deal at mile 20 ended up being a bunch of Disney character puppets on stilts.  Lumiere, Genie, Mike and Sebastian were there and Mickey, Minnie and Pluto were dancing next to a 20th Anniversary banner.  Had it not been built up so much, I think it would have been a cool stop, but I was disappointed.  On the other hand, I think my total disappointment in this spectacular gave me a second wind, so maybe Disney knew what they were doing.  Or maybe the banana was kicking in. I'm going for the banana at this point.

Up the road from this was the more spectacular army man from Toy Story.  He was yelling out insults and inspiration, "This isn't a walk, soldier, it's a run.  Pick up the pace." "You can do it, soldier.  It's right around the corner."  He should have told the Disney folks their spectacular's pace needed to be picked up.  He was awesome.

Hollywood Studios

I think I'm still looking for the great 20 mile spectacular...is it over here? Anyone seen it?

This loop is too short too.  It's about mile 20-23.  Just enough to snap some photos of the iconic Sorcerer's hat and run through part of the backlot tour.  This area was at least shady and a little cooler, but people were starting to give up  by this point.  Everyone was walking.  When we walked through the backlot, I actually got up on the sidewalk and ran past everyone, because there was no getting around them otherwise and I was afraid I'd finish in more than 7 hours.

This is the point in the race where I only had about 26 minutes to spare if I kept consistent 16 minute miles from that point on.  A 16 minute mile is not hard to keep, but the people in front of me were walking 20-25 minute miles.  Everyone was beat.  I had read they check times, and will deny your Goofy medal if you're over 7 hours.  I wasn't going to make it to mile 20 only to get denied.  So, I started politely cutting through, trying to get passed people and obsessively checking my Garmin questioning "How many minutes a mile do I have to do?"  I was so frustrated.

After that we headed to the Boardwalk where there was no getting around people.  ARG!  I was so frustrated. I had saved a push for the end, just in case I needed it to get in under 7 hours and I wasn't going to be able to push through the crowd.

Epcot

I look Goofy here, but Spaceship Earth is AWESOME.  Plus, I think I'm dying from heat stroke in that costume. 
This is the half.

Epcot was my favorite part of the half marathon.  Seeing Spaceship Earth almost brought me to tears.  I've seen it before, but something about that morning made it special.  It reminded me of watching Walt on television talk about it, and talk about Epcot being the city of the future.  I get that every time I get near the great geodesic dome that is Spaceship Earth, but this was different. I can't explain it. I never get emotional at races.  The morning of the half, I did.  I was running through Epcot.  Awesome.

I can't say I felt the same way during the whole.  I was freaking out.  I knew there were less than 2 miles left and it looked like I wasn't going to get my Goofy medal.  I told myself I didn't really care.  Running this was about the experience and didn't I have fun?  Who cares about a medal?  But I did care. No amount of talking myself out of it would keep me from caring. I wanted my medal!  I pushed and pushed through the crowds of people.  I understood. It was hot.  Many of these people had been training in freezing weather and snow.  I wasn't upset with them.  I was frustrated at myself for stopping so much.  I was upset that I didn't run more and walk less.  I had 15 minutes to do the last bit and Jimney Crickets, I was going to do it.  I was going through a scenario in my head where they denied me the medal, and I argued that I deserved it, because walkers wouldn't move to the right, the course was too crowded, etc.

I ended up coming in at something like 6:54:07.  When I saw the time on the clock, I was so relieved (the time on the clock was actually a little over 7 because of the corrals, but I knew what I started).  I did it! I ran up to the lady and got my Mickey medal and asked where to go for Goofy.

The most grateful I've ever been for such a craptastic finish time!

Then they didn't even check times.  They saw my Goofy bib and motioned me over, "Here's your goofy medal."  I don't really care that they didn't check times, but had I known that I wouldn't have tried so hard.  I guess I'm happy I did because now I really earned the Goofy.  Had I came in at 7:15, I probably would have thought I didn't deserve it.


Overall, it was a really fun race.  I would do it again, but I think I need to aim a little higher next time.  I set my Garmin on a 15 minute mile pace, thinking that if I at least kept up with that, with all the stopping and stuff,  I would be fine.  I should have set it on 13 or 14.  That would have given me more running time and a little more buffer at the end.  On the other hand, I felt great and walked all the parks in the three days after the race.

This is at Chef Mickey's, but Goofy got a kick out of my medal there too.  I told him I'd been looking for him all day!

Wearing your medal around Disney is a lot of fun.  Even the characters notice.  Goofy flagged me over in Epcot when I waved at him and he noticed my medal.  He pointed at it and gave me a big Goofy hug.  Donald refused to be photographed with the Mickey Medal and only wanted the Donald one.  All the park staff make you feel like a hero too, telling you congratulations. I'm not normally one to wear a race medal after leaving the race, but this was too fun not to wear.  Heck, I want to wear it everyday.

I'll post some stats from my various body trackers within the coming days to compare them.  I think that will be fun.  My Garmin died right before the finish, so it will incomplete, but I also wore a fitbit and a Bodymedia band.

When Recipes Attack: Potluck Carmel Apples

 

Everyone who cooks knows that sometimes things go wrong in the kitchen.  Sometimes, we can figure out why.  "Oh yeah, I did leave out the salt."  Sometimes, the recipe we follow is at fault (I find mistakes in lots of online recipes).  Sometimes we don't know what happened.  I always try to salvage cooking mistakes, especially ones with expensive ingredients or ingredients I don't use a lot, but sometimes you can't.

Today was a day when I'm not sure what happened, but I managed to salvage it.  I wanted to make caramel apples for a potluck tomorrow.  I've made caramel apples before, but I saw a recipe on a blog that used maple syrup and sounded delicious.  Since I've made them before, I decided to try it and I didn't plan a back up recipe.  Big mistake!   Using a new recipe for a potluck is a bad idea.

Anyway, I followed the instructions and yum, it looked delicious, but I did kind of thing it used a lot of butter.  I didn't think it would ever come together, but it eventually did.

However, even after cooling for hours, this is what my apples looked like.

 

Nothing I would ever bring to a potluck.  Yuck!  It just never got thick enough.  I even put it in the fridge and it was still sloshy.  I sliced this one and ate it.  The caramel tasted divine.  I didn't want to throw it away (plus, I don't normally keep sugar or flour around, so I didn't have anything else to make without going to to the store). 

It was like this was destined to happen.  My mom just bought me a crockpot with three bowls (for dips) last month.  I hadn't even opened it yet.  Since the caramel was a great dip, I decided to crack that baby open and put caramel in two bowls and some warm water with a squirt bottle to drizzle chocolate in the other. I filled one of my fall bowls with peanuts and I was set.

The real problem with this idea is that the apples need to be sliced and sliced apples turn brown.  I think everyone knows the trick to squirt lemon juice (yucky flavor) or lime juice (better flavor) on them to prevent them from turning.  I use citric acid.  I can and make cheese, so I always have a little citric acid on hand.  It's a powder.  If you dissolved a teaspoon in a cup of water, you can just soak the apples that liquid for a minute or two and they won't brown for a few days, give or take.  In my experience, it works better than lemon or lime juice (the citric acid is what makes those citric fruits work too).  I think because I literally dunk the entire slice in it and I never really have enough lime juice to do that. Plus, I can't taste the citric acid on the apples at all.  If you lick the actual powder, it tastes like a lemon.  The use it sour candy for the sour flavor.

Chi-Chi-Chi Chia Brownies

Delicious Chia Brownie

Chia seeds are popular today and being showcased as a superfood. It comes from a plant called Salvia hispanica and is found in southern Mexico. I first really was intrigued about it when I read Born to Run, which is about a tribe of Mexicans called the Tarahumara who run for hundreds of miles without rest or injury. It also started the craze for those silly looking five finger shoe (some people swear by them, but they do look silly). In it, one of the reasons the Tarahumara are so atheltetic is because of the iskiate they drink.

The Aztecs were said to use iskiate like drinks to sooth sore joints and stimulate saliva flow. They believed a small amount of chia seed could sustain you for 24 hours. It does fill you up, because as it gets wet it turns from something the size and consistency of course ground pepper to the something the size and consistency of bubble tea bobas. They form their gel in your stomach, which helps keep you full.

They are also nutrient packed. These seeds have more omega-3 than flax, and they have antioxidants to boot.They provide fiber, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, niacin and more. They are 23% protein by weight. They also don't go rancid like flax and don't need to be ground to be absorbed.

I made myself some iskiate after I read the book. You just put about 1 tablespoon of chia seeds (they are the exact same things you probably slathered on a chia pet at some point in time) and flavor it (the Tarahumara use lime or lemon) and let it set for about five minutes, at least. It turns into a gooey gelatinous substance. Like thick water. I used a fruit punch mix to flavor mine.

This is my tropical punch iskiate.

I have a problem with textures. I didn't like iskiate at all. I grabbed my bottle and went for a run...and ended up gagging on the stuff. Yuck. I did find some uses for chia seeds that I didn't totally hate. I made my favorite overnight oat recipe. Oats are supposed to be a bit thick, right? I added a tablespoon of chia and let it set overnight. Those were gooey in a wonderful way. I made my favorite chocolate pudding recipe and added some chia seeds. That was also gooey in a wonderful way.

Chia pudding: better eat it before it sprouts (or not, chia sprouts are good too).

You an also grind them or add them whole to salads, in cereals and even add them to baked goods. I find in baked goods, they give an extra nutty crunch, so if your baked good would taste good with a nutty flavor, add a little chia and see what happens.

I added 1/2 cup to my favorite brownie recipe and it was delicious.

Chia Brownies (From Alton Brown's brownie recipe)

• 1/2 cup chia seeds
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup of sugar (make this lighter with 1 tablespoon of sugar and 3 bananas...it works)
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 8 ounces of melted butter
• 1 and 1/4 cups of cocoa
• 1/2 cup of flour
• 2 tablespoons of vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Butter and flour your brownie pan.
3. In a mixer, beat the eggs until fluffy and light yellow. And the sugar (bananas too). Add remaining ingredients and mix.
4. Pour batter into pan. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until edges are brown.

Nutrition Facts

---

Amount Per Serving (makes 16)

Calories: 195
Total fat: 6.75 g
Protein: 3.6 g
Total carbohydrate: 39 g

• Dietary Fiber: 8.4 g
• Sugar: 30.9 g

With banana instead of sugar, it's 172 calories, 6.75 grms of fat, 31.2 grams of carbohydrate, 8.85 fiber, 21 grams sugar and 3.75 grams of protein.

Eat Like the Animals: Pachyderm Potatoes

Before I start the recipe for this post, I am going to put my two cents in about the influx of sweet potato fries to every fast food restaurant and burger joint in town. Personally, I think sweet potato fries are more tasty than regular potato fries. Regular fries don't have a lot of flavor to me. They basically taste like grease. That doesn't mean the sweet potato fry is healthier.

Many call the sweet potato a super vegetable. It is a little "healthier" than a white potato, but not much. A 100-gram baked portion of white potato has 92 calories, 21 grams of carb, 2.3 grams of fiber, 2.3 grams of protein and 17% of the RDA of vitamin C. A 100-gram baked sweet potato has 90 calories (not much less), 21 grams of carbs (the same), 3 grams of fiber (not really much more), 2 grams of protein (about the same) and 35% of the RDA of vitamin C and 380% of vitamin A. The vitamins are why it's called a super food. However, if we look at the overall makeup of both of these potatoes, both should have the same effect on our waistlines. Both actually like they could make a healthy addition to a diet, right?

Then you fry them. I think baked and boiled any potatoes are great. However, that is not what is being advertised as healthy. I call these attempts by fast food companies health-washing their products. "OMG, they have sweet potato fries. I heard on Dr. Oz that sweet potatoes were good for me, so I can eat these with my burger and be healthy." I was at a gourmet burger place the other day and I heard a woman at the next table say, "I really like regular fries better, but I want to go with the healthy choice, so I'll have the sweet potato fries."

Here's a comparison of two different Burger King small fry products that have the same serving size. Sweet potato fries: calories: 290, fat: 16 g, sodium: 530 mg, carbs: 36 g, fiber: 3 g, protein: 2 g. Regular fries: calories: 349, fat: 15 g, sodium: 480 g, carbs: 49 g, fiber: 4 g, protein: 4 g. I bolded the greater value. Looking at this, I would be hard-pressed to say which one is the healthier choice. Neither is healthy. If you're craving fries, you might as well go for real fries.

Anyway, enough with the rant. Here is my healthy kids recipe.

 Pacyderm Potatoes

(serves 4)

Elephants are the heaviest land mammal and have to eat a lot to stay healthy.  They are herbivores and spend up to 16 hours a day eating plants.  An adult elephant eats 300–600 lbs. of food a day.  That’s more than a person weighs!

Elephants at the zoo get all kinds of fun treats from watermelons (which they squish with their feet and then eat), to apples and sweet potatoes.  A lot of our animals, from primates to parrots, like sweet potatoes.  Some of the parrots like them cooked, but most of the animals eat them raw!

• Olive Oil, for tossing
•  4 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4-wide inch strips
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ½ teaspoon paprika

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Line a sheet tray with parchment paper or spray with non-stick spray.
3. In a large bowl toss sweet potatoes with just enough oil to coat. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika.
4. Spread sweet potatoes in single layer on prepared baking sheet, being sure not to overcrowd.
5. Bake until sweet potatoes are tender and golden brown, turning occasionally, about 20 minutes.
6. You can also try parsnip fries or carrot fries.  Some people prefer the taste of sweet potatoes, but if you don’t, try baking “real” potatoes this way too for a healthy “real” French fry.

For Grown-ups: In 2011, the average American ate 29 lbs. of French fries. Over 70% of these fries were from fast food restaurants.  Potatoes, by themselves, aren’t bad.  Sweet potatoes are a little more nutritious, but not much.   Sweet potatoes are not significantly lower in calories or higher in fiber.  The main reason French fries are bad for you is that they are deep fried.  Deep fried sweet potatoes are just as bad, and oven-baked regular potatoes are just as healthy.   Note that most processed potato products (like frozen French fries) have already been fried before you buy them.  It’s best to slice up your own!

Nutrition Facts

---

Amount Per Serving (makes 4)

Calories: 134
Total fat: 9.1 g
Protein: 1.2 g
Total carbohydrate: 12.4 g

• Dietary Fiber: 2.0 g
• Sugar: 5.1 g

Eat Like the Animals: Maned Wolf Munchies

This is another in my zoo animal series.  It's a project I did this summer that centers around teaching kids what the animals eat and encouraging healthy eating habits.  

This treat is designed for a canid.  The maned wolf is the largest canid of South America, resembling a large fox with reddish fur.   I was really surprised when one of the maned wolf keepers told me they love peanut butter. I guess it makes sense.  My greyhound loves peanut butter, and she descended from wolves (also, she loved this peanut butter covered popcorn). Kids also love peanut butter.  Adding chocolate makes it even better!

There was one little complication when I added this treat to class for kids to sample.  We all know that peanut allergies are being reported more every day and some kids are violently allergic to peanuts.  I was very careful when I made this to use new utensils and pans to make some plain popcorn for the kids with allergies.  However, I didn't think about having to segregate the peanut allergy kids away from the kids enjoying the peanut butter snack.  One father said if his son even touched peanut butter, he would react and left me with an epi pen.  I know how to use an epi pen (and so did the kid), but gees.  That's a lot of scary for a summer treat.

For the second class, even though the kids enjoyed this treat a lot, I just made regular popcorn. 

Maned Wolf Munchies

(serves 8)

The maned wolf is the largest canid in South America.  They don’t look like a normal wolf.  They look like a fox on stilts!  They like to eat all kinds of things in the wild from rabbits, birds and fish to sugarcane and fruit. 

The wolves in the zoo eat a variety of foods, but they really like peanut butter. They would love this yummy snack (without the chocolate chips). 

•  8 cups popped lightly salted popcorn
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• Melted chocolate chips (optional)

1.  Place popcorn in a large bowl. 
2.  Heat honey and peanut butter until smooth and a little runny.  Add vanilla.
3. Pour the peanut butter mixture over the popcorn and stir to coat.
4. Spread out on to a cookie sheet to cool.  Drizzle the chocolate over the top.
5. Snacks don’t have to be sweet.  If you want a savory treat, try tossing popcorn with paprika, onion powder, garlic powder and salt or curry powder and turmeric.   You can even use ranch dressing mix or taco seasoning.  For a sweet alternative, try dusting with al istle cinnamon sugar or just tossing with some vanilla.  You can even add nuts or dried fruit to your popcorn to spice it up.

Honey may be natural, but it’s still a sugar.  Use it only for a special treat!   Popcorn is loaded with healthy fiber and air popped popcorn is a great snack.  One cup of popcorn without any butter, oil or toppings is only 30 calories.  Most movie theater popcorn is popped in oil.  A small, unbuttered popcorn at the movies typically has more than 650 calories.  A large has a whopping 1,200, which is more than half the food you need for an entire day.  Microwave popcorn often has added salt, oils and butter.

Nutrition Facts

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Amount Per Serving (makes 8)

Calories: 158
Total fat: 8.5 g
Protein: 5.1 g
Total carbohydrate: 18.1 g

• Dietary Fiber: 2.2 g
• Sugar: 8.7 g

Removing the honey makes it only 125 calories and 9 grams of carbs.  The stuff is more sticky and popcorn ball like with the honey, but taste great with less or with just peanut butter.

You Got Peanut Butter in my Protein Bar

I've been training for a marathon (aside from neglecting this blog) and I mentioned that I sometimes make my own protein bars to use when I'm running.  I really can't stand traditional protein bars or running "fuel."  Cliff bars make me gag.  Gu or sports gels make me throw up.  Besides, if you read the ingredients on these things, they are full of super fake stuff (mine are not 100% whole food, but at least a little closer).  I have a soft spot for Luna bars, but they are delicious (s'mores flavored Luna bars got me through college). 

My bars are more of a cookie, so they don't pack quite as well as traditional bars. They are solid enough to fit in a running pack, even if they do break a little.  I cut them into brownie shapes, but you can cut them more into a traditional bar shape too.

Cooking with protein powder isn't that hard.  I normally replace 1/4 of the flour a recipe calls for with  protein powder (whey works best for baking) for a first go and see what happens.  If they still work well, I replace more the next time until I find the right combination of flour and protein powder.  Protein powder tends to make baked goods denser and drier (which is perfect for on the go foods), so you might also have to adjust the liquid in your recipe too.

There is some argument on blogs that cooking with protein powder denatures the protein and makes it worthless.  Protein has to be denatured to be absorbed by our guts anyway.  Though I'm sure a little is destroyed, you're getting almost as much as you would if you ate it "raw."  Denaturation changes the way a protein folds, and it's true that the folding can have an impact on the protein's action in the body.  Take medications, for instance.  Heating insulin, a protein, can ruin it.  However, medications that are proteins (like insulin) are injected and don't go through the gut.  That's the reason we don't have an oral insulin product: our gut would denature the protein like it does all proteins we eat.  The good news is that denaturation doesn't change the amino acid components of the protein.  It's those components that your body needs to build muscle and carry out life, not the "protein" itself.

Commercial protein bars (and most of the eggs, meats and other things we eat for protein) have been cooked too, so it's a moot point.

Everything Protein Bars

(Makes about 24)

• 1/2 cup wheat flour
• 1/4-1/2 cup protein powder (whey works best) [I use 1/4 cup, but 1/2 makes a really dense cookie]
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons of canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats
• 1/2 cup of peanuts (you could use sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or another nut here)
• 1/2 cup dried fruit (I used cherries)
• 1/2 cup tablespoons cup good quality dark chocolate chips

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 13 by 9 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, protein powder and baking soda.  In a large bowl, mix brown sugar, peanut butter, eggs, oil and vanilla together until blended.  Slowly add flour mixture.
3. Stir in by hand oats, peanuts, fruit and chocolate chips.
4. Spread into coated baking dish.  The "dough" is pretty stuff and doesn't pour easily.  It should be a bit stiffer than a cookie dough.  
5. Cook for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Nutrition Facts

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Amount Per Serving (makes 24)
[nutrition will vary based on the powder you chooose, pre-protein powder values in bold, so add yours on to those values]

Calories: 200 [195]
Total fat: 11
Protein: 6.6 g  [5.0]
Total carbohydrate: 29.4 g

• Dietary Fiber: 2.8 g
• Sugar: 17.2 g

For comparison, the Cliff Bar I have here is 250 calories, 44 grams of carbs and 10 grams of protein.  My favorite Luna bar is 180 calories, 27 grams of carbs and 9 grams of protein.  These are a little bit less protein packed, but way more delicious.