Day 37 Thanks and Welcome, and Catabolic Foods

First off, I want to thank Patrick, over at responsibility199 for the shout-out, and subsequent new followers! I appreciate the vote of confidence in choosing to follow my blog. I hope to not disappoint!

Second, I want to welcome all my followers. This is exciting for me, as you are my first-ever blog followers! Again, i hope you all find something of value in what I post.

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Have you heard the term "catabolic food"?  I first ran across the term a few years ago. It refers to food that supposedly burns more calories in digestion than the food itself actually contains, resulting in a "negative calorie" net intake.

I'll admit it. I'm a bit skeptical. But I do find it intriguing, and am currently looking for more supporting information from reliable sources. Meanwhile there are dozens of sites out there that have lists of these so-called negative calorie foods. As might be expected, nearly all of the foods are fruits and vegetables, with a bit of seafood thrown in to cover the protein area.

 What I find comforting about this list is that its consistent with other diet food lists: a large variety of fruits & veggies, and no demand for some off-the-wall quantity of one particular food.

What's really going through my head is how to cross-reference all these lists and find "super-foods" that offer the most in healthful benefits. Just adding a few of these to any diet can't help but be an improvement, right?

One food that keeps popping up is hot peppers. So far, I find them to be negative-calorie, anti-inflammatory, and loaded with anti-oxidants. Seranno chiles, which fall at the top of the anti-inflammatory scale, look sorta like a skinny jalapeno, a bit longer, and sometimes varied in color. They are typically hotter than jalapenos, so if you are unaccustomed to spicy food, you should go a bit easy on these. I love to put them in a pot of chili. But I think I'm going to look for some new recipes that use them, to add to our menu (besides the obvious salsa).

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OOH!! OOH!!! I just found one that sounds awesome! Tequila Lime Shrimp

Ingredients:

1 bag of frozen uncooked extra-large shrimp (about 25 shrimp)
juice of 2 limes
1 tsp lime zest
1 tbs chili powder
2 oz of premium tequila
1/2 red onion, chopped fine
4 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 small stalk celery, chopped fine
2 bay leaves
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 serrano peppers, seeded and chopped fine
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp cilantro
2 tbs olive oil
1 cup raw long-grain rice

Directions:
1) Defrost shrimp by running under cold water for 5 minutes.
2) Prepare rice.
3) Heat olive oil in 4-qt skillet on medium, saute the onion, celery, garlic until soft.
4) Add shrimp, salt and pepper, saute 5 minutes until shells are pink.
5) Stir in remaining ingredients, cover, simmer for 15 minutes.
6) Makes 4 servings of about 6 shrimp with sauce over rice

This is going on the menu for Wednesday! I'll let you know how it goes!