The Vlog

I was recently given a box of “Flackers” which are crackers made from flax. They’re unbelievable. They contain no wheat or gluten. They also contain good fats, good protein, and fiber. Let’s take a look at a typical serving of a regular cracker versus a typical flacker.

A normal saltine cracker contains soybean oil and partially hydrogenated oil (which are terrible and known to contribute to cardiovascaular disease.) That’s also more omega-6’s which the American public is already consuming a ton of while not consuming enough omega-3’s. A flacker contains organic flax seeds which are a potent source of omega-3 fatty acids. What about carbohydrates? A saltine cracker contains enriched wheat flour and high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup has been demonized by the press lately for contributing to childhood obesity and rightfully so. A flacker contains no added sugars and packs a whopping 7g. of fiber per serving. Lastly, the saltine cracker contains 1 gram of protein per serving which is generally insignificant. A flacker contains 5 grams of protein and the one complaint I have is that it is from vegetable protein. I don’t know how processed this is, so it’s hard for me to say whether a flacker’s protein source is of a high quality. Nonetheless, the Flacker wins hands down compared to regular saltine crackers. You can likely purchase them at your local co-op or order them on-line. http://www.drinthekitchen.com/products.html

Von

These kinds of foods can revolutionize not only the food industry, but people’s bodyies as well.

I do nutritional consultation for a local Asian Minneapolis restaurant. So far, I’ve had them cut out the trans-fats and to include more healthy ingredients for cooking. Besides the normal noodle dishes, we will likely be creating a “healthy noodle” section with the use of Shiritaki noodles (a wet noodle) for all regular noodle dishes that we are currently using. So far, most of the dishes are turning out extraordinarily good. Some are just alright to me, but they’re still servable.

Why did we decide on Shiritaki noodles? For four ounces, you get zero sugars and 2 grams of fiber. That’s incredible considering you’ll probably have some other vegetables making the fiber content ideal. The problem with some high fiber foods is that they can cause GI distress and cause one to use the bathroom very frequently because there is way too much fiber. Plus fiber, can cause malabsorption of particular nutrients.

Where can you get Shirataki noodles? If you’re in the Minneapolis area, you can buy Shirataki noodles suprisingly at Cub Foods in the produce department. We sampled the “House Foods” shirataki noodles: http://www.locarbu.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=330&currency=USD

The restaurant distributors and Asian food stores we’ve seen don’t even carry them. Try them out with your favorite noodle dishes today. And let me know what you think or feel free to share your recipes. (And by the way, you might see “Tofu” written alongside the noodles. Don’t worry if you don’t eat tofu, they’re not made from tofu or soy.)

Von Gillette
Professional Fitness Coach – www.vongillette.com