#greek yogurt

Homemade Greek yogurt crust pizza.

According to the calendar, spring is supposedly in the air. I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but I can still see my breath when I go outside every morning. My crate of flip flops is still stuck in my closet waiting to be used. And I can drive with the windows down for exactly 30 seconds before the wind gets too damn cold for me and I have to roll ‘em back up. Weak.

Even though it doesn’t feel like spring yet, it’s officially here. And if that’s the case, that means Memorial Day aka the unofficial start of summer is right around the corner! That means beaches, backyard barbecues, backpacking, and bathing suits!

Bathing suits. Ugh. If you’re like a good chunk of the population and spent Winter huddled up indoors, under mounds of blankets, avoiding the frigid temperatures any kind of attempt at shoveling, chances are you might be a little rounder around the edges. Or you might be the kinda person with a ridiculously fast metabolism that burns calories in their sleep. In which case, I hate you. Kidding. Only slightly.

But I digress. Bathing suit season is around the corner and if you’re gonna rock a one piece, or a two piece, or swim trunks for that matter, chances are you wanna look good doing it. Now if all of us were born with that perfect bathing suit bod, there’d be no point to writing this article. But since we’re not, we at Injury Duty wanted to offer you some tips to help you put your best food forward.

Now you can make like Fergie and be up in the gym, working on your fitness. That’ll certainly help you drop pounds and tone up. But a proper diet goes hand in hand with exercise when it comes to making a difference in how you look. You can choose to diet and eliminate all the high fat, high carb, processed foods and that’s a pretty solid way to shed some unwanted pounds. BUT, you can also choose to incorporate some very specific foods that help your body burn fat more efficiently. That said, we bring to you five foods and/or beverages that’ll help you kick your metabolism up a notch and burn fat.

1. Chili Peppers- The next time you’re whipping up something spicy in the kitchen, feel free to turn the heat up a notch by adding chili peppers to your dish. Although not for the faint-hearted (or the bland-tongued), chili peppers to do a lot more than set your tastebuds on fire. A study done at the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition showed that chili peppers contain a compound called capsaicin which helps the body burn fat at a faster rate and may help boost metabolism. Habaneros are particularly full of the stuff. So put down the hot sauce and add the real stuff and you may be pleasantly surprised.

2. Green tea- Swap your quadruple mocha-choca-frappa-whatevertheheckitscalled-ccino at your favorite overpriced coffee chain for a venti green tea. Green tea contains a compound called EGCG which is thought to be a potent anti-oxidant and metabolism booster. Some opponents argue that green tea doesn’t do much in the way of fat burning, but even in that case, it’s a helluva lot healthier than all the sugar, caffeine, and carbs in your quadruple-ccino. Brew a pitcher of iced green tea and keep it handy. 4-6 cups a day works best.

3. Whole grains- Put down the doughy mass of goodness that is your daily bagel and reach instead for products made out of whole grains- like quinoa, brown rice, and oatmeal. Because whole grains are high in fiber and come to you in their most organic form, the body has to work harder to break them down to digest. In contrast, processed foods slow the body’s metabolism down because it doesn’t have to expend as much energy to break them down. You can eat to make your body work harder? Sounds like a win-win to me.

4. Greek yogurt- this might be the best thing to come outta Greece since the gyro. Kidding. Kinda. Greek yogurt is chock full of proteins which is great for many reasons. If you’re looking to put on some muscle for bathing suit season, increasing your protein consumption will definitely help. Furthermore, Greek yogurt has twice as much protein as other yogurts, which means you stay fuller longer after eating it. Like whole grains, the body burns off more calories when its digesting protein, making Greek yogurt an excellent choice! Bonus- it’s also full of calcium which promotes strong bone health.

5. Water on the rocks- Anyone who is trying to lose weight will always be told to drink lots and lots of water. Why? It’s simple. For one thing 2/3 of your body is comprised of water, so it’s important to constantly stay hydrated. More than that, drinking water will keep you full and less likely to reach for temptations. In fact people who frequently feel hungry and subsequently reached for food are actually encouraged to drink a tall glass of ice water first, lest the hunger pangs actually just be thirst pangs. The “ice cold” part is key because the body has to expend energy to warm the water up to your body temperature.

-Team [Woman] Injury-Duty

The sole mission going to the grocery store this past Saturday afternoon was to gather as many Greek and/or Mediterranean staples as fast as I could before being lured into purchasing all the specialty items that are all too appealing to a shopper whose stomach started rumbling 30 seconds after she left for the market. 

I managed to escape with minimal damage to my bank account. I consider my $15 Malbec an investment in my wine education - with it’s origin of a stony terroir and proclamations of deep cherry and black currant…

I got all the things I needed to eat Greek for about five days, or maybe a week if I water down the tzatziki a little lot. 

To prep for the week, I chopped up cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and red onion, added a small squeeze of lemon juice, tossed and refrigerated to use for Greek salads. 

Central market has an excellent array of Mediterranean side dishes in its to-go section, so surely I could replicate at least one of those with ease. Couscous with spinach and feta. Cook couscous, add spinach while warm, toss in some feta while cool. Refrigerate. Meh.

What did turn out fabulously was the tzatziki sauce, with a little help from Ina Garten.

1 container Fage plain nonfat Greek yogurt + ½ cucumber, grated + juice from ½ lemon

Cut cucumber in half, then cut lengthwise to scoop out the seeds. Grate one half, wrap in paper towel, and gently squeeze out excess water. Mix all ingredients in a bowl, cover, and refrigerate to allow the flavors to come together.

What I love about the Mediterranean diet, other than getting to play up my nostalgia for days spent traveling through southern Italy and Greece, is that I am always satisfied. Plenty of lean meats, fresh fruit and vegetables, protein-packed Greek yogurt. This is most likely a base description, but I’m happy, my wine glass is happy, my kitchen is happy, and due to my habit of playing Italian opera loudly when I cook, my neighbors most likely are not too happy.