Hey Reader!

In the 16th edition of The MF Kitchen, you'll slice into the details of:

• Recipes for Pizza Bagels and Breakfast Protein Brownie Bites!
• Two of my favorite days of the year (along with other National Food Holidays)…
• My brutally honest thoughts on Keto (and any diet for that matter)...
• The BIG difference in calories between nuts and fruits...

Preheat your ovens…

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Weekly Recipe Roundup 🍽️

Pizza Bagels Nostalgia at its finest! I grew up on bagel bites so wanted to create a super easy way to bring that nostalgia back to my life! While not blowing the macros of course! Macros Per Bagel Bite:​ 45 Cals, 1g Fat, 5g Carbs, 5g Protein Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​Pizza Bagel Bites.pdf​

Breakfast Protein Brownie Bites If you are looking for a grab-and-go style snack for the week, these are it! They are only 28 calories per bite which isn't toooo shabby! Macros per Brownie Bite:​ 28 Cals, 0.5g Fat, 3.5g Carbs, 2.5g Protein Click below to download the recipe and make it easy yourself: ​​​Breakfast Protein Brownie Bites.pdf​

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Recipe Recreation Of The Week 🤌

The FDL Pizza is a must-try!

Full in-depth tutorial video can be found here:
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO-9knNCSP8​

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Zach's Beats 🎧

Banger remix of a banger song. No description needed. ​Drew Barrymore - Crankdat Remix​

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Weird Food Fact 🤓

National Food Holidays!

When I think of national food holidays, I think of two things:

1. Free Donuts
2. Free Pancakes

Thanks to Krispy Kreme and IHOP lol.

National Donut Day is the first Friday in June.

National Pancake Day is the last Tuesday of February.

But that got me thinking…

Why do I only know of those two food holidays by heart?

I think because they both gave away legit for free food without all the hoops to get it.

Plus, I was a broke young buck and would go with all my friends.

We'd make it a true holiday for us lol.

But then it also got me thinking,

“Damn, there is literally a food holiday for every single food nowadays! Which was the first?”

Drumroll please!

The winner is:
National Donut Day!

It was established by The Salvation Army in 1938 in Chicago to honor the women who served donuts to soldiers during World War I.

Here's a list of some of the other most popular food holidays and where they fall throughout the year:

• National Ice Cream Day (USA) - Designated by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, it falls on the third Sunday of July.
• National Pizza Day (USA) - February 9th
• National Hamburger Day (USA) - May 28th
• National Taco Day (USA) - October 4th
• National Coffee Day (USA) - September 29th
• National Chocolate Day - October 28th
• National Cookie Day - December 4th
• National French Fry Day - July 13th

Which National Food Day is your favorite?

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One FAQ ❓

Question from Grace from (Greenville, South Carolina) - “Have u ever done keto? I'm asking bc I'm deciding whether to go back to eating carbs. I've been hesitant bc I put on weight suuuuper fast. Just wondering what ur take on that is.”

Answer: I personally have never done Keto. Not something I’ve ever had the desire to do nor have I seen anything conclusive to say it’s superior to any other calorie-controlled diet.

But let’s say Keto was a superior diet. I still wouldn’t do it just because it wouldn’t be sustainable for me.

I love carbs. I love a balanced macronutrient approach. And my results are just fine with my current approach. Plus, here’s a very very important point. I have a feeling you and I share a common love for food (I don’t think you’d be here if you didn’t). Keto is a diet for people who don’t love food. It’s INCREDIBLY restricting.

Thus creating this weird relationship with food and then putting you in a “missing food” mindset that leads to a lack of control around those 'bad' foods.

Aka you are much more likely to binge eat on those foods when you do have them.

And let’s cover the “put on weight suuuuuuper fast” part.

Keto seems like magic for most when they first start because of two reasons:

1.) They were eating like shit prior aka consuming a ton of calories.

They then move to a restrictive diet like keto with limited food choices so as a by-product, they eat less.

And they are motivated or they wouldn’t have started the diet. This means they actually follow the rules (until they don’t but let’s not go there lol).

2.) Water weight.

When you first start keto, you're not only eating fewer calories but you're also eating virtually zero carbs.

So what happens is you’ll lose a ton of water weight to start thus making the scale weight go down.

“Holy shit this is magic!”

But the scale is lying.

Not about your body weight.

But about your body fat.

Here’s how:​
Carbs hold more water weight than fats.

For every gram of carbs you consume, it can hold approximately 3 to 4 grams of water.

For every gram of fats you consume, it can hold approximately 1 gram of water.

So you could lose 3-4 lbs right away but it’s just water.

Moral of the story is…

The best diet is the one that you can adhere to.

All macronutrients (protein, carbs, fats) play very important roles.

A balanced macronutrient intake I believe is best and most sustainable for long-term fat loss.

And most importantly, keeping that fat off.

Here’s a graphic I made to illustrate another way keto makes you lose weight. It’s not “Ketosis” that’s for sure.

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Serving Surprise 😮

I'll be honest, I like nuts lol.

But I don't like how calorically dense they are.

One handful and I am 200-300 calories in.

I love fruit because it's not only delicious BUT it's not a caloric bomb.

And just to be clear, I am not trying to demonize fats!

You should be eating at least 25% of your calories from fats.

Just highlighting that if you want to eat high volume aka a lot of food, nuts are not the best choice.

And fruits are super high volume especially berries or watermelon!

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I had a full-day volleyball tournament yesterday and I am BEAT.

10 games. Hot AF. It was a long day.

Shortest team in the whole tourney but we made it to the finals.

Lost in 3 in the finals but was a fun day.

Hope you had a chance to get outside this weekend and/or play a sport.

Finding a fun sport to get good at is a cheat code for fat loss btw.

Will cover that in the future. Just let me know.

Much love and happy cooking,
​Zach

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