But as I endeavor mightily to eat better and to incorporate more protein into my diet, I’ve been trying new recipes and I had to share one that is chock full of protein, low in fat and carbs, and so delicious that my kids love it (I’ve made it four times now).

Did I mention it’s dirt cheap to make?  

It’s also easily modified according to what’s in your kitchen (last night I added sliced baby portabella mushrooms).

Ingredients:

• 15 oz. extra firm tofu
• about 2 cups of broccoli florets
• 1/2 cup raw or roasted cashews
• Trader Joe’s Soyaki Sauce
• 1 teaspoon corn starch
• soy sauce
• pepper flakes

Begin by draining the tofu.  Slice it lengthwise (about 1/3″ of an inch) and lay out on paper towels.  Place another paper towel over the tofu and put a heavy plate or pan over it to squeeze out the moisture (about 5 minutes).  Slice into triangles and fry in medium hot sesame oil (or oil of your choice) until golden, approximately 4-5 minutes per side.  Drain on paper towels.  Depending on how you like your broccoli, you can either nuke it briefly (1-2 minutes) or steam it prior to quickly stir-frying it.  Stir fry the broccoli for approximately 2-4 minutes, add 1/2 to 2/3 of a cup of Trader Joe’s Soyaki Sauce into which you have mixed the corn starch, soy sauce to taste and pepper flakes to taste.  Add the tofu and continue to stir fry for 1-3 minutes until the tofu and broccoli is nicely coated and the sauce has thickened.

You can add whatever you like – onions, mushrooms, baby corn, water chestnuts – the options are limitless.  

Serve it over rice or as is for a quick, easy, high protein, low carb dinner!

The other day I mentioned to a couple of women that I was lifting weights in the gym. 

I was surprised at the responses that I got. 

“Pam!  That’s not good for you!” 

“Yeah, you never want to use weights heavier than 5 pounds or so …” (this coming from a gal who weighs all of 230 pounds)

Frankly I thought that the myths about women and weight lifting had been put to rest years ago.  I have been using weights – dumbbells from 5 to 25 pounds and a barbell loaded at 25-55 pounds – for a number of years.  I’ve always found that the heavier I lifted, the leaner I got.  As a matter of fact, in another move to alleviate my joint pain from arthritis, I joined a gym four months ago so that I would have heavier weights at my disposal. 

The simple fact is, I don’t have much testosterone.  And testosterone is the hormone responsible for increasing muscle size.   Most female bodybuilders, unfortunately, use anabolic steroids (synthetic testosterone) along with other drugs in order to get that high degree of muscularity that turns a lot of women off to weight training. 

There is also the common myth that women only need to do cardio and if they decide to lift weights, they should be very light.  First of all, if you only did cardio then muscle and fat would be burned for fuel. Women need to lift weights in order to get the muscle building machine going and thus prevent any loss of muscle tissue – not to mention bone loss. Women that only concentrate on cardio will have a very hard time achieving the look that they want. As far as the lifting of very light weights, this is just more baloney. Muscle responds to resistance and if the resistance is too light, then there will be no reason for the body to change. 

I’m always surprised at the myths that people accept as fact, myths that have been passed down by the mainstream American media. 

After all, what is the American mainstream media?

Generally it has very little to do with the news and the “facts” – and everything to do with selling you something.

I prefer the truth.  That’s why, in my quest for the best body of my life, weight lifting will play the most prominent role.

For more on how weight training is the best for burning fat, check out Tom Venuto’s Burn the Fat!