Guest Runner Chef: Matthew Halip

Matthew Halip, a 22-year-old student at Guilford College, is one of my personal training and running clients. Matthew's a member of the Lacrosse Team at Guilford college and he's also training for his first marathon-The North Face Endurance Challenge taking place in San Francisco in just a couple of weeks. This is a bear of a marathon with a 4,519ft elevation gain!! This is a race where it's mandatory to check in at each aid station. Matthew can handle it though. He's a great young man, in awesome physical shape and has a good head on his shoulders. I've been very impressed with his ability to handle the workouts, his race training, lacrosse practices and school (it's his senior year). I discovered that Matthew has a flare for cooking. Actually he said it's a passion for his entire family. So, I asked him to share with us one of his favorite recipes he likes to prepare when in training. Read on to discover his tasty chicken and vegetable dish. 

Matthew's Healthy Chicken-n-Veggies

This is a very simple chicken and vegetable dish, similar to stir-fry but significantly healthier, in the sense that I don’t use a pre-made marinade or soy sauce (both of which have a high sodium content). 

Main Ingredients:

• Chicken breast
• Carrots
• Corn
• Broccoli

(Most any combination of vegetables will work.)

Coating for Chicken:

• Chili Powder
• White granulated pepper (black pepper will work. I only use white pepper because I think it looks better)
• Sprinkle of salt
• Garlic powder (use garlic if possible I just didn’t have any in stock, but no more then 4 gloves- it will take over the dish)
• Onion powder (use an onion if possible I just didn’t have one in stock)
• All spice

Simple-n-healthy vinaigrette sauce:

• olive oil
• honey
• Dijon mustard

Mix olive oil, vinegar, 2 teaspoons of honey, and a tablespoon of Dijon mustard. The rule of thumb is 2:1 of olive oil to vinegar, but depending on your preferences you can change the ratio (I prefer mine more acidic). 

Directions:

Roast the chicken breasts at 350° F anywhere between 15-20 minutes (all ovens are different) or until he internal temperature reaches 165° F. Ten minutes before the chicken breast is cooked, put the vegetable combination in a frying pan and drizzle with vegetable oil (or olive oil). Cook on medium. Make sure you take the chicken out of the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before the vegetables are finished cooking. Once the chicken sets, cut into cubes and combine with the vegetables. At this point, pour the vinaigrette over the dish and let cook for no more then 2 minutes. Once the chicken absorbs the marinade, take off the stove and enjoy. 

Hey Runners! At a Loss for How to Eat Better in Our Fast Food Culture? Check This Out!

As a runner and just a regular Joe trying to eat better and stay fit, I'm often faced with a busy hectic life (we have three kids ages 8, 13, and 17) and sometimes fast food is the quickest option, even though it may not be the best option health-wize. My runner side really struggles with this especially when I'm in training and I'm trying hard to put quality foods in my body. As a father I also struggle with wanting to make sure I'm feeding my kids healthy foods.

So what do you do when you're at the drive-thru, faced with 500 options staring at you from the menu board? I don't know about you, but even on my most coherent days, I have trouble reading those things (couldn't possibly be due to my 44-year-old eyes). So often what comes out of my mouth is the easiest thing for me to remember—"Combo #1." Which usually this means something fried, with fries.

Well recently I stumbled across a great social site called WellSphere that's for people who have or who are striving for healthy lifestyles. Wellsphere’s mission is to help millions of people live healthier, happier lives by connecting them with the knowledge, people and tools they need to manage and improve their health. I joined the site and was quickly checking out all kinds of running and fitness-related communities and various members' blogs. Cool stuff!

To get back to that drive-thru ordering dilemma....WellSphere has the coolest widget called "Wellternatives" that you can download to your website or blog that lets you key-in a fast-food item such as "McDonald's Big Mac" and it will show you the total calories, carbs, fat, and fiber counts as well as suggest a better option from the menu. For example a Big Mac has 539 calories, 29 grams of fat, 45 grams of carbs, and 3 grams of fiber. Wellternatives recommends that you eat a double cheeseburger because it contains 439 calories, 23 grams of fat, 34 grams of carbs, and 2 grams of fiber. The suggested item saves you 100 calories, 7 grams of fat and about 9 grams of carbs. Now of course you would be even better off ordering the grilled chicken sandwich without mayo, but what the Wellternative widget does is suggest something comparable to what you had intended to order. Probably if you really want a burger, you're not going to order the chicken, but you may order a slightly healthier burger.

The Wellternatives widget is located in the right column of the blog. Give it a try. Plug in some fast foods and see what suggestions pop up. Even if you don't go with the better option, just seeing the stats on the item you plug in can be enough to keep you from ordering your original choice. If you like it, you can click on the "get widget" link and add it to your blog or website. Or, just use the widget here on RunnerDude's blog.