Baked Avocado fries.

Baked Avocado Fries

Baked avocado fries are coated with a delicious almond crust. The creamy chipotle dipping sauce is a must! Give this paleo and gluten free recipe a try!

Ingredients
  

  • Avocado fries:
  • Avocado oil spray
  • 1 large avocado ripe but firm
  • 1/2 cup almond meal
  • 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 egg
  • Chipotle Dipping Sauce:
  • 1/4 cup avocado oil mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon chipotle pepper sauce

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking dish with parchment paper and spray the parchment with oil.
  • Cut the avocado lengthwise and twist the halves to separate. Remove the pit with a spoon. With your fingers, gently peel the skin off. Cut the peeled avocado into wedges, as shown in the video below.
  • In a small bowl, mix the almond meal, kosher salt, garlic powder and chili powder.
  • In another small bowl, lightly beat the egg.
  • Dip each avocado slice in the beaten egg, then dredge in the seasoned almond meal on all sides. Use one hand for the egg bowl and the second hand for the flour.
  • Place the coated avocado fries on the prepared baking sheet. Lightly spray them with avocado oil. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, make the dipping sauce by mixing the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
  • Remove the baked avocado fries to a serving platter. Serve immediately, with the chipotle dipping sauce.

Exercise Boosts Immunity, What to Know About Working Out Right Now, According to Experts.

You know how to protect yourself against the novel coronavirus by now—frequent handwashingsocial distancing, and maintaining a balanced diet to keep your body as healthy as possible. But another important aspect of supporting your overall health can also come in handy right now to boost your immune system: regular exercise. The simple act of moving your body more can provide a powerful tool for fighting infection.

So, how can exercise boost your immune system?

The CDC and WHO still encourage regular exercise—and for good reason. In addition to improving your mental health, a 2019 scientific review in the Journal of Sport and Health Science found that exercise can improve your immune response, lower illness risk, and reduce inflammation.

The study looked at “acute exercise,” meaning that of moderate to vigorous intensity lasting just under an hour. Study author David Nieman, DrPH, a professor in the department of biology at Appalachian State University and director of the university’s Human Performance Laboratory says that typically, people only have a small number of immune cells circulating around the body. Those cells prefer to hang out in lymphoid tissues and organs like the spleen, where your body kills viruses, bacteria, and other microorganisms that cause disease.

Because exercise increases blood and lymph flow as your muscles contract, it also increases the circulation of immune cells, making them roam the body at a higher rate and at higher numbers, says Nieman. Specifically, exercise helps to recruit highly specialized immune cells—such as natural killer cells and T cells—find pathogens (like viruses) and wipe them out. In Nieman’s 2019 review, participants who took a 45-minute brisk walk experienced this uptick of immune cells floating around the body for up to three hours after the walk, Nieman explains.

While you do get an immediate response from your immune system when you exercise, that will eventually go away—unless, that is, you keep working out consistently. “If you go out for 45 minutes of exercise the next day, this all happens again,” Nieman says. “It all adds up as time goes on.” In fact, another study from Nieman and his team—this one published in 2011 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine—found that those who exercised five or more days of the week lowered the number of upper respiratory tract infections (like the common cold) over a 12-week period by more than 40%.

Think of the lasting immune effect of exercise like this, Nieman explains: Say you have a housekeeper come over to clean your home for 45 minutes most days of the week. The house will look a lot better on that first day than if someone never came. But the more frequently the housekeeper comes back, the better and cleaner the house will look. “Exercise really is a housekeeping activity, where it helps the immune system patrol the body and detect and evade bacteria and viruses,” Nieman says. So, you can’t necessarily exercise one day here and there and expect to have an illness-clearing immune system. Come back for more movement on the regular, though, and your immune system is better prepared to wipe out sickness-causing germs. This holds up, even as you get older, according to another 2018 review article published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology.

Another benefit of exercise is that it decreases inflammation in the body—which, in turn, can also improve immunity. In fact, some research, like the 2004 study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, links decreased levels of inflammatory markers to those that exercise more often and have higher fitness levels. And Nieman says that goes hand-in-hand with immunity. “When immune cells try to function with inflammation, it puts the immune system in a chronically inflamed state too,” he says, which makes it harder to fight infection. To cut down on inflammation, kick up your activity level.

Strength training helps your immune system. Adam Jajtner, PhD, CSCS, assistant professor of exercise science and physiology at Kent State University, who has also studied exercise and the immune response, touts resistance training as a smart strategy for improving immunity. However, he does caution against over-training.

Like all good things in life, science says you can overdo exercise. Pushing yourself too hard for too long can actually put you at higher risk of infection—but you have to go pretty far past that “acute” level of training to experience negative side effects.

For example, most studies that found that extreme exercise can increase risk of illness examined marathon runners, like Nieman’s 1990 study published in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. But Nieman says this negative effect can come into play if you’re running at a high intensity for at least a half-marathon distance or cycling or swimming at a tough pace for about 90 minutes. Any of these longer, more intense activities can cause stress on the body that could lead to lowered immune function. “You put yourself in a stressful state, so your immune system reflects that and leads to dysfunction that can last anywhere from a few hours to a few days,” Nieman says. Basically, high-intensity activity for more than an hour might not be the best idea right now if you’re really focusing on keeping your immune system in top shape.

Exactly how long and how hard you can push yourself before you reach that excessive and intense level of exercise ultimately comes down to how well you’re trained, but you might want to focus on maintenance rather than intensity in these pandemic times. “Moderate intensity is the best route right now, but maintaining that activity, in some form or fashion, is going to be key,” Jajtner adds.

Nieman views this pandemic as a golden opportunity to start a regular walking program—a time to nail down the habit of frequent physical activity. While other lifestyle habits like eating fruit, managing stress, and getting quality sleep can also help reduce risk of illness, Nieman says exercise is potentially “the most powerful habit that people can adopt right now as we’re coping with this new and novel virus.”

If you’re super new to exercise (and have your doc’s approval to start a fitness program), Jajtner suggests going out for even just 10 minutes, two to four times a day. Then work on gradually increasing that time. If you’re in a crowded city and have fewer opportunities to get outdoors.

Even if you are exercising, don’t forget that your best defense against getting COVID-19 is limiting your risk of catching it by practicing social-distancing and frequently washing your hands. “Reducing your exposure to the virus is number-one, it rises above everything,” Nieman says. “Social-distancing and good hygiene must always be paramount…but I can’t emphasize enough the importance of everyone being healthy and focusing on good immunity too.”

The information in this story is accurate as of press time. However, as the situation surrounding COVID-19 continues to evolve, it’s possible that some data have changed since publication. While we are trying to keep our stories as up-to-date as possible, we also encourage readers to stay informed on news and recommendations for their own communities by using the CDCWHO, and their local public health department as resources.

Sources :Use fitness to your immune system’s advantage—here’s how.By Mallory Creveling, ACE-CPT April 16, 2020

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/20888836_Infectious_episodes_in_runners_before_and_after_the_LA_Marathon

Cherry Chocolate goodness shake!

Cherry, chocolate goodness shake!

Research suggests that cherries can ease soreness after a workout, making this a perfect recovery shake

Ingredients
  

  • 12 oz water milk, or yogurt
  • 2 scoops chocolate flavored protein powder
  • 2 cups of sweet dark cherries pits removed
  • 1 cups of spinach
  • 1 tbsp of walnuts
  • 1 tbsp ground flax
  • 1 tbsp cacao nibs or dark cocoa powde

Instructions
 

  • BLEND

Notes

530 calories, 56 g protein, 13 g fat, 47 g carbs, 9 g fiber (accounts for using water as the fluid instead of milk or yogurt)

Summertime blast watermelon smoothie.

Summertime Blast

The combo of melon, basil, and pineapple makes the shake super refreshing,

Ingredients
  

  • 2/3 cup seedless watermelon
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 cantaloupe
  • 1 banana
  • 1/4 cup pineapple
  • 2/3 cup ice
  • 4 to 5 fresh basil leaves

Instructions
 

  • BLEND

Notes

182 calories, 3 g protein, 1 g fat, 47 g carbohydrates, 5 g fiber

Paleo Chicken tenders with avocado-cilantro dip

Chicken Tenders With Avocado-Cilantro Dip Recipe

Course Snack

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1 ⁄2 lbs chicken tenders cut in half lengthwise
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 tbsp homemade Sriracha sauce optional
  • 3 ⁄4 cups almond flour
  • 3 ⁄4 cups coconut flour
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 ⁄2 tsp onion powder
  • 1 ⁄2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 large avocado
  • 1 ⁄2 cup fresh cilantro packed
  • 1 green onion sliced
  • 1 garlic clove
  • Juice of 1 or 2 limes
  • Sea salt to taste

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 425 F.
  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Whisk the eggs and Sriracha sauce together in a small bowl until well incorporated.
  • In a shallow bowl, mix together the almond flour, coconut flour, garlic powder, paprika, onion powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper.
  • Dip the chicken into the egg mixture, then transfer to the flour mixture and coat well.
  • Shake off any excess flour and arrange a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
  • Repeat with the remaining chicken tenders.
  • Once all of the chicken tenders are on the baking sheet season with salt and place in the oven.
  • Bake for 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through, flipping the tenders once in-between.
  • While the chicken is in the oven, place all of the ingredients for the dipping sauce into a food processor. Start with the juice of 1 lime.
  • Blend until smooth and all ingredients are blended, stopping to scrape the sides with a spatula as needed.
  • Taste and adjust with more lime juice if needed.
  • Transfer to a bowl and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
  • The dip will stay good stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Notes

Special thanks to http://paleoleap.com/ for the recipe!