Your Favorite Comfort Food...Minus the Carbs!

I know I live in Sunny California, but lately it's been feeling like I live in Forks, Washington with all this gloomy weather and nonstop rain! Grey skies always give us the urge to bundle up in blankets, put on a movie, and settle down with your favorite cold-weather comfort food, right? This leads to more couch cuddling (aka being sedentary) and thick creamy foods... then we wonder why the winter months lead to excess puffiness.. lol

As for being sedentary, put on your big girl panties (and a long-sleeve gym shirt) and get your soon-to-be toned booty into the gym; the couch will still be there when you get back! And for the creamy delicious comfort foods? I have your solution right here!

Low-Carb Turkey Chili!

Most people think Turkey Chili and instantly think, HEALTHY! I just want to clarify that using turkey instead of beef does not necessarily make things more healthy. To be honest, I would've used beef or bison in the recipe if it wasn't for the fact that I  already had turkey defrosted in the fridge and because I genuinely enjoy turkey. Turkey does not always necessarily make a recipe healthy for two very important reasons:

1. Not all turkey is lower in fat than beef. When you're grocery shopping, pay attention to the fat percentages. There is regular ground turkey, lean ground turkey (93% lean, 7% fat), and extra lean (99% lean, 1% fat). Ground beef is the same way; there's a (80% lean, 20% fat, all the way up to a 96% lean 4% fat) I am a huge fan of using the lean ground beef for recipes and I also have gotten extremely lean and was the healthiest I've ever been while still eating red meat!  
2. What else is in the recipe? So you found this awesome turkey or white chicken chili recipe that claims to be healthy, Awesome! But what makes it healthy? Is it the fact that it uses whole ingredients? Or that it's low-carb/low fat? Or because it's extremely high-protein/macro-nutrient friendly? This is a hugely important thing to figure out because "healthy" can have so many meanings but not all of them may fit your weight loss goals!  
1. Example: If you find a turkey chili recipe that's healthy in the terms that it uses all-natural, organic, unprocessed foods...GREAT! As long as you pay attention to your macro-nutrient goals. A lot of these chili recipes use whole veggies (perfect), uncured/organic meats (awesome), and tons of beans/corn (red flag)! I'm not saying beans or corn are unhealthy by any means...but if you're adding two cans of beans to a recipe that's a giant chunk of your daily carbohydrate intake that you should be paying attention to! 

So now...we get to the best chili recipe for your weight loss goals!

Ingredients:

1/2 onion

2 cloves garliz

1 red bell pepper

1 zucchini

1 package lean ground meat

1 can diced tomatoes 

1 can reduced sugar tomato paste

1 packet Mrs. Dash Chili Seasoning 

Chicken broth

Start by browning the onions, garlic, and bell peppers in a pan (brown them using low sodium chicken broth or PAM instead of oil). Once they are soft, add in the meat with a little salt and pepper and let it brown. Once the meat is cooked, add in the tomatoes, tomato paste, 1 cup of chicken broth, and the diced zucchini. Bring the mixture to a boil and add in the Mrs. Dash seasoning. Let the chili cool and thicken before serving! It tastes amazing and saves you at least a whole serving of carbs!

*I tend to forget to photograph my recipes, so the picture was taken before I allowed the recipe to thicken!