Low carb PROTEIN MUFFINS!

[teenathlete3030]

These are still in the experimental stage, but I just finished the first batch, and they turned out better than I expected.

I mixed:

1.5 cups flax meal
1 cup GNC protein powder
1 TBSP baking powder
1 TSP salt
1 TBSP splenda
2 whole eggs
3 egg whites
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup canola oil

I let the mixture sit for a couple minutes, then poured it into a muffin pan, filling 10 muffin spots.

I cooked on 350 for 20 minutes. When I took them out, they were very dark, but perfect consistency. In fact, they rose just like real muffins, which surprised me since no yeast was used.

They tased fine, except for a little bit of an aftertaste that my dad thinks is the flax. One person thought they were a little salty, so next time I'll only use 1/2 TSP salt.

I was pleased with the carbs, but wish the protein/fat ratio was a little better. I'm not sure how exactly the cooking chemistry changed the nutritional value, but adding all the ingredients together and dividing by 10 muffins equals:

16g fat (very high Omega 3s and very low saturated fat..this is mostly flax and oil)
1.7 net carbs (once you subtract the fiber. Most of the carbs are from the protein powder.. it's not the most expensive stuff)
5 grams of fiber... not bad for a muffin, about 3x the amount of net carbs
11 grams of protein

I also made some pancakes. This time I used:

3/4 cup flax
4 scoops GNC chocolate whey
3 packets splenda
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup water
2 whole eggs

Mix it up, and cook like normal pancakes. They also turned out good, but try for yourself. I like them, then again I'll eat almost anything. More opinions would be nice.

[frank]

what is flax meal and did you also use it for the pancakes? do you think i would be able to use a pancake mix along with the protein powder or would it be easier to use your ingredients?

[teenathlete3030]

Flax meal is just ground up flax seeds. I got them at GNC. They're loaded with omega 3s, have virtually no net carbs because of the incredibly high fiber, and have protein.

I use it as a flour substitute. You could definitely use regular pancake mix with protein powder, but it would have a lot of carbs too. Since I'm trying to stay as lean as possible, I just stay with the flax and cut out the carbs.

If you look at regular pancake mix it says 31 carbs/6 sugar per serving. Flax pancakes only have 6 total carbs per pancake, 3 of which are fiber.

Edit: Even most of the carbs in the flax pancakes I made are from the protein powder, since it wasn't very expensive stuff. If you use a good, pure protein isolate it would have even less carbs.

[Built]

The one thing to note is that flax is a goitrogen - it can interfere with thyroid function. Cooked it should be fine, but you might want to double check on that one.

[frank]

The one thing to note is that flax is a goitrogen - it can interfere with thyroid function. Cooked it should be fine, but you might want to double check on that one.

ill see how many carbs are in the normal pancakes, thanks for the info.

[teenathlete3030]

Built, your suggestion led me to about 40 minutes of research just now. I found some good things, some bad. Some said avoid flax at all costs, some said it's fine cooked. The interesting thing is, not only is flax considered a goitrogen, but so is soy products, peanuts, broccoli, and other veggies we are told to eat adequate amounts of.

Finally I found a 3 page artical about the subject, which is relieving because it seems to have some actual scientific research to back it up, as opposed to random people posting on various forums.

http://www.flaxcouncil.ca/english/pdf/FlxPrmr_4ed_Chpt8.pdf

Interesting read. To sum it up, flax isn't actually proven to cause goiters. They're most prevalent in Africa and Asia and due more to iodine deficiency than goiterous foods. With varied diets, especially those high in protein and with adequate iodine consumption, we should be fine. Studies are reported where individuals ate muffins containing 5-6 Tbsp of flax daily for months, and showed no difference in levels of Thiocynate in urine samples. There is also research to suggest that taking flax can help prevent cancer if I remember right.

EDIT: Here's a quote from the article:


Consumption of moderate amounts of flax (1-2 tbsp) daily is not
likely to pose a health problem for North Americans who have adequate
intakes of protein and iodine. In several clinical studies, volunteers ate
muffins containing 50 g (5-6 tbsp) of milled flax daily for up to 6 weeks
without ill effects. Muffins made with milled flax showed no trace of the
cyanogenic glycosides, suggesting that cooking destroyed the enzyme
that metabolizes the glycosides (79). New research suggests that some
cyanogenic glycosides have anti-tumour effects (454). In a model of
mouse skin cancer, six common cyanogenic glycosides decreased the
number of mice with tumours by 13-33% and had a potency comparable
to that seen with the anticancer phenolic compound found in green tea.

And with the muffin recipe I listed earlier, there would be 2.4 TBSP of flax per muffin. With the pancake recipe there is about 1 TBSP of flax per pancake. But according to the article it shouldn't matter because cooking removes the "enzyme that metabolizes the glycosides".

Thanks for bringing it up though. I learned something new today. If in doubt you could always lower the flax and up the protein powder like I did for the pancakes.

[Built]

Thanks for doing all the research!

I wasn't actually suggesting that flax causes goiters - but flax does compete with your thyroid for iodine, and for anyone who may be iffy about thyroid function to begin with (hand goes up - I'm on thyroid meds) this is something to be mindful of.

[alex0131]

thanks for the post, gotta try this one

[Robbyrh10]

THanks for the recipe!