Join Brian Hall of Fast Days Healing Days, as he shows you how to prepare Snapper With Tomato Caper Relish and shares tips on keeping the mental stress low in an ADF (Alternate Day Fasting) lifestyle, sometimes called intermittent fasting or every other day dieting.
Pan searing on the grill keeps fish smells out of the house.
Alternate Day Intermittent Fasting, or ADF for short, doesn’t have to be complicated or mentally stressful. Every other day we have one goal: limit calories to 500 calories per Fast Day (FD). Because we don’t mind fasting throughout the day, most of our calories are eaten at one central meal, either late in the afternoon or early in the evening. Sometimes, if there are any calories leftover, we’ll enjoy a small protein rich dessert or evening snack.
After living an alternate day intermittent fasting lifestyle for a while, a few “aha” moments occurred that helped define and refine our personal fasting practices. One of the discoveries involved timing of the first FD (Fast Day) meal. We found on Fast Days that we have less hunger when we delay eating until (at least) late in the afternoon; maybe 3-4 o’clock, or early evening.
We know once supper time comes that we’ve easily made it through another Fast Day (FD) and can now look forward to enjoying eating whatever we want until the end of the next day (as long as the evening meal on the FD is 500 calories or less). It’s a big psychological boost.
The goal for Fast Day (FD) meals, from my perspective, is to meet our protein needs and as many nutrient requirements as possible, while satisfying us physically, mentally and emotionally. Susie T. and I made the decision to treat Fast Days as “just another day of food.” By making a conscious decision to view our alternate day intermittent fasting diet this way, we’ve removed any sense of deprivation from the equation. Since it’s just a “normal day,” day-in-day-out, we don’t have an urge to splurge and binge eating (or out of control eating) doesn’t happen. It’s a YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) thing; you just have to find what works for you, personally. No diet is perfect and there is no one-size-fits-all diet solution that will be successful for everyone.
Snapper With Tomato Basil Relish goes great with Asparagus
Fast Day meals don’t require huge sacrifices or big gyrations. You don’t have to skimp and prepare super low fat/low calorie meals on Fast Days. Making a few substitutions with reduced fat and very select low calorie products, or simply reducing fat portions just a little bit, turns a feast day meal into an appropriate Fast Day (FD) meal with little effort. We don’t even notice the calories are lower, because it doesn’t taste like “diet food.”
It’s not that you MUST eat low fat when doing ADF. Our diet is still around 40-50% fat (considered high fat), but it’s lower in fat, which allows us to eat more food volume. Fat has roughly twice as many calories per gram than protein or carbs, at 9 calories/gram.
We do keep food choices low carb and as close to paleo/primal as possible; preferring to cook from whole ingredients, keeping prepared products to a minimum. It’s not that ADF is a low carb diet, either. Eating low glycemic load, low carbohydrate food helps us control hunger levels while maximizing the nutritional value in meals, another discovery made during our ADF journey.
Red snapper, scaled with the skin left on, gets shallow slits and seasoning.
Fast Days (FDs) and feast days are both low carb (by personal choice). If we eat a high glycemic load, high carb meal, it’s usually on a special occasion, composed of small servings of the high carb items, and is very infrequent. We made a personal choice to eat this way to keep our blood sugar and insulin levels controlled. But most people eating an ADF, 5:2, 4:3, JUDDD, or EOD (Every Other Day) diet don’t make any food restriction beyond eating 500 calories on alternating days. These intermittent fasters still improve health markers such as inflammation, blood pressure, lipid profiles, hormone levels, and blood sugar. Oh, and they lose weight, too.
Snapper With Tomato Basil Relish
Notes
Fish is a great low calorie and high protein alternative for Fast Days (FDs). Using wild caught fish provides better nutrition profiles than farmed fish. We like to use sustainably fished seafood. Cooking fish outside on the grill, even when pan searing or pan roasting keeps the smell down in the house and makes for a happy family. Use the highest setting on your grill and cook directly over the fire. Snapper With Tomato Basil Relish scales great to feed the whole family.
Serving Ideas Serve with your favorite veggies. Snapper With Tomato Basil Relish is awesome with Asparagus in Brown Butter
Nutritional Information
Per Serving: 375 Calories; 21g Fat (49.6% calories from fat); 37g Protein; 10g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 94mg Cholesterol; 8g Net Carbohydrate
Ingredients
For Snapper
- 6 ounces snapper, raw, mixed species, custom, boned, scales removed
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon Cavender's Greek Seasoning
- kosher salt
- black pepper, freshly ground
- 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
For Tomato Basil Relish
- 2 ounces grape tomatoes, quartered
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil, sliced thinly
- 2 tablespoons red onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon capers, drained
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped or pressed
- 1 lime wedge
- kosher salt
- black pepper, freshly ground
Instructions
- Make sure your fish guy removes the scales from the snapper (or any firm-fleshed, mild white fish). Cut shallow slits (score) about 1/8-inch deep and about a 1/2-3/4 of an inch apart into the skin side of the fish. This prevents it from curling during cooking and also allow the spices to penetrate better. Season with granulated garlic, Cavender's Greek Seasoning, kosher or sea salt, freshly ground black pepper. Make sure to rub the spices into the shallow slits. Drizzle with olive oil on both sides.
- Combine all ingredients for the Tomato Basil Relish and stir to mix well. Chill until fish is cooked.
- Spray a heavy skillet (cast iron or heavy non-stick skillet) with olive oil or coconut oil cooking spray. Heat over medium high heat. Add butter, when it melts and bubbles, the pan is ready. Place snapper in the hot pan, skin side down. Cook 4 minutes without moving the filet. Flip fish with a spatula and cook 3-4 minutes on the second side. Generally, 7-8 minutes per inch (thickness) of fish will yield a perfectly cooked filet. Plate fish and top with Tomato Caper Relish. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Snapper With Tomato Basil Relish
Serves: 1 Serving
|
Amount Per Serving: 6 ounces raw weight (fish)
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|---|---|---|
| Calories | 375 | |
| % Daily Value* | ||
| Total Fat | 0 | |
| Saturated Fat | 0 | |
| Trans Fat | ||
| Cholesterol | 0 | |
| Sodium | 0 | |
| Total Carbohydrate | 0 | |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 | |
| Sugars | ||
| Protein | ||
| Vitamin A | Vitamin C | |
| Calcium | Iron | |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
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