Dina KaurArizona Republic
You may have heard of popular TikTok food trends like fruit rollups with ice cream and cowboy caviar. Some can taste delicious and introduce fans to new food combinations, while others might make you gag just thinking about them.
The latest food trend claims that eating it will have you feeling healthy, if a little weirded out by the texture. Introducing … cottage cheese and mustard!
This new fad is supposedly a key component to one TikToker’s (@tiffanyymagee) weight loss journey. She eats this combination with almost every meal, and I mean every meal.
But is this interesting mixture truly a nutritious way to help you shed some pounds? Or is it just a weird combination to draw in TikTok viewers?
What is the cottage cheese and mustard diet?
The cottage cheese and mustard diet is a combination that made Magee famous, as she used it as a dip for vegetables, fruits and chicken sausage.
For breakfast Magee has mustard and cottage cheese mixed with eggs and snacks on fruits dipped in the condiment. She also consumes an electrolyte drink with her meals.
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What is in cottage cheese that burns fat?
Cottage cheese itself does not burn fat. But it is high in protein, with 25 grams per one cup serving.
Fat is burned through exercise and moving your body. Period. For example, by going for a walk, a jog or a bike ride.
“Eating a food and doing nothing and sitting is not going to burn a lot of energy,” Carol Johnston a professor of nutrition at Arizona State University said.
Moving your body improves cardiovascular health, reduces inflammation and stress and, yes, helps you burn calories, which can lead to weight loss.
Johnston did say that protein consumption has a thermic effect, which means your body’s metabolism runs a little higher to process the amino acids in protein. This would be about 10-30 more calories expended per protein-rich meal, compared to walking, which can burn about 150 calories per 30 minutes.
Is it OK to eat cottage cheese every day?
There is nothing wrong with eating cottage cheese every day, Johnston said. Cottage cheese has important nutritional value, as it provides calcium, B vitamins and is one of the best protein sources.
However, consuming cottage cheese daily should be done in moderation, she said. An appropriate serving size of cottage cheese is half a cup.
Is the cottage and mustard diet healthy?
Cottage cheese is not a high-calorie food and you can buy low-fat versions. Mustard has no calories. Many tiktokers consume the cheese and condiment with fruits and vegetables, which are also very low in calories.
In Magee's daily diet, the only thing significant in calories would be the chicken sausage and if you’re only having one serving that’s a way to manage your calorie intake, Johnston said.
When asked if Magee's diet seemed like it would yield weight loss results, Johnston said that because she is restricting higher calorie foods such as fast foods, processed foods and restaurant foods, which often have excess calories as fat and sugar, it is likely that following her diet would in fact lead to weight loss for most people.
She pointed out that it is basically a whole food diet and includes all the major food groups except grain. A little whole grain is recommended every day, she said it would be good to add something like whole wheat crackers for additional fiber.
Magee also consumes electrolytes with her meals and Johnston said they’re good for you. It’s just important to make sure you’re not consuming sugary drinks with electrolytes such as Gatorade. There are alternative electrolyte rich waters that are sugar-free, which are better options.
Is the mustard cottage cheese diet bad for you?
Overall, this diet is not bad, though it may get a bit monotonous.
Johnston said you can eat any food you want; you just have to reduce the portion size. Having one slice of pizza instead of four or having half a cup of pasta is a better alternative and let’s you enjoy the foods you want to consume.
“Everyone needs to go into their kitchen and pull out a measuring cup and just remind themselves what a half a cup is,” Johnston said. “Because for most of our foods, except for fruits and vegetables … a serving is closer to a half a cup.” With vegetables, the recommended serving size is one cup.
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What does cottage cheese and mustard taste like?
I conducted my own taste test of this popular trend, and the results were interesting.
Looking at one of Magee’s most popular TikToks, I chose to buy similar ingredients from Trader Joes.
I purchased chicken apple sausage, carrots, strawberries, heart of palm, broccoli, yellow mustard and cottage cheese.
I cooked the sausages on the stove following directions on the back of the package. I then set up my bowl to look similar to hers, adding a heaping amount of cottage cheese and mustard.
Upon first glance, this bowl was super colorful, inviting and aesthetically pleasing. The real test would be how it all tasted together.
I first tried the sausage with just mustard, how Magee often does, and that was delicious, as expected. Sausage and mustard is a very common combination. I then dipped the sausage into the cottage cheese and mustard and honestly the cottage cheese wasn’t very noticeable.
I moved on to the heart of palm, which I had never tried before. I first tried it by itself and immediately did not like it, it was way too sour and had an odd slimy texture. I tried it with the mustard and cottage cheese and it, admittedly, tasted better as the mustard and cottage cheese combination disguised the flavor.
Next was the broccoli and that was fine with the mustard and cottage cheese combo, no big shocker there.
I believe I enjoyed the carrot with it most because of the crunch and the bit of sweetness coming from the vegetable itself.
I ate a bite of the strawberry and then dipped it in the mustard and cottage cheese. I discovered that I do not like strawberries with cottage cheese and mustard. What a surprise.
Overall, this meal was a bit better than I thought it would be. It felt more like I was snacking rather than eating an actual meal. I went into it with low expectations and had some happy surprises.
However, after a stomach ache the next morning. I decided that it would be my first and last time making a meal of raw produce with mustard and cottage cheese. There are just better ways to eat a whole food diet, like chopping the veggies and roasting them, eating strawberries on their own and keeping mustard pairings on the savory side.
If anything this meal left me craving some nice warm bread with butter or a big heaping bowl of pasta. Skipping out on the grains is not for me. And mustard on fruit? I'd really rather not.
Reach the reporter atdina.kaur@arizonarepublic.com. Follow@dina_kauron Twitter.
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