Diet Conclusions

I saw my doctor yesterday and the low carb diet brought my cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetic numbers all down to very good ranges. I didn't lose very much weight. So I think I need to continue this way of eating as I'm doing it to keep those numbers down, but the weight loss is going to be very slow and could even stop unless I do more.

My next phase isn't till next week and I plan to add exercise. We've had a few nice days and I could start walking. My doctor suggest I walk inside a large store like Walmart on cold days. I also plan to continue to try and eat more veggies and drink water. I have been a real slug lately so the exercise may make a difference.

I decided if I'm going to eat this way long term I need to have a day once in a while, with a treat. I think that will help me to stick to the no starch, no sugar.

Linda

Diet Update

I lost a couple of pounds this time. In this next phase I'm going to cut down on the dairy which is mainly cheese for me. I don't want to cut it out completely but cheese is my go to snack on this low carb diet and just like the nuts you can overdo a good thing.  I also am going to say no food of any kind after 7pm.

I've been trying to have salads, but on cold days they don't appeal so I'm going back to making some veggie soups to get more vegs.

Linda

Diet Update

Well last week I didn't do so well on the sweets due to my birthday and Valentines Day, so I didn't end up losing any weight. So I'm getting back on track with no sweets or fruit to try and lose my sweet cravings. I was doing good before my birthday.

The next 2 weeks phase 3 of my diet I'm going to exclude nuts. I read an article about what to do if you're not losing weight on a low carb diet and they suggested cutting out the nuts, so no baking with almond flour either.

I try to add something as well as take away and I'm trying to include more meat. When I want a snack it will be protein of some kind meat or cheese. Yesterday I had smoked salmon. I'm also continuing to try and drink more water and eat more veggies. I do better when I have a salad for lunch/dinner.

Linda

Diet Update-Sweets

 I've done well on no starch but have not lost weight so now I'm going to concentrate on no sugar.  I'm going to go back to stevia for my sweetener of choice, no honey and no coconut sugar and see if that makes a difference. NuNaturals is the brand we like for a better taste, Stevia can have a bitter aftertaste.

 Fruit is also high in carbs and so I'll stick to the low carb berries, no banana, no dried fruit,except no sugar dried cranberries.

 Dark chocolate is another place I get some sugar and so will try to only use the very very dark chocolate.

I try to also increase something good so I'm not just focused on not eating certain foods. So I need to continue to increase veggies. I've been having a salad every day and a serving a vegs. with my scrambled eggs for breakfast.

 I also also want to work on water again. I drink a lot of tea and I want to replace some of that with water.

Linda

Fennel Apple Juice

My afternoon juice. I made this one up myself.

Fennel Apple Juice

1 granny smith apple
1 braeburn apple
1 fennel bulb
1 zucchini
1 knob of ginger

Linda

Citrus Green Juice

This was my morning juice today.

Citrus Green Juice

6-8 leaves Kale
6-8 leaves Chard
1 Cucumber
2 Oranges (peeled)

My juice looks dark this time because I used dark red kale.
These juices all come from Reboot Your Life.

I lost 1 lb yesterday.

Linda

Banana Strawberry Smoothie

After a veggie stir fry I had a smoothie for dessert.

Banana Strawberry Smoothie

1/2 banana
1 c. strawberries
1 c. coconut milk
a few drops of stevia ( I added a little stevia because the banana wasn't very ripe and the coconut milk is unsweetened)

The original idea came from here.

Linda

Gazpacho Juice

Mid afternoon I had this juice

Gazpacho Juice

4 Plum Tomatoes
1 large Cucumber
2 stalks Celery
1 Red Bell Pepper
1/4 small Red Onion

The recipe also had 2 cups of parsley and 1 lime but last time I made this juice I didn't like it and so I left out the parsley and I didn't have a lime. I think it would have been better with some lime but maybe not a whole one and as I said I've learned to peel citrus the rind is bitter.

I had some rice crackers with fake cream cheese with it.

For lunch I had the rest of the green soup I made. I'm finding I feel satisfied now that I'm having a little food with my juice.

Linda

Mean Green Juice

This is my mid morning juice

Mean Green

1 cucumber (I used a Persian one from Trader Joe's)
4 celery stalks
2 apples
6-8 leaves of kale
1/2 lemon (I learned to remove the rind which can be bitter)
1 tbsp. ginger (I used a small piece of fresh)


I ate some almonds with this.

Linda

Carrot Apple Juice

I thought I'd share some of my juices with you. Today I'm having this

Apple Carrot Juice

3 carrots
2 apples
1 small knob of ginger (if you're not use to ginger start with a small piece, it can be hot) (now that I'm use to it I love the ginger)

I'm experimenting with the idea that if you have protein and fat with high carb it slows down the absorption. So I'm having a couple of eggs with my juice.

Liinda

Coconut Curried Sweet Potato and Forks over Knives

I made Coconut Curried Sweet Potato last night. I would like to try it another time with the Moroccan spice mixture in the chicken recipe I tried here.

Coconut Curried Sweet Potato
 1 medium sweet potato, washed
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 small clove garlic, finely minced
1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. ginger (or 1/4 tsp fresh minced) I used the dry ginger powder
1/8 tsp. turmeric
1/8 tsp. cilantro (coriander)-I used coriander
1/8 tsp. cumin

Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Wash potato. Pierce with fork.
Bake potato 45-60 minutes or until tender
Scoop out potato into a bowl and add coconut milk and spices.
Mash well and stir. I used a food processor. I also added salt.

I watched this video Forks over Knives. It about eating a plant based diet and it was very interesting. It has given me the boost I needed to continue with the juicing and veggies and to really consider if I want to go back to eating meat. I always felt with the diabetes I had to eat low carb, but a couple of people on this video reversed there diabetes with this plant based diet, no animal products.

Linda

Green Vegetable Soup

Last night I made Green Vegetable Soup. I decided to add eggs back into my diet, so I garnished with a hard boiled egg. It had a nice flavor but was very light. The eggs gave it a bit more to fill me up.

Green Vegetable Soup

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 Leeks, white and light green parts, thinly sliced
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 head Broccoli, trimmed to small florets (I assumed they meant 1 piece of Broccoli)
2 medium Zucchini, cut into half moons
1 head Spinach, roughly chopped (I used baby spinach so I just did a couple of cups and I didn't bother to chop it.)
4 leaves Basil
1 tsp. Sea Salt (I just threw some in and added some after cook, to taste)
1/2 tsp. fresh ground Pepper (same as salt, to taste)
6 cups water
3 Tbsp. fresh Basil, chopped

In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the leeks and garlic and saute for 3 minutes. Add the broccoli, zucchini, spinach, basil, salt and pepper. Stir and cook for 5 minutes. Add the water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped basil.

Makes 4-6 servings

Per serving
Calories 128
Protein 5g
Fiber 4g

This recipe from Reboot Your Life.

By the way as for as a weight loss diet it's not doing much for me, but other people have had good luck with it. I'm doing it mainly now for health reasons.

 I'm going to go down to 1 juice a day and I plan to get a Vitamix so I will switch to that which will keep in the fiber although you can strain it out. I think the fiber will be better for me, but I can't do all the veggies with my Bullet. It works pretty well with the kale and other greens, but I want to be able to do harder veggies like celery, carrot or fennel. My Costco is getting the Vitamix in the end of July so I'm getting one this time.

Linda

Vegetable Platter with Honey Soy Dressing

This is what I had for dinner last night. The dressing made the dish. I've been wanting to know how to make some Asian sauces and this one is really easy and good. I held back a little on the fresh ginger and garlic because I know they can be hot but it was not hot at all so next time I'll add more. Here is the recipe from Reboot You Life for the dressing.

Ginger Honey Soy Dressing

2 Tbsp. Minced Fresh Ginger
2 Tbsp. Minced Fresh Garlic
2 Tbsp. Raw Honey (I used Agave)
4 Tbsp. Tamari (I used soy sauce)
4 Tbsp. Olive Oil (I was thinking a dash of sesame oil would be good too)

Puree the first four ingredients in a blender. With the blinder running slowly add the oil until the dressing is emulsified. Keep up to 1 week in the refrigerator.

Makes 5-6 servings
Per serving

Calories 133
Protein 0.5 g
Fiber 0 g

I had left over veggies and I plan to put them into a salad and use the left over sauce for the salad dressing.

Tonight I'm making a green soup.

Linda

Veggie Meals

Well I ended my juice fast a little early, because of some issues I was having, but I'm going to transition now into veggie meals for a while. Reboot Your Life has some great recipes. There are a lot of juices, of course, but near the end of that list are veggie meals, salads and veggie soups. So there is lots to try.

I plan to continue to juice daily, one or two times. I'm going to start off with juice for breakfast. I didn't feel very well while I was juicing, but they say if you stick with it you will get over that. I think with my diabetes and intestinal issues I'm better off with less juice and some food.

Here is one of their salad recipes-

Arugula Spinach Salad and Mustard Vinaigrette Dressing

1 cups Arugula
1 cup Spinach
1/3 Avocado
!/2 cup thinly sliced red Onion
1/2 cup chopped Tomato
1/2 cup Jicama

Mustard Vinaigrette

1/3 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp. Grain mustard
2/3 cups Cold Pressed Olive Oil
Sea Salt & fresh ground Pepper to taste

I made the vinaigrette and it was good.

Linda

Juice Fasting

I'm on my second day of a 3 day juice fast. Passionate Homemaker did a post on her morning juice with a link to this site Reboot Your Life. I watched the video and was motivated and inspired to give it a try. I've been wanting to do more with juicing because I like the fresh taste. I found out that the idea behind juicing as apposed to smoothies is you can't drink that much produce and therefore nutrients in a smoothie because of all the fiber. Now smoothies are good too because of the fiber. It just depends on what you are trying to accomplish. I think making both a part of my diet would be very good.

I was concerned about it being too much fruit but they have a forum and one of the threads is for diabetics. I just am using less fruit and more veggies. They actually say 70/30. On the site there are several plans including some where you eat part of your veggies and fruit.

I think after I finish the three days I will eat some vegan meals and see how it goes. I may try again one of the longer fasts in a few weeks. Right now I don't think I can do more than 3 days.

My doctor said at my last apt. that if I can lose the weight I gained recently that we would try reducing my diabetes meds. so that is my motivation. What I was trying to do wasn't working so fingers crossed.

Linda

Cranberries-Soluble Fiber

My GI doctor told me to start taking Benefiber. As you know I'm on a gluten-free diet. The first ingredient in Benefiber is wheat! I researched fiber and found out what I need is soluble fiber and cranberries were listed as a source. Last fall I froze several bag of them and I was thinking I should do something with them.

This article at About.com talks about the benefits of cranberries and has several low carb recipes. There is a recipe for sugar free dried cranberries that I made the Cranberry Vinaigrette. It was pretty good.

Linda

Paleo What Is It?

photo from Google Images

Here is a chart that explains it very well. It is also called the Caveman's Diet. Primal is another name that's used. I'm not interested in their philosophy, but this way of eating fits in fairly well with what I'm doing. Not all Paleo recipes are dairy free and grain free, but many of them are. I think some people just aren't ready yet to go there yet. What I like about it is that they use whole foods and aren't afraid of good fats. They eat a lot of meat and don't do that much baking. It's meat and veggies which is what I'm suppose to be eating.

Here are a couple of blogs here Mastering the Art of Paleo Cooking and here The Food Lovers Primal Palate. I got their cookbook out of the library and it was pretty good.


Linda

Purple

I'm so happy my week of jury duty is over and I didn't end up having to go in. I was so stressed about this. My gluten-free diet seems to be working. I'm going to add some favorite gluten-free web sites to my side bar. I tried some flax bread that was gluten-free in the freezer section of my grocery store. It was kind of dry, but OK if I'm desperate for a piece of bread. It is gluten-free but not that low in carbs. I have some recipes for flax bread that I've been wanting to try when I get in the mood to cook.

I started another butler book "Why Shoot the Butler" by Georgette Heyer. It's a mystery. I've never read any of her books before, but have wanted to. So far I like it. My gd and I have been watching "Emma, A Victorian Romance". It is a Japanese anime story with subtitles in English. Anyway it is the story of a maid and an upper class young man that fall in love and are kept apart by his father. She gets a job in a manor house and so you get to see the life of the servants.

 Now I'm getting into Robin Hood and King Arthur. I just watched a BBC series of Robin Hood. It's a more youthful take on Robin Hood and I'm not sure I like it other than Richard Armetage of "North and South" is in it. I'm going to try the version with Mathew McFadden as the sheriff  (sorry if I'm spelling these names wrong. I'm too lazy to look them up) and Russell Crow plays Robin Hood.

It's been raining cats and dogs today, so I'm curling up with my book tonight. Have a great weekend. Linda 

Gluten-free Diet and More Butler Stories

This is a beautiful hand painted candle my gd made for me for Christmas. I put it in a bed of lavender buds on one of my favorite platters from Portugal. This is on my coffee table.

We had a lovely luncheon get together today to celebrate my birthday. Thankyou wonderful family.

I'm now doing gluten-free to try and help my tummy issues, plus we've changed some of my medications. I tried doing gluten-free once before but I didn't really get all the gluten out of my diet. I'm already on a low carb diet, but sometimes I cheat, so no more cheating. I'm learning about all the things that have gluten in them besides baked items, like soy sauce, canned soups. So I'm reading labels and have a list of ingredients to look for. Simple Gluten-free has some good information under new the gf, at the top of the page. Gluten-free Goddess has a page on how the go gluten-free. Because of my low carb diet I'm not trying to do gluten-free breads. I make that sort of thing out of almond flour which has no grain or carbs in it. I've already lost some weight also. The challenge is that I really have to make everything from scratch, even more than I was doing. So far I'm feeling better, but will see how it goes this week. Unfortunately I've been called for jury duty. I asked to be excused but apparently wasn't.

I'm continuing to read and watch butler movies and books. The last one I watched was "Remains of the Day" which was about a butler and a housemaid that were in love but felt they couldn't acknowledge it, at least he felt that way. My dd got the Downton Abby dvd's, so I've seen the whole thing now, but I won't spill the beans. I'm reading another Daisy Dalrymple mystery, but when I finish that I'm going to read "Carry on, Jeeves" by P.G. Wodehouse. It's about a manservant and his boss, not quite the same as servants in a manor house.

Have a great weekend.
Linda

Tablescape and Why We Get Fat

I created this little tablescape because I was in the mood for something a little cozier. It felt a little bare before. The plate at the back I got at an antique store at the beach, my one treat.  I finally put my A/C on this afternoon. I've been trying to do without it and we've had very few warm days, but I just don't feel well when it gets above 70. That's why I live in the pacific northwest. I also don't sleep well when it's warm in the house. We usually have a breeze that keeps things comfortable but not today.                                                                                                                       

I've been reading a book called "Why We Get Fat" by Gary Taubes. It is confirming that low carb is the way to go. It's interesting because it talks about how this has been known for years. The food police have been against low carb and for low fat. Well it is because of diabetes that I learned the truth. My problem is that even though I know it, it's not easy to do. It has been a gradually process for me. I really learned a lot from this book about how our bodies work and I understand better now why I don't want to eat the things I should and why I can't seem to get below a certain point. I hope with this knowledge I'll be motivated to succeed in losing the rest of the weight I want to lose.


I've also been watching the Lord of the Rings DVDs and all the extra info about making the movies has been really interesting. I'm just amazed by what they put into these movies, the detail work in every area. Peter Jackson really went for it and all the actors put their all into it also. They all came to love the story if they weren't already a fan. It really helped me to appreciate the books even more. The movies are kind of gross, but the story still has a good message.

Linda