Discovered two Keto chocolate products at Costco

Keto chocolate

I have eaten both of these and they are good. You can tell there is less sugar, but it still tastes good. Chocolate brownie and Chocolate peanut butter. It is cheaper at Costco and they are delish. The bars are larger and 3 net carbs. These cups are 1 net carbs. Available at Wal-mart and Amazon, but Costco is cheaper. Low protein, but the chocolate at least is low carb and won’t mess up your weight loss, unless you eat an entire box in one sitting. One a day is good.

Low Carb Pasta | Sugar Free and Gluten Free Pasta–That Tastes Good!

​Diabetic, KETO, low carb pasta that tastes good!​ It is even kosher, keto and paleo!  It is called, Palmini!
  • Palmini is a low carb pasta substitute made 100% out of a natural plant known as Hearts of Palm. When this plant is cut and cooked in the proper way, it’s resemblance to regular noodles is remarkable. Not only does it look like pasta, but it can also taste like pasta if you add the proper sauce!
I ate this ​LOW carb healthy pasta ​with some spaghetti sauce and meatballs at a restaurant that was ​recommended on Yelp.   It was really good.​  I would like to make it at home.  You have to follow the directions on how to wash it before you eat it.  I think it is already cooked, but you have to soak it in milk or something before you heat it up.  But, it was really tasty and no after taste.  
 
Story on it here:
 
​It is on Amazon and get this–Wal-mart– and you can buy it online and get free shipping  at Amazon, or Wal-mart, if you spend more than $35.  Compare prices!
One can here, but they have it in bulk too
There is lasagna too.
I haven’t had pasta in ages and now I can.  I am so happy!
pasta.jpgpalmini.jpg

Low Carb DELISH Easy Pancakes and Waffles

More and more products are coming out that make it easier for the low-carb dieter.  Some of them have not been very good tasting.  However, I saw a pancake and waffle mix that was PALEO at Costco one day and I thought I would try it.  It is called Birch Benders and it is made with coconut flour.  Very easy to make with water and I didn’t even need to put butter on it because it already tasted buttery.  These are very low-carb and will work with a low-carb diet.  Two decent sized cakes are 16g of carbs minus 5 g of fiber is 11g net carbs!  If you want to stay between 50 and 100g of carbs a day and you really feel like some pancakes, this is a decent alternative.

paleopancakes.jpg

paleonutrition.png

So, Costco is hit or miss on this product.  I looked it up online and apparently you can get it at Target, but I think more of the Target.com (online) because I could not see it at my local Target.  It is also available on Amazon.com.  They are really good and fluffy and I really didn’t miss the wheat flour version of cakes.

In my search of different places to buy Birch Benders mix, I saw that they now make a frozen waffle!  They have all kinds–Buttermilk, Protein, etc….but the one you want for low-carb, made from coconut flour is the PALEO version.  I looked on their website for a location and near me, it said Whole Foods, Ralphs, Target, and Sprouts.  I didn’t look at Ralphs yet, but Target and Whole Foods–couldn’t see it.  One Sprouts was out (there was a sale), but the one closest to my house had it.  I bought it and I tasted it today.  It was really good!  I put my low-carb syrup on it that I got from Ralph’s market and had it and again, low-carb and tasted like any other frozen waffle.  So, if you want you or your kids to eat a quick carby breakfast item, they are better off with this lower-carb, coconut flour version of a frozen waffle.  It didn’t even taste dietetic.

Thumbs up.

image1.jpegpaleo.jpg

Freshly Baked Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Keto Cookies

Total Time: 10m
Yield: 5 large or 10 small

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 F. Stir dry ingredients very well (so you don’t end up biting into a clump of baking soda!). Add wet to form a dough. Shape into cookies – I used a cookie scoop to first form balls and then shape into cookies. Place on a cookie tray, and bake on the center rack 10-12 minutes. Let cool an additional 10 minutes before handling, as they are very delicate at first but firm up completely once cool.

Nutrition:

nutrtion

Sheet of uncooked cookies:  (used a tad more almond flour)

ketocookiesoft

Cooked!

ketocookiecooked.jpg

 

These are good cookies.  Obviously, not as sweet and as exciting as a regular sugar/carb loaded chocolate chip cookie…but with the chocolate and the chewiness, I am happy!  Great with milk or coffee.  I used Truvia.  Obviously, regular sugar is tastier, but I want to lose weight and still get a cookie fix!

 

Low Carb Cauliflower Pizza Crust? Too Good to be True?

I make homemade cauliflower pizza crust pizza.  It is not that hard to do.  Takes about 10 minutes to make one and then the cooking time is not long.  It is even easier if you buy already riced up cauliflower in a bag from a store like Trader Joes, Costco, etc. and it is not expensive at all.

I have a recipe that I have used to make a pizza with Cauliflower crust.  It is really good.  http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/08/the-astonishing-cauliflower-pizza-crust-you-have-to-taste-it-to-believe-it.html

Below is my caulfilower-based home-made Margherita pizza and salad that I shared with my husband.  Less than 5g of carbs per half of that 9 inch pizza.  Totally delish and low carb.  The base was delish and didn’t miss the pizza crust.

DID YOU READ THAT RIGHT?  5g of carbs per HALF of a pizza!

AND LOOK AT HOW GOOD MY PIZZA LOOKS!  Tasted good too.  You can do whatever toppings you like.  I make mine margherita style.

Because the base is mostly cauliflower and cheese….it is low carb!

PRE-MADE CAULIFLOWER-BASED CRUSTS:

But what about the already-made cauliflower pizza crusts out there at the stores?  Costco has them, Trader Joes and now Green Giant has one.

greengiant

Green Giant is no different than many of the others out there that are pre-made.  The slices are made to be able to be strong and stiff like regular pizza crust (My pure cauliflower home-made one is not that solid, so you can’t hold it and need a knife and fork–but it is low carb.

Green Giant says that their crust is low-carb.  I have news for you, it isn’t low-carb, it is just lower than regular pizza crust. It  is 16g of carbs per quarter of the whole pie.  If you eat the whole pie, it is 64g of carbs.  Yes, there is no wheat, but it is only 80 percent cauliflower and the rest is a bunch of stiffeners and junk.  Such as:  Rice Flour, Corn Starch, Corn Flour, Corn Meal (I never recommend corn in a diet at all because of all of the starch in it!) and that crappy oil–Canola Oil (what the hell is a Canola anyway?)

Now, don’t get me wrong.  A regular wheat pizza crust is way more carbs.  1/4 of a pizza crust from Trader Joes is approximately about 50g of carbs.  So, that is a lot!  If you eat the whole thing, you eat about 200g of carbs.  No wonder people on My 600 Pound Life are able to keep the weight on so much.  For many of them, their food of choice is pizza.

On this diet, if you eat between 50 and 100g of carbs per day, a quarter of a wheat-based pizza could ruin everything.  So, 16g of carbs of an already-made cauliflower-based pizza crust seems great and especially for those who are gluten and/or wheat sensitive.  However, I still think that is a lot of carbs if you want to lose weight.

Remember, if you make a cauliflower and cheese pizza crust from the recipe above, you can eat the entire damn pizza for about 10g of deliciousness.

CPK:

My husband convinced me to go to California Pizza Kitchen for their new cauliflower-based pizza.  I was excited to go somewhere, where I could get someone to cook for me and it be pizza without wheat.

Again, the nutrition on this pizza crust was same issue with how many carbs and filler are in their crust–not much different than the pre-made ones at the markets.  It tasted ok, but I felt like I was definitely going to have to spend two days to just get my weight back in order and sure enough–that is what happened.  So, I don’t really recommend it for a diet, but for those who can’t eat wheat and want just a slice if they are weight conscious–it was good.  I happen to like my caulfilower base better and I can eat more.

 

CPK Nutrition Facts
Cauliflower Crust
Serving Size:
serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories from Fat 126
Calories 560
% Daily Value*

Total Fat 14grams

Saturated Fat 8rams

Trans Fat 0rams

Cholesterol 50

Sodium 1050

Total Carbohydrates 85grams

Dietary Fiber 4grams

Sugars 4grams
Protein 16
All in all, I won’t be eating this again for a long time and I will stick to eating meatballs and salad at Italian places, and eating my homemade cauliflower-based pizzas at home.
I hope this information was helpful.

 

The Confusion Over Sugar in Yogurt!

I met someone who is upset that their child eats candy.  However, this same person thinks that Yoplait yogurt is a healthier choice.  The food industry has certainly fooled and convinced a lot of people that the items that they buy are healthy, when in fact, they are not.  People have no idea how to read labels.  Now, I am not a perfect label reader and yes, I am guilty of using sugar substitutes, which are NOT healthy.  HOWEVER, this blog is about weight loss and keeping weight off and not health.  But, I will try to cover both a little here.

So, let’s look  at it.

Yoplait Mixed Berry:  This has about 4-5 tablespoons of sugar in it (not much protein either)

yoplait

 

Calories 150 Sodium 95 mg
Total Fat 2 g Potassium 230 mg
Saturated 1 g Total Carbs 25 g
Polyunsaturated 0 g Dietary Fiber 0 g
Monounsaturated 0 g Sugars 18 g
Trans 0 g Protein 6 g
Cholesterol 10 mg
Vitamin A 15% Calcium 20%
Vitamin C 2% Iron 4%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

A Kit Kat bar:  This has about 5-6 tablespoons of sugar in it

 kitkat

  1. Servings:
    1 bar/4 fingers
Calories 230 Sodium 35 mg
Total Fat 12 g Potassium 0 mg
Saturated 7 g Total Carbs 29 g
Polyunsaturated 0 g Dietary Fiber 1 g
Monounsaturated 0 g Sugars 22 g
Trans 0 g Protein 3 g
Cholesterol 5 mg
Vitamin A 2% Calcium 6%
Vitamin C 0% Iron 8%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily

  1. Servings:  1 bar/4 fingers

So,  is saying no to the candy bar in favor of a yogurt really necessary if the sugar is about the same?  Maybe you should just eat the damn Kit Kat if you are going to eat that much sugar…..but if you want ot watch sugar in your diet, you have to read labels!!

If you want to give yogurt to your child, it would be better to find  one low in sugar and possibly has the probiotics in it.  The plain ones have the least amount  of sugar, but not everyone can eat the plain one.

List of yogurts who have probiotics:

Here are some common brands that have lactobacillus acidophilus:
  • Chobani.
  • Dannon.
  • Yoplait.
  • Fage.
  • Stonyfield.
  • Siggi.

List of yogurts, which have low sugar:

This is a link to a list of yogurts to eat instead of what you have been eating:

Better yogurt choices

I have also written that the best tasting low sugar yogurt is this one:

Low sugar, high protein: (mostly the same for all flavors)

 

SO, the point is to read the labels and get to know what you are eating!  Sugar can be disguised in healthy looking packages!

 

FRUIT IS HEALTHY, BUT WATCH OUT……

Newest craze:  Acai bowls. Acai smoothies also!  Any fruit bowl or smoothie–same issues!

Yes, they are delish!  But, if you want to lose weight or maintain weight, you can’t eat these!  You can get one, have about 3 or 4 bites and then pass it on to someone else.

 

acai

On a healthy diet, you should not go beyond two small fruits a day if you want to maintain weight or lose it.

FRUIT is healthier than a candy bar, but fruit has SUGAR.  Any sugar will convert to carbs, then add fat to your body if you supersede 50-100 g of carbs per day.

So, educated yourselves and stop eating things just because people say it is healthy.

Too much sugar is not healthy.

Ex:

  1. Planet Smoothie 18-oz Acai smoothie: 370 calories, 10 grams fat, 43 grams sugar
  2. Robek’s 14-0z Acai Especial Bowl: 385 calories, 5 grams fat, 69 grams sugar
  3. Jamba Juice power size Acai Super Antioxidant: 560 calories, 7 grams fat, 92 grams sugar

truth about acai bowls

 

Eat two small fruits a day and stay thin!