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.

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.

If you want to lose weight, you need to have 6 small protein meals a day and your carb intake cannot be higher than 50-100g of carbs.  Sometimes getting those in-between breakfast, lunch and dinner snacks can be hard.

Costco now has a new product.  It is an Orgain protein drink with 21g of protein, is Organic, tastes like Chocolate (better chilled) and is 1 net carb with ZERO grams of sugar.  They used to only have the powder available and now it is in ready-to-go bottles in a box.  They have the Vanilla Bean version online (chocolate is in the store by the Ensure drinks) and the Vanilla one is $49.99 for a box of 24, with 16 grams of protein.

I tried it.  Not bad for a ready-to-go protein drink and it sure cuts the cravings down until you have your next meal.  I recommend this product because it has chocolate and because it is LOW in carbs.

I bought these on Monday.  I was super excited.  I was impressed that they had everything that I like.

They have protein (6 grams)

They have nuts, they are high fiber (7 grams)

They are low carb 14 grams) and that means that 14g of carbs minus 7 grams of fiber is only 7 net carbs.  

They have chocolate!!

They have sea salt, yet are low sodium(110 grams).

They are very similar to Kind bars, except that you get 30 bars in the box for under $17 and they are less carbs, as far as I know.

I have to say that they are delicious.  Not too big, and the right amount of chocolate, sea salt and nuts.  AND a great low cal protein for your one of six protein snacks (meals) per day.

And they are kosher too!

I recommend them highly!

I have not been on here much lately.  Last year was one of my toughest.  My husband and I were remodeling and had a dear friend in a financial pinch who needed financial help, which set us back terribly financially for a bit.  Every month was scary and my husband was so on edge, that I did all I could to protect him from the minutia of anything that wasn’t remodel or work related.  So,  I had been through a lot with my own family and I help my relationship with my in-law in huge regard and importance in my life.  I believed that there were any issues to resolve (after 27 years–had no real issues, so pretty good track record), but she got her panties in a twist about something rather small and misconstrued, didn’t want to work it out and ran away.  Ok, it really knocked me down for awhile, as it was truly such a horribly crushing way to treat someone you have known for a quarter of a century and who is related to you.

Have you ever been so knocked down that you just need to be alone?  Didn’t really feel very connected in the past year….too much stress.  Got a new part-time job teaching too!   Last week, my ex-boyfriend (from my youth) passed away from a bad heart.  It really knocked me for a loop.  I am now back here because he died from lack of self care all of these years.

So, let’s talk about self-care.  Do you do it?  It isn’t all about weight, but some of it leads to weight issues or loss.  My ex didn’t exercise, worked too much, smoked, got heavy, became diabetic, did very little self-care, ate crappy food.  He ended up with major blockage of arteries and didn’t survive long after the triple by-pass.  He was only 51!  He left behind a 12-year-old and wife.

How to Get Started on Self Care!

1.  Find a reason to start self-care.  This is the hardest part.  Do you have a spouse, child, ailing parent, good friends–who will suffer due to your death?  If someone relies on you for money, comfort, love, friendship, rearing–you owe it to them to do all you can to be healthy so you can live to a ripe old age and not be so disabled that you need THEM to help you.  How about doing it for yourself?  You will look and feel better, but also keep yourself from being so disabled that you lose your independence to get around.  Some people are so heavy already or ill that they think, what difference does it make? Well, it can!  Watch this!  (Four inspirational minutes!)  https://vimeo.com/41271653
2. Find a diet like Paleo, Mediterranean. Low-Carb–and do it.  My suggestions for how to do it is in the first month of this blog.  Go back into the history of Skinny-Rules.com.
3. Realize that you might be addicted to sugar/carbs and detox!   You might not realize that what causes your cravings and your addiction to sweets, chocolate, carbs is exactly the same was what drug addicts go through. Your brain has been rewarded with what sugar does to it so that you feel temporarily happy and good,  You need detox. It will be hard for the first three days as you detox and feel crappy.  Better to have a detox crappy feeling for three days (and then you will start to feel awesome) than to continually be overweight, unhealthy and leading yourself to early illness, disability or death.  Here is a great book for this process.  http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Sugar-Solution-10-Day-Detox-ebook/dp/B00CO7FIOU
4. Portion control.  Use smaller plates and you should be having 4 ounces or so of a protein (meat/eggs) and a small serving of vegetables and try to avoid starchy carb veggies–potatoes, peas, corn, etc.  Remember the saying, “Pigs get fed, “Hogs get slaughtered.”  Don’t be a hog.
5. Good nutritional supplements! You need to take a good multi-vitamin and mineral and probiotics to help balance out your gut flora to help stop the cravings.  Here is a good site to help explain how to end sugar cravings!   You will also feel better too.   http://paleoforwomen.com/how-probiotics-put-an-end-to-my-sugar-cravings/
6. Do some form of exercise.  Walk, run, take the stairs park further in parking lots, walk the dog, swim, Zumba, PIlates, Yoga.  MOVE.  I know that you think it is boring and work, but if you found something that you liked to do, you would do it more.  I have a friend who does 5K races so that she is motivated to get ready for them.  
7. Find time to relax and replenish.  Everyone needs a day to rest!   There several ways to practice this type of self-care.  It involves: emotional, physical, spiritual,  relational, and mental ways.

8.  AND JUST REMEMBER:   As you do self-care, you will find that a side effect is that you will lose weight and look and feel better too!  It is so empowering and you will be in a better place for others in your life.  Live past 51!

TIME FOR ME TO DO AN HOUR ON THE ELLIPTICAL and surf the net on my IPAD!