Turns out that Quest has great tasting chips. Today, I had the Ranch Tortilla Chips. OMG. They were delish. 19g of protein, 4 net carbs for the whole bag. So delish. I am going to try the other flavors (one … Continue reading
Costco is now selling these cheese wraps to use to wrap your meat, your burrito, or whatever you want to wrap like a burrito. I bought them and they are very good! 1 g of carbs per slice. You can’t … Continue reading
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.
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.
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:
Sheet of uncooked cookies: (used a tad more almond flour)
Cooked!
This is a re-post of my talk about Thanksgiving meals. However, I want to add that I am making a delish low-carb and healthy side dish this year that is different. I am making the Barefoot Contessa’s Balsamic-Roasted Brussels sprouts with Pancetta (ham). It looks amazing. I had something similar at my favorite Italian restaurant and I loved it. I will let you know how it came out ! DELISH roasted brussels sprouts and here is the video of her making it. the video There are 8 g of carbs in brussels spouts for a cup of them. There are 3.3 g of fiber in a cup of Brussels sprouts. So, net carbs is 4.7 g per cup. So much healthier than pumpkin pie and so filling and delish, you won’t have room for the pumpkin pie.
So, the rest of the Thanksgiving Blog…..
I have talked to many people about Thanksgiving food. I am not sure how it came to be that a holiday designed to give thanks and spend time with relatives–has now somehow turned into a carbolicious food fest.
A few years ago, I went to my husband’s cousin’s house for Thanksgiving. I had a tough time finding something decent to eat. The turkey was ok, but there was no salad. There were green beans, but they were smothered in horrible bad GMO Velveeta cheese and not some kind of low-fat bovine growth hormone-free cheese. And there were those horrible processed onion things were on top. There was white bread in unhealthy fattening stuffing, cranberry sauce (sugar fest), white GMO dinner rolls, margarine (where is the organic butter?) and nasty box-made mashed potatoes. No wonder people get fat. Then, there is pie! One small slice of pumpkin pie alone is 300 calories. I think the average amount of calories eaten at Thanksgiving dinner tops 1500, easy.
AND DON’T GET ME STARTED ON THE SUPER-SIZED PORTIONS THAT PEOPLE SERVE THEMSELVES, AND MORE THAN ONE!
Here is what most of the portions looked like at the cousin’s house (throw in a non-nutritious dinner roll):
Next is the proper size of a “Traditional Thanksgiving Meal–made in a more healthy way–and the right measured out portions. At least if you eat this, you will not gain a lot of weight. (4 ounces of protein and keep in mind, only 50-100g of carbs per day. More on the veggies, less on the stuffing and potatoes. In this picture–turkey, a touch of stuffing with mushrooms, just a splash of cranberries (not the canned stuff), and a serving of veggies. Perfect!
It takes 30 minutes of running fast for 3 miles to burn 300 calories, and about an hour to do fast walking to lose 300 calories. You would have to walk for 5 hours to burn off that dinner. It could take many days of exercise to burn off that meal.
What I had for Thanksgiving:
For breakfast, I had a Western Bagel Perfect 10 low carb bagel with egg and cheese on it.
I made turkey meatballs and sauce with spaghetti squash for lunch.
For dinner, my husband and I had the sliced turkey breast that we bought the day before. We had a little gravy and had some great grilled asparagus and baby broccoli, with a great salad with cheese. A nice normal sized portion too.
And my snacks in between were nuts and a protein bar.
For after-dinner dessert, I had low carb ice cream.
I was full, satisfied and happy. I didn’t gain a pound. I will do something similar for Christmas.
If I am stuck at a person’s house again:
I will either eat before I get there and just have some turkey.
I also could ask the host in advance if there are going to be vegetables and salad, and if not, I will bring my own.
**I have NO qualms or embarrassment that I have to eat a certain way. If you are embarrassed, you can just say it is for “doctor’s orders for more greens.”**
You should never have to gain weight or make yourself sick with wheat products, gluten or excessive carbs to make others feel comfortable.
If someone gets their panties in a twist over it, they either do NOT give a damn about you and your quest to be skinny, of they feel guilty because they wish THEY could go on a proper diet and they are either too stubborn, too carb-addicted or afraid to rock the boat in their relationships.
Any way you look at it, YOU have to take care of YOU! There is a good chance that you gained weight because you have trouble saying NO! Learn healthy boundaries for your own happiness and stop worrying about others.
There are always food saboteurs out there. Like the man in my Pilates class, who is thin and brings the class (who are there to get in shape) brownies or chocolate cake. I think he gets some sick, twisted enjoyment out of watching them eat his stuff. He never knows what to do with me, because, I always tell him, “No thank you. I don’t eat sugar anymore.” And the fact that he still asks me, shows how manipulative he is!
What if the problem is your cravings cause the problem with eating fattening things?
Yes, it is hard to get over cravings, but it is possible. I did it! Takes a few weeks, but you have to stick to it and find healthy alternatives (I write about that all of the time in my blog, just do a search).
If someone is having onion rings, I sometimes will allow myself to eat ONE, then I am done. Fried food with breaded batter=unhealthy and fattening.
You have to learn this and get over what McDonalds got you addicted to eating. Those carbs are killing America-and you and me. We have to take charge of our bodies, our mouths and our lives. Eating potato starch, pie sugars, fatty cheese, white breaded stuffing carbs and sugars–even once or twice a year is not showing respect for your body. Even ONE cheat is do-able, but it is nothing but bad food city all the way through on this crazy holiday food fest.
A big problem for many people who have to lose weight or want to gain control over their diet, is that they are addicted to sugar and many don’t even know it! Sugar is hidden in many foods. It is in your cereal, fruit drinks, almond milk, protein bars and drinks, yogurt and other items that you thought were “healthy.” Unless you read labels and look at the grams of sugar in EVERY serving in every item, you may have no idea about what you are eating in sugar! You just eat and you get sucked into the sugar roller coaster.
There are also a lot of different names for sugar, so you might think you aren’t eating it, but you are!
You need to start looking at labels.
If you eat something and it says that there are two servings in it, but you ate the WHOLE thing, then the nutrient content on the label is DOUBLED because you ate the two servings, but it looked like one serving when you ate it. Labels can be designed to mislead you into buying the product–as you THINK it is healthy, but it actually wasn’t.
How can you get over sugar cravings so you won’t keep wanting to eat it? Your brain is going to tell you to eat it because it liked the effect that the first use had on it. Sugar is very addictive. So, go out and get things to munch on that have no to low sugar, and munch on them when you get the cravings:
Today’s blog subject is dedicated to one of my friends in Pilates class. She brought up a subject that is important to discuss in my blog because it comes up all of the time when people ask me how I keep the weight off.
Eating healthy doesn’t mean eating large amounts of sugar and carbs! I do eat very well. Salads twice a day. Four servings of veggies a day (small ones), 2 small fruits a day, 6 protein-based foods per day, water, etc. But, keep in mind that I want to keep my carbs between 50g to 100g per day. Also keep in mind that it takes about 4g of sugar/carbs per 1 sugar cube.
We get conned into eating and drinking things based on their nutritional qualities, but in fact, they are LOADED in “unhealthy” amounts of sugar and carbs. Trust me, I know. I gained over 40 pounds at one time just eating “healthy foods”, without knowing the secrets behind their fat-causing carbs!
If you want to lose weight, you want to eat six protein-based “small” meals per day. Here are 10 items to stay away from, but I mention how to do it with low-carb or replacements for them. I am letting you in on my found-out secrets!
10 FOODS AND DRINKS TO AVOID IF YOU ARE ON A DIET, DESPITE THEIR SO-CALLED HEALTHINESS
1. SMOOTHIES or JUICE:
If you have a smoothie, it has to be more vegetables than fruits (fruits have a lot of sugar and carbs) and the size you drink has to be small. Depending on what you put in your smoothie, perhaps about 4-6 ounces is enough. Are your smoothies bigger than that and has a combination of high carb/sugar fruits in them? A few berries, citrus–that is ok….but loaded in apple, banana–you are looking at a lot of carbs. Some of the smoothies at a regular juice place, like Jamba Juice, have 67g of carbs (This is over 20 sugar cubes–would you eat 20 sugar cubes?) in a basic 16 ounce smoothie. If you are only supposed to have between 50-100g of carbs per day to stay thin, that is a lot for one drink. There goes the rest of the carbs for the day! Instead, I personally recommend eating real veggies and two small fruits a day. Smoothies are really for people who can’t stand eating veggies and it is the only way to get it into your diet. Don’t drink orange juice–eat an orange.
2. ACAI BOWLS/ MUFFINS/CEREAL:
Loaded up with granola (NOT A HEALTH FOOD–way too much sugar. Use plain nuts instead). I never eat granola. A lot of people see it as a health food. NOT! It has 38g of carbs in just half of a cup! An Acai Bowl has about 125g of carbs between the granola and the banana, etc. These are not diet foods. WATCH OUT FOR NUTS: 20g or so in carbs per cup. Limit them or measure and bag them in advance when used for a snack. My snacks usually consist of a few nuts and cheese (little to no carbs in cheese). Western Bagel has a low carb bagel called the Perfect Ten, that is usually a special breakfast item for me out of my usual eggs.
Stay away from cereal. Mostly carbs, sugar and chemicals. Try oatmeal instead, but keep it to a small serving because it is high in carbs. Read the labels.
Also, muffins have grains. Grains are higher in carbs. I don’t care if it is a bran muffin or a blueberry muffin–it is still a muffin. It wiIll add to a muffin top, if you know what I mean.
3. DRIED FRUIT:
Has a lot of sugar and carbs. Instead, eat fruit. 2 small amounts of fruit per day. If you eat a banana, one serving is HALF of a large banana.
4. RICE:
High carb, little nutritional quality–even the brown stuff. Quinoa is better, but it is also high carb, so limit it to a few spoons worth in a serving. A cup of Quinoa is over 100g of carbs. As high as rice. Also, rice has arsenic in it. Yuck! ALSO RICE CAKES ARE HIGH IN CARBS TOO!
5. WRAPS:
Bread products of all kinds are high in carbs. I don’t eat sandwiches either. A slice of bread can be around 30g of carbs. Some of the lower carb breads like Ezekiel, is about 10g EACH slice. But, a medium sized wrap is about 22g of carbs. I eat salads with meat and other proteins on them or a sandwich or burger that is wrapped in lettuce and not a bun or wrap. Watch out for tortillas too, unless they are the specific low-carb ones, which you can see at any store, even Trader Joes. A regular tortilla can be over 30g of carbs, but a low carb one can be about 5g net carbs, once you factor in the fiber.
Watch out for JUICE. It is just liquid sugar.
6. PROTEIN DRINKS/SPORTS DRINKS?PROTEIN BARS
All laden with high carbs. Only get ones that are low carb. Less than 20g of carbs is best. Or you can factor in fiber. Look at the total carbs and subtract the fiber and you have net carbs.
7. VEGGIE BURGERS/FROZEN FOODS:
Very high in carbs if you pick the wrong one. Buyer beware. Some of them are only 10g of carbs. So choose wisely and look at the nutritional labels.
Most of the low-cal frozen foods are high carb and will put weight on you. Just look at the labels. They are also loaded in sodium (as is canned soup) and are not good for your heart.
8. YOGURT/FROZEN YOGURT:
Some of them are so high in sugar and carbs, it should be illegal. You could be looking at 20-30g of carbs per cup. Greek yogurt has better options and if you choose the ones that are unflavored, there are hardly any carbs. There are a few products like Danon Lite and Fit Greek Yogurt flavored, with only about 10g or less of carbs per cup.
Frozen yogurt is laden in sugar, carbs and a lot of really nasty chemicals. There is nothing “yogurty” about it. You are better off having a no-sugar added scoop of Dreyers or Breyers ice cream. Breyers Carbsmart ice cream bars are delish and low in carbs. I get them at Ralphs, Smart and Final, and Wal-Mart.
9. BEANS:
Yes, they are good for you–in small amounts. A tablespoon is about 8g of carbs. A cup of them is about 120g of carbs. So, your burrito with the high carb shell, high carb beans and high carb rice will easily top you over 100g of carbs for your one very healthy organic Chipotle burrito. I always do a salad version, limit the beans, no rice.
10. AGAVE!
One of the more popular “natural” sweeteners is Agave nectar, also called agave syrup.You will find this sweetener in all sorts of “health foods,” often with attractive claims on the packaging.
The problem with Agave is that it is no better than sugar. In fact, it is much, much worse…
One of the main problems with sugar is that it has excessive amounts of fructose, which can cause severe metabolic problems when consumed in excess.
Whereas sugar is about 50% fructose and High Fructose Corn Syrup about 55%, Agave contains even more… up to 70-90%.
Try Stevia or just use natural sugar, in moderation, because sugar is not good for losing weight. And if you are putting fruit in your smoothie (and I don’t recommend smoothies and I don’t do them anymore), then you have enough fructose sugar from the fruit, so why add more? Stop being a sugar junkie!
When I make a meal, I have used riced cauliflower in place of rice. I haven’t had rice in a long time because the carbs in rice is astronomical. In one cup of basic white or brown rice, there are about 45g of carbs. It is even more in other types of rie. Well, if you can only have between 50 to 100 g of carbs per day to lose weight, then that is most of your consumption in just one cup of rice!
So, a study came out about rice! It seems that if you cook rice differently, you can halve the calories and I would think the carbs as well.
The new cooking method:
1. Add a half cup of uncooked rice to boiling water with a teaspoon of coconut oil.
2. Let the rice simmer for 40 minutes, but confirmed that boiling for 20 to 25 minutes would also work.
3. The last step of the process involved refrigerating the rice for 12 hours. Then you can reheat it.
Well, I suppose it is worth a shot once in a while. To me, 22g of carbs is still a lot for a cup, but if you eat half a cup at 11g of carbs to have with your Tikka chicken, it might be worth it once in awhile, instead of my usual riced cauliflower.
Sorry, I have been remiss in my blog writing. Life has a way of getting in the way of things you love to do. I have had another “diagnosis” of another medical issue (not related to weight) and I have been a bit bummed out. And what happens when you are stressed or sad? Cravings. Luckily, they haven’t been too bad and I have stuck to the usual nuts and cheese snacks…but still now and then you need something tasty.
So, I found some GREAT low-carb ice cream bars. They have anywhere from 11g to 13g of carbs per bar and they are delicious.
Carb Smart has a line of ice cream and ice cream bars of all different types.
Here is my favorite Carb Smart bar and I found them at my local grocery store, Fresh and Easy and Smart and Final. They are also at Wal-Mart (and they do melt if they not in the refrigerator).
I also discovered that another brand makes low-carb ice cream bars and sandwiches: Bluebunny.com. They have a WHOLE line of low-carb products!
They have a locator: http://www.bluebunny.com/About/Locator.aspx
So, you can have ice cream, it is “measured out” through being in a bar and you can’t overdo it. And it has chocolate bits on it–and some have nuts! And it is low-carb! You can’t beat it!
So, I try to eat breakfast out with my husband on Sunday. It is a nice treat. However, I don’t like eating out and getting fattened up. So, when we go out, I make appropriate choices. I usually get an omelette, and substitute fruit and tomatoes for toast and potatoes. I limit the fruit and the omelette and bring home half of it. The portions are really big. Now, I have a meal for tomorrow too. Eating appropriately helps you look better and save money too!
Basically, if you want to lose weight or even maintain your weight, you must have breakfast.
Research has shown that people who skip breakfast may not be as successful with weight management as those people who eat breakfast regularly. Why? Eating breakfast may help you reduce snacking and avoid overeating.
Eating breakfast is like filling up a gas tank. When you wake up in the morning, your body is low on fuel, like a car running on empty.
A study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that breakfast eaters fall prey to impulse snacking less often than non-breakfast eaters.
Don’t fall prey to stupid excuses not to eat breakfast.
Excuse 1: “I don’t have time”:
NOT EATING BREAKFAST EXCUSES
Excuse: I don’t have time to make myself breakfast. The only things available to me at work are doughnuts and cookies from the vending machine.
When time is of the essence, have things that are easy to throw in your car or prepare the night before.
Excuse: I just can’t eat before 1:00 p.m.
You don’t have to eat the second you are up, but it is a wise idea to eat within several hours of waking up. Try the string cheese or the hard-boiled egg. After a few days, your body might naturally look forward to this a.m. fuel-up and you can try more substantial meals.
Excuse: I’d like to eat breakfast but I’m afraid it will set my hunger into overdrive.
Many people experience less erratic eating patterns (like mid-afternoon and after-dinner munchies) when they eat several small snacks and meals throughout the day.
And on Sunday, you do not have to pig out and eat the pancakes, toast and so forth because you gave yourself the excuse that it is the weekend. It should be exciting enough to go out and be served and get a nice protein-based meal and coffee. The reason you gained weight is because you gave yourself eating excuses. Excuses=No Progress!
And don’t let people sabotage your efforts, even when they give you a hard time and make you feel bad about eating well. This is your body, not theirs. Tell them to eat their food and leave you alone.
Skinny-Rules 