Tag Archives: low carb

Ten Nutshell Rules on How to Get and Stay Skinny

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Someone I know has been doing low carb and wrote me for advice.  Most of what I tell people to do is on Skinny-Rules, if you scroll back to September, 2012 and just keep reading.  This person who wrote me said that they need recipes and ideas.

 Ten Nutshell Rules on How to Get Skinny and Stay Skinny!

1.  LOW CARB:  Get a few basic decent easy low carb recipes.  I have written about them.  Cauliflower-based pizza, chicken burrito in a low carb tortilla, greek yogurt (Dannon Lite and Fit), protein bars like Nature Valley PROTEIN Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter (at Target and Amazon.com), Power Crunch (online, Trader Joes, Smart and Final), cheese, eggs (omelette), chicken or turkey sausage, bacon, turkey patties to grill, turkey meatloaf (on blog too), different variety of salad with meat, cheese, sunflower seeds, veggies.  Finding restaurants that have good protein-style salads, good meat and veggies (no pasta or rice).  I made my own Chicken Masala with Splenda instead of sugar.

2.  There are a ton of low carb cookbooks on Amazon.  Get one.   Here is one.  http://www.amazon.com/500-Low-Carb-Recipes-Snacks-Dessert/dp/1931412065/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1363127323&sr=8-2&keywords=low+carb+cookbook.  You can Google recipes too.  And for God’s sake, go back and read my blog entries.  I write it all.  Recipes, ideas, how-tos, inspiration.  It is all there.  I worked hard on this to help others.  I don’t get anything for it.

3.  Plan like when you have a baby and are leaving the house or when you are in school and prepping for class.  PLAN!  Plan and prep what you need every week (shop) and prepare the night before or get up extra early and plan what you will bring with you to eat every 3-4 hours or plan where you will go to get what you need.  Even Chick Fil A has a healthy chargrilled chicken salad.  I always carry sunflower seeds or a protein bar in my purse for emergencies where I need food.  Don’t let yourself starve and mess up your metabolism and don’t put yourself in the position to have to succumb to bad food.

4.  Always drink fluids.

5.  If all you have in front of you to eat  is high carb food, try to work with it.  Get a burger, either protein style it in a lettuce wrap or just throw out the bun.  If you have pasta with meat in it, eat the meat and not the pasta.  Fill up on salad if it is there.  Try to find out what meals you will be around and prep if you can, bring something to eat if you have to do it.  You don’t have to eat crap, wherever you go!

6.  Don’t have more than 4-6 ounces of meat at each of your daily 6 protein servings.  Get a scale and weigh food for a while to get a handle on what that amount looks like so you can just look at meat and guess the ounces on it.

7.  Twice a day, have salad and veggies with a meal.  Small portion sizes.

8.  No alcohol on a diet.  Messes up your fat burning and gives you extra carbs.

9.  Don’t let your friends/family sabotage you.  This is your diet and tell them to knock it off.  It is just like having someone try to get you to take heroin when you are in recovery.  It is called “enabling” and “sabotage”.  This is not friendship or love.  This is them trying to suck  you back into their dysfunctional hole.  Don’t go there.  You worked too hard to get out.

10.  Exercise and no excuses.  People keep asking me to do things and I only do things when they don’t interfere with getting in my exercise or it is a special occasion.  I have to be disciplined to stay skinny.

Cancer and Sugar!

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Another reason to keep your sugar levels down is to consider the new evidence that links colon cancer to high glycemic index foods and low fiber foods in the diet.  And a low glycemic diet is great to be skinny!

http://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/article_content.asp? edition=1&section=3&article=405&utm_source=Natural+Medicine+Journal+List&utm_campaign=e0793423cb-March+2013&utm_medium=email

Foods that are low on the Glycemic Index:  Here is a list http://www.the-gi-diet.org/lowgifoods/

Again, I will state that you should eat things like low fat cheese, low-carb protein bars, nuts, eggs, meat, low carb Greek Yogurt, vegetables, mostly citrus fruits and berries (two small portions a day), salads and lettuce mixes with low carb dressing.  Anything else–only in moderation.  If you need fiber, stick to nuts, seeds (especially flaxseed), fiber supplements and vegetables.  Choosing fresh, non-starchy vegetables you can help increase your fiber intake while keeping your carb intake low. One cup of raw broccoli contains about 6 grams of total carbs, including 2.5 grams of fiber, and 1 cup of raw cauliflower provides about 5 grams of total carbs and 2 grams of fiber. Examples of other non-starchy vegetables include leafy greens, tomatoes, bell peppers and celery.  You do not need to eat wheat to get fiber.  Most cereals are high in sugar and carbs.

Low Glycemic Diet Guide

HIDDEN SUGAR IN FOOD! 11 Items You Don’t Even Think About

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There are things that you might eat that have sugar in them and you might not be aware of that fact when you are eating them.  Hidden sugar, hidden carbs.

The 11 Items That Have Hidden Sugar:

1.  SUGAR:  The natural fructose sugar found in fruits and vegetables and lactose sugar in milk and dairy is part of a healthful diet. The problem lies with processed foods packed with high amounts of sugar (namely sucrose and high fructose corn syrup).  It is not just in candy, soda and cake.  There are a lot of things that use it in the ingredients.  Look at labels before you buy.

2.  GRANOLA BARS:  These contain a lot of added sugar. Instead of a prepackaged granola bar, you could create your own trail mix with a handful of nuts, dry oatmeal or muesli, dried fruit with natural sugar, such as cranberries, and even a few bits of dark chocolate. This will almost guarantee the nutrients and energy you need, while you control the added sugar.  however, that could be higher in carbs and not necessarily good for weight loss.  I prefer Power Crunch bars, Nature Valley Protein Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter bars or some other LOW carb protein bar.

3.  CEREAL:  You need to really look closely at cereals. Some so-called healthy and granola-based cereals have as many as 13 grams of sugar per serving, while other cereals have as few as 6 or even 2 grams.  Most cereal is high in carbs and I wouldn’t even go near it on a diet and to stay skinny–I don’t do cereal.  I have eggs, bacon, sausage, Lindora oatmeal, low-carb protein bars, etc. for breakfast.

4.  BARBEQUE SAUCE:  The ingredients can include one or more of the “natural sugars,” such as honey, molasses, and brown sugar. Bottled brands can have as many as 11 grams of added sugar per serving.. Every time you slather on barbecue sauce, you are adding sugar to your meat, a naturally sugar-free protein. Seasoning meat before cooking with a tasty blend of spices, called a rub, is a better option for a low-sugar diet.

5.  KETCHUP:  The label shows it is made up of tomatoes and sugar.  Other words that are sugar-type ingredients are corn starch, sorghum, glucose, fructose, lactose, sucrose, galactose, maltose, and concentrated juices, like concentrated grape or apple juice.  I usually stick with mustard or just a dash of ketchup.

6.  TOMATO SOUP/SAUCE:  Like ketchup, tomato sauce and tomato soup may also be foods with sugar added. When cooking these from scratch at home, you might use caramelized onions or carrots, or Splenda  for a little sweetness to counter the acidity in tomatoes and forgo the sugar.  Not all tomato products contain a lot of added sugar, so get in the habit of checking out the label.  Tomato paste, canned diced tomatoes, and salsa are better choices.

7.  JUICE:  Juice is a concentrated source of sugar and is not very filling or appetite-satisfying.  Even if the label says it’s 100 percent natural and contains only natural sugars, you still may be looking at a hefty serving of sugar per portion. For example, a 10-ounce bottle of pure apple juice could have as many as 32 grams of sugar. Instead of a glass of juice, choose fresh fruit — while it still contains sugar, it also has fiber as well.  Even juicing at home (which is still better) is way too much sugar.  EAT your fruit.  Juicing is a lot of carbs!  It can ruin your daily carb count.

8.  LEMONADE:  Lemons are a wonderful source of antioxidants and vitamin C.  Instead of lemonade, you can add a squeeze of lemon to water improve taste and it is good for you. But when turned into lemonade, the benefits of lemons may be outweighed by the amount of the added sugar needed to sweeten the beverage, as many as 25 grams per serving. If you really want lemonade, make it fresh at home and control the sugars you use or stick with Splenda to avoid sugar and carbs.

9:  SWEET TEA:  Same as lemonade, you can make it with Splenda instead to save on the sugar.   The reality is that sweet tea often contains just as much sugar and just as little nutrition as soda. Both black and green teas can be good for you because of their antioxidants — just go for the unsweetened variety.

10:  ENERGY DRINKS:  Same as Sweet Tea.  Supposedly good for you, but some of them have 20 or 30 carbs due to the added sugar.  Some are ZERO carbs and sugar.  Read labels!

11.  FLAVORED YOGURT:  Yogurt is so good for your digestive tract that it’s hard to think of it as a food with sugar or that the 6 to 7 teaspoons of added sugar in one serving of flavored yogurt could be an issue. But just try to imagine yourself layering that amount of sugar onto plain yogurt. A better option is to go Greek: Drizzle a little honey onto plain, Thick style Greek or simply rely on the natural sweetness of berries or other fresh fruit that you add yourself to liven it up.  Also some of the Greek Yogurts have less sugar than others.  Dannon Lite and Fit has 8g carbs, Choboni has 20g of carbs.  Both taste the same.  Again, read labels.hiddensugar

How Do I Carb Thee, Let Me Count The Ways

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In order to lose weight, you have to limit your carbohydrate intake to between 50 and 100g of carbs a day. The closer to 50, the faster you lose it. It is best to have good carbs from vegetables and fruits vs. processed foods.

However, sometimes learning about how many carbs are iin each item and portion can be tedious work until you start doing it enough and remembering numbers, like they do in Weight Watchers with points.

So, I found a shortcut. If you want to count carbs, let an online tracker do it for you or an App on your Smartphone or IPad.

http//www.carbscontrol.com
This is free online, but they charge a small fee for apps.

Https ://itunes.apple.com/us/app/atkins-carb-tracker/id583475512?mt=8
This Atkins carb counter can be purchased for a small fee for an app on your phone or tablet.

This could add to your success in making sure that you count right and stay on track.

What? Pancakes on a diet?

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Yesterday, I talked about cheating and how sometimes you can make a meal that is a cheat, but technically NOT.

So, today, I am sharing with you a picture of my CHEAT for Thursday.

Lindora pancake mix.  12g of net carbs for what you see in the picture, with lite syrup that is 1g of carb for 1/4 cup.  I barely used two tablespoons.

HOWEVER, if I had used regular maple syrup at about 50g of carbs per 2 tablespoons, I would have ruined my diet for the day for sure!

Same amount of pancakes with regular mix is about 33g of carbs, so almost triple what these have.

So, I had a tiny bit of butter on my cakes, they were low-carb and low sugar cakes and sugar free syrup. (look on labels, some of the low sugar syrups are still high at 20g of carbs per 2 tablespoons.  That is not low, just half of regular syrup.  So, buyer beware.  Compare!  There are some good sugar free syrups out there.  Makers of those include the one in the picture, Cary’s, Log Cabin has one, Mrs. Butterworth makes one and Walden Farms.

If I ate regular cakes with regular syrup, instead of having about 13g of net carbs for my meal, I would have been eating for the cakes and syrup, 33+50 (two tablespoons)=83g of carbs.

13g vs. 83g of carbs.  See why this could be seen as a cheat, but it isn’t!?  They tasted JUST as good to me and I saved 70g of carbs.  That could have caused me to not lose weight for the week.

 

You can also find low carb pancake mixes on websites like Carbessentials.net and Netrition.com, and even Amazon.  Just Google it!

pancakes

 

 

Five Diet Cheating Rules

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Congratulations to my friend, S.H. (you know who you are!) for losing all of her weight through the rules I write about!  She has finally made goal due to determination and motivation to do it.  She didn’t half-ass it and she followed the rules.  Right on S.H.!

Then, I had another friend who lost a lot of weight, but was stuck.  When we dug into what she was doing, it was because she had TWO cheat days a week.  Well, my diet rules do NOT include cheat days, so why she decided that two cheat days was a good idea is beyond me, but in my mind it was her way of coming up with an excuse to CHEAT.  These cheating excuses is why we get fat in the first place.

What is a cheat?  A cheat meal is when you allow yourself something that you normally abstain from.

You should follow the rules about protein and vegetable and fruit portions at least 6 days a week, but once a week usually works for a cheat, if you must do it.  This is where you eat properly for all of  meals except  maybe a Friday dinner out. When you eat right for 6 days a week, one cheat meal on the 7th day will still allow you to reach your goals.  But there are rules!

RULES to CHEATING:

1.  ONE cheat meal a week.

2.  Stick to a cheat meal, rather than a cheat day. An entire days worth of binging can create unhealthy patterns and actually lead to weight gain, spiked blood sugar levels and a generally unhealthy relationship with food. Reserve “cheat days” for 4 times a year – your birthday, Thanksgiving, and two holiday get-togethers, where you have little control over what’s put in front of you. If your cheat days number more than 4 a year, you are not in control.

3.  As for the cheat meal itself, your weekly cheat meal should still be within the confines of your daily calorie count or CARB count. Yes, even your cheating needs to be recorded in a food diary or you could undue an entire week’s work.  If you eat carbs, keep your count under 100, whatever the cheat is or you will not lose weight and you could actually undue a week of hard work all in one day.

4.  The easiest way to stay within your calorie or carb count is by limiting your portions. Say Chicken Parmesan is your cheat; have one small plateful, with a side of vegetables, and freeze any leftovers you may have for use on your next cheat meal.

5.  Whatever you do, exercise!  It helps burn the cheat away.

cheat

Some people need a cheat to give them the willpower to continue the diet.  I did not want to stray because I was so determined and on a mission to get to my goal, but I realize that not everyone can do it and need to have something to look forward to doing.  Just follow the rules on the cheat though!

The best part about cheat meals is that the longer you stick to your healthy diet, the less sinful the cheat meals will become. You’re going to find you’re no longer lusting after that greasy boston creme donut, that you’d rather save the calories. You’ll find you’d rather have fruit and yogurt than an ice cream cone. Trust me, your tastes start to change for the better, and so will your body.

My cheat (daily) that isn’t really a cheat at all is my 8 ounces of Carbolite at 13-17 grams of carbs per serving.  I use it as one of my six daily proteins, so it isn’t really a cheat, but tastes like one–thereby eliminating my “need” to cheat.  However, if you don’t have something like that, then I can see how a cheat would be desired.  My other fake cheats are Greek Yogurt and Strawberries.  YUM!  There are also chocolate type low carb items that I have that could be a fake cheat too, like my Nature Valley Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate protein bar at 11g of carbs and my Power Crunch bars at 10 g of carbs.  Because I eat those, my desire to cheat is less.

I also make a caulflower-based pizza and eat Skinny noodles with pasta sauce now and then.  And I also have the Lindora.com pancake mix as a “cheat”, even though it isn’t.

So, you get my point?  You can stay on the diet and still feel like you are cheating…so what is the point of cheating to the point of putting your hard work back on your body?

You have to be creative and do your research–or just read my blog!  I have the best suggestions!

Pictures below are my faux cheats.  My yogurt and strawberries at 16g of carbs, cauliflower-based pizza less than 10 g of carbs, and my low-carb chicken burrito with  9 g of carburritos2bs each.yogurtcauliflowerpizza

 

 

Sick of Grilled Chicken? How About Easy Tandoori Chicken?

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I have grilled chicken or turkey every day. I have to have 6 protein-based small meals a day to stay skinny, so sometimes things can get a little bland. There are things you can do to spice things up. I have done GRILLED chicken parmesan and other versions of chicken, but today I did easy Tandoori chicken to throw into a salad for my lunch. This took less than 10 minutes to do.

Chicken Tandoori made easy:


Get chicken breasts, Tandoori mix (I got this one from Target, in their Mediterranean food section) and Fage Greek Yogurt.

As the package instructed, I mixed the Tandoori mix with the yogurt, and covered all of the chicken breasts in it. Then, I llet them marinate in it overnight. But, you don’t have to wait that long. I have marinated for a short time and cooked them too.

So, today, I put them breasts (covered in yogurt and mix) on a pan and pan fried them in Pam. After a few minutes, I turned them over and did the same thing to the other side and POOF–you have Tandoori chicken in no time at all. I cut it up and put it in a salad. The following are some of my pictures in the order of how you do it. I recommend this highly. Tasty and low carb. Tastes really good with Tahini as salad dressing (also at Target). I love Target.

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Low Carb Vegetable and Fruit List to Print and Tape to your Refrigerator

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Low-Carb Vegetable and Fruit Lists

Low-Carbohydrate Vegetable List

6.6 grams carbs or less in 3.5 weighed ounces:

Alfalfa sprouts, arugula, asparagus, bamboo shoots, basil, bean sprouts, beet greens, bok choy, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, chive, cilantro, collard greens, cucumber, daikon, eggplant, endive, green bean, green onion top, kohlrabi, laver seaweed, lettuce, mint, mushroom, mustard greens, olive, parsley, pepper, pumpkin, radicchio, radish, scallion top,  spaghetti squash, spinach, string bean, summer squash, Swiss chard, tomato (raw), tomatillo, turnip, watercress, yellow squash, zucchini.

Vegetable Condiments

Use only 1 tablespoon of oil or butter per serving. Herbs are fine. Margarine, due to trans fats, should be avoided – read why.

For Comparison: High-Carbohydrate Vegetable List

So, these are ALL high carb!!!!  Try to avoid too much of these!  Acorn squash, artichoke, beet, burdock root, butternut squash, carrot, corn, ginger root, green peas, Jerusalem artichoke, leek, lotus root, onion, parsnip, peas, potatoes, shallot, spirulina, succotash, wasabi, water chestnut, yam.

Lowest-Carbohydrate Fruit List

12 grams carbs or less in 3.5 weighed ounces:

Apricot, blackberry, cantaloupe, casaba melon, cranberry (unsweetened), grapefruit, gooseberry, honeydew melon, lemon, lime, loquat, mulberry, nectarine, orange, papaya, peach, plum, pummelo, raspberry, rhubarb (unsweetened), strawberry, watermelon.

Within the kitchen, there are fruits that are thought of and treated as vegetables due to their lack of sweet flavor. Some of these “vegetables” are cucumber, olive, pepper, squash, and tomato.  I put these foods on the Low-Carbohydrate Vegetable List, where people may expect to find them.

Tape this to your refrigerator!

Taken from http://www.drpepi.com/health-tips/nutrition/low-carb-vegetable-and-fruit-lists/

Not All Fruits are Equal (in Carbs)

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A client of mine wanted to lose weight and he is doing what he can.  He went out and bought yogurt and fruit for breakfast.  I have no idea what his other daily choices are, but if they are like his  breakfast choices, he will NOT lose weight.

Here is why….. His Yogurt was a sugary Yoplait Lite and a banana. This blog will tend to discuss more about fruit because I have done a blog about yogurt.  My favorite is the low carb choices of Greek yogurt, like Dannon Light and Fit GREEK yogurt (8g).).  Some like Chiobani are high in carbs (20g).  My blog on that:  http://wp.me/p2I06z-8s

A banana is high on the gylcemic index for sugar in the fruit category.  The size banana he ate was a medium one and that was about 25g carbs.  you add that to the 16g of the yogurt, he had 41g carbs.  My Dannon Lite and Fit and the cup of strawberries I put in it was about less than half of what he ate.  If you eat 40 in just ONE protein meal and you have 6 more to go, and you should only have 50-100 g of carbs a day to lose weight, you can see why he isn’t losing weight.

When you eat, it is about reading labels and choosing correctly.  We both eat yogurt and fruit, but we pick different kinds and I lose weight because I am eating fewer carbs.

If you want to go lower on that sugar index for fruit, you need to go with citrus fruits or berries. Here is the list on the best fruits in order from lowest in sugar to highest.

Fruit Platter 004

Fruits Lowest in Sugar

Lemon, Lime, Rhubarb, Rasberries,  Blackberries, Cranberries.

Fruits Low to Medium in Sugar

Strawberries, Casaba Melon, Papaya, Watermelon, Peaches, Nectarines, Blueberries, Cantelope, Honeydew Melon, Apples, Guava, Apricots, Grapefruit

Fruits Fairly High in Sugar

Plums, Oranges, Kiwifruit, Pears, Pineapple.

Fruits Very High in Sugar

Tangerines, Cherries, Grapes, Pomegranates, Mangos, Figs, Bananas.  Dried Fruits like Raisins, Dates, Dried Apricots, Prunes.

Easy Way to Remember sugary fruits……..

1. Berries – Berries are, in general, the fruits lowest in sugar — and also among the highest in antioxidants and other nutrients.

2. Summer Fruits –Melons, peaches, nectarines, and apricots are next in sugar-order.

3. Winter Fruits – Apples, pears, and citrus fruit are moderate in sugars.

4. Tropical Fruits – Pineapple, pomegranates, mangoes, bananas, and fresh figs are high in sugar (guava and papaya are lower than the others).

5. Dried Fruit – Dates, raisins, apricots, prunes, figs, and most other dried fruits are extremely high in sugar. Dried cranberries and blueberries would be lower, except that a lot of sugar is usually added to combat the tartness.

Dehydrated or freeze-dried berries and summer fruits, when you can find them, are a good alternative to dried.

Superbowl and Other TV Snacks

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I think one of the biggest issues is needing to have snacks to watch TV.  I have had issues with this in the past too.  I wish I had blogged about it for Superbowl Sunday, but I didn’t remember because I don’t watch the Superbowl…but I do watch TV.  So 10 ways that are the best way to deal with snacking.

saladsnack

1. Eat your protein-based meal before your show and you won’t be so hungry.   Lean protein not only curbs hunger, it also allows you to maintain muscle mass and keep your metabolism revved while losing weight. Eating lean protein throughout the day also helps keep blood sugar levels steady, which helps keep cravings in check.

2.  Exercise earlier in the day to decrease  your appetite and burn off what you do eat.  Exercise keeps your metabolism burning for the rest of the day and into the next.

3.  Get the kind of chips for yourself that are pre-packaged, pre-measured, high protein, low carb.  Go to a website like Carbesstentials.net or Netrition.com, or even Lindora for their chips.  Use it as a meal replacement for your sixth meal of the day (not in addition to your six protein meals)  http://store.lindora.com/index.php/tasty-treats/barbeque-crunch-o-s.html or http://store.lindora.com/index.php/tasty-treats/cheddar-cheese-double-bites.html, among other choices on their site.  Anyone can buy.  You don’t have to be a member.  Also, nuts are good, just count out what you want and put only that amount out.

4.  Try any of the protein choices I mentioned in this blog.  https://skinny-rules.com/2013/01/26/high-protein-snacks/ (rolled up turkey and cheese slices are good!)  Also, try this:  Make low-carb deviled eggs.  https://skinny-rules.com/2013/02/05/deviled-eggs-that-taste-good-but-have-less-devilish-carbs/  YOU CAN EVEN MAKE SOME DELISH GRILLED SEASONED CHICKEN INSTEAD OF FRIED CHICKEN or a delish salad with grilled chicken.  Use your imagination.

5. Drink a lot of sugar-free fluids.  I drink coffee, it is hot, tasty and filling.  There is also hot tea, etc.

6.  I have a higher protein, low carb ice cream replacement (like Carbolite) as my last protein of the day during the show.

7.  Try to stay away from alcohol if you want to lose weight.  Reminder on those rules.  https://skinny-rules.com/2012/12/30/new-years-drink-and-being-on-a-diet/

8.  Try to stay away from the crappy high carb junk that others are eating and put the good stuff in front of you.

9.  Put out a tray of good veggies and a low carb dip.  Dip sparingly.

10.  Just find time to prepare and do something and don’t whine the next day that you didn’t lose weight or you had gained weight.