Summer 2010 - "After the Wedding"...

Wow! So the wedding is FINALLY done and over with - and let me tell you, it was INCREDIBLE!!!!! So totally worth the blood, the sweat and the tears! :p

For our honeymoon, we drove from Indiana to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was GREAT! As for my eating habits, though, not so great! lol.

The month of June, leading up to my wedding - I was still eating fairly low carb - however there was a LOT of jimmy johns sandwiches WITH their breads involved...

Then the week of the honeymoon, all bets were off. I didn't eat any "junk" as far as processed convenient crap - but I enjoyed my fries, fried pickles, and tropical drinks.

We got back - and I got right back on track! Now - for many reasons - I have decided NOT to get on the scale. For me, I've finally come to the conclusion that the number on that little metal box does NOT dictate who I am or how I feel about myself. My clothes still fit (all be it a tiny bit tighter...but I still look good - I feel good - and that's what matters! I'm back to eating low carb because it's the ONLY way I WANT to live.

Granted, I may "indulge" here and there - but low-carb IS my life!

Now - one thing I really want to try keeping up with, on this blog, are new recipes I've tried. I got the most AWESOME book from amazon called "Pop It in the Toaster Oven to go along with our little black and decker toaster oven we bought post wedding.

Obviously I can not / will not repost the actual recipes here - but what I will do is tweak them to be low-carb. :)

Post more later!

2010

Wow - so it has been a loooong time since I've posted!!! Don't worry, though, I'm still maintaining and going strong. I DID hit a few snags here lately - but low carb IS my life now and I always return within a day or two. It's funny - most people "cheat" (I call it "Indulge") and go BACK to eating junk and crap and gain all their weight because they feel "deprived" of those old foods. Me? I'm the opposite. I "Indulge" and actually feel like "what am I doing??? This isn't how I eat!" And go back to low carb eating because THAT is what is "second nature" to me anymore.
I'll finish more later :)
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Tuesday 16/February/2010

Ok, I just want to have a post about some of my favorite low-carb sites.

One site and INCREDIBLE blog that seriously has helped me get to where I am today is Jimmy Moore's blog and podcasts:
Livin La Vida Lowcarb.com

Jimmy's Podcasts


Here is the forum I post to:
Low Carb Friends

The most AWESOME recipe sites:
Linda's Low Carb Recipes

Healthy Indulgences

Lowcarb diets.about.com

This one is actually more gluten-free and not really low-carb, per se - but still really good and can subsitute low-carb sweeteners in some of the recipes that call for agave:
Elana's Pantry


I will be back postin' more :)

Scales - a necessary evil

I hate the scale. I love the scale. Really it is such a love/hate relationship. On New years eve this year, I "indulged" in a lot of crap and on New Year's Day, I weighed in at 170 lbs. That was only a few pounds over what I'd been maintaining since July of '09 but I didn't want to see that 7 in the middle...so I went back on induction and lost 5 pounds! Then on Monday, February 1st, the scale said 163.5!!! I was soooo excited!

Now fast forward 2 days - yes only two. This morning that evil scale said 167! WTF?? I weighed a few times and yup, I am back up 3.5 pounds. I don't get it. I have NOT overeaten - I haven't had ANY bad carbs that I can think of - except I had 1/4 of an orange monday and yesterday...could <I>that</I> really have done it?

I exercised on Monday night (3 miles - walk away the pounds) and 10 minutes of yoga last night...also I <I>have</I> been eating home made yogurt with real fruit and erythritol for breakfast - but I did that every day last week and DROPPED weight...

So anyways I dunno. I started this morning with eggs, bacon and sausage instead of my yogurt...so we shall see.

I know a lot of people say "not to obsess over the scale" and honestly I wish I didn't - but it truly is a necessary evil because when I don't, it goes up.
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Very Versatile Flax Seed Buns!

Ok, so I FINALLY figured out how to make the PERFECT flax seed bun. :D

Last year I kept using the brown flax seed meal - which works fine - but is just a bit too grainy for my tastebuds...

So I bought some Bob's Red Mill Organic GOLDEN flaxseed meal.

And with a FABULOUS recipe I found on recipezaar - Low Carb Basic Flax Meal Bread - I have been happily experimenting with using it for other recipes.

First off THE recipe for the bread:
Makes 10 servings - 1/4 cup each

2 cups organic golden flaxseed meal
1 tbsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1 packet truvia (or erythritol / other artificial sweetener)

5 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup oil



Preheat oven to 350°F.
Spray baking pan with oil - I used the muffin top pan.
Combine dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients.
Add wet to dry and combine well.
Let batter sit for a few minutes - but not too long - to thicken up.
Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, pour 1/4 cup mounds onto pan.
Bake for about 20 minutes.

The carb count depends on how you count your carbs. 2 tbsp of flax contains 4 g carbs and 4 g fiber - meaning it comes out to 0 net carbs...

Some people however just count exactly 1 carb per 2 tbsp serving and in that case these would come out to about 4g carbs per mound/slice.
(flax=32 servings/64 tbsp = 32g carbs)
(1 tbsp baking powder = 2g carbs)
(1 packet truvia, per atkin's art. sweetener rule = 1g carbs - however truvia should not have any affect on blood sugar)
(5 beaten eggs = 3g carbs)
And that's where I get - rounded up - about 4 g carbs per slice. 32+2+1+3= 38g carbs / 10 servings = 3.8 rounded = 4

Or, if you don't count net carbs and count ever carb as it is... - 64 tbsp of flax / 32 servings of 2 tbsp (which is the 2 cups) has 128 g carbs and 128 g fiber (per the label). Add the other carbs from the eggs, sweetener and baking powder and you're looking at 134 g carbs. Divide that by 10 and you're looking at 13.4 g carbs per slice. Just remember though, that flax is pretty much 100% fiber and that fiber does NOT affect blood sugar - thus the counting of the net carbs. :)

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Flax Seed Bun/Bread French Toast

Take 1 flax seed bun:


Slice bun in half to make 2 slices:


Mix together the following:
2 eggs
2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla OR almond extract
1 packet truvia
few shakes of cinnamon

Dip each slice of bun in the mixture then fry in butter on stovetop like you would french toast:



Once done, place on plate and mix together:
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp da vinci syrup

this "syrup" is a bit thin - but it works! you won't need all of it...
Here's the finished product:



Next I will post my cinnamon buns!!!

Using the right tools...

Ok - so this year I am slowly trying to build up my kitchen tools. :)
There have been a few items I learned about last year that I REALLY wanted and I got two of them this month! :D

One of them is called a "Muffin Top Pan" - it is absolutely PERFECT for making hamburger buns / bread out of flax!!!



I found this at the HomeGoods store - but you can also get them off of Amazon (i love amazon! lol).

I will post about the flax seed buns I made with these muffin top pans - as well as the french toast - yup Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, Low-Carb French Toast!

Next up is the AWESOME vegetable spiral slicer. This tool is FABULOUS and I will be posting a thread here soon on the zucchini noodles I made with it and made shrimp scampi. :D



Some other items I would love to buy this year are:
1. A Baguette Pan - which would be PERFECT to make my own home-made hot dog buns or "french loafs" for my beloved french dip sandwiches.

2. Ice Cream Maker - so that I can make my own ice cream (duh) with pure non-homogenized 100% grass fed whole milk from Traders Point Creamery

And for now that's all I have on my list...I'm also very excited, though - because I should be receiving soon from my INCREDIBLE best friend and matron of honor...she and her husband bought me a "Euro Cuisine Automatic Yogurt Maker". I found a link here as apparently Target Sells it: Yogurt Maker.

I am excited to use this - as I LOVE yogurt but am seriously trying to stay away from anything artificial and ESPECIALLY stay away from SOY!

So yeah - very excited this year. :)
I love being able to make all my own stuff from scratch - and ESPECIALLY making it from whole fresh REAL foods!

I know I won't be perfect all the time - such as we do eat out quite often...but, such as last night when we went to Red Robin - instead of asking for salad dressing I got oil and vinegar...now of course though I'm sure the oil is vegetable oil - but I guess it's the lesser of the evils, since almost ALL dressings are made with soybean oil. I'm also making my own mayo and dressings at home now. :D

Allright my lunch is ready so I'll post more later!

165.0!!

Woohoo! So I got on the scale this morning and it said 165.0!! That is the lowest I've been in YEARS!!

I've been maintaining 168/169 now for a few months - and on new year's day I weighed in at 170...and I vowed to get back into ketosis - so I went back to Induction and 165 baby!! :)

Just had to share! :P
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166.5 lbs...

Ok so for the past week now I have weighed in every morning at 166.5 lbs. Now don't get me wrong, I <I>like</i> seeing that number SO much more than the 197 that it was this time last year and am SO proud of my accomplishments...but it's a bit frustrating.

I've gone back to Induction levels for my carbs AND I've been working out and yet my body is apparantly trying to tell me "nope, sorry - this is where u are going to stay".

Now again, granted - I've been at 168 / 169 for about 3 months AND on new years I weighed in at 170. So the fact that I've gotten rid of those 3.5 pounds really makes me happy - but it's like, "c'mon - just 6.5 more! Ugh"...

Oh well though - I guess chalk it up to "beggers can't be choosers..." I LOVE that I'm in the 160's at all and that my lifestyle IS so healthy now :)

So I will just continue to do what I do and if/when my body decides to lose more well then I'll take it as a gift :)
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Wednesday 06/January/2010

So I was unable to weigh in this morning - but as of yesterday, I weighed back down at 165.5!!! :)

One thing I am really concentrating on this year is staying away from soy products. I've just hear too many reasons why soy is NOT good for you plus it's absolutely awful for a newborn baby and my fiance and I will be TTC immediately after the wedding in June...so I will be making my own mayo and my own salad dressings.

I already made an avocado dressing at home which is very good for my first attempt but obviously not perfect. Since this is being sent from my blackberry I can not post the links to the recipes I used - but will soon :)

I also decided this year to get RID of my gym membership...last year - pretty much after my ear surgery, I stopped going to the gym and "killing myself on the machines"...for what pretty much seemed like no reason. Thing is - I've come to the conclusion that while exercise is VERY important - I can either A. Do it at home for free - an/or B. Find a free exercise class through Indy Parks, instead of paying $40/month to feel guilty over not using the darned membership! :P

So yeah. Lots of exciting things I have planned for me in 2010. Here are the promises I've made to commit to in 2010 (yeah, "resolutions"...lol)

1. I will do my best to remove soy from my diet when possible.
2. I will (and have) start taking pre-natal vitamins and keep myself as healthy as possible to be at an awesome "wedding weight" plus be healthy to start "Trying to Conceive".
3. I am going to try my best to limit the amount of time going online at work on my work computer (thank god for my crackberry!!)
4. I will also limit my time on my laptop at home at night (pet peeve of my fiances's)...
5. I am currently back on "induction" for Atkins and will stay on induction for the next two weeks and slowly make my way back up the rungs of OWL.
6. I will do my best to start saving $$$ and pay off our(my) credit card as much as possible.
8. I will add to this list as I see fit - well because I can! :P

I think that's all for now - that's a lot of typing on my blackberry and my thumbs are tired!! (See, already committing to number 3 on the list!) :)
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January 03, 2010

Ok - so I'm not sure exactly how I will be keeping track of my exercise - but today I did 30 minutes of 2 mile WATP (walk away the pounds). plus 15 minutes of stretching/yoga (crunch dvd).

yesterday (Sat 02/Jan/10) = 30 minutes WATP.