Today, I found a very interesting recipe for roasted pumpkin seeds on Dana Carpender's blog. When my brother Marc goes to North Carolina in the fall to close his summer house in the winter, he always brings me pumpkins, which I do all manner of things with. And the last thing I do after roasting a pumpkin to make savory pumpkin soup is roast the seeds. My recipe is a little different, as I usually toss my seeds in olive oil, and season with garlic and onion powder, and soy sauce. They make for a really nice salty snack.
Dana' s recipe uses coconut oil and coconut aminos, which I'd never heard of. You might want to give this one a try as it uses coconut oil, which we know is an excellent source of fat for our WOE.
Utterly Addictive Pumpkin Seeds
1 tablespoon coconut oil
2 tablespoons coconut aminos
1/4 teaspoon anchovy paste
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce or other Louisiana-style hot sauce
1 teaspoon onion powder
2/3 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 cups squash kernels (shelled pumpkin seeds are, indeed, squash kernels.)
Set oven to 250. Put the coconut oil in a roasting pan, and put it in the oven to melt as the oven heats.
In the meanwhile, in a small dish, mix together the coconut aminos, anchovy paste, and tabasco sauce, stirring till the anchovy paste dissolves.
In another small dish, mix together the onion powder, garlic powder, and seasoned salt.
When the coconut oil is melted, pull the pan out and dump the pumpkin seeds in the pan. Stir till they're all coated with the oil. Now pour the coconut amino mixture over them, and stir again. Finally, sprinkle the seasoning blend over the whole thing, and stir to coat.
Slide 'em in the oven, and set the timer for 20 minutes. When it beeps, stir 'em up, put 'em back, and set the timer for another 20. When it beeps again, check that they're dry. If not, give them another ten minutes. Assuming they are, pull them out. Either way, when they're dry and golden, let them cool and put them in a snap top container to store. Hide them in an obscure, hard to reach place if you hope for them to last longer than a day or two!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 servings, each with: 299 Calories; 24g Fat ; 19g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 6 grams usable carb.
Note: Coconut aminos are a sauce quite similar to soy sauce -- to my taste a little sweeter -- but made from coconut sap. Great for those who wish to avoid all soy products, but still love Asian food. I've been using them for this paleo book. You could use soy sauce instead, if you wish; I might add a half-teaspoon or so of sweetener in that case.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Interesting Article Coouortesy of Tom Naughton
Today, I was yet doing a little catching up on my low carb reading, and Tom Naughton of the Fathead blog is a favorite of mine and makes for funny yet informative reading! I am just leaving a link for you since the two articles I found so interesting and funny were a little long to copy and paste. Read the first two articles on this link:
http://www.fathead-movie.com/
http://www.fathead-movie.com/
Monday, December 12, 2011
Cholesterol Follies Courtesy of Tom Naughton
As you know, I've been trying to catch up reading and research of topics of importance for the OFL's. I have been reading back posts on Tom naughton's blog, Fathead, and this one really caught my interest. If you are one of the ones that are still being "suckered" by the pharmaceutical industry about high cholesterol, and especially if you are taking a statin for this, please take time to read the following article!
I myself have permanent muscle damage due to the statin drug I was put on earlier this year. I only took it two months, and in that time went from strong to weak, with great muscle pain and frequent falls. My doctor thinks the damage is likely permanent. So, please do yourself a favor and read this post. For other references type cholesterol in the search box above. I feel this is such and important matter that I've copied and pasted the article for you rather than just a web address:
– George Carlin
I’m wondering what color the drug companies will choose for children’s statins. Maybe they’ll produce cherry-flavored pills shaped like the American Heart Association’s logo. Two in the mouth, son.
I was hoping against hope the anti-cholesterol hysterics would never be foolish enough prescribe statins for kids, but a recent news article suggests that’s where we’re headed:
More children should be screened for high cholesterol before puberty, beyond those with a family history of problems, according to wide-ranging new guidelines expected from government-appointed experts who are trying to prevent heart disease later in life.
Any call for wider screening is likely to raise concern about overdiagnosing a condition that may not cause problems for decades, if ever. Yet studies suggest that half of children with high cholesterol will also have it as adults, and it’s one of the best-known causes of clogged arteries that can lead to heart attacks.
High cholesterol is one of the best-known causes of clogged arteries? Well, in that case, obviously most people who suffer heart attacks must have high cholesterol. We’ll come back to that.
About a third of U.S. children and teens are obese or overweight. And government studies estimate that about 10 to 13 percent of children and teens have high cholesterol — defined as a score above 200.
Yup, that’s how high cholesterol is defined, all right. It was defined that way for an important scientific reason: the average cholesterol level among (non-statinated) adults is around 220. By defining a normal cholesterol level as high, the National Cholesterol Education Program (whose members nearly all had consulting contracts with statin-makers) turned millions of adults into instant patients. Now the statin-makers want to tap the kiddie market too.
A key change will be more aggressive recommendations for cholesterol screening and treatment in children, including a change in “the age at which we feel we can safely use statins,” said Dr. Reginald Washington, a pediatric heart specialist in Denver and member of the panel.
I wasn’t aware that the safety of statins for children was based on feelings. I was thinking perhaps there should be some hard evidence involved.
The pediatrics academy already advises that some children as young as 8 can safely use these cholesterol-lowering medicines, sold as Lipitor, Zocor and in generic form. They are known to prevent heart disease and deaths in adults and are approved for use in children.
Statins are known to prevent heart disease and deaths in adults? Let’s see what the science has to say on that. Here’s the conclusion of a meta-analysis on the usefulness of statins for primary prevention – that is, preventing heart attacks in people who don’t already have heart disease:
A new meta-analysis of statins in the primary prevention of heart disease has not shown a significant reduction in all-cause mortality.
Here’s the conclusion of a similar study:
In patients without CV disease, statin therapy decreases the incidence of major coronary and cerebrovascular events and revascularizations, but not coronary heart disease or overall mortality.
Statins may slightly reduce your chances of having a heart attack (if you already have several known risk factors), but they don’t reduce heart disease or overall mortality. So when a journalist tells you statins are known to prevent heart disease and deaths in adults, the journalist is making a statement that simply isn’t true.
Statins are worthless for primary prevention. So at best, the kids would be taking a powerful drug they don’t need. At worst (and I expect the worst), the statins would starve their brains of cholesterol and destroy the mitochondria in their muscles – at exactly the time when their brains and muscles are developing rapidly. This is a disaster waiting to happen. With their brain development stunted at an early age, the only career paths open to these kids will be running for Congress or working for the FDA.
But there aren’t big studies showing that using them in children will prevent heart attacks years or decades later.
Well then, by all means, let’s start giving statins to kids based on nothing more than anti-cholesterol hysteria — and our feelings. We needn’t bother waiting for those big studies. To paraphrase George McGovern, we don’t have time to wait for every last shred of evidence to come in.
I said earlier that we’d come back to the statement that high cholesterol being one of the best-known causes of clogged arteries. If that’s true, then we’d expect most heart-attack victims to have high cholesterol. But that simply isn’t the case. Several months ago, I posted about a study showing that nearly three-quarters of heart-attack victims have normal or even low LDL levels – and course, it’s LDL that statins beat into submission.
If you look at heart disease rates and cholesterol levels around the world, you won’t find any correlation whatsoever. The French and the Swiss both have average cholesterol levels over 230. They also have the first and second lowest rates of heart disease among industrialized nations. Russians have an average cholesterol level of 190 – below that magic number of 200. Russians also have the highest rate of heart disease in Europe.
In another recent news story warning that (eek!) up to one-fifth of people with heart disease aren’t being good little patients and taking their statins, the truth about cholesterol and heart disease slips out again — although that wasn’t the intention of the article:
More than one in five people with heart disease aren’t getting life-saving statin drugs despite guidelines saying they should, a new study shows. Researchers looked at nearly 39,000 people who had experienced a heart attack or undergone heart surgery, and found about 8,600 people weren’t prescribed the cholesterol-lowering medications.
Notice the reporter couldn’t resist referring to statins as “life-saving.” Bias? What bias? We don’t see any bias.
Now for the paragraph where the truth slips out:
“Our study shows that half of untreated patients had low LDL levels,” said Dr. Suzanne Arnold of Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, who worked on the new findings. “This supports the assumption that some doctors may not think patients with low LDL levels need lipid-lowering medication,” she told Reuters Health.
The patients in this study were people who already had a heart attack – and half of them had low LDL levels. If high cholesterol is one of the best-known causes of clogged arteries, then how the @#$% do we explain away the fact that at least half of the people who suffer heart attacks don’t have high cholesterol? And how on earth do we justify giving statins to kids just because they have “high” cholesterol?
But even in people with low LDL cholesterol, statins can provide a benefit, according to Arnold. “Statins do more than just lower cholesterol,” she said. “They also play a role in reducing plaque and inflammation in arteries. That benefits people regardless of their cholesterol levels.”
Here’s a crazy idea, Dr. Arnold: Given what you just said, perhaps high cholesterol isn’t the problem. Perhaps inflammation is the problem, and the only reason statins provide any benefit at all is that they lower inflammation. We don’t need drugs to reduce inflammation. We can do that with a proper diet. Beating down our cholesterol levels isn’t a benefit of statins; it’s a nasty side-effect.
In some people, statins can cause muscle pain and stomach problems such as nausea, gas, diarrhea or constipation. And their long-term effect on muscle tissue is unknown.
Yes, determining the long-term effect of statins on muscle tissue is tricky, especially since so many older people take statins. As my mom discovered, if you’re a senior citizen who takes statins and you complain to your doctor about muscle pain, your doctor will probably attribute the pain to old age.
So here’s what we need to do: Let’s prescribe statins to a whole generation of kids. In just 20 years or so, we’ll finally know the long-term effects of statins on muscle tissue. I’m sure all those 30-year-olds in wheelchairs will be glad to know they contributed to medical science.
I myself have permanent muscle damage due to the statin drug I was put on earlier this year. I only took it two months, and in that time went from strong to weak, with great muscle pain and frequent falls. My doctor thinks the damage is likely permanent. So, please do yourself a favor and read this post. For other references type cholesterol in the search box above. I feel this is such and important matter that I've copied and pasted the article for you rather than just a web address:
More Cholesterol Follies
Posted by Tom Naughton in Bad Medicine, Bad Science “It’s no accident that we’re drug oriented, really. The drug companies got us that way and they’d like to keep us that way. It’s a simple thing. They start you early with the oral habit. Little orange flavored aspirin for children. (pop, pop) Two in the mouth, son. Something wrong with your head? (pop, pop) Two in the mouth. Remember that: head, mouth. (pop, pop) These are orange; there’ll be other colors later on.”– George Carlin
I’m wondering what color the drug companies will choose for children’s statins. Maybe they’ll produce cherry-flavored pills shaped like the American Heart Association’s logo. Two in the mouth, son.
I was hoping against hope the anti-cholesterol hysterics would never be foolish enough prescribe statins for kids, but a recent news article suggests that’s where we’re headed:
More children should be screened for high cholesterol before puberty, beyond those with a family history of problems, according to wide-ranging new guidelines expected from government-appointed experts who are trying to prevent heart disease later in life.
Any call for wider screening is likely to raise concern about overdiagnosing a condition that may not cause problems for decades, if ever. Yet studies suggest that half of children with high cholesterol will also have it as adults, and it’s one of the best-known causes of clogged arteries that can lead to heart attacks.
High cholesterol is one of the best-known causes of clogged arteries? Well, in that case, obviously most people who suffer heart attacks must have high cholesterol. We’ll come back to that.
About a third of U.S. children and teens are obese or overweight. And government studies estimate that about 10 to 13 percent of children and teens have high cholesterol — defined as a score above 200.
Yup, that’s how high cholesterol is defined, all right. It was defined that way for an important scientific reason: the average cholesterol level among (non-statinated) adults is around 220. By defining a normal cholesterol level as high, the National Cholesterol Education Program (whose members nearly all had consulting contracts with statin-makers) turned millions of adults into instant patients. Now the statin-makers want to tap the kiddie market too.
A key change will be more aggressive recommendations for cholesterol screening and treatment in children, including a change in “the age at which we feel we can safely use statins,” said Dr. Reginald Washington, a pediatric heart specialist in Denver and member of the panel.
I wasn’t aware that the safety of statins for children was based on feelings. I was thinking perhaps there should be some hard evidence involved.
The pediatrics academy already advises that some children as young as 8 can safely use these cholesterol-lowering medicines, sold as Lipitor, Zocor and in generic form. They are known to prevent heart disease and deaths in adults and are approved for use in children.
Statins are known to prevent heart disease and deaths in adults? Let’s see what the science has to say on that. Here’s the conclusion of a meta-analysis on the usefulness of statins for primary prevention – that is, preventing heart attacks in people who don’t already have heart disease:
A new meta-analysis of statins in the primary prevention of heart disease has not shown a significant reduction in all-cause mortality.
Here’s the conclusion of a similar study:
In patients without CV disease, statin therapy decreases the incidence of major coronary and cerebrovascular events and revascularizations, but not coronary heart disease or overall mortality.
Statins may slightly reduce your chances of having a heart attack (if you already have several known risk factors), but they don’t reduce heart disease or overall mortality. So when a journalist tells you statins are known to prevent heart disease and deaths in adults, the journalist is making a statement that simply isn’t true.
Statins are worthless for primary prevention. So at best, the kids would be taking a powerful drug they don’t need. At worst (and I expect the worst), the statins would starve their brains of cholesterol and destroy the mitochondria in their muscles – at exactly the time when their brains and muscles are developing rapidly. This is a disaster waiting to happen. With their brain development stunted at an early age, the only career paths open to these kids will be running for Congress or working for the FDA.
But there aren’t big studies showing that using them in children will prevent heart attacks years or decades later.
Well then, by all means, let’s start giving statins to kids based on nothing more than anti-cholesterol hysteria — and our feelings. We needn’t bother waiting for those big studies. To paraphrase George McGovern, we don’t have time to wait for every last shred of evidence to come in.
I said earlier that we’d come back to the statement that high cholesterol being one of the best-known causes of clogged arteries. If that’s true, then we’d expect most heart-attack victims to have high cholesterol. But that simply isn’t the case. Several months ago, I posted about a study showing that nearly three-quarters of heart-attack victims have normal or even low LDL levels – and course, it’s LDL that statins beat into submission.
If you look at heart disease rates and cholesterol levels around the world, you won’t find any correlation whatsoever. The French and the Swiss both have average cholesterol levels over 230. They also have the first and second lowest rates of heart disease among industrialized nations. Russians have an average cholesterol level of 190 – below that magic number of 200. Russians also have the highest rate of heart disease in Europe.
In another recent news story warning that (eek!) up to one-fifth of people with heart disease aren’t being good little patients and taking their statins, the truth about cholesterol and heart disease slips out again — although that wasn’t the intention of the article:
More than one in five people with heart disease aren’t getting life-saving statin drugs despite guidelines saying they should, a new study shows. Researchers looked at nearly 39,000 people who had experienced a heart attack or undergone heart surgery, and found about 8,600 people weren’t prescribed the cholesterol-lowering medications.
Notice the reporter couldn’t resist referring to statins as “life-saving.” Bias? What bias? We don’t see any bias.
Now for the paragraph where the truth slips out:
“Our study shows that half of untreated patients had low LDL levels,” said Dr. Suzanne Arnold of Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, who worked on the new findings. “This supports the assumption that some doctors may not think patients with low LDL levels need lipid-lowering medication,” she told Reuters Health.
The patients in this study were people who already had a heart attack – and half of them had low LDL levels. If high cholesterol is one of the best-known causes of clogged arteries, then how the @#$% do we explain away the fact that at least half of the people who suffer heart attacks don’t have high cholesterol? And how on earth do we justify giving statins to kids just because they have “high” cholesterol?
But even in people with low LDL cholesterol, statins can provide a benefit, according to Arnold. “Statins do more than just lower cholesterol,” she said. “They also play a role in reducing plaque and inflammation in arteries. That benefits people regardless of their cholesterol levels.”
Here’s a crazy idea, Dr. Arnold: Given what you just said, perhaps high cholesterol isn’t the problem. Perhaps inflammation is the problem, and the only reason statins provide any benefit at all is that they lower inflammation. We don’t need drugs to reduce inflammation. We can do that with a proper diet. Beating down our cholesterol levels isn’t a benefit of statins; it’s a nasty side-effect.
In some people, statins can cause muscle pain and stomach problems such as nausea, gas, diarrhea or constipation. And their long-term effect on muscle tissue is unknown.
Yes, determining the long-term effect of statins on muscle tissue is tricky, especially since so many older people take statins. As my mom discovered, if you’re a senior citizen who takes statins and you complain to your doctor about muscle pain, your doctor will probably attribute the pain to old age.
So here’s what we need to do: Let’s prescribe statins to a whole generation of kids. In just 20 years or so, we’ll finally know the long-term effects of statins on muscle tissue. I’m sure all those 30-year-olds in wheelchairs will be glad to know they contributed to medical science.
Oopsies Courtesy of Panda
One of our faithful OFL's, Panda, contributed this recipe for Oopsies. I am going to make some today. As you know, I've been getting myself back on track with the WOE and I think these would be excellent either as a sweet or savory snack. And I'll definitely make some for me while I'm baking holiday cookies, so I won't feel deprived. LOL!
Oopsies
3 egg whites whipped stiff with a 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
3 oz cream cheese mixed thoroughly with 3 egg yolks. Add additional flavorings to yolk mix such as sweetener and cinnamon or savory as onion or garlic powder.
Fold whites into yolk mixture. Make mounds on greased cookie sheet. Flatten tops. Bake for 30 minutes at 300 degrees. Let rest and cool before taking up. Should be moist, not crunchy.
Some recipes call for adding 2 Tblspn almond flour or 3 Tblspn Flax meal to yolks to make them firmer.
Or ricotta instead of cream cheese.
Or 1/2 pkt SF Jello to yolks for Lemon Rolls.
One recipe called to put them into a muffin tin but mine are too wet to come out of a tin easily.
I have only made them a few times. I will be experimenting with them in the future.
Oopsies
3 egg whites whipped stiff with a 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
3 oz cream cheese mixed thoroughly with 3 egg yolks. Add additional flavorings to yolk mix such as sweetener and cinnamon or savory as onion or garlic powder.
Fold whites into yolk mixture. Make mounds on greased cookie sheet. Flatten tops. Bake for 30 minutes at 300 degrees. Let rest and cool before taking up. Should be moist, not crunchy.
Some recipes call for adding 2 Tblspn almond flour or 3 Tblspn Flax meal to yolks to make them firmer.
Or ricotta instead of cream cheese.
Or 1/2 pkt SF Jello to yolks for Lemon Rolls.
One recipe called to put them into a muffin tin but mine are too wet to come out of a tin easily.
I have only made them a few times. I will be experimenting with them in the future.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Low Carb Recipe Sites
As you may have read in my last post, I am on a quest to get back on track. So, I've been doing reading for inspiration today when time permits. One thing I found on one of the Atkins forums may be useful to everyone. It was on a thread introduced by someone off track who was just bored with her food. The advice given was to really vary her menu- she was eating the same things every day, every week, every meal- recipe for disaster! Being a former chef, I cannot deal with boring foods at all! I am always trying something new when I can. So, that being said, this is a list of sites for low carb recipes that you might find useful. I haven't looked at them all, so be sure and look at carb counts and don't automatically assume they are right for every phase.
Your Lighter Side:
http://blog.yourlighterside.com/
Yummly:
http://www.yummly.com/
All Recipes:
http://allrecipes.com/recipes/healthy-recipes/low-carb-diet/
Simply Recipes:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/low_carb/
Linda’s Low Carb Recipes:
http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/
Taste:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/collections/low+carb
Candice’s Low Carb Recipe Blog:
http://www.ticklemysweettooth.com/blog/
101 Cookbooks:
http://www.101cookbooks.com/low_carb_recipes/
Sugar Free Low Carb Recipes:
http://www.sugarfreelowcarbrecipes.com/
Food Network:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/search/delegate.do?fnSearchString=George+Stella&fnSearchType=site
Peggy’s Site (Atkins Community Member):
http://buttoni.wordpress.com/
Baylor’s Site (Atkins Community Member):
http://baylorandatkins.wordpress.com/
Cori’s Low Carb Life (Atkins Community Member):
http://corimalloy.wordpress.com/
Tiger Talks: (Atkins Community Member):
http://tigertye.wordpress.com/
Low Carb Luxury Kitchens:
http://www.lowcarbluxury.com/lowcarb-recipes.html
Low Carb Friends:
http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/recipereview/
Atkins Community Members Yahoo Group Recipes:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Our_Atkins_Recipes/messages
Healthy Indulgences:
http://www.healthyindulgences.net/
Low Carb Forum Recipes:
http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=96
Krys’ Low Carb Made Easy:
http://lowcarbmadeeasy.com/category/recipes/
Deliciously Thin:
http://www.deliciously-thin.com/three-ingredient-recipes.html
A Veggie Venture:
http://aveggieventuresrecipebox.blogspot.com/2005/03/low-carb-vegetable-recipes.html#low_carb_simple_sides
Primal Palate:
http://www.primal-palate.com/p/recipes.html
Elana’s Pantry:
http://www.elanaspantry.com/gluten-free-recipes/
Dessert Stalker:
http://www.dessertstalker.com/
Low Carb Cookworx:
http://lowcarbcookworx.proteinpower.com/episodes/index.php
Your Lighter Side:
http://blog.yourlighterside.com/
Yummly:
http://www.yummly.com/
All Recipes:
http://allrecipes.com/recipes/healthy-recipes/low-carb-diet/
Simply Recipes:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/low_carb/
Linda’s Low Carb Recipes:
http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/
Taste:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/collections/low+carb
Candice’s Low Carb Recipe Blog:
http://www.ticklemysweettooth.com/blog/
101 Cookbooks:
http://www.101cookbooks.com/low_carb_recipes/
Sugar Free Low Carb Recipes:
http://www.sugarfreelowcarbrecipes.com/
Food Network:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/search/delegate.do?fnSearchString=George+Stella&fnSearchType=site
Peggy’s Site (Atkins Community Member):
http://buttoni.wordpress.com/
Baylor’s Site (Atkins Community Member):
http://baylorandatkins.wordpress.com/
Cori’s Low Carb Life (Atkins Community Member):
http://corimalloy.wordpress.com/
Tiger Talks: (Atkins Community Member):
http://tigertye.wordpress.com/
Low Carb Luxury Kitchens:
http://www.lowcarbluxury.com/lowcarb-recipes.html
Low Carb Friends:
http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/recipereview/
Atkins Community Members Yahoo Group Recipes:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Our_Atkins_Recipes/messages
Healthy Indulgences:
http://www.healthyindulgences.net/
Low Carb Forum Recipes:
http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=96
Krys’ Low Carb Made Easy:
http://lowcarbmadeeasy.com/category/recipes/
Deliciously Thin:
http://www.deliciously-thin.com/three-ingredient-recipes.html
A Veggie Venture:
http://aveggieventuresrecipebox.blogspot.com/2005/03/low-carb-vegetable-recipes.html#low_carb_simple_sides
Primal Palate:
http://www.primal-palate.com/p/recipes.html
Elana’s Pantry:
http://www.elanaspantry.com/gluten-free-recipes/
Dessert Stalker:
http://www.dessertstalker.com/
Low Carb Cookworx:
http://lowcarbcookworx.proteinpower.com/episodes/index.php
Some Low Carb Thoughts for the Upcoming Holidays via Dana Carpender
Well, folks, I went for my checkup with the doc yesterday, and found out that I've been fooling myself! Blood pressure was okay, don't know about cholesterol (don't care anyway- I would rather take arsenic than a statin drug,) BUT I've gained 8 pounds in the four months since I last saw her! I've been going along thinking that if I mostly did low carb and occasionally had potatoes, rice, bread, etc., it wouldn't matter. Obviously, it did! Soooo... yesterday, I literally had to force myself to go back to Atkins induction totally.
And it was hard! Maybe not as hard as the first time I did Atkins, because I know for sure the rewards of sticking with it, but still hard. On the way home from the doc's office at lunch time, I was doing my usual stinking thinking and thought it wouldn't hurt to just pick up a piece of fried chicken. Screech went the brakes of my mind- I went a mile out of my way to get a Subway salad with oil and vinegar only. I knew I just wouldn't make anything low carb if I went home. The rest of the day was a fight, also- it would've been much easier to make a sandwich last night. But I didn't, and loaded up on protein and fat instead. One of the things that have been happening to me while I've been dabbling with the carbs is that I would wake in the middle of the night HUNGRY! I would get up, fix a piece of toast and be even more starving by breakfast.
This morning, I literally forced myself to make an omelet with ham, and I have just spent a few minutes planning out the rest of my food day. I CANNOT let this weight creep go on!! So, in the interest of doing this right, I began going back and reading different articles from my favorite low carb gurus. No matter what religion you are, you probably have a holiday coming up soon, and each one has its food traditions- much of which are high carb. So, I again read Dana Carpender's transcript of her pod cast before Thanksgiving. It deals with low carb alternatives and what to do about food pushers. I know we all have at least one food pusher in the family- "here, have some of this- it won't hurt you." Well, YES IT WILL! I think everyone can benefit from reading Dana's comments on Thanksgiving and applying them to the upcoming holidays. So, take a little time and read:
http://danaslowcarbforlife.com/419/31-thanksgiving-pep-talk-dare-say-no-thanks-recipes-more/
And it was hard! Maybe not as hard as the first time I did Atkins, because I know for sure the rewards of sticking with it, but still hard. On the way home from the doc's office at lunch time, I was doing my usual stinking thinking and thought it wouldn't hurt to just pick up a piece of fried chicken. Screech went the brakes of my mind- I went a mile out of my way to get a Subway salad with oil and vinegar only. I knew I just wouldn't make anything low carb if I went home. The rest of the day was a fight, also- it would've been much easier to make a sandwich last night. But I didn't, and loaded up on protein and fat instead. One of the things that have been happening to me while I've been dabbling with the carbs is that I would wake in the middle of the night HUNGRY! I would get up, fix a piece of toast and be even more starving by breakfast.
This morning, I literally forced myself to make an omelet with ham, and I have just spent a few minutes planning out the rest of my food day. I CANNOT let this weight creep go on!! So, in the interest of doing this right, I began going back and reading different articles from my favorite low carb gurus. No matter what religion you are, you probably have a holiday coming up soon, and each one has its food traditions- much of which are high carb. So, I again read Dana Carpender's transcript of her pod cast before Thanksgiving. It deals with low carb alternatives and what to do about food pushers. I know we all have at least one food pusher in the family- "here, have some of this- it won't hurt you." Well, YES IT WILL! I think everyone can benefit from reading Dana's comments on Thanksgiving and applying them to the upcoming holidays. So, take a little time and read:
http://danaslowcarbforlife.com/419/31-thanksgiving-pep-talk-dare-say-no-thanks-recipes-more/
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Surprising News about Vitamin D Deficiency Courtesy of Dr. Ben Kim
As most of you regulars know, I read Dr. Ben Kim's newsletter and it often contains really valuable information at times. I don't subscribe to his diet views, but other things are very useful. Today, I read about Vitamin D and what deficiency of it will really do to us. I never knew! And also how to get enough of it. Surprisingly, we all need some exposure to sunlight for optimal amounts of it. So, have a read at what he has to say:
http://www.drbenkim.com/vitamin-d-facts.htm
http://www.drbenkim.com/vitamin-d-facts.htm
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