Ham and Cabbage Soup

This was something I made last night that is not only low in calories, but low in carbs AND pretty low in fat (for those who might need to know that). It turned out DELICIOUS and hubby REALLY liked it. It was easy and you can eat a hearty portion of it without fear of ruining "your day".

3 pork shanks (try to get shanks instead of hocks as these have more meat)
10 cups water
4 teaspoons chicken bouillon
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 dashes hot sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup diced carrot
22 ounces cabbage, chopped
11 ounces lean ham

1. Put all ingredients except cabbage and lean ham into a 6 qt pot. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 2 hrs. Remove shanks, let cool, and retrieve meat from them, and then put the meat back into the pot. Add the lean ham and the cabbage at this time.

2. Simmer until the cabbage is soft, about 20-30 minutes.

Makes 12 - 1 cup Servings:

Calories: 100

Fat: 4

Sat. Fat: 1

Carb: 5

Fiber: 2

Protein: 10

Another Reason to Remove Grain From Your Diet

Ever noticed how when you give up grains and carbs that your indigestion goes away?? Well, here's another funny "proof" (and I use this loosely of course! LOL).

About 1/2 of the baking soda sold in the U.S. is used for indigestion in cattle. Most cattle are fattened up in feedlots on corn, hay, and supplements before being slaughtered. They can eat up to 25 pounds of grain a day. Their stomachs were designed to digest grass, not grain, so they tend to get indigestion. Feedlots give the cattle baking soda to ease the problem.

See Question 3 and it's Answer:

http://www.foodreference.com/html/currentculinaryquiz.html

High Fructose Corn Syrup Doesn't Make People OBESE - So THEY SAY!!

So a study comes out that says that High Fructose Corn Syrup does not contribute to obesity. But here's a few "sneaky" things about this "study".

1. First off they didn't study the affects of HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) on any individuals. They just read through OTHER studies and literature reviews.

2. Secondly, WHO did this "study" - Maryland Center for Food, Nutrition, and Agriculture Policy (CFNAP). It's no wonder they "found nothing".

3. Guess who funded this "study" - Tate and Lyle - and you know who they are? Large corn refiner in North America - Tate started out as a SUGAR REFINER. Well OF COURSE they couldn't find anything wrong with the studies funders MAIN source of business.

How bogus can you get. You can read this ridiculousness here:

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/531862/

Thai Chicken Broccoli Salad

I made this last night for dinner and was really worried my DH wouldn't like it. Ever since he quit smoking two years ago his tastes have changed QUITE a bit. We don't like super spicy things, so this just barely had a zing. You could certainly add more red pepper flakes if you wanted to make it MUCH spicer.

We he came home and took a bite, he said "It tastes like it has peanut butter in it". I said "Yes, dear, Thai food uses peanut sauces" and he wrinkled his nose. He did go back for 2nds which is kind of unusual for him, but he'd only give it a 5. Although this is from a man that gives Hamburger Helper a 10. So take that for what it's worth. I definately gave it a 8 or 9. It was DELICIOUS!!!

4 ounces dreamfields Pasta ( this is the low-carb pasta we use - I do NOT gain weight eating small amounts of it)
1 tablespoon coconut oil
11 ounces Chicken Breast
3/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped
2 cups broccoli florets
6 each green onions
1/4 cup peanut butter, natural
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Cook pasta according to the directions, making sure it's al dente. Omit Salt. Drain

2. Add coconut oil to pan and heat over med-high heat. Once the oil is shimmering add the chicken. Stir fry the chicken for 5 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.

3. Add broccoli and 2 tabl of water to the pan. Cover the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Uncover and add the bell pepper and the green onions and stir fry for 2 minutes longer. Everything will be tender crisp. Add the chicken to the bowl of pasta and put the vegetables on top.

4. Meanwhile, combine the peanut butter, 2 tabl of VERY hot water, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes and garlic powder in a small bowl. If it doesn't get creamy then microwave it for 30 seconds. Stir til creamy. Drizzle over pasta mixture; toss to coat. Serve immediately.
Serves 4

One serving:

Calories: 365
Fat: 17
S. Fat: 5
Carbs: 12
Fiber: 3
Protein: 24

Why I eat a Low-Carb Diet

I had a lovely friend ask me about low-carbing. She wasn't very familiar with it and she follows a regular low-fat diet. She loved my recipes but was concerned about all the saturated fat. But she wanted to know more about low-carbing and I wrote this to her. It think it explains why I chose a low-carb diet.

I decided to low-carb for my health. For us, it wasn't just about cutting our carbs down, it was about finally, totally nourishing our bodies. This meant eliminating foods that were unnecessary and unhealthy. That means that we no longer eat anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup or Trans-fat (this mean even if the label says "No Trans Fat" - I read the ingredients. If it says "Hydrogenated _____" it's TRANS FAT. Because of governement guidelines, if it has less than a certain percentage they can sell it as "No Trans Fat" - deceptive huh? We also don't eat anything with any added sugars. Honest to goodness, when you cut those things out, the cravings for them pretty much stop.

Now, I'll add this. I'm not perfect and I DO go to Disney World a few times a year and I'm going to eat the "best I can" while there, but I just won't go crazy.

For the first time in my life, I truly believe this has to do with my health. And honestly even if I stopped losing weight (which would be sad indeed), I would keep eating this way, as I feel it's the best way to eat for our bodies (for us pre-diabetic/IR people in particular).
Unlike what most people think, eating low carb is NOT eating bacon and butter and steak only. You can see by my journels, that I eat fruit and veggies and salad and meat and very little grains. That is usually quoted by people who haven't read Dr. Atkins book or the South Beach Diet (to name a couple). Dr. Atkins, does have you eat very low-carb (under 20 carbs a day for the 1st two weeks) and then you add carbs back until (in increments of 5 carbs a day each week) until you stop losing weight, then you dial it back to the previous week's amount of carbs. As you get close to your goal weight (within 10-15lbs you start adding more carbs back in until you start GAINING weight). Then you dial it back. That is how many carbs you eat the rest of your life. It's different for everyone. Some eat upwards of 150 a day, some eat closer to 50 a day. Once you get past the 1st two weeks, you can add fruit (he recommends berries mostly while losing) and then when you get to goal, you even add some grains back (steel cut oatmeal - not the sugary packets at the store - TRUE whole grain breads - bulgar, even brown rice etc.). It's all about trial and error and if something stalls the weight loss, than we cut it out for now.

So yes, we do eat more fat (because we naturally eat more protein). My diet is normally approximately 60% fat; 20% protein; 20% Carb

Here's a brief synopsis of a study done by the NIH (National Institute of Health). It shows that the low-carb diet has NO affect on cardiovasular risk. There were no harm to the lipid profiles (even though there are high levels of sat. fat eaten):

NIH Study on Cardiovasular Risk from a Low-Carb Diet

Then one of my favorite bloggers. Her hubby is a Doctor and she is SO smart and takes studies and tries to make them more simple to understand for "regular" people (although sometimes it's STILL over my head! LOL). But I love this post about why excessive CARBS are the reason for clogged artries and increasing bad health.

Carbohydrate - How Much is Too Much

This next article was a HUGE study that came out this year in March. It compared 4 major diets to one another, in not only weight loss, but blood values and blood pressure. The 4 diets were: Atkins (low-carb); The Zone, Ornish (Very low fat; Very high Carb); LEARN (typical low-fat diet).

At the 12 month mark not only did the Atkins dieters lose more weight, but even more significant was that they lost way more body fat (because when you are eating a low carb diet, the body tends to burn fat differently - which was recently talked about in another study that showed mice burning fat the way they do on an Atkins diet - it was some hormone they discovered that people on a low-carb diet put out. They are trying to reproduce it for other people to take it in pill/shot form). The Atkins dieters also experienced more favorable overall metabolic effects.

Now I will say, this study also showed, that none of the people keep a signficant weight loss off. You know why?? Because they didn't "get it" that it HAS to be a lifestyle change. No matter what you do, you have to do it for life!

Here is another blog by a RN. I LOVE this lady's blog and she is reporting about a new book called "The Great Cholesterol Con". Very interesting. I bought the book, but have only just cracked the cover. I do know the book, references study after study, proving everything he's trying to say in there. Here's a link to some exerts from it:

The Great Cholesterol Con

I loves this guys approach. As he says at the end "All these different studies show us one thing: No one has all the answers - not the food industry nor state health authorities. The bottom line: find what works for you - and don't get carried away by anyone else's mandate."

Low Carb Diet Health Improvements

And finally, this is one of my FAVORITE reads. He is also coming out with a book this September that's supposed to be AMAZING called "Good Calories, Bad Calories. Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control and Disease". I'm REALLY excited to read this because his writing style is very easy to read and it will go by quickly. It's sort of a long article, but WELL WORTH every word.

What If It's All Been a Big Fat Lie

Again, I'm SOOOO not against what people are doing that works for them. But doing a low-cal, low-fat diet stopped working for me. I know, I've been honest and I really was eating very little and nothing was happening. I was "shaking it up", changing things around. I have done it all and I KNEW after reading the above and WAY more stuff that this was how I needed to live (and my family) for not only weight loss but for our health. And if I'm honest, I lost the last 70lbs not looking at fat EVER. I ate a lower calorie diet mostly, but I was eating less and less and I didn't want to get stuff metabolically where I couldn't eat only 800 calories a day to maintain my weight.

Just regular science says, when you weigh less you need less calories to run the body mass you have. I was already eating as low as 900 calories a day and not losing weight and I was 230lbs. It scared me to think of how little I would have to eat...eventually. But if I changed my style of eating, boosting my metabolism and eating more nutrient dense foods, I found I could eat more.

All three of my primary doctors - my Endocronologist, my Gynocologist and my GP are completely onboard with how we are eating and very encouraging to do it. Our blood work has only gotten better and better. We are all getting ready to go and get new blood work. When I get that back, I'll share - the good bad or ugly how it turns out for the 3 of us. As we've been eating this way for months now - and was eating a bit different when we had our last blood work drawn.

Hummus

I've been looking for a store bought hummus that's tasty but would you believe that most major brand have High Fructose Corn Syrup in them!! Aggg - that means, I'll have to make my own. I figure it would be hard to find Tahini (sort of like Sesame butter) in my small town but was pleasantly surprised to see my local small town grocery has a nice health food section and there it sat on the shelf! So here's my version of Hummus. I LOVED it and I made my friends at the local Starbucks - of whom most had never HEARD of hummus try it and they LIKED it!! I also gave them a piece of my "homemade" LC tortilla made into a "chip" (Mission Carb Balance Tortilla - toasted in the oven with garlic powder on it).


1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh squeezed
1/4 cup water
14 ounces chickpeas, canned
1/2 cup tahini
1 teaspoon salt


PLACE all ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth, scraping the sides occasionally.


Makes 2 Cups
2 tabl = 1 serving

Calories: 75
Fat: 4
S. Fat: 1
Carbs: 8
Fiber: 2
Protein: 3

Carbquik Pancakes

Again, real pictures, no doctoring up. I made these straight off of the box. I used coconut oil to fry in. As in regular pancakes the first ones turned out kind of greasy but the rest were sort of "strange" looking. I thought they tasted fine. My husband noted the crunchy ones tasted like "pancake dust". LOL With sugar free syrup they were a fair substitute. I'm still going to look for a "real" texture. These would be VERY band friendly as they were a bit on the flat crunchier side!


2 cups carbquik - LC Baking Mix
1/8 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup water
1 stick butter, melted
1/8 cup water

Stir together and cook following directions on the box.

Made 8 pancakes - 1 pancake:

Calories: 234 (a little on the high side for me)
Fat: 20
S. Fat: 10
Carbs: 20
Fiber: 16
Protein: 8

Cream Cheese Crockpot Chicken

Cream Cheese Crockpot Chicken

This is a creamy delicious dish that even your non-low-carb friends (isn't that about everyone we know! LOL) will love. We serve it over a very SMALL amount of Dreamfields pasta (like 2oz of cooked pasta).


4 each Chicken Breast - skinless boneless
3 each Chicken Thighs - bone-in with skin (my hubby LOVES the skin)
2 tablespoons butter
1 package Italian Dressing Mix - Good Seasons
7 ounces chopped onions, frozen
14 ounces condensed cream of mushroom soup
8 ounces lowfat cream cheese
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 dash salt
1 dash pepper


1. Brush chicken with butter and sprinkle with the dry Italian seasoning mix/ (I did two layers in my crockpot to make sure that the Italian seasoning got on all the chicken and not just those pieces on top.) Do this on both sides.

2. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or cook on high for 3-4 hrs.

3. About 45 minutes before done, brown the onion in the butter and then add the cream cheese, soup, and chicken broth to the saucepan. Add the crushed garlic and stir all ingredients until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Drain some of the liquid in the crockpot (about half) and pour sauce mixture over chicken and cook an additional 30-45 minutes.

5. Remove chicken to platter and stir sauce before ladling some over the chicken and serving the rest in a gravy boat. Serve over faux rice or LC pasta.

For 4oz of meat and 1/4 cup of sauce:

Calories: 307
Fat: 21
S. Fat: 8
Carbs: 6
Fiber: Trace
Protein: 26gms

LC Food Review - VitaMuffin Vita Tops - Banana Nut

As I mentioned in the Post about the Chocolate Tops - these are pricey ($18.00 for 1 dozen). They are 2oz in size. They also contain Malitol, but that does not seem to affect me. They are only 6 carbs per muffin. They also contain NO soy.

As for the Review:

I also toasted these in the Toaster Oven and can I saw: WOW - they were LOADED with walnuts on the top and the toaster oven, toasted them up BEAUTIFULLY and gave the nuts such a great "toasted" taste.

Ease of Use: Again, if you can use your toaster oven, then I'd give them a 10.

Taste: These are GREAT. Very banana flavored and if you miss bananas, these are a nice substitute. I'd give these a 7 for flavor.

Band Friendly: Well, if you can't eat bread, don't try these. They are afterall a MUFFIN top. I don't wear my band too tight, so I can have these on "most" mornings and every evening (not that I do - they are an occasional treat). So I'd give them a 2 for band friendliness.

You can buy these here:

Vitalicious Low-Carb Muffin Tops

Big Week for My Daughter & I - Suppliment Adjustments

This was a HUGE week for both my daughter and I. She has managed to lose 41lbs now and has hit the milestone of going UNDER 200lbs. She was delighted and I couldn't be prouder of her. I got to thinking how hard it is for ANYONE to lose 41lbs, but for a teenager to do it is nothing short of amazing.

The best part of it, is that she's "not starving herself" and really doesn't see herself as dieting. She is just eating "good food" and making sure she's not eating unless she's hungry and eating til satisified. WOW - how smart is that??

I have also broken through some sort of wall and managed to lose 3lbs this week. After a week of gaining 2lbs. I do believe that gain was PMS gain - which is odd as I shouldn't technically have PMS as I'm on the "pill". But that old PCOS reared it's ugly head and had it's way with me last week. So in the midst of my "cycle" I LOST 3lbs. How weird is that? I'm also down another pound since then, so next week looks good as well.

I did change up a few things this week. I'm still eating on average 1400 calories a day and under 40 carbs a day AFTER subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols (but I'd like to add I eat VERY little sugar alcohols because I try to keep things as clean as possible). I have added back the Glucophage I quit taking when I first started low-carbing as it was making me so sick to my stomach I was almost vomiting (a big no-no for lapbanders as it can cause slippage of our bands, which most of the time means going back under to the knife for a small repair). I also have added the following suppliments after looking up good ones, that Dr. Atkins recommends for those of us who are VERY metabolically challenged (the first group is what Dr. Atkins recommends and at the amount her recommends and the second group are some additional supliments I've added as well):

Chromium Picolinate - 1000mcg
L-Carnitine - 1500mg
CoQ10 - 100mg

Flax - 1000mg
Fish Oil - 1000mg
Krill Oil - 1000mg (for the anti-inflamatory properties - I hope to get off the daily Naproxen Sodium for the Fibromyalgia)

I used to take the Flax and Fish Oil before my band, but was worried they'd be too big. I've had no trouble taking them.

I can't say why I've dropped weight, but I have and I'm delighted. I'll continue taking these suppliments as long as I can.

CBS News Reports that the Fight Against Childhood Obesity is FAILING

The government has spent over $1 billion dollars on changing how schoolage children are eating and the results are NOT GOOD.

Dancing fruits and veggies, paying kids to eat them and even the kids who are "following" this new program is NOT working.

Dr. Tom Baranowski, a pediatrics professor at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine who studies behavioral nutrition, says..."Any person looking at the published literature about these programs would have to conclude that they are generally not working".

Here is the complete article:

Fight Against Childhood Obesity is NOT WORKING.

Caveman Diet 'Combats Diabetes'

My husband is pre-diabetic/Insulin Resistant so I was so excited to read this article here:

Caveman Diet 'Combats Diabetes'

In short it refers to Swedish research shows a "paleolithic" diet is considerably more effective than the popular Mediterranean diet in reducing blood sugar levels. The main difference in the diet was a much lower consumption of grains and dairy and a higher consumption of fruits on the paleolithic diet. This diet mainly consists of lean meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, root vegetables and nuts....hmmm, sounds familiar??

Go and read this short article for yet another research study showing how well this lifestyle can affect your health!!

Childhood Obesity - Tell Them Where It's At - Even if We Hurt Them

I am so saddened to see that "a committee of medical experts" are agreeing that we need to compound the self-loathing & humiliation that kids & teens who are fat already have by not "soft pedaling" that they are really really fat and just tell them like it is. That they need to lose weight. Read here:

Doctors urged to quit softpedaling obesity


I wonder if they really think these kids/teens are so stupid to not already know that they need to lose weight; maybe it's the comments they get from other kids or even their own parents trying to put them on another diet. Now they want DOCTORS to tell them that they're fat, just in case they didn't already know.

I get so tired of hearing "just eat less and move more", like it's really going to help some of these kids. When will they start testing kids further and finding out what's really going on with a child/teen?

I know that me pushing the doctors to test my daughter for Insulin Resistance/PCOS was the turning point in her weight loss and overall improved health. Guess what, she didn't eat loads of garbage food and lay around all day. She had some super high insulin problems that made it nearly impossible for her to lose weight and even caused WEIGHT GAIN (sounds familiar to ME). Once that MEDICAL ISSUE was addressed, she continued to eat til satisfied, lowered her carbs (as advised by our physician - because the Insulin Resistance makes you far more sensitive to them) and the weight has been melting off of her. Hmmmm, imagine that?

Then to add insult to injury, they want to put them on a low-fat high carb diet that clearly is not the most effective diet for insulin resistance.

Diabetes Health - Low-Carb is Alive and Well

So what happens if the UK and the US follows and starts taking kids away from their parents for the "neglect" of having an fat kid? Yep, that's definately being considered. Here's an article that talks about what the UK is considering:

Doctors: "Put obese kids in Care"

And the US has a whole other "plan of action" - if the FORCED diet, exercise and life control doesn't work, they will even consider WLS SURGERY on Children. Here are a few links to a few of my favorite blogs explaining what the US would like to "do for our overweight children"

Doctors — forced into becoming lifestyle police

Only the Finest Propaganda will Solve Childhood Obesity

This is scary, because if my insulin resistant daughter were forced to go on a low-fat diet, she'd most likely GAIN weight. Yep, I said it, and I KNOW it's true. Plus she knows way too much now and would be dangerous to argue without about what she should and should not be eating! LOL