NOM NOM NOM

I had a pretty good day today.

Our place has been kind of hot as we only have two window units for our main room and with hot computers, plus a tv and other countless things including myself and the animals producing heat, it doesn't compensate very well.

For Breakfast I had this delicious cereal
with Silk Almond milk.

It was by far my most favorite meal of the day. For lunch I had a chicken salad and a rinse and repeat for dinner.

I managed to get on the bike for 20 minutes today and hope to do another 20 before bed.

 How about you?

Fail?

So, it has been a week or so now since my last post.

I have tried the low-carb deal now for 2 weeks.
I have lost no weight.'
My sugars are still far from ideal.

It is not working.

I am however still working towards my goal weight of 180lbs, just in a another way.

I have added 20-40 minutes of exercise to my day over the past week by riding my stationary bike all over the living room. I have have still been eating BETTER than I have been in years and I feel better. I do not feel like I have zero energy and I actually feel like doing something during the day rather than just sitting here depressed and bored (and eating).

I do not revolve my life around food now, eating is just something I do when I am hungry instead of something I do when I am bored or excited. I have put myself into the mindset that if you don't lose the weight now, you won't and things can only get worse for something with my health issues.

I scoured the internet for a few hours last night and discovered that diabetics need carbs in their diet, that eventually low carbs may work, but eating foods low on the glycemic index in relation to carbs is the better way to go.

So, this week starts. I am going grocery shopping tonight. I am going to grab carbohydrates low on the glycemic index as they have less of an impact on your blood sugar and allow the body to compensate. It will help with blood sugar spikes and hopefully over time, lower my sugar down to where it needs to be.

This morning I ate some Egg Beaters (cheese and chive)with some shredded cheese sprinkled into it, folded it up like an omelet. I had 3 breakfast sausages (turkey) and a half a cup of cottage cheese. I feel full and ready to get on the bike for another 20 minutes.

Now, another discovery I found last night to aid in weight loss goals is : http://www.sparkpeople.com... this site lets you track everything even your blood glucose when you select the "diabetic program". It is a nice interface and though I have not implemented them as of yet, they do offer meal plans depending on the program you choose to "follow". You can of course create your own and do as you feel best works with your lifestyle.

I will be updating on my progress, I am just trying new things and hoping that they work !

Thanks for reading and Happy eating !

Water

The fasting is going well so far.

Just drinking lots of water.

I even convinced myself to get on the stationary and exercise for a bit. I managed to ride for 15 minutes between speeds 1-4 and mostly at 3-4 and rode 3 miles ! I didn't feel dizzy this time when I got up and it didn't feel like I was going to collapse, so that is always a plus.

I apologize for the lack of revolution rolls yesterday. We had some serious errands to run all over the Goddess' green earth and didn't make it home until midnight.
Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to make them and share the results !
I am very excited to try them.

Alright, off to drink more water like it's going out of style.

Oh, and on a side note : NEW FRIDGE TOMORROW ! (Thank you Nancy).

Ugh

Totally 100% aggravated with my body. My blood sugar will not budge. I am irritated and I am so at a loss for words. I am going to fast today to see if that helps bring it down.

:(

Induction Flu + Diabetes = Fail

I have not been feeling all that great the past 24 hours hence the reason for few postings and lack of interest in general.

My sugar is being is a bitch and will not budge even though I am consuming 20 grams of carbohydrates or less each and everyday. I have been doing low carb since Saturday and the lowest it has been was 210. Not cool.

Also I think I may have "caught" induction flu, which is explained quite well over here at this blog > Induction Flu @Low Carb For You it is not fun and mostly consists of withdrawal and sorrow from the lack of carbs your body has to adjust to.
It is an adjustment like anything else and it is important to address your body and enrich it with something that will bring it back up to par, like adding some protein or cheese as a snack. It honestly will help curb your appetite and hopefully keep your mind off other cravings.

I have found cheese strings to be the best avenue for this. Also the Atkins bars, though pricey come in handy when you are needing a snack or something sweet.

Dinner this evening was a half-salad from Wendy's. Chicken BLT Cobb. I have never had blue cheese before this salad and I must say that I am in love. I even purchased some of add as extra if they were being skimpy, which they are normally pretty good about.
I also had a cup of sprouts with some chicken.

I will be making these tomorrow night :)

Atkins Diet Revolution Rolls:
3 eggs, separated
3 oz Cream Cheese
1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
2 tsp Splenda
Salt, dash

Makes 6 servings
Bake at 300 degrees for 35-55 minutes
Nutrition Info: (per serving)
90 Calories, 7g Fat, 6g Protein, .5g Carb.

As always, thanks for reading and following along on my journey !

Fish

It seems I over cooked the thin piece of fish I had so I supplemented that with the leftover steak fingers from last night, still tasty as ever. Just a tablespoon of ranch dipping sauce. (1 carb) and now I am having a protein shake to wash it all down. (1 carb).

Total carbs consumed today :13.5

I am totally not starving either, so yay !

Happy Eating !

Late Start

I hope everyone is having a truly wonderful day !

I was feeling very sick last night, heart was racing and I couldn't seem to fall asleep.
It was not at all pleasant, but eventually I gave in and took an Advil PM and fell asleep.
I didn't end up getting out of bed until about 12:30 this afternoon, so there went breakfast.

I was hungry about an hour after I woke up so I ate a dill pickle. (1 net carb) and one of my Atkins bars, which are costing me a fortune incidentally...(another 2 carbs.)

I have some cod currently cooking in the oven, just plan on seasoning it with some pepper and dipping it in vinegar which is my favorite way to eat it. I am probably going to make a salad to go along with it. Is it just me or does bagged salad always have a weird poison taste to it ? It just tastes like crap to me, which is why I have decided to get a couple side salads from Wendy's and do it that way, but I will use what I have left of the bagged junk first. Blah.

Sipping on my current favorite diet drink.

 I need to start drinking more water, but gosh it is tasty !

Big things for dinner? :) We shall see !

Steak Tenders for dinner

Good evening everyone !

As promised I have made a video of my dinner making process, the video is kind of lame, alright, a lot lame but alas.
It was my first time using iMovie and filming while cooking.


Here is the video first so you can get an idea of what we are doing.

 

The whole idea behind this was to obtain a crunchy texture to steak, chicken or pork using something other than bread related items.

In this case I have used pork rinds, seasoned with my favorite seasonings.

Ingredients :

• 1lb of your favorite cut of steak (I used a round or sirloin for this meal)
• 3 cups of powdered or crushed pork rinds 
• a tablespoon or more of your favorite seasoning (I used some lemon pepper, pepper, steak seasoning, onion powder and garlic salt)
• 1/4 cup of half and half for your egg wash
• 1 egg
• Cooking oil of your choice

Go ahead make your egg wash which is simply done by combining the egg and half and half into a bowl. Then combine your crushed rinds and seasonings together in another bowl. Cut the strips into a desired length (about 3 inches long and 1/2 inch thick) and let them soak in the wash. Coat the washed steak and fry them babies up !

As you can see by the end of the video they do end up being quite dark after being fried, but I can assure you they are very good !


The total meal yields about 2 carbs so make sure you have a salad or other side dish to compliment and increase your carb count.

Happy Eating !

Dinner Delayed

Youtube is giving me quite a time with the "processing" aspect of my video.
I hope to have everything blogged and up shortly !

Just for my reference I am currently at 12.5 carbs today.
Edit: I finished the day with 18 total carbs.

Delicious food and low carbs !

Today's lunch is brought to you by randomness that came into my head so I cooked it.

Things you will need :

• 1 chicken breast - 0 carbs
• 1 tablespoon of Philadelphia cooking cream - 1.5 carbs
• 1 cup of mung bean sprouts - 4 carbs
• 1 tablespoon of low sodium Kikkoman soy sauce - 1 carb

I cooked the chicken first since I like to brown it up before adding my bean sprouts.
If you add the bean sprouts too early, they will lose their crunch which isn't always yummy...it can be, but I personally like the crunch of a lesser cooked sprout.

After that I added the cooking cream and slowly let it melt onto the chicken with the temperature on low and then threw in the sprouts. I let them them simmer on low for about 5 minutes and then added the soy sauce and turned up the heat.

Everything began to caramelize nicely giving it a sweet and salty flavoring.
Leave it on high for about 3-4 minutes until you are satisfied with the doneness of your sprouts. That much time worked for me.

Throw it on a plate or in a bowl and dig in !

Finished <3

 Total carbs for this lunch were : 6.5.

Happy eating !

Good Morning Day 2

So I went to bed pretty late last night and didn't end up waking until 10:30 this morning which is later than I like to wake up.

I have not had breakfast yet because I have been working on getting the comments fixed on the blog so you guys can ask questions or leave comments :) I am still very excited about having a blog and sharing my feelings, thoughts and ideas with you all !

I think an Atkins snack bar is in order for this morning along with some maple sausages pan fried to perfection. That will net me 4 carbs for this morning.

Let us look at a typical Manda breakfast from last week.

+ Bologna sandwich, at least one, sometimes another an hour later = 50 carbs
 Processed meat often has added sugar as well so add another 4 carbs for the meat.

That my friends is a HUGE amount of carbs, keeping in mind that the induction phase allows for 20 carbs in one DAY, never mind 50+ in one sitting.

Then of course there was the incessant snacking, chips, crackers, cookies...CARBS!!!
Carbs are truly love, but I am honestly not missing them much right now.
The protein from the meat and cheese is keeping my energy higher than it has been in quite some time and although my sugar doesn't seem to want to budge much, it is headed in the right direction.

I am debating on fasting for a 24 hour period to cleanse my body and lower my sugar, but that is something I will have to consider over the next few weeks.

I will be in the induction phase for AWHILE.

Induction states that you should stay on it if :

• You have a large amount of weight to lose 
• If you still have elevated blood sugar or blood pressure levels
• If you are still struggling with carb cravings

My weight is still holding steady and I am not totally ready to report my massive size just yet, but maybe soon !

Happy Eating !

Dinner

Today was productive !

I had my typical Wendy's Cobb salad for dinner which was delicious AS ALWAYS.
No croutons of course and ranch dressing. I can't say enough about their salads.
They always come out fresh and fill me right up !

We went to Target to look at their clearance and I picked up a box of the Atkins bars for $5.00, they net 2gs of carbohydrates so I ended up having one of them for a dessert along with a pepperoni stick after scoring some deals on clearance makeup from Rite Aid.

Also at the Target market I grabbed some spinach, mixed greens, snap peas, tomatoes, blue cheese, bacon, bean sprouts and some breakfast sausages. I have chicken and cod in the fridge ready to be cooked as well. I think I am set for the week. I am planning on looking into some low carb recipes to actually cook for next week instead of just having everything by itself, it is very odd !

Breakfast will mostly likely be sausages tomorrow and possibly an Atkins shake.
Lunch is sounding most delicious because it will likely consist of bean sprouts and cream cheese with chicken with a little soy sauce.

It has been a long day, but I am excited for tomorrow !

Happy eating !!

Revolution Rolls

Once I figure this all out I plan on making these. They look awesome !

This is an induction friendly recipe from an awesome guy on youtube.

Atkins Diet Revolution Rolls:
3 eggs, separated
3 oz Cream Cheese
1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
2 tsp Splenda
Salt, dash

Makes 6 servings
Bake at 300 degrees for 35-55 minutes
Nutrition Info: (per serving)
90 Calories, 7g Fat, 6g Protein, .5g Carb.

here are most likely problems with the recipe:

1. Mixing or beating (not folding) the Egg Whites into the Yolks / Cream Cheese

2. Not beating the egg whites long enough (weak peaks) or no cream of tartar

3. Potentially not cooking the buns long enough or too long

4. Letting bits egg yolks in your egg white bowls

This recipe works well as a take off for other ideas like French Toast (add cinnamon) or other tweaks.


If anyone tries it out, let me know how they taste !

Happy eating !

Lunch

For lunch today I am eating some leftover pork that we cooked yesterday.
I slow roasted it in the crock pot and added a little salt and pepper.

I have not officially shopped for the induction phase as of yet, so I am mostly eating appropriate foods that we currently have around the house.

I had 2 slices of Provolone cheese for a snack = 1g of carbs
I am having an Atkins vanilla shake as well with my lunch = 1g of carbs
My pork was free of carbs !
My eggs from this morning that I thought were also free of carbs are NOT according to Atkins. They apparently contain .5 net grams of carbs each, so therefore 1 carb total.

That is a rolling total of 3 carbs for the day !
Leaving me with a balance of 17 carbs for the rest of the day.

I just wanted to touch down on another subject very quickly.

This is regarding the use of "Carb Blockers" which I have been taking for almost a year now, mainly after I lost my job and insurance. These babies are WONDERFUL. I can not stress enough how well they work for me. Each pill contains Chromium and Phase 2 which is White kidney bean extract. All natural. It helps the body metabolize the carbs you are putting into your system. I have done a few food tests with these in the past and they do have an effect on the carbohydrates and sugar levels if you are diabetic.

Exercise

I hopped on my stationary bike for the first time in weeks this morning and it took every bit of energy and will power to get on and stay on. I feel weak now and pushed a bit to my limit, but I am confident that in the long run I will prevail by adding exercise to my somewhat sedentary day.

I rode 1.9 miles on the bike for 10 minutes and burned a total of 9 carbohydrates according to the bike's built in program. Sounds good to me. I may do more later.

I certainly do not want to over-do it the first OFFICIAL day.

Eggs.

Breakfast this morning was easy !

2 boiled eggs. No carbs. No problem.

On a normal day I would be planning for my next meal because I was just that food obsessed, I am not even hungry right now which is a blessing ! I am excited about the possibilities for an easy lunch today. I am already feeling a little better than I did when I first woke up this morning, I may even hop on my bicycle today and put in 10 minutes.

So excited to read more of my book as well for recipe ideas.

This is one I am thinking I would like to try....

Muffin in a Minute
(allowed on Induction)

Serving Size: 1

1/4 cup flax meal* (8.09 total carbs, 7.6 fiber)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (0.64 net carbs)
1 packet splenda packet (0.9 net carbs)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (1.84 total carbs, 1.2 fiber)
1 large egg (0.6 net carbs)
1 teaspoon butter

(total carbs is 12.07, fiber is 8.8; net carbs is 3.27)
* Flaxmeal is ground flaxseed (aka linseed). If you can't find ground flax seeds aka flaxmeal, buy flax seeds and grind them in a coffee grinder.

Put the dry ingredients in a coffee mug.
Stir.
Add the egg and the butter. Mix.
Microwave 1 minute (or more). Take out. slice, butter, eat.

It can be toasted once it's cooked. Cream cheese would go nicely, too. The cinnamon can be replaced, and sugar-free syrup could be added. The shape of this can be changed by making it in a bowl.

Some people count the flax as a carb/fiber wash, so then the net carbs would be 2.78.

Per serving: 243 Calories; 18g Fat (62% calories from fat); 12g Protein; 223mg Cholesterol; 284mg Sodium

 

Happy eating !

 

 

Induction

 Welcome !

This blog is for anyone who would like to read, be it on the Atkin's diet or not.

I have finally decided that enough is enough.

My name is Manda by the way if you are following this blog somehow randomly,
and I happen to be a type 2 diabetic with PCOS. I also follow that up with a chaser of high blood pressure, edema and other diabetic related issues. Lets throw high anxiety into the mix and I am a walking time bomb. Quite literally.

I debated on doing vlog's and debated some more but eventually decided that since writing has been my niche for so long that I would keep a progress log, collect some fans and go at it !

Let me give you some background.

I love carbohydrates, more so than the regular person I imagine and far more than one should be consuming in any given day. Over the past several months my snacking had gotten out of control and almost always contained carbohydrates. I would go for anything, chips and sandwiches being the biggest culprit. I have never been one for sweets but the carbohydrates made up for it.

So what is the big deal ? Other than being overweight, and carbohydrates putting on more unnecessary pounds, I will mention again that I have diabetes and PCOS.
What a lot of people don't know is that carbohydrates turn into sugar just at a slower rate, so even if you avoid sugar at all costs, you must avoid carbohydrates in large quantities as well.

The other evening I felt so sick I though I was going to die, quite literally. My husband did a quick check on my sugar and saw that it was "up there" and came at my ass intervention style. I agreed to seek treatment and began slowly tossing the carbohydrates to the side, limiting myself now for the past 3 days to fiber rich salads, as well as snacks of cheese and protein. I started to feel better and my sugar began to drop slowly.

I then gave myself some time to think about the diet changes and how I could make this a little more balance and regulated if you will. A diet change with guidelines to follow so that I would actually not only lower my blood sugar but also lose weight in the process, which would of course overall decrease my blood sugar levels.

I went to Wal-Mart last night and purchased The New Atkins For a New You.
So far I have skimmed through the book and have a sense of what needs to be done to make this work for me. I hit "like" on Atkins via Facebook and found words of encouragement from other Atkins dieters. I am pumped ! Seriously...Some of these folks were losing 60-100lbs in a year. This could be me....

Induction requires that you eat 20 net carbs over the course of the day, which for me is very scary being a consumer of carbohydrates and loving them literally like a fat kids loves cake is frightening even !

I am truly excited though to be starting out with this new outlook on eating.
Atkins has opened a new door for me and shed a little light on some hope for the future.

Please join me on my journey !

The first day of the rest of my life starts now.
Welcome to Induction.

Atkins? Yes.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.