UNBREADED

Quick and Dirty

2011-11-29T10:39:00.000-05:00

(In case you haven't noticed, Unbreaded has added a third blogger! Please welcome Ash, who, blogging as danztilya, authored the last two posts. I can't wait to read all of her great recipes and tips. I just have to deal with my jealousy that she lives in New York, and Katie gets to try all her low-carb cookin'.)

For the past few weeks (okay, months), I've been in a cooking slump where I just cannot find the motivation to prepare healthy food. This has mostly driven me to high-carb take-out and microwavable meals, and I'm so spoiled by the convenience of it all that I'm having a really hard time getting up the gumption to rededicate myself to spending time in the kitchen.

My first few meals in my return to low carb eating have consisted of eating pepperoni slices and gnawing on a block of cheese, and people, I AM BORED. I know there are a million things I can eat, but until I can make some time and find some energy to cut up some stuff and cook up some stuff to have on hand, I really need some ideas for quick and easy meals to get me through a busy week, and I'm hoping you can offer some ideas.

What are your quickest and easiest low carb meals? And I mean EASY. Just in case you're unsure of how lazy I really am, I'm talking minimal-step, minimal dish-dirtying, minimal standing-over-and-stirring. As out-of-the-package-and-into-my-mouth as possible food. Favorite fast food options are also welcome.

Thanks! And here's hoping that once I start feeling the increased energy that comes from ditching all the sugar and starch, I'll at least be able to be bothered to boil an egg again.

How Not to be Crippled by Cramps and Headaches When You're Low-Carbing AND Exercising

2011-11-28T14:07:00.001-05:00

Get some electrolytes in to avoid cramps and headaches

I recently went through an induction phase for the Nth time, which should have been business as usual for someone who's gone low-carb at several points in her life, but the difference this time was that I was really on Atkins instead of South Beach, so my carb intake was a LOT lower than ever before (no milk, very limited quantities of tomatoes), PLUS I was a month into working out heavily, and I didn't want to stop. Add to that the fact that I (very unwisely) decided that, oh, I guess I'll try out Bikram Yoga (a form of hot yoga for those who don't know) for the first time at the same time. I can't even tell you how much I wanted to stop working out forever as I tried to convince myself I wasn't dying halfway through my third yoga class.

Lack of caffeine is what people usually point out as the culprit when it comes to low-carb headaches, but that's never been the real issue for me because I never listened no matter how many times Dr. Atkins/Dr. Agatson reitarated I should not be drinking coffee. No one. Touches. My. Coffee. So I had to figure out what else was giving me these blinding headaches, and from doing some more reading I figured the culprit might be lack of magnesium and potassium due to the strict diet. I just figured I'd take some Centrum and other supplements, no big deal. Except it WAS a big deal, when I had terrible leg cramps halfway through a Jillian Michaels workout (which has NEVER happened to me), and like I said, felt like I was dying during yoga.

Eat some spinach, that's all I'm axskin' you.

The one good thing that came out of me doing yoga then was I found a better way of getting electrolytes in me (magnesium and potassium are electrolytes), when the yoga instructor noticed I seemed to be dehydrated even though I had basically chugged an entire bottle of water throughout the workout and handed me an Emergen-C Electro Mix packet (5.30/box 18 cents/packet at Amazon), which has no sugar or carbs but plenty of electrolytes (it's sweetened with Stevia). It's a powder packet you just pour into your water bottle that instantly makes it a zero carb/calorie sports drink. I'm never low-carbing and doing a workout without it again.

If you want a more natural way to get electrolytes in you, go for beans and spinach. They're both good sources of potassium and magnesium.

Low-Carb Lemon Cheesecake

2011-11-20T23:34:00.001-05:00

I think cheesecake is one of the best desserts to have as a low-carber because other than sugar, you don't really need to substitute most of the other ingredients, so you don't have to sacrifice much on the taste.

I found this recipe while looking for low-carb dessert recipes online. Dessert is my kryptonite when it comes to low-carbing (I can eat burgers and eggs all day for my main meals), so I'm constantly planning out what to make so I don't get the urge to buy ice cream and cupcakes. Here's the original recipe, with a few notes:

Ingredients

Crust:

1 1/4 cup almond meal crushed almonds (almond meal is somewhat expensive $40/16 oz!, so I crushed some almonds in my blender. Make sure to use pulse mode to get all the pieces.)

Crushed almonds

2 Tablespoons butter, melted
3 Tablespoons sugar equivalent in artificial sweetener (I used Splenda)

Filling:

1 1/2 lbs (3 packages) cream cheese, room temperature (important!)
1 1/4 cups sugar equivalent in artificial sweetener (I used Splenda)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, room temperature (important!)
1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh is best)
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
1/4 cup heavy cream

Topping:

1 cup sour cream
Juice and zest from 1 medium lemon (about 2 Tablespoons juice and 1 Tablespoon zest)
1/4 cup sugar equivalent in artificial sweetener (I used Splenda)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

Heat oven to 375 F.

Prepare a springform pan. I like to put a piece of parchment paper over the bottom of the pan; no need to cut it to size, just snap it into place when you tighten the sides of the pan. The parchment paper makes it easier to move the cheesecake to a nicer serving plate once the cake is done. Butter the sides and bottom of the pan, including parchment. Wrap the outside of the pan in heavy-duty foil to protect it from leaks.

If you don't know what a springform pan is, here it is.

It's easier to put the parchment paper in by sealing the pan
while the bottom is under the paper, then cut the parchment paper

Pan with parchment paper, buttered and wrapped in foil

Combine ingredients for crust. Press the mixture into the bottom of your springform pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until fragrant and beginning to brown. Remove from oven.

Lower oven temperature to 350 F.

Gather ingredients for the filling. Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Scrape sides of bowl and beaters. (The mixture will gradually become lighter as you add in the rest of the ingredients, and the denser stuff will cling to the bowl. If you don't scrape, you won't be able to incorporate the remaining ingredients as well.) It is important to scrape, add the ingredients gradually and beat properly. Otherwise parts of your cheesecake can be eggy (ick). I learned this the hard way.

Add sweetener, vanilla, salt, and 2 of the eggs. Beat well, scrape.

If you're not aware, they sell granulated Splenda, which makes cooking with it easier

Add the other 2 eggs. Beat well, scrape.

Add lemon juice, lemon zest, and cream. Beat well, scrape, and pour filling mixture into the pan over the crust.

In another bowl, mix together ingredients for topping and set aside.

Place a baking pan large enough to hold your springform pan into the oven and fill it halfway with boiling water. Place the springform pan into the baking pan and bake for about 60 minutes (give or take 10 to 15 minutes), until the cheesecake is mostly set but is still wobbly in the middle.

Remove cheesecake from oven, spread the topping over the cheesecake, then bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Cool to room temperature (1 to 2 hours), then chill completely for several hours before serving.

If you'd like, put 2 tablespoons of Cool Whip on every slice. It contrasts well with the tart lemon flavor.

Nutritional Information: Each of 16 servings has 3 grams effective carbohydrate plus 1 gram fiber, 7 grams protein, and 295 calories. Cool whip adds an additional 2 grams of carbs per serving.

Quick intro: Hi all! My name's Ash and I obviously was recently invited to start posting on Unbreaded (either that or I'm a pretty good hacker). I wasn't sure what to post first, but since this recipe saved me from eating all the evil carbs at a pre-thanksgiving dinner I recently hosted, I decided to put it up. Hopefully this will be the first of many recipes I'll be trying out and sharing with you. When I'm not playing around with de-carbing recipes, I blog about New York city at http://notboredny.blogspot.com

Low-Carb Flaxseed Pancakes

2011-11-16T13:30:00.001-05:00

I'm forever trying to find low-carb breakfasts that I actually look forward to eating. I don't care much for savory foods in the morning, so discovering that flaxseed makes a wonderful pancake was a major event for me.

Here's what you need:

3 medium eggs (or two jumbo eggs)
3 tablespoons flaxseed meal
3 teaspoons Splenda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix everything (I use a measuring cup and a fork) and pour into a skillet or onto a griddle on medium heat. (I like to melt a little butter onto mine first.) Cook for a few minutes until the sides become firm and rounded and then flip over.

I like to melt a tablespoon of butter onto mine and then sprinkle it with cinnamon and Splenda, but this would also work great as a savory wrap with eggs and sausage.

Makes one huge pancake or several small ones.

My pancake kind of fell apart this morning while I was trying to get it out of the skillet with a much-too-small spatula, but it was still delicious. The texture is pillowy and bready, just like a carby pancake, but it has an earthier taste. It easily keeps me full from 7 a.m. until lunchtime.

I can also see this being a really easy pizza crust without the vanilla, cinnamon, and Splenda and would love to know if someone uses it for that before I do!

Sugar Free Frozen Hot Chocolate? Yes, please!

2011-11-11T09:00:00.003-05:00

As much as Katie and I love cold and creamy chocolate desserts and will gladly eat them indiscriminately, our all-time favorite, go-to is the one and only Frozen Hot Chocolate from Dairy Queen, where it's not even officially on the menu anymore, but they'll still make it for you if you order it at the right Central Ohio locations. We've had it at NYC's Serendipity, of course, but the sugary DQ version, with its fudgy, not-quite-all-the-way-blended-in chocolate is actually more delicious -- and it's about 1/4 the price. We weren't so excited, though, when we found out that a single serving of our beloved FHC contains a shocking 127 grams of carbohydrate.

Here we are, enjoying FHC at Serendipity way back in 2006.

FHC is one of those indulgences for which we've never found a suitable replacement while watching carbs, so imagine my surprise when I spotted this lighter version today on Pinterest, made with just non-dairy milk, Truvia, a teeny pinch of salt, and cocoa.

(I started to e-mail the recipe to Katie, but since we were just talking today about how we really should be blogging instead of just sharing all of our diet musings and woes and ideas and inspirations with only each other, I thought I'd link up to it here.)

The ingenious part of this recipe involves pouring the blended ingredients into ice cube trays, freezing, and then running the cubes through a blender for rich, chocolaty results that are undiluted by plain old ice.The recipe in the link is vegan, but I wouldn't think twice about mixing in a little heavy cream and/or topping with some dark chocolate shavings.

I can't wait to try this!

Have you ever successfully de-carbed your favorite dessert?

Back on the Wagon?

2011-06-29T15:30:00.001-04:00

I'm pretty mad about it, but I'm back to low-carbing. When I first read the Atkins book three or four years ago, it made such sense to me that I was incensed when half the low-carb blogs I found had been abandoned. I think it's so annoying when people are constantly hopping on and off the low-carb bandwagon. But now I understand how it happens, because it keeps happening to me.

The first time I tried Atkins, I was SO SERIOUS. I took the book at its word when it told me I couldn't have caffeine, and I got scared when other people told me sugar-free candy made them stall. I gave up soda and only ate 2 ounces of cheese per day and limited my heavy cream to mere teaspoons.

By the end of my low-carbing, I had lost 33 pounds, was going to the gym regularly, and fit into clothing sizes I couldn't remember wearing my whole life. I looked great, and looking back at those pictures now makes me sad. The problem was that I felt like I was eating unhealthily. I was living on sugar-free pudding made with heavy cream, crustless pizzas with half a package of pepperoni on top, and all the mayonnaise I could handle.

So I decided that I was going to start eating only "natural" foods and counting calories. Of course I eventually forgot the natural part and turned meals into a game of How Many Chicken Fingers Can I Fit Into 1200 Calories Per Day?. I gained all of my weight back plus more, as everyone seems to. Since then, I've casually low-carbed, meaning that I eat right for a day or two and then decide it's fine if I have just one pita and then one bag of chips and then one cupcake.

I've been quietly maintaining about the same weight that way for a while, but I'm sick of it! I'm sick of rifling through my closet every morning for something that actually fits. I'm sick of feeling hungry yet bloated after every carby meal. I'm sick of knowing I could change everything if I could just stick to the way of eating that I actually believe in.

So, here goes. Again.

Friday Meatspiration (or Cheesespiration, Maybe)

2011-01-07T16:25:00.000-05:00

I just had my first piece of pizza without the crust in a loooooong time.

I remember when Tracey and I first read the Atkins book several years ago and were so convinced that every stick of sugar-free gum and every can of Diet Coke was going to throw us off the weightloss train; we'd stress about the tiniest carb intake. My company would order pizza every Friday, and I'd only eat the white pizza because I thought the tomato sauce had too much sugar. But the white pizza had fresh mozzarella, which I figured wasn't hard enough to count as one of the acceptable cheeses on Atkins. Fridays felt like a field of land mines to me.

Then, when I got interested in the Belly Fat Cure last year, I started allowing myself a whole slice of pizza if I ate one without the crust first. Those initial toppings would seem so dumb to me when all I wanted was to get at that second slice with the crust still intact. The problem was that once I gave myself the freedom to eat some crust, I'd end up going back for the leftovers with my co-workers a few hours later and have another whole slice. And sometimes two. I'm not good with an un-strict diet.

Now, I'm trying to eat according to the primal blueprint with some protein shakes added in for convenience, so I made myself eat a salad for lunch today with the promise of a crustless slice for a snack later, and boy, did it taste great.

Maybe treating diet-appropriate foods as if they were treats is the way to go.

Keeping Your Goals Stylishly Visible

2011-01-06T12:00:00.001-05:00

Check out this adorable printable resolutions poster from Li'l Magoolie, available in both multicolor and blue. I especially love that "LESS SUGAR" and "EAT MORE GREEN THINGS" are the very first resolutions listed.

Via Odeedoh.

Bacon Cheeseburger Stuffed Mushrooms

2011-01-04T09:22:00.000-05:00

I spotted this mouthwatering low-carb creation on a non-low-carb blog, and it made my renewed enthusiasm for non-starchy foods kick into overdrive.

Butter-sauteed mushrooms stuffed with ground beef, pepperjack cheese, bacon, and mayo, topped off with french fried onions. And you know all about my love for french fried onions.

I can't wait to make these.

Microwave Flaxseed Bread

2010-12-14T12:15:00.000-05:00

Sorry for being so silent lately. Tracey has about 100% less free time now that she's out of grad school and has a job, and I've been moving to a new apartment and obviously paying too much attention to my other blogs. Rest assured that we're still on the wagon and talk daily to each other about our struggles and successes with low-carb.

I happened to have a really positive "cooking" experience last night that made me excited to have chosen this way of eating, and I'm sure you know well how important these little motivations to keep going are.

I made a flaxseed bread shared by TNT Man, a friend of our friend Grace. Since I spend almost all of my time at my boyfriend's small apartment with a stovetop and microwave but no oven, I never get to try any of those low-carb bread recipes that keep most low-carbers from going crazy when a muffin craving hits. But this one's made in the microwave!

Microwave Flaxseed Bread

1/4 cup ground flaxseed meal
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon sweetener (I used a packet of Truvia)
1 teaspoon butter

Mix all dry ingredients in a straight-sided coffee mug. Add egg and butter, and beat until smooth. Microwave on high for 1-2 minutes until it reaches your desired consistency (the top will be a little firmer than the bottom). Allow to cool slightly, then loosen edges with a blunt knife and remove from coffee cup and cut into slices. This is a lot like a nutty whole-wheat bread and can be toasted.

It comes out looking like a muffin and tasting like nut bread. It was somewhere between sweet and savory, so I could see using it for sandwiches or icing it with low-carb cream cheese frosting. And it's all fiber and protein!

When Cravings Attack

2010-12-02T10:06:00.000-05:00

This pretty much sums up my relationship with food lately:

Friday Meatspiration

2010-11-12T11:00:00.000-05:00

A little Thanksgiving meatspiration this week:

Even though this photo comes from Worth1000, a sharing forum for creative uses of Photoshop, we can all dream of Thanksgiving turkeys that actually come in this size.

Low-Carbing When Life Hands You Lemons

2010-11-11T11:51:00.000-05:00

I read somewhere once that the key to maintaining a low-carb lifestyle is taking advantage of the heightened energy you get from having a stable blood sugar in order keep up the hard work of planning and preparing more healthy food so that you continue the process. It made total sense to me, since sugar and carbs make me feel way too sluggish and lazy to even think about spending time in the kitchen.

For the last week, though, I've been under the weather with a nasty cold, and until yesterday, I've been all too happy to use my lack of energy as an excuse to go back to eating fast food, sugary treats, and instant boxed meals. Part of me knew that eating better would probably make me feel better faster, but the thought of toiling in the kitchen while in my drowsy, congested, cold-medicine-induced state was so unappealing that I just gave in to the temptation to get food in the easiest way possible.

So how do you stay on track when you're thrown for a loop? Are there any strategies you use when you find yourself in a position where you have little time or energy to plan for healthy eating? Or if you allow yourself to slip a little when life gets tough, how do you get yourself back on track?

A Healthy Weight Does Not a Healthy Person Make

2010-11-09T12:00:00.000-05:00

You might have seen the CNN article yesterday about the human nutrition professor who lost 27 pounds in two months while subsisting on a diet mostly made up of Twinkies, Little Debbies, Doritos, Oreos, and the like.

He wanted to prove that what matters most in losing weight is calorie-counting, not nutrition. And when it comes to the markers society traditionally uses to measure health, this "convenience store diet" was a real winner: his body fat dropped from 33.4 to 24.9 percent, his "bad" cholesterol dropped 20 percent, his "good" cholesterol increased 20 percent, and triglycerides level decreased by 39 percent.

The professor questions, "What does that mean? Does that mean I'm healthier? Or does it mean how we define health from a biology standpoint, that we're missing something?", and I'd tend to agree, especially after these past few years of reading low-carb research. I know I can lose weight on a low-fat, high-carb diet, but I don't think the constant sugar high is good for my long-term health. And I'm positive I could never sustain a low-calorie diet, especially one centered entirely on sugar.

At least the Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet, as counter-intuitive as it seems, has a couple of lower-carb options; the creator of the Belly Fat Cure recommends 3 crunchy tacos (at 39 carbs total) for an easy meal option.

And those tacos will keep you full for hours, unlike the blood-sugar-spiking Twinkies, which must have left the professor starving half the time.

Recipe Roundup

2010-11-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

Enjoy this weekly list of great low-carb recipes. Leave your own links and recipes in the comments!

Sugar-Free Low Carb Recipes: Low Carb Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Cream of Mushroom Soup, and Chocolate Chip Cookies

GoodLife Eats: Pumpkin Soup with Toasted Walnuts

Elana's Pantry: Creamy Cranberry Dressing

Jennifer Eloff: Tuna or Salmon Burgers and Red Pepper Soup

24/7 Low Carb Diner: Pizza Supreme Casserole

Kalyn's Kitchen: Pan-Fried and Roasted Pork Chops with Apricot-Dijon Sauce and Five Recipes for Roasted Winter Squash

Nutty Kitchen: Crock Pot Spiced Whole Chicken

A Doctor's Kitchen: Curried Mango Chicken Thighs

Before the Cookie Eats You: Savory Chuck Roast with Rosemary, Onions, & Dried Mushrooms

Kelly the Kitchen Kop: Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

The GFCF Lady: Migas (This "Tex-Mex Omelette" sounds delicious, and it's totally BFC friendly if you count the tortilla chips carefully.)

Heart of a Country Home: Sausage Cream Gravy on a Low Carb Biscuit

The Food Lovers' Primal Palate: Slow Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef: Roasted Pumpkin Seed Spread

Simply Sugar & Gluten Free: Almost Pumpkin Pie

Big Daddy D: Pumpkin Cheesecake

Comfy Belly: Portobello Pizza

Mrs. Ed's Research and Recipes: Grain Free Butter Cookies (Replace the honey with sugar-free maple syrup or another sweetener to cut carbs.)

Grace2882: Broiled Asparagus with Parmesan Cheese and Cranberry Pecan Muffins

And I don't want to keep my personal distaste for cooked cauliflower to keep you from enjoying these great-looking cauliflower-based recipes from Maria Emmerich:
Carmelized Cauliflower Gratin
Easy Cheesy Scalloped "Potatoes"
Sweet "Potato" Casserole

Friday Meatspiration

2010-11-05T12:39:00.000-04:00

Last year at Christmas, Katie and I decorated a gingerbread house with sugary frosting, gumdrops, and candy pieces. But now that we're back on the low-carb train this year, we may have to consider constructing this Atkins-friendly "gingerbread" log cabin, made from cream cheese, Slim Jims, meat snack sticks, and nuts:

Because nothing says "yuletide cheer" like processed meats. Yum!

Back on Track

2010-11-04T10:30:00.000-04:00

I went on vacation and never got to individually thank all of you for your comments on my post publicly bemoaning my inability to commit to my diet, but I really think your support finally pushed me to start caring more about what goes into my mouth.

For the past 10 days, I've made conscious food decisions based on the Belly Fat Cure, and I've lost 6 pounds in the process. The weight isn't "falling off of me" like it does some low-carbers who are super-diligent with their counting, but I'm not interested in dropping a dress size if it's going to make me completely miserable in the process.

At my monthly dinner outing with co-workers on Thursday, I ate three corn tortillas with my fajitas but left behind the other three. During my company's lunch on Friday, I ate a slice of pizza but threw away the edge crust, which I didn't care about. On Saturday, I ate a handful of French fries and gave the rest to my boyfriend. On Sunday, instead of pigging out on Halloween candy, I ate a single-serving Haagen Dazs, which has 17g of sugar, instead of eating half a pint like I usually do, which is more like 60g.

I've seen that it's entirely possible to be physically healthy while still being completely happy with the food that's available to me. I gave myself a set list foods that I could easily make or buy and that I found really delicious. I discovered that I didn't even crave dessert when I allowed myself a little bit of bread or some complex carbs like beans in my meal. And when I did need dessert, I went for a can of diet soda, a stick of gum, or some Greek yogurt.

I'm just really scared this feeling will pass as quickly as it arrived, you know? It turns out it's SO EASY to make good choices with what's available to me if I just get into the habit of doing it. But it's just as easy to slip up and make a habit of eating the old way, too.

Recipe Roundup

2010-11-01T12:24:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday! Here are some low-carb recipes that were featured on blogs this past week. Leave your own in the comments!

Saveur: Brussels Sprouts with Chorizo

24/7 Low Carb Diner: Pumpkin Pancakes and Chicken Pizza on a Nutty Crust

Nutty Kitchen: Bacon Mango Butternut Hash

Before the Cookie Eats You: Lingonberry and Mascarpone Waffles and Chicken Paprikas

Kalyn's Kitchen: Spicy Lime Coleslaw and her monthly roundup of South Beach Phase One recipes

Heart of a Country Home: Coconut Flour Pancakes, Cheesy Burger Skillet, and Peanut Butter Cookies

Dana Carpender: Hot Buffalo Wing Dip

Mrs. Ed's Research and Recipes: Chile Rellenos Con Pollo (SCD) Stuffed Chilies with Chicken

Smitten Kitchen: Spicy Squash Salad with Lentils and Goat Cheese

Maria Emmerich: Lasagna Cupcakes, Chicken Enchiladas, and Extreme Chocolate Birthday Cake

The World According to Eggface: Sugar Free Dirt Cup

The Nourishing Gourmet: Lemon, Horseradish Mustard, and Bacon Deviled Eggs

Simply Sugar & Gluten Free: Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies (The agave nectar in this one isn't low-carb, but it can be replaced with your sweetener of choice.)

Ginny's Low Carb Kitchen: My Leftover Soup

Jennifer Eloff: Linda's Herb Parmesan Crackers, Minty Chocolate Cheesecake, Creamy Pumpkin Cheesecake, and Fudgey Chocolate Chip Brownies

Mark's Daily Apple: A whole post full of Primal Holiday Desserts.

And our BLCBFF (Best Low-Carb Blog Friend Forever!) Grace2882 was, as usual, ON FIRE with the recipes this week:
Pizza Potroast
Chalupa Wraps
Salisbury Steak with Onion Gravy
Cranberry Pecan Muffins
Macaroons with Blackberry Jelly

Friday Meatspiration

2010-10-29T15:06:00.000-04:00

For Halloween, this year, it's SCARY MEAT HEADS all around.Craft bloggers and food bloggers alike are showing their excitement about the opportunity to sculpt cold cuts around a plastic skull and fashion eyeballs out of eggs, onions, & olives.

I'm not quite sure how you're supposed to eat one of these things. Let your party guests pick off the slices to put on their sandwiches until they clean him off and hit the red-jell-o-y, cream-cheesy skull?

Low-Carb Snack: Cocoa Roast Almonds

2010-10-26T12:00:00.005-04:00

After admitting our noncommittal tendencies, whining about how hard it is to avoid trigger foods, and spending three days in a row eating tons of sugar and deep fried foods at The Circleville Pumpkin Show, Katie and I are back on the low-carb wagon this week hardcore. (It deserves mentioning that our guest-poster Ryan was able to visit the Pumpkin Show and eat only a turkey leg, while we gorged on stromboli, corn dogs, chocolate-dipped cheesecake, and deep-fried buckeyes.)

I thought I'd share a snack that's helping me get through the sudden loss of sugary treats: Cocoa Roast Almonds.

Just almonds, dusted with delicious cocoa powder, and sweetened ever-so-lightly with sucralose (Splenda). Only 3 net carbs per serving. They even come in 100 Calorie Packs, which are the perfect size to throw in your bag, stow in your glove compartment, or pack in your lunch, And they're so filling that I usually don't even eat a whole serving unless I'm starving.

I never thought nuts would be able to replace dessert and actually be satisfying, but these really do the trick.

Recipe Roundup

2010-10-25T12:00:00.001-04:00

Grace2882: Bacon Burgers, Curried Beef Stuffed Squash, and Salisbury Steak with Onion Gravy

Kraft Foods: Cheesy Spaghetti Squash

Before the Cookie Eats You: Pumpkin and Thyme Chicken with Mushrooms

What I Crave: Brined Pork Chops

The World According to Eggface: Shelly's Veggie Leftover Bites (So smart! I almost never eat my leftover veggies.)

Simply Sugar & Gluten Free: Oven Roasted Beets (I've never purchased or cooked a beet before, but this post makes me want to try!)

Mark's Daily Apple: Silky Celery Root Soup

Elana's Pantry: Carrot French Fries

Nutty Kitchen: Sausage and Beef in Coconut Milk

Kalyn's Kitchen: Five Favorite Bean Soups or Stews for Autumn

Jennifer Eloff: Chicken Curry with Peaches

Marissa's Kitchen Talk: Low Carb Sausage Stuffed Jalapenos

Comfy Belly: Chicken Parmigiana

Maria Emmerich: Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese Mashed "Potatoes" and Chocolate Lava Cakes

The Food Lovers' Primal Palate: Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Bites

Ginny's Low Carb Kitchen: Gingerbread Pancakes With Lemon Cream Topping

Lucy's Low Carb Kitchen of Trial and Error: Cheesecake (No Bake)

Dana Carpender: Almond-Coconut Hot "Cereal", a BUNCH of pumpkin recipe ideas and Decarbing Strategy #2

Friday Meatspiration

2010-10-22T11:00:00.001-04:00

Super Meat Boy:

Available now for Xbox download and coming to WiiWare, Windows, and Mac in November.

What's Your Trigger?

2010-10-21T09:02:00.031-04:00

For me, the ultimate trigger food is Pepsi.

I know that not everyone feels this way about it, or about soda in general, but I crave it with every meal, and every time I eat, I have to make a conscious (and often difficult) decision not to crack one open and guzzle it down. Nothing tastes better and more refreshing with food, and only regular, high fructose corn syrup-filled Pepsi will do. There are few substances on the planet that taste worse to me than diet soda.

The problem with ANY trigger food is that it's extremely difficult to consume in moderation. Having a little leads to having a lot more, and what's worse, trigger foods tend to lead to other unplanned indulgences, making it tempting to abandon healthy eating altogether. This totally happens for me with Pepsi. When I drink it, I can rarely stop at one can or one glass at a restaurant. And once I'm drinking it, a combination of physical cravings and a feeling of throwing caution to the wind sets in, and I just go ahead and eat whatever starchy food I can get my hands on. The stuff just tastes so darn good with anything and everything that's bad for you, and in a way that water or iced tea never could, so drinking Pepsi ends up being the ultimate excuse to squeeze in some of the worst eating possible before I "go back" to eating low-carb at the next meal. It's a pretty vicious cycle.

Every time I get serious about healthy eating, I do pretty well at cutting Pepsi out. When I first discovered low-carb eating a few years ago, I went cold turkey and lasted an entire three months without so much as a sip. When my husband and I decided to give up Pepsi together a couple of months before our wedding, I only cheated at my bachelorette party. And over the past few months of the hit-and-miss not-quite-fully-committed low-carbing I've been doing, I'm down from averaging 3-4 cans a day to 1-2 a week.

But regular Pepsi, with 41 grams of sugar per can really has zero place in a healthy diet. I know that. And I know and understand why nearly every diet expert out there recommends identifying your trigger foods so you can KEEP THE HELL AWAY FROM THEM, but the thought of a life entirely without Pepsi makes me feel downright panicky. Probably because it's a real addiction, huh? I'd like to think that there will be a time in my life where I'll be able to allow myself to have a little Pepsi on a special occasion and stop there, but I'm not sure that will ever happen.

What are your triggers and how do you deal with them? Is it better to stay away from them entirely or to make them a rare treat? Is it healthy (or even possible) to resolve to never eat a beloved food ever again?

Why Can't I Commit to Dieting?

2010-10-19T13:10:00.001-04:00

I've stopped weighing myself. I don't think I'm losing any weight, and I don't want to know about it, because I'm plenty happy casually low-carbing and feeling the improvements in my energy level, my joints, and my skin. The problem is that I ultimately do have a goal of losing weight, and it's upsetting to me that I can't commit to it.

I can't commit.

Two weeks ago, it was my birthday. Last week, it was my boyfriend's birthday. This week, it's a trip to Ohio to see Tracey and my family. Next week, it's Halloween. Then it's Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's Eve. There's just plain never a good time to get serious, because I already have cheats planned.

In theory, low-carbing is so easy. Especially with a plan like the Belly Fat Cure, where I can eat as many as 120 carbs per day, 40 carbs at a time, and 15 grams of sugar. That's a LOT. Back when I was doing the Induction phase of Atkins a couple of years ago, I was so serious. The carbiest thing I allowed myself was a sprinkling of carrot on my salad. When my office had weekly birthday celebrations, I'd cut the cake for everyone else and then walk back to my desk if I felt myself being tempted. At restaurants, I'd alter my meals significantly to cut carbs, not thinking a thing of asking for grilled instead of fried chicken or broccoli instead of pasta. Now, I use eating out as an excuse to dip into the bread basket.

The fact that it seems like everyone else has no problem sticking to their low-carb plans makes it much worse. I know that the Belly Fat Cure is working for lots of other people, and I know it'd work for me if I was just willing to put in the work for more than 5 days at a time. The creator of the diet, Jorge Cruise, even offers easy meal ideas from well-known fast food joints that I have access to. Yet when my boyfriend and I were craving Taco Bell on Sunday morning, instead of getting the three hard-shelled tacos Jorge suggested, I went for the XXL Chalupa (which has 50+ carbs) just because I told myself I was off the diet for the weekend and wanted to try the thing.

I'm concerned that even if I get more serious, I'm still going to need to cheat when my boyfriend and I go out to dinner and I review our meal for my food blog. But I know it's self-defeating to say, "I'm not going to even bother trying to commit as much as I can if I can't commit 100%," because even a little bit of low-carb eating goes a long way toward health.

I just want to be able to announce to the world that I'm changing my life and suddenly have all of my temptations go away. I don't want to live in a world where I can't have a chalupa, but I don't want to live in a world where I'm overweight, either.

How do I decide which is more important?

Recipe Roundup

2010-10-18T12:00:00.001-04:00

Another Monday, another amazing list of low-carb and/or low glycemic recipes from around the web. Know of a recipe that deserves to be featured? Leave it in the comments!

Heart of a Country Home: Low Carb Spicy Deep Fried Broccoli and Blender Coconut Pie

A Doctor's Kitchen: Red Cabbage and Celery Root Slaw (This one has CAPERS in, it! I'm sold.)

The Nourishing Gourmet: Roasted Delicata Squash Slices ( or “Fries”)

What I Crave: Green Powerhouse Smoothie and Accidental Pumpkin Biscuits

Comfy Belly: Pad Thai (made with zucchini noodles)

Kalyn's Kitchen: Crockpot Pumpkin Chili with Ground Beef, Black Beans, and Kidney Beans

Before the Cookie Eats You: 3-2-1 Cincinnati Chili

Mrs. Ed's Research and Recipes: Garlic Parmesan Chicken Wings

The World According to Eggface: Shelly's Mexican Layered Salad

Jennifer Eloff: Chocolate Strawberry Torte

The Rogue Cookie: Pumpkin Bread

Maria Emmerich: Pizz-A-Roni, Pumpkin Pancakes, and Cinnabun Cookies

Marisa's Kitchen Talk: 3 Basic Low Carb Mousse Recipes

Finally, Dana Carpender gives us the first of what I hope will be a series of lessons in recipe de-carbing. There's no shortage of great low-carb recipes out there, but it's especially empowering to be able to confront a traditional recipe and know you can make it work for you.

Friday Meatspiration

2010-10-15T08:46:00.000-04:00

Meat Puppets:

Feeling inspired?

Low-Carb Dinner: Crispy Onion Chicken Tenders with Roasted Acorn Squash

2010-10-14T11:06:00.000-04:00

Sometimes, unbreaded meats and green veggies feel too much like diet food, and you need a dinner that sticks to your bones a little without going overboard in carbs.

Enter Crispy Onion Chicken Tenders with Roasted Acorn Squash.

A little spinach, and the meal is complete.

At only 3 carbs per 2 tablespoons, french-fried onions are a much better choice than bread crumbs, and their bold flavor makes regular old breading seem boring. (They're also fantastic in meatloaf.)

For the chicken tenders, I used the Crunchy Onion Chicken recipe from the back of the can, with just a couple of tweaks.

Crispy Onion Chicken Tenders
-2 cups FRENCH'S® French Fried Onions
-2 TBSP soy flour (or other low-carb flour, or low-carb bake mix)
-seasonings to taste (I used this.)
-1 egg, beaten
-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
butter or nonstick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400 and grease a large baking sheet with butter or nonstick cooking spray.

Cut chicken breasts into long pieces and set aside. Put onions, soy flour, and seasonings in a gallon-sized plastic bag and crush fine.

Pat chicken pieces dry with paper towels. Dip each piece in egg, coating both sides, then place in the bag with the onion mixture. (I did this in small batches of 4-5 tenders at a time.) Seal bag and shake to coat chicken with the "breading". It may help to squeeze breading onto the chicken through the bag. Remove chicken pieces and arrange on the greased baking sheet. Repeat until all chicken is coated, and press extra breading from the bag onto any bare spots on the chicken pieces.

Bake 20 minutes, or until no longer pink in the center. I recommend turning the chicken once halfway through cooking, as the onions on top brown significantly.

Now, for the squash. I used this Food Network recipe for Acorn Squash Pizza and just made the delicious-sounding squash to eat on its own. The combination of the sweet maple syrup and spicy red pepper flakes made this delicious. All I did was switch to sugar-free syrup, and this recipe was good to go.

Roasted Acorn Squash
1 (1-pound) acorn squash
2 TBSP Sugar-Free Maple Syrup
1 TBSP olive oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (I cooked this on 400, watching closely, right along with my chicken tenders, and it turned out just fine.)

Slice the squash in half from top to bottom. Scoop out the seeds. Slice the squash into 1/2 to 3/4-inch wide half moons and place in a medium bowl. Toss the squash with the syrup, olive oil, red pepper flakes, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Place the squash on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake the squash until tender and golden, about 20 to 25 minutes. The skin will peel off easily after baking.

Recipe Roundup

2010-10-11T12:17:00.000-04:00

More low-carb finds from around the Internets. Share your own in the comments!

Grace2882: Blueberry Power Muffins and Buffalo Wings

Before the Cookie Eats You: Minestrone Soup

Kalyn's Kitchen: Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pecans

Maria Emmerich: Easy Almond Joys

This Primal Life: Perfect Primal Pizza Crust (Also see this very different "Perfect Primal Pizza" recipe on Mark's Daily Apple.)

The GFCF Lady: Egg Salad

The Nourishing Gourmet: Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

The World According to Eggface: Shelly's Banana Bread Protein Smoothie Also check out Shelly's World Egg Day post on 10/8, in which she shares FIFTEEN egg recipes.

Finally, see The Rogue Cookie for all of your low-carb, eyeball-resembling Halloween reccipes, including Upside Down Deviled Egg Eyes, Eyeball Tacos, and Radish Eyeballs. Check out her blog for even more Halloween recipes.

Friday Meatspiration

2010-10-08T11:00:00.001-04:00

The Mona Lisa, rendered in Italian sausage:

Not quite as timeless as the original, but bigger and tastier.

Why I Love Low-Carbing: the Butter Edition

2010-10-06T12:00:00.000-04:00

On Monday night, I decided I needed to use the French-cut green beans that were slowly thawing in my tiny half-refrigerator that barely also functions as a freezer. I was lazy and threw them into the microwave with some real bacon bits, sea salt, and fresh ground pepper. I sprinkled a little basil on top, because what the hey, I had it sitting around.

I pulled them out of the microwave a minute later, stuck my fork deep into the bowl, pulled a few juicy-looking bean strips out, crunched down, and thought, "Eww, vegetables!"

I looked around my kitchen, trying to think what I was possibly missing, and in a moment of clarity, I added a pat of unsalted butter to the bowl and mixed until it melted amongst the beans.

It was delicious! And healthy, too! And all I could think was, "I could never do that on any other diet."

The Joy of Smoothies: Part II (Pumpkin Edition)

2010-10-05T11:42:00.000-04:00

The Chocolate Mixed Berry Smoothie may be my favorite, but there's also a special place in my heart for pumpkin.

Katie and I grew up near Circleville, Ohio, the home of The Pumpkin Show, an annual festival where hundreds of food vendors line the streets offering everything pumpkin -- from pie and donuts to burgers and chili. There's really no way to describe how amazing this event is. There's a pumpkin tower, prize-winning GIANT pumpkins, and the world's largest pumpkin pie. (Oh, and rides, parades, pageants, crafts, and non-pumpkin carnival food, if you're into that.)

Circleville's pumpkin-love is even evident in the city's water tower.

Since my mom never liked it, I grew up in a sad, pumpkin-less home and relied on The Pumpkin Show to get my annual fix. But now, I'm finally realizing that I can enjoy pumpkin more than just once a year.

For me, this smoothie beats any pumpkin milkshake I've ever had at a fast food or ice cream chain. And without the mass amounts of sugar.

Tracey's Pumpkin Protein Smoothie
2 eggs (optional)
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix) (9g carb - 5g fiber = 4 net carbs, 4g sugar)
4 oz. water (give or take, use more if not using eggs)
2 oz. heavy whipping cream (2g carb)
1 scoop vanilla Max Protein (3g carb, 1g sugar)
2 TBSP granular Splenda (6g carb, 0g sugar)
a pinch of salt
pumpkin pie spice OR cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves to taste
ice cubes
(6 oz. unsweetened almond milk can be used in place of water and cream)

(Total of 15 net carbs, 5 of which are sugar)

In a blender (I use this single-serve one), mix all ingredients except ice cubes until well blended. Taste and adjust spices as needed. Add ice cubes a few at a time until smoothie reaches desired consistency.

Recipe Roundup

2010-10-04T12:00:00.002-04:00

Our weekly list of low-carb recipes from around the web just keeps growing and growing! Check these out, and show us what we've missed by leaving a recipe or link in the comments.

Deb Cusick: Coffee Jello

No Sugar Just Spice: Mexican Chicken Olé

Grace2882: Meatloaf (topped with bacon!), Pumpkin Pie, and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Pecans

Low Carb Pinay: No Bake ChocoNut Cheesecake

What I Crave: Better Than a Corn Chip

Mark's Daily Apple: The Perfect Primal Omelet

A Doctor's Kitchen: Turkey Kebabs with Spicy Cardamom-Mango Sauce

Elana's Pantry: Spunky Coconut’s Chicken Meatballs

Marisa's Kitchen Talk: Low Carb Sausage Stuffed Jalapenos

Maria Emmerich:Clam Chowder in a "Bread" Bowl, Pumpkin Mini Muffins, and Pumpkin Donuts with Pumpkin Glaze

From Apples to Zucchini: Acorn Squash and Feta Casserole

Jonny Bowden: Avocado Soup with Cheesy Tortillas

Jennifer Eloff: Ganache Cheesecake

Ginny's Low Carb Kitchen: Bavarian "Apple" (Zucchini) Torte

Mary Dan Eades: Low Carb Pumpkin Crème Brulee

The GFCF Lady: Baked Beans (This recipe uses a half cup of brown sugar, but this picture tutorial for making baked beans from scratch is too good not to share. I'd throw in some non-sugar sweetener and maybe a touch of backstrap molasses to replace it.)

Low Carb Confidential: Low Carb Ricotta Dessert with Vanilla and Mint

Also check out Kayln's HUGE list of South Beach Diet Phase One recipes. She does this roundup every month, and it's a great source for low-carbers.

Friday Meatspiration

2010-10-01T12:00:00.002-04:00

For the executive looking to stand out in a crowd and provide a low-carb snack to potential clients, there's nothing quite like beef jerky business cards laser-etched with your name, title, and contact info.

These are, in fact, a real thing. Get 'em at www.meatcards.com.

Pumpkin Pie Adventures

2010-09-30T16:22:00.001-04:00

My first low-carb pastry crust burnt to a crisp, but as you can see, its pumpkin pie filling was delicious.

I could have kept experimenting with low-carb crust recipes, foil covers, and cooking times, but I decided it wasn't even necessary. Pie #2 just came out of the oven, and this one is crustless!

See how the filling just goes all the way to the bottom? Who needs crust, anyway?

And since I fully expect Katie to comment on it either way, here is a close-up of that weird navel-like dimple/crack that appeared on the pie during baking:

Who wants the piece with THIS on it?

The recipe I used is a quick, low-carb adaptation from the classic "back of the can" directions on Libby's canned pumpkin. All it took was swapping out the sugar with Splenda and the carb-filled evaporated milk with a little cream and unsweetened almond milk. I also added nutmeg. Because yum.

I was also delighted to find that the Libby folks (a.k.a. Nestle) have cooking temperatures and times for the crustless version posted on their website. I used a 9-inch glass pie plate for my pie, so those are the instructions I'm posting here, but visit the link for details if you're using another material or differently-sized cookware.

Crustless Pumpkin Pie

Butter or nonstick cooking spray
1 cup granulated Splenda or other measures-like-sugar non-sugar sweetener (The original recipe calls for 3/4 cup, but I added more to make up for the sweetness lost by omitting the evaporated milk. You be the judge, here.)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
1 can (15 oz.) 100% Pure Pumpkin (NOT canned pumpkin pie mix or filling)
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream & 3/4 cup unsweetened plain or vanilla almond milk (Or just use all cream or all almond milk.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and grease a 9-inch glass pie plate with butter or nonstick cooking spray.

In a small bowl, mix Splenda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, cloves, & nutmeg. In a larger bowl, beat 2 eggs. Stir the Splenda mixture into the larger bowl with the eggs. Gradually stir in cream and/or almond milk.

Pour filling directly into greased pie plate and bake on middle rack for 55-60 minutes. (Again, for cook time variations, see here.)

Let pie cool for two hours on a wire rack. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

That's it! So good! My only frustration is that canned pumpkin isn't available all year, since it's a delicious and nutritious low-carb food. I'm totally planning on stocking up while it's still around. The best part about it is that nutrition experts seem to agree that it's every bit as good for you as the fresh version, and some have even found that a few of the nutrients (like Vitamin A) are actually higher in canned pumpkin than in fresh, making the convenient route a no-guilt choice.

The Joy of Smoothies

2010-09-28T11:00:00.017-04:00

When Katie posted a couple of weeks ago about protein powder, it reminded me that I've never shared the recipe for the protein smoothie I use as my go-to low-carb breakfast. I've tried tons of different ingredient combinations and flavors, but to me, this one wins by far. The texture is a perfect marriage of creamy and icy, it's richer and more chocolaty than most desserts, and the antioxidants in the cocoa and berries plus the nutrient-filled eggs and protein powder come together to make this the most non-health-food-seeming health food I've ever tasted. Eating this thing makes me feel like I've made some sort of deal with the devil in order for it to actually be under 20 net carbs.

The recipe all rests on a basic formula of 8 ounces of liquid ingredients to 1 scoop of protein powder, so you could swap out any combination of water, low-carb milk, cream, yogurt, etc. for the liquid, and you could throw in pretty much anything else you want to make whatever flavor you desire. I've enjoyed peanut butter, canned pumpkin, flaxseed, instant coffee, flavor extracts, and sugar-free syrups in my smoothies, but this particular combination of chocolate and berries is my clear favorite.

Tracey's Dark Chocolate Mixed Berry Protein Smoothie
2 eggs (optional)
3-4 oz. water (give or take, use more if not using eggs)
2 oz. (1/4 cup) heavy whipping cream (2g carb)
1 scoop chocolate Max Protein (3g carb, 1g sugar)
2 TBSP granular Splenda (6g carb, 0g sugar)
2 TBSP Hershey Special Dark Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (6g carb - 4g fiber = 2 net carbs, 0g sugar)
1/2 cup frozen mixed berries (8.5g carb - 3g fiber = 5.5 net carbs, 5.5g sugar)
ice cubes

(Total of 18.5 net carbs, 6.5 of which are sugar)

Since large appliances feel clunky to me, and since I hate washing extra dishes, I make my smoothie in an inexpensive single-serve blender and eat it right out of the travel-friendly blender cup.

The dry ingredients will blend in best if you begin with the wet ingredients. I start by cracking two eggs into the blender cup. (I totally understand that not everyone is comfortable ingesting raw eggs. Since I've never been able to resist cookie dough and brownie batter, I've had more than a normal person's fair share of raw eggs in my lifetime with no problem, so I'm willing to keep taking the risk. The eggs make the smoothie super creamy and extra filling, but it's also delicious without them.) Then, I add enough filtered water to bring the blender's contents to 6 oz. (If not using eggs, just start with 6 oz. water). Next, I add about 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream.

Then, the dry ingredients. Add the protein powder, cocoa, and Splenda, and cover and blend quickly until just mixed. This will keep the dry ingredients from sticking to the sides of the blender. Add the frozen berries and blend again to thoroughly mix them in. Add ice cubes a few at a time, blending each time you add them, until the smoothie reaches your desired thickness. A drinkable smoothie only needs few ice cubes in addition to the berries, but I usually add a couple of handfuls of ice and enjoy it with a spoon.

Do you drink shakes or smoothies as a part of your low-carb way of eating? I'd love to know how you make them and what your favorite "mix-ins" are!

Recipe Roundup

2010-09-27T12:00:00.003-04:00

So many delicious recipes showed up in our Google Readers this week! Check these out:

Marissa's Kitchen Talk: Low-Carb Fried Eggplant

Grace2882: Portabella Pepperoni Pizza, Chicken Enchiladas, and Cream Cheese Brownies

Low Carb Confidential: Low Carb Zucchini Lasagna (To get zucchini "noodles" without a mandoline, you can use a vegetable peeler. They won't end up perfectly uniform, but they should work just fine.)

trulypat: Cream of Pumpkin Soup (This gluten-free recipe uses evaporated milk to avoid both lactose and nut allergens, but in the interest of keeping it low-carb, I'd swap that stuff out with unsweetened almond milk, heavy cream, or a combination of the two.)

The World According to Eggface: Shelly's Ham it Up Bites

Lucy: Breakfast Nachos (As an added bonus, reading this post includes a link to a delicious looking brownie recipe!)

Ginny's Low Carb Kitchen: Bacon Cheeseburger Soup

Kalyn's Kitchen: Black Bean Salad with Jicama, Tomatoes, Cilantro, and Lime

Dana Carpender: Low Carb Sesame Noodles

Maria Emmerich: Creme Brulee

Got a recipe you've recently featured on your own blog or saw one somewhere else that caught your eye? As always, leave a link in the comments!

The Magic Behind Magic Shell

2010-09-22T11:00:00.002-04:00

What do you do when it's the night before your refrigerator is being replaced and you have to finish off that container of low-carb ice cream in your freezer, but you realize that it's vanilla ice cream and therefore requires some sort of topping in order to make it delicious?

You make homemade Magic Shell!

Katie introduced me to Magic Shell when we were in high school, and if you're unfortunate enough to have never had it, you've pretty much been missing out on everything that's good in the world. It's a luscious liquid chocolate sauce that hardens into pure candy when it hits cold ice cream, and I'm ecstatic to report that this EASY low-carb version is every bit as good as the 16-grams-of-sugar-per-serving kind you buy in the store.

Here's how you do it:

Spoon some coconut oil (between 1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon) into a microwave-safe bowl. Add a couple of squares of 85% dark chocolate and some non-sugar sweetener to taste. (I added about a half-packet of Truvia to mine.) Microwave on high power in 15 second intervals, stopping to stir, until the chocolate is melted. Pour it over ice cream and enjoy!

See how it solidified where it hit the ice cream? Magic!

You can experiment with the amounts and types of chocolate, sweetener, and coconut oil to find what works best for you. You can also add chopped nuts, shredded unsweetened coconut, or other goodies to make it your own. Whip some up for your family and friends, and they're sure to think you're a low-carb genius.

Recipe Roundup

2010-09-20T12:00:00.015-04:00

It's Monday, and you know what that means. More exciting low-carb recipes from around the web. Leave us a comment with a link or dish of your own, and enjoy!

What I Crave: Spaghetti Squash (A great first-time or refresher course on preparing this low-carb staple. Helpful for anyone who hasn't given in to the joy of the amazing spiral slicer.)

Mark's Daily Apple: "Perfect Steak" (A detailed tutorial on types, cuts, and cooking methods.)

smitten kitchen: Skirt Steak Salad with Blue Cheese (There's a smidgen of honey in the dressing, but I know you folks are wise enough to use your sweetener of choice.)

Cheeseslave: Croque-Madame (An open-faced French breakfast sandwich for our readers who still allow themselves a little bread.)

Grace2882: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Jennifer Eloff: Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Maria Emmerich: Cheesy Dehydrated "Popcorn" (This one was too weird not to share. It's dehydrated cauliflower!)

Friday Meatspiration

2010-09-17T11:00:00.001-04:00

Yeah, yeah. So Lady Gaga wore a dress made of meat to last weekend's MTV Video Music Awards, prompting Jimmy Kimmel to claim, "This Atkins Diet is getting out of control!"

But despite all the attention she got for it, Lady Gaga is certainly not the first one to think of turning raw meat into fashion.

Remember Cycle 10 of America'a Next Top Model?

That's right, Gaga. Tyra beat you to it. Meatwear is soooo 2008.

Vitamins and Protein Powder

2010-09-15T12:00:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time, Tracey’s mom consulted her local GNC employees about a low-carb protein powder and came up with SEI Pharmaceuticals’ Max Protein. It has a bit of a clumping problem that makes it very annoying to clean out of shaker bottles, but it’s delicious and very low-carb at 3g carbs and 1g sugar for a 30g scoop.

However, it’s $50 for 2 lbs., which didn’t bother me before when protein shakes weren’t a habit of mine, but now that I’m sometimes having multiple shakes in one day, it seems pretty excessive.

A muscle-building friend of mine talked me into buying the protein powder he uses, which is Dymatize Elite Gourmet. It has 5g carbs and 0g sugar for a 32g scoop because it’s made with sucralose, no clumping, and a different but still great taste. And it’s only $29 for 5 pounds, so it’s a major savings.

The problem is that the Dymatize contains almost no vitamins, whereas the SEI is loaded with them. I read a blog where a woman was breaking a multivitamin into her protein shakes to make them more nutritious, and I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on that.

Does it matter if my vitamins are part of the original powder or something I add myself? Does it matter if I have the vitamins in the shake or alongside it?

I kind of assume that taking a multivitamin right before or after I drink my shake is the same as breaking it up into the shake itself, but I’m no doctor of vitamin-absorption.

Guest Post: No Carb Digestion, or Why My Farts Don't Stink

2010-09-14T12:00:00.002-04:00

Tracey and I like to think that we're leading our friends toward the low-carb light every day, but it turns out that some of them find their own way. One such friend is Ryan Cordle, who's lost an incredible amount of weight eating Paleo-style. I invited him to guest post for us whenever he liked, and I'm so pleased that he chose a topic Tracey and I often talk about but have not-surprisingly never gone public with. Thanks, Ryan!

Marriage is a very romantic, intimate, and beautiful thing. Part of that intimacy is deciding, consciously or not, how to deal with situations in private that may be slightly taboo in public. For example: farting. All couples decide whether or not they will freely fart in front of one another. My parents do not fart in front of one another. Perhaps they are a bit Victorian, but in my house growing up, farting was not something you did in the presence of a lady (later I learned that ladies fart, too). Therefore, if you must fart, you excuse yourself to the bathroom and let it rip.

Other families are much more free with their farting habits. The parents encourage their children with games like Pull My Finger. I always saw this family on TV and realized that for others, farting is not a shame to hide but an event at which the whole family laughs. I imagined mothers, fathers, and their 2-3 children sitting around the table after dinner, pulling one another's fingers and having a merry time.

My wife and I are somewhere in the middle. We will fart in each other's presence if it hits us. It's not something we brag about, and I never had the confidence to ask her to pull my digit. However, we do have a rule to regulate our has habits: on long car trips, the guilty farter is responsible for rolling down the windows. But my wife could tell you that the window rule no longer applies to me.

I have been eating a very low-carb "paleo diet" for 75 days and have lost 47 lbs. Obviously, there are a lot of benefits to eating low-carb, like losing weight, looking like gold, and forgetting what it feels like to be hungry. Yet, I submit to you there is an even more glorious product to this way of eating: my farts don't stink.

From a scientific perspective, it makes perfect sense. The innumerable bacteria that call our intestines home love starch and sugar. Those substances allow the bacteria to thrive and make baby bacteria at a significant rate. All of that bacteria eating and reproducing leads to an excess of gas in our digestive tract that must come out. This is why the bean is the magical fruit that makes us toot. Bacteria seem to love beans and other carbohydrate-rich foods.

So when I cut out nearly all starch and sugar from my diet, the bacteria went hungry. And when those bacteria go hungry, they don't produce much gas. Which makes road trips much more pleasant for my wife.

I still fart occasionally. I usually have to let one go in the morning when I go the gym, or sometimes after work, but that is it. Why don't they stink? I have no clue, but clearly it has something to do with what my gut flora is eating, and to me, it is a sign of good health that I do not have a stench leaving my butt on a regular basis.

Recipe Roundup

2010-09-13T17:13:00.001-04:00

Once again, enjoy these recipes that caught our attention this past week. Leave your own concoctions and finds in the comments!

Marisa's Kitchen Talk: Blue Cheese Stuffed Endive

Jennifer Eloff: Eggplant Lasagna

Kimberly Bouldin: Spaghetti Squash Stir Fry

Kalyn's Kitchen: Baked Pesto Chicken

Fit Food Coach: Chicken with “I’m Not Afraid of Butter” Dressing

Maria Emmerich: Chicken "Noodle" Soup (featuring the lovable daikon)!

Lucy: P.B. & Pumpkin Protein Smoothie

The Healing Power of Gelatin?

2010-09-11T20:46:00.001-04:00

Gelatin has always seemed like one of the most nutritionally-neutral foods in the world to me. I've never really thought about it being healthy or unhealthy in itself, instead just making sure to check whether or not it's sugar-free. (It also never really hit me that gelatin without artificial flavorings could even be considered paleo.)

But low-carb guru Dana Carpender has been researching and exploring the health benefits of consuming gelatin -- both in its baking-aisle form and in its more natural, animal-bone-and-skin form -- and it sounds like she may be onto something here:

"Here's the main thing I gathered from it: You know how, over the past century or so, we've skewed our fatty acid intake by eating less animal fat and more vegetable oils, so that we're getting way too many omega-6 fatty acids and not enough omega-3s, too many unsaturates and not enough saturates? In exactly the same way, we have been skewing our balance of amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Gelatin-rich foods, from bone broths to head cheese to foods like pig's feet and ox tails, were a large part of a traditional diet. Our ancestors relished every part of the animal, and just as they ate organ meats that most modern Americans now spurn, they also ate all the gelatin-rich bony and cartilaginous bits of the animal. In this modern era of muscle meat and little but muscle meat -- think boneless skinless chicken breast -- much of this gelatin has vanished from the diet, but our bodies' need for it has not.

After naming joint health and energy boosts as positive side effects of gelatin, she goes on to list some other health benefits of the stuff:

Gelatin... with its glycine and proline, apparently does everything from reducing susceptibility to stress, to fighting tumors, to soothing the intestinal tract, to improving thyroid function. Dr. Peat also says it stimulates natural sleep,exciting stuff for this lifetime insomniac. It should be generally relaxing. And it should do very good things for skin. You've heard of collagen cream, right? I've known for years that the molecules were actually too big to penetrate the skin when applied topically, so these creams did nothing to strengthen our own collagen. On the other hand, taking it internally should be helpful. If I suddenly start getting mistaken for a 35 year old I'll let you know.

So weird, right? Bone-in meats have sort of always turned me off a little, and when I do tolerate them, I rarely get anywhere near the bone before I give up and push away my plate, but I can certainly start eating more Jell-O** or using plain gelatin as a thickening agent in my cooking. To read more about the many ways Dana is supplementing her diet with gelatin (including taking the plain powder by the teaspoonful with water), check out her whole post.

---------

**I should note here that Jell-O brand's sugar-free gelatin is sweetened with aspartame, which many health-minded folks try their best to avoid these days due to its reputation as a neurotoxin. Katie and I have explained in the comments discussion following this post how we still enjoy it in moderation, but I would hate for this post to encourage anyone to start loading up on large quantities of aspartame-sweetened Jell-O. I've read that there are a few ways to make your own flavored gelatin with your sweetener of choice, such as mixing unflavored gelatin with Kool-Aid packets and sweetener or DaVinci's sugar-free syrups, but I can't vouch for exact amounts of each since I've never tried it. Perhaps I'll give it a go and share what I find out.

Friday Meatspiration

2010-09-10T10:30:00.000-04:00

I'm no trekkie, but this sausage/pepperoni/salami Starship Enterprise makes me want to live long and prosper.

(Via Foodbeast)

Vintage Ad: "It's all energy!"

2010-09-09T18:38:00.002-04:00

Another one from the "Sugar Makes You Skinny" files, this vintage ad claims that sugar gives you enough energy to "undereat". Ummm.

Copy reads:

Enjoy an ice cream before lunch.

Sugar can be the willpower you need to undereat.

When you're hungry, it usually means your energy's down. By eating something with sugar in it, you can get your energy up fast. In fact, sugar is the fastest energy food around. And when your energy's up, there's a good chance you'll have the willpower to undereat at mealtime. How's that for a sweet idea?

Sugar... only 18 calories per teaspoon, and it's all energy.

Empty calories plus blood sugar spikes plus undereating? SO nutritious!

I wonder if an all-sugar diet will make my eyelashes spike out like that.

The Easiest Low-Carb Dessert Recipe Ever

2010-09-08T12:00:00.004-04:00

Since I spend most of my time in my boyfriend's tiny apartment in Manhattan with no freezer and no oven, dessert recipes that are actually doable for me are entirely too scarce. So when I saw this suggestion in the comments section of one of the other low-carb blogs Tracey and I read, I was intrigued and added the ingredients to my shopping list.

Here's the entire recipe:

Mix sugar-free pudding powder into full-fat Greek yogurt.

I bought the 17.6 oz. Fage Total Plain and mixed about a quarter of a packet of Jell-o butterscotch pudding into it.

The tang of the yogurt was still present, but the pudding powder made it plenty sweet. I can imagine using chocolate protein powder, a little natural peanut butter, or some calorie-free Walden Farms strawberry syrup in future mixes.

And the best part is that the Greek yogurt is only 7g carbs for 1 cup. It does have 7g sugar for 1 cup, but yogurt is great for my gut, and I'm never going to eat a whole cup of the stuff at a time, anyway.

Thank you, unknown commenter, for you have changed my life.

Daikon Hashbrowns

2010-09-07T11:20:00.002-04:00

For me, the biggest challenge of eating better and lowering my carb intake is not giving up sugary desserts or bread. It's keeping myself away from potatoes. I. Love. Potatoes. In all their forms. My dream life involves spooning mounds of loaded mashed potatoes onto deep fried potato skins, topping them off with a sprinkling of crispy shredded hash browns, and eating them EVERY NIGHT for dinner. With a double side of fries.

Sadly, I'm picky about "fauxtato" recipes. I despise the taste of cauliflower once it's cooked, which means that the zillions of delicious-looking low carb recipes in which cauliflower masquerades as potatoes are completely wasted on me.

Recently, however, I finally got to taste a potato-imposter I had only read about in low carb cookbooks. Meet the daikon:

I was stunned when I spotted a few hunks of the Japanese radishes sitting there among the other veggies at my local grocery store. My heart skipped a beat when I remembered that they were fabled to create a mean hash brown substitute, so I snatched one up, took it home, and went to work.

First, I removed the skin with a vegetable peeler and grated it up using a box grater:

I found the shreds only slightly more watery than the ones you would get from a potato, and since I like my hash browns as crispy as possible, I squeezed them dry between some paper towels:

I melted some butter (olive oil would do just fine, too) in a skillet and threw in the shreds, spreading them out into a thin layer:

I let them cook, stirring occasionally, until they were browned to my liking, and I served them up next to my cheese omelet:

The verdict? These things were surprisingly good. The texture was spot on, and the taste was somewhat potato-ish, but with a little extra bite. I'll bet if I added some onions, or even some cheese and bacon crumbles, they might even fool someone. And for only 5g of carbs -- 2.3 of which are fiber -- in an entire cup of daikon, I'd say this recipe's a keeper.

The only downside was the smell that lingered in the kitchen for a few hours after cooking. You know how some vegetables just create a unique stink when heated, even if they taste delicious (I'm talking to you, cabbage)? This was one of them. Next time, I'll just have to remember to use the kitchen fan and light a candle.

Recipe Roundup

2010-09-06T12:32:00.002-04:00

Once again, some recipes from around the blogosphere. Leave a recipe or link of your own in the comments!

What I Crave: Savory Herb Crackers

Elana's Pantry: Squash Fries

Grace2882: Beefy Tostada Pie

The Rogue Cookie: Low-Carb New York Style Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce (Also see Heather's tips and techniques for cheesecake baking.)

24/7 Low Carb Diner: Tinkerbelle's Avocado Pudding

Friday Meatspiration

2010-09-03T15:35:00.001-04:00

Haute hot dogs with unusual toppings have been trendy here in NYC for a couple of years now, and I've approved of every last concoction.

A schmear of cream cheese and everything bagel seeds? Totally. Pineapple? Okay, sure. Avocado? If you say so.

But Bachelor Girl sent us a link last week to this hot dog balloon featured on Craft Gossip, and it's really testing the limits of what I consider appropriate hot dog condiment:

At first, I thought it was a heart-shaped hot dog with a ketchup kite string and a mustard middle. Even though I've never seen the sugar-free ketchup that the rest of the U.S. is apparently enjoying here in NYC, I figured a packet of regular ketchup here and there is no problem.

But then I realized that the yellow filling is egg. Am I being a baby, or is that objectively weird?

Worth the Hassle to Be Healthy

2010-09-02T12:00:00.002-04:00

Kim of the wonderfully elitist Good Hair, Kim Luck commented the other day on Tracey's post about people naysaying low-carb dieting as "not real weightloss" and said:

I couldn't be paid to care if the way someone chooses to drop pounds includes drinking heavy cream through a straw.

And I was obviously like, "BFFs!" It also reminded me of a recent trip to Starbucks.

I'm not a big fan of Starbucks' coffee, but I'm a big, big fan of the fact that they'll sell me a cup of heavy cream for the price of a glass of milk. If I find myself with absolutely no desire to think about what to have for lunch, I just pop down to the Starbucks in my office building, buy a cup of heavy cream, and mix up a protein shake. No one has ever questioned me or even looked at me funny there.

I was on my way home from work the other day, though, and decided to stop in the Starbucks I pass by anyway rather than:

• go out of my way to the grocery store, or
• stop at the bank to get cash, since corner bodegas are known for only taking cash.

"May I have a grande cup of heavy cream, please?" I asked the barista.

"A cup of what?" he asked.

"Heavy whipping cream," I said.

"Do you . . . want ice in it?" he asked.

"No, thanks," I replied. "Just the cream."

He poured the cup halfway full and then said, "You don't want anything else in here?"

I said, "Nope, all cream."

He said, "Let me fill it up for you."

I said, "Uh, yeah, thanks."

"Are you gonna drink this?" he asked, looking so weirded out.

"Sure," I said. "I'm going to mix it into smoothies and cook with it and stuff."

He handed it to me, saying, "You are the first and last person who will ever ask for this."

I laughed, but this sort of thing happens way too often for comfort, especially since I eat practically every meal out. Whether it's a McDonald's cashier telling me "we don't do that" when I ask for a bunless burger or a deli including the rice with my grilled chicken when I ask them not to, low-carbing takes a little bit of gumption.

Sometimes I don't want to deal with the strange looks and just take the bun off later myself, but usually I remind myself that any amount of hassle is worth my health.

Sinkhole Swallows Sonic!

2010-09-01T11:00:00.001-04:00

And thus, God smote the sinful, carb-filled fast food chain by BANISHING IT TO HELL!

Recipe Roundup

2010-08-31T12:00:00.003-04:00

Thought I'd share some recipes that caught my eye this week. Want to share a recipe of your own? Drop it in the comments!

Kalyn's Kitchen: Grilled Zucchini Pizza Slices

Grace2882: Blackberry Cobbler

Maria Emmerich: Hearts of Palm "Macaroni" and Cheese (I made this on Friday, and WOW.)

24/7 Low Carb Diner: Coconut Bread

Ginny's Low Carb Kitchen: Almond Joy Coconut Cream Pie

Linda's Low Carb Menus and Recipes: Carolyn's 3-Minute Flourless Chocolate Cake (An oldie but a goodie that I sent to poor, ovenless Katie over the weekend.)

"Just Water Weight"

2010-08-30T10:00:00.005-04:00

Lots of people like to complain about low carb diets. Naysayers are always either trying to convince us that butter, cream, and eggs are bad for us and that we NEED grains to survive, or they're attacking the straw-Atkins-dieter who eats a slab of bacon for every meal and zero vegetables. One of the criticisms that drives me the most crazy, though, is the one where people fully acknowledge low-carbers' impressive results, but they immediately dismiss it as "fake" weight-loss, because "it's just water weight".

I mean, really? Is is so necessary to put successful dieters in their place that we have to resort to devaluing all of their efforts with the notion that because they aren't losing weight "the hard way" (starvation), they aren't really losing it at all?

It only takes reading the science behind any low carb or low glycemic eating plan to understand that once you stop spiking your blood sugar with sugary and starchy foods, you no longer have huge excesses of insulin causing the storage of new fat, and your body goes to work to burn off your current excesses of body fat for energy. You basically become a fat-burning (NOT water-burning) machine.

Now, it's true that while your body is switching over from carb-burning to fat-burning, the initial, almost immediate, weight-drop on an eating plan like Atkins comes from the release of excess water weight. Primal eating expert Mark Sisson has even said that some people can carry 10-20 pounds or more of retained water, depending on their size, due to the highly inflammatory nature of the standard, grain-filled American diet. So those first pounds may not be pure body fat, but does it really matter?

After losing a few pounds of "water weight", my clothes fit better, my face looks less bloated, and I noticeably have more energy and find myself able to move easier. If the first however-many pounds of lost weight on a low carb diet comes from the release of water our bodies had no business carrying around in the first place, I guess I just don't see what the big deal is.

As I see it, successfully de-bloating yourself on your way to fat-burning is "real" weight-loss. It's an initial payoff that tells you you're doing something healthy and right, and it should be a great motivator to keep at it. Don't let anyone try to tell you it doesn't count.

Boredom, Laziness, and Kitchen Amnesia

2010-08-27T15:21:00.001-04:00

Like Katie, I'm not opposed to occasionally "cheating" when I want to experience something delicious at a social event or if I feel like I might die if I don't have whatever indulgence I get a strong craving for, but I really do feel bad about going off plan when I know I'm doing it out of boredom or laziness.

Switching from a lifestyle where I eat 75 to 80% of my meals out to one where I try not to eat out more than once or twice a week has been a special challenge. I only enjoy cooking when I get really in the mood to do it (which is not all that often), and when my laziness combines with hunger, I develop this condition in which I suddenly forget about all of the delicious and healthy food in my fridge and cupboards just waiting to be eaten, and all I can think about is going to a restaurant where I will be sure to be tempted by bread baskets and loaded mashed potatoes and dessert menus. This is bad for both my waistline AND my bank account. It breaks my heart when I have to throw out the vegetables I find practically liquefied in my fridge, all because I never felt like chopping them up and exposing them to a heat source. Sometimes I really miss the days of Bagel Bits and Kraft Dinner.

I'm trying a new experiment, though -- one that will hopefully keep me from feeling that dreaded "But there's nothing to EAT here!" feeling that I get before mealtimes, and one that should keep me from letting good food go to waste. Right after I went grocery shopping yesterday, while our house's food inventory was super fresh in my mind, I wrote out a list of EVERY POSSIBLE healthy, low carb meal I could think of that I could conceivably prepare with the foods in my kitchen, and I posted this list to the fridge. I made a second list for snacks and posted it, too. The plan is to continue updating the lists as I use up groceries and shop for new ones so it's impossible to forget what I have. Now, when I feel myself getting hungry and I can't think of anything to make, I can go to my lists, and hopefully I'll be interested enough in something on them to work up the excitement I need to want to eat at home and stop craving restaurant food.

Think it'll work? What techniques do you use to make sure you get the most of your groceries?

Friday Meatspiration

2010-08-27T12:00:00.002-04:00

A man and a woman had a little baby; yes, they did.

They had three-ee-ee in the family . . .

That's a magic number.

Taking Control

2010-08-26T12:00:00.000-04:00

For me, the scariest part of dieting–or changing your lifestyle, as it were–is knowing that it’s all up to me. It’s pretty easy for me to say, “Well, I’m a restaurant reviewer. I have to eat this crème brulee.” Or, when I’m not trying to lose weight, to say, “It’s not a big deal if I eat three ginormous slices of pizza for lunch, because I so rarely have pizza.”

But when you’re actively trying to become healthier (and hopefully thinner!), you realize that every single thing you eat is going to affect your weightloss. My office, for instance, made Pop-Tart ice cream sandwiches to celebrate the month’s birthdays on Friday, and all of the leftover ingredients are hanging out in our cupboards and freezer. My co-workers are doing things like topping ice cream with pudding and using Pop-Tarts for bread on their turkey sandwiches, and every time I see this happening, I think, “WANT!!”

But then I remember that one Pop-Tart is going to make my bloodsugar skyrocket, make my cravings for other sugary crap explode, and stop my weightloss for at least a couple of days. It’s almost never worth it.

The problem is that I then start to obsess a little over not eating anything that might hinder my diet. When my boyfriend suggests we order kebabs and hummus for dinner, I’ll think, “I know chickpeas are low-glycemic, but they still have way more carbs than the chicken breast and salad I was planning to make for myself. Do I want to risk it?”

That’s just ridiculous, because the meal is totally healthy. And I don’t want to be someone who has to live on eggs and protein shakes to lose weight, because that’s not sustainable.

I have to find the balance between taking control and losing control.

Visualizing the Unseen Enemy

2010-08-25T10:00:00.001-04:00

When Katie and I were in the 7th grade, we were selected to participate in this special summer program called Women in Science, where we got to hang out with other smart girls from our school and do nerdy, science-y things together like dissect frogs and sheep's hearts and learn all about different diseases and stuff.

I'll never forget how our first lab project on the first day of this program involved looking at the nutrition labels on Snicker's Bars and bags of Cheetos and measuring out and melting wax in amounts equal to the number of grams of dietary fat in each of these items. When we were done, we had these little test tubes full of fat-resembling wax, and we were supposed to be shocked into understanding just how bad these foods were for us. We felt cool that we had used Science to make visible a perceived threat that usually remained hidden.

Looking back on this little experiment, I'm incredibly struck -- first of all -- by how cruel it seems to try to shock adolescent girls by teaching them to fear fat at a time when they are just beginning to realize how much society will value them (or harshly judge them) based on the size and shape of their bodies. Secondly, it's so interesting to me how easily we accepted that dietary fat was the enemy, and none of us had ANY idea that it could be the sugar in those foods that actually caused more damage to our health and our waistlines.

This site that shows the amount of sugar in various foods and beverages totally reminds me of that fat-lab from all those years ago, only this time it gets the real culprit right.


I'd never sit down to 54g of sugar in cube form, even though I've had my fair share of King Sized Snickers Bars.


We never would have thought to measure anything in a Coke, since it's "Naturally Fat Free!", but check out all that sugar.

Ahhhhh!

So what do you think? Does seeing the sugar content in a food deter you from eating it?

Cheat and Feel Empowered

2010-08-24T12:00:00.001-04:00

Tracey and I spend a lot of time discussing how other low-carbers love to act like they never make mistakes. Before I knew anything about the diet, I once asked the most popular Belly Fat Cure blogger how she's handled her need/desire to "cheat" on the plan.

Her response? "I've never cheated."

My response? "LIAR!"

Now, kidding aside, I really do believe there's a possibility that this woman has stuck to her diet all along. On a plan like the Belly Fat Cure, you're allowed enough savory carbs that chips, pasta, and even bread are all acceptable.

But Tracey and I crave sugary baked goods! Cupcakes! Cookies! Ice cream! And lots of them! Most of me truly does believe that my body is better off without sugar, but part of me doesn't want to live life without it.

My way of dealing with it is to let myself have what I want when I need to but to remind myself how much better life is without it the next day. On Friday night, for instance, I could have brought along a low-carb protein shake or meal replacement bar to my recently-married friend's get-together, but I knew there was no way I was going to be able to pass up pizza, Doritos (my favourite!), chicken wings, homemade banana pudding with Nilla wafers, and the top layer of their wedding cake.

So I just ate it. All of it and as much as I wanted of it. I didn't make myself feel guilty about it, and I had a much better time at the party because I wasn't putting pressure on myself to "perform" the way the diet wants me to.

But the next day, I went right back to eating low-carb. And yesterday, three days later, I was down 4.2 pounds.

Diet Sabotage

2010-08-23T12:00:00.001-04:00

Recently, Amber from Me and Jorge wrote about how losing so much weight that she had to buy a new wardrobe "wasn't as fun as you would think", because it meant replacing everything from bras to bathing suits. When I lost 30 pounds on a low-carb diet a couple of years ago, not being able to fit into my old clothes was a major de-motivator for me.

In fact, I think it was part of the reason I sabotaged myself and started eating carbs again, allowing me to eventually gain back all of the weight I'd lost (and more!). It's not like I own any designer clothes or anything remotely worth caring about losing, but not fitting into my old clothes seemed way more scary than fitting into new clothes seemed exciting. There was this one stupid $20 shirt from H&M in particular that hung off of me in such a sad way after losing 20 pounds that I had to fold it up and stick it in the back of a drawer.

I don't even know why I held onto it, but I'm glad I did, because I pulled it right back out as soon as I stupidly decided that a low-calorie diet was right for me and went back up two sizes. If only I'd known that being able to wear it again doesn't feel nearly as good as not wearing it felt bad.

This time around, I'm trying to recognize my self-sabotage and the (sometimes unwitting) sabotage of the people around me and sticking with what I know works for me.

Friday Meatspiration

2010-08-20T12:15:00.000-04:00

Turbaconducken (Turducken wrapped entirely in bacon):

Bacon Cheddar Ranch "Skins"

2010-08-19T13:00:00.000-04:00

(Hat tip to Lucy, whose Jalapeno Poppers reminded me of cheesy potato skins and inspired me to whip these up for dinner.)

What would you get if you took a sliced-up green pepper, spread it with ranch-flavored cream cheese, and topped it with bacon and cheddar cheese? Reminiscent of both jalapeno poppers and crispy potato skins, these super easy Bacon Cheddar Ranch "Skins" can help to fill the void left by your local dive's high-carb appetizers.

Green peppers were what I had on hand, but you could easily use red or yellow bell peppers, or even halved jalapenos as the base.

Ranch Cream Cheese Spread:

This makes way more than enough for one or two peppers, but it's just so much easier to use full packages of things. Plus, it will keep for a long time in the fridge, and it doubles as an excellent veggie dip or sandwich spread.

-8 oz. cream cheese, softened (or any combination of cream cheese, sour cream, & mayo equaling 8 oz.)
-1 packet, ranch seasoning mix (I used Hidden Valley)

Mix ranch seasoning into cream cheese until smooth and thoroughly combined. (A spoon gets this job done pretty easily, but I won't judge if you break out the hand mixer.)

Bacon Cheddar Ranch "Skins":

-1 or more peppers, cut lengthwise into quarters or eighths
-Ranch Cream Cheese Spread (see above)
-Bacon, cooked crispy (I used a half-strip per "skin")
-Shredded cheddar cheese

Lay pepper sections with the inside part facing up on a baking sheet or on a microwave-safe plate, depending on your cooking preference. Spread the inside of each piece with Ranch Cream Cheese Spread, top with bacon, and sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Broil, watching closely, or microwave in 20 second increments until cheese melts. Enjoy!

Variation: Cut your peppers into thin strips and smother with cheese and crumbled bacon, ranch dressing, or chili to make your own loaded "fries". Microwave or broil to heat through until cheese is melted.

And Yet, I'd Still Eat One

2010-08-19T03:08:00.002-04:00

Photographer Dwight Eschliman has marvelously deconstructed a Twinkie, photographing each of its 37 or So Ingredients separately.

Check out a sampling of the various liquids, oils, and powders that come together to create the iconic snack cake:

Glucose


High-Fructose Corn Syrup

Polysorbate 60

Cellulose Gum

Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate

Red 40

FD&C Yellow #5

Every Meal is a Decision

2010-08-18T12:00:00.000-04:00

It's no secret that food is expensive in NYC. Probably more expensive than anywhere else in the country. My boyfriend and I don't go out to dinner without spending $100 or more, and sites like Midtown Lunch that focus on cheap options end up profiling a whole lot of street vendors who offer neither ambiance nor service. Even when we order in, we easily spend $40 with tip.

So I tried to go grocery shopping Monday night. I stuck to the outside aisles for fresh ingredients like they tell you to, venturing into the other areas only for condiments and a box of cereal for my carb-lovin' boyfriend. I bought:

green peppers
red onions
whipping cream
unsweetened almond milk
turkey breast
chicken breasts
dark chocolate
cream cheese
hot dogs
butter
baking cocoa
cereal
eggs
herb salad
bacon bits
spicy ranch salad dressing
mayonnaise
mustard

And do you know how much my bill was?

EIGHTY-EIGHT DOLLARS. And that doesn't include any of what I'll spend on lunch at work this week.

Clearly that's cheaper than the $40 my boyfriend was spending on us every night, but it's still oppressively high, and now it makes sense to me that people talk about being too poor to afford eating well. When I was at my poorest, which was naturally in college, I was living on all-carb Pasta Roni. (Not ramen, mind you, because I had class.) And I was buying it in Ohio, where everything is so inexpensive it hurts me to think about it now.

And of course my immediate thought was that I could buy a whole lot more clothes and ebooks and movie tickets if I stuck to cans of Chef Boyardee. I don't want to have to choose between eating what's good for my body and saving money, because I'll almost always make the wrong choice.

This is also a problem for me when it comes to eating out. With everything being so expensive here, I want the most delicious thing possible for my dollar. When I see a salad costing $12 right next to a breaded buffalo chicken sandwich with fries for $10, it's an easy choice. And even if that sandwich is $14 instead, it's well worth that extra $2 for me to get the dish I'll really enjoy, even though I know the salad's much better for me in the long run.

Every meal is a decision to change my life, and it's never an easy one.

Freebies from Atkins Nutritionals

2010-08-16T02:01:00.000-04:00

Becentsable has shared that if you join the Atkins community by filling out a short form, they will send you 3 free Atkins bars and a quick start guide.

Click HERE to sign up and get your freebies!

Diet Advice, Social Eating, and Feminism

2010-08-16T01:29:00.005-04:00

(Cross-posted at Unapologetically Female)

You know the standard diet tips that are always showing up everywhere? The ones we've all heard a million times, but the magazines keep printing them, and the thin and bubbly morning news anchors keep filling segments with them? Sometimes, I feel like the media is droning out an endless Lost-style radio signal telling us to take the stairs, use smaller plates, and stop eating hours before bedtime.

While I find the repetition of many of these tips mildly annoying, there's one that I keep seeing that really gets under my skin: the one that advises we avoid eating alone.

The logic behind this tip is that people who consume most of their food in the presence of others apparently let their self-consciousness about appearing gluttonous get in the way of stuffing their faces. And while this advice may work wonders for some people, it's totally lost on me for a couple of reasons:

1) I've realized over the years that I'm what you might call a social eater. For me, food -- especially junk food full of sugar and starch -- is more fun when it's being shared. While I can stay on track with a healthy eating plan with few problems by myself, I often find a way to use getting together with friends as an excuse to stop caring about what I'm putting into my body. Sadly, this has meant that the times in my life when I feel the most fulfilled socially are also the times when I tend to gain the most weight, and rededicating myself to health and weight-loss often means having to isolate myself for a while in order to develop new habits.

Part of the problem is that I feel like I'm less fun (maybe even less me) when I'm ordering a salad instead of fries and drinking water instead of soda. I've never smoked, and I rarely drink, but I imagine the psychological process involved is similar for people who smoke or drink socially. I have this strong feeling that such indulgence is somehow necessary to my good time. Remember that study that came out a few years ago claiming that people with fat friends are more likely to also be fat? It made sense to me, because I think people just like surrounding themselves with like-minded people who enjoy similar things. Katie and I talk a lot about how there are so many people out there who just don't seem to care about food the way we do, and we both agree that it's much harder to relate to these people socially. Similarly, I doubt someone who thinks a party isn't a party without alcohol would get a lot of enjoyment from hanging out with me, but if you're always in the mood to get together and consume a large pizza and a tube of raw cookie dough, I'm your girl.

2) Those who know me well know that I'm a raging feminist who resents how women in our culture live in a regime in which we are constantly judged by our behavior and appearance and encouraged not to take up too much space. And the "friendly" dieting advice telling us not to eat alone actively counsels us to yield to insecurities derived from societal rules about how much and what types of foods women should be eating. In a culture in which we are are constantly taught that men are entitled to rich foods in large amounts and women are not, diet advice that encourages this sort of self-surveillance in women (anyone else read Foucault in college?) serves to further entrench gendered oppression and inequality.

My problem is that my feminist consciousness makes me want desperately to rebel against diet culture, even though I often actively participate in it, and that creates an ambivalence in me about eating that makes me go back and forth between trying to eat really healthfully and wanting to lash out at the diet industry by eating whatever the hell I damn well please, thankyouverymuch. It's not that appetite and/or fatness are inherently feminist, but in our sexist culture, unapologetic appetite and/or fatness in women is inherently political. And throughout my life, I have taken a special pride in being able -- in the presence of others -- to "eat like a man". I don't know that it's ever even really occurred to me to worry that people might think I'm eating too much, but I hate it when other people know I'm watching what I eat, because it makes me feel antifeminist and stereotypically girly.

I'm interested in hearing what others think about this. Do your individual health goals sometimes end up conflicting with your self-image or your personal politics, and if so, how do you deal with it? Which conventional diet/fitness/health tips annoy the crap out of you?

Friday Meatspiration

2010-08-13T06:00:00.001-04:00

Meat Tea Cup:

Hommage a Meret Oppenheim, Betty Hirst

A New Twist on Green Eggs (With or Without the Ham)

2010-08-12T18:26:00.000-04:00

Want to shake up the traditional deviled egg and double up on healthy fats at the same time? Well, the same Mark's Daily Apple post that led me to the weirdest hard-boiled egg-peeling technique ever also contained a link to this recipe for Fat Guacamole Devils.

For my version (pictured above), I didn't have any hot sauce available, so I added more traditional ingredients to my avocado, using Kelly the Kitchen Kop's guacamole recipe for inspiration. And it was so easy! Just peel 4-6 hard-boiled eggs, slice them in half lengthwise, and throw the yolks into a bowl with the scooped-out flesh of one ripe avocado:

Then, add desired guacamole-ish ingredients. I chose sea salt, garlic, chopped red onion, chopped fresh cilantro from my herb garden, and a few squirts of lime juice:

Mash it all up with a fork:

And scoop the mixture back into the eggs. Fin!

Using only 4 eggs with one whole avocado, this yielded enough extra guacamole to serve on the side with some veggies. Put it out at a party, and your guests will never know the secret ingredient to your deliciously rich guacamole is egg yolks! (Just don't tell your vegan friends.)

The Devastating Effects of Carbohydrate Addiction: McDonald's Rampage Edition

2010-08-11T14:06:00.002-04:00

Don't ask me how these things get leaked, but the surveillance video of the lady who attacked a McDonald's earlier this year because they wouldn't serve her Chicken McNuggets during breakfast is making its way through the Internets. (And thanks to Dan for sharing it.) If you've ever wondered why those signs at drive-thrus say, "For your safety and ours, we do not accept walk-ups," watching this might clear that up a little.

Start this just after a minute in to get to the good part, and believe me, it's worth it to watch to the end to see the next driver pull up and get his food like nothing happened.

Can you blame her? As much as people like to put down the low-quality, hormone-filled food from the Golden Arches, there really is something special about those McNuggets. In the 80s, they made the coolest Happy Meal toys. In the 90s, after Chuck Klosterman ate them and nothing else for 7 straight days, he admitted that he would eat them again. And in '08, they were made animatronic in the name of art:

Katie's video and poetic caption: "Chickens made of nuggets, pecking at their sauce."

And I hold firm that it's not the chicken, but the crispy, carby breading that makes them so delicious, even if they have no place in a healthy low carb diet. (Unless you use the rules of Jorge Cruise's The Belly Fat Cure to justify having up to 7 McNuggets for one of your daily carb servings, which I'm not above doing.)

The Holy Grail of Egg-Peeling Techniques?

2010-08-10T17:23:00.002-04:00

It often bothers me how everyone thinks they know the secret for cleanly peeling hard-boiled eggs, because I've tried every trick in the book, and can still never get the shell off without taking chunks out of the eggs and making them look less than appetizing.

A deviled egg disaster before the Memorial Day picnic Dan and I had at our house this year actually drove me to tweet about it:

Well, a recent link over at Mark's Daily Apple sent me to this egg-peeling instructional video, which made me gasp audibly and may have changed my life forever:

Amazing! I swear I watched this about five times just to hear the noise the egg makes when it gets blown out of its shell.

****************UPDATE****************

I have now tried this technique, and while I didn't get the super-easy-looking, mind-blowing results seen in the video, I did have MUCH more egg-peeling success than usual. Out of six eggs attempted, only two sort of fully blew out of their shells, one of which came out with a couple of small chunks of egg still attached to the inside of the shell. As for the rest of them, the blowing created excellent long, vertical cracks all over the eggs that made them infinitely easier to peel than the cracks you usually get by cracking them on the table or in the pan.

And even though the pressure this created in my head felt reminiscent of learning to play the oboe, and even though the sound it made completely freaked out my cats, I'm not ready to give up on this weirdo technique just yet.

Anyone else have any luck? Tips on getting this to work right? Leave 'em in the comments!

Diet-Mixing 101: Dining with the Differently Dieting

2010-08-08T02:11:00.002-04:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about diet-mixing in its many forms. Katie and I often discuss the nuts and bolts and pros and cons of different low carb approaches to eating, from Atkins to the The Glycemic Load Diet to The Belly Fat Cure, and we often end up mixing the guidelines of lots of different plans to find what works for both our individual tastes and specific food situations.

There's also the kind of diet-mixing that happens when two (or more) people who follow different eating plans eat together. Sometimes, this involves the everyday negotiations that go on between partners or within families over what's for dinner, and other times, it's the difficulty of figuring out a single meal with someone with whom you rarely dine.

Just last week, for example, I was invited over to a friend's house for dinner, knowing fully well that this friend is a fat-gram-watcher/calorie-counter and NOT a low-carber like me. Having no idea what I would be served for dinner, I prepared myself to bite the bullet and graciously accept whatever was available. (I realize that a lot of serious low carbers would scold me for my willingness to compromise, but I still, in many ways, value social comfort over complete control over my food.) Even though my friend had thoughtfully Googled low carb recipes before my visit and ended up planning something mostly acceptable for my way of eating, I still found it SO interesting how much our food choices clashed. As we prepared stir-fried chicken breast and vegetables together in her kitchen, I had to stifle a cringe when she added I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and bottled lite vinaigrette to the skillet. Dessert consisted of mountains of watermelon and mango slices, and even though I've allowed myself fruit ever since I branched out from strict Atkins Induction a few years ago, those are some of the more sugary options and not the ones I usually reach for.

When we chatted over dinner about what sorts of things we eat, she went on about how she's horrified to learn how many calories are actually in many of her favorite foods and how she has grudgingly switched from mayonnaise to mustard on her sandwiches. I explained back that I can eat all the mayo I want as long as I skip the bread. She mentioned that she eats a lot of Lean Cuisine meals, and even though I envied her for a split second for the total convenience of those little frozen dinners, I quickly remembered how tiny and utterly tasteless they are and how hungry I was always left whenever I tried making a meal out of them in the past. At least with low carb, I'm eating real foods full of healthy fats and no added sugars or starches to make my blood sugar go crazy. Even though it's sometimes really hard to avoid carbs, I think it's finally starting to sink in for me that it's so much more satisfying than avoiding fat could ever be.

Friday Meatspiration

2010-08-06T09:00:00.004-04:00

American Meat Institute, 1947:

(Via Plan59 Prints)

Low-Carb Hostess Chocolate Cupcakes

2010-08-04T12:00:00.000-04:00

I was in Ohio last weekend and spent much of it with Tracey, who–like me–finds lots of excuses to "cheat" on her low-carb diet. Meaning that whenever I'm in town, we go crazy and eat whatever we want, which is everything from Dairy Queen to Pizza Hut to McDonald's with a couple of local joints thrown in as long as they're all as unhealthy as possible. We've said 100 times in the past year that we'd love to try "being good" one time when I come home for a visit, but this time we actually meant it.

As luck would have it, the lovely Maria Emmerich posted a recipe for a low-carb version of the famed Hostess Little Debbie Chocolate Cupcake in her blog the very day I came home, and you know we went to town on those things. Here's our take on her recipe:

Cupcakes:
1/2 cup of blanched almond flour
3 eggs, separated
1/4 teaspoon of iodized sea salt
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1/2 cup of Splenda
4 tablespoons of melted butter

Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Combine the yolks, sweetener, and butter and whisk until well-blended. Combine all of the dry ingredients and blend well. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the whipped whites, then slowly fold in the dry mixture and blend well. Fill the cupcake pan 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees F or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Creamy Filling:
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Splenda

Whip the cream until light and fluffy and add in the sweetener. Place filling in sandwich baggie with one corner snipped off. Scoop a dime-sized hole out of the top of each cupcake, push the snipped corner of the baggie into the hole, and squeeze until the filling rises to the top of the cupcake. (Maria injected hers into side of the cupcakes, so feel free to try both ways and see which gets more filling in.)

Frosting:
50g low-carb chocolate (we used a Lindt 85% Cocoa Bar, but Maria's, made with a ChocoPerfection bar, turned out much shinier, like the Hostess version)
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Melt the chocolate bar in 10-second intervals in the microwave and add in whipping cream. Once the cupcake is cooled, dip the top of each one in melted chocolate.

Swirly White Topping:
Cream cheese

Add a small amount of cream cheese to another baggie, cut another tiny piece of the corner off, and swirl it onto each cupcake.

Nutritional Info:
297 calories, 6g carbs, 3.5g fiber, 2.5g net carbs
Makes 6 cakes

a cross-sectional view shows how much creamy filling was waiting inside for us

a cup of heavy cream makes a LOT of creamy filling, and you can guess where all of the leftovers went

Tracey and I loved these. A lot of low-carb swaps for common sugary foods are sad approximations that leave you wishing for the real thing, but we didn't feel a sense of loss while eating these at all. The only problem we had was convincing ourselves not to eat all six in one sitting, and we were rewarded for that the next day with a deliciously hardened chocolate top on the two we saved. If you can double the recipe, I recommend it.

(Cross-posted to donuts4dinner)

Friday Meatspiration

2010-07-30T07:55:00.002-04:00

Crown of Beef:

(Via FOODBEAST)

Who Needs Pasta When You Have Rutabagas?

2010-07-29T09:00:00.013-04:00

MIU France Julienne Slicer:

plus rutabaga:

equals rutabaga "pasta":

How cool is that? I heard about this little gadget from Maria Emmerich's blog, and I drooled over her zucchini "Garden Spaghetti" so much that I couldn't wait to try veggie pasta for myself.

This rutabaga version had a firmness and slight crunch that shirataki noodles lack, which is great for me, since I prefer my pasta al dente and not gelatinous. I boiled the "noodles" for just a couple of minutes, tossed them with a some butter and garlic, and added a little Ragu to make it quick and easy. While Katie is here this weekend, we'll feast on Rutabaga "Pasta" with Meat Sauce. It's only too bad I can't make a Rutabaga Johnny Marzetti.

What methods do you use to help you get your pasta fix?

Getting the Healthy Taste Off

2010-07-28T12:00:00.005-04:00

I don't have much of a problem eating low- or no-carb meals. As much as I hate salads, for instance, I can choke one down at the end of the day if it means getting some vitamins and losing some weight. The problem is that I do it assuming that I'll then reward myself for my "good" behavior with something I don't hate. Like ice cream! Or a cupcake! Or even an all-fruit smoothie! But that's not possible on a carb-restricted diet like Atkins or the Belly Fat Cure.

But I need a palate cleanser. It's not just that I haven't lost my taste for sugar, as is magically supposed to happen in the first two weeks of a low-carb diet. It's that I just can't stand to have a savory taste lingering on my tongue.

At home, I mix unsweetened chocolate Almond Breeze almond milk with a scoop of Smucker's natural peanut butter and a packet of Truvia, but those aren't things I have access to at work. Things I've tried there include:

• water
• diet soda
• sugar-free candy
• dark chocolate
• sugar-free gum
• coffee with heavy cream

All of these are fine, but they don't leave me feeling as if I've satisfied my need to stop tasting my lunch. I'll end up digging through the freezer later for some Ben & Jerry's left over from the last company birthday, telling myself that just one scoop is fine. But it's not, and I always feel bad about it afterward.

What do you follow up your meals with? Or am I the only one with this problem?

Vintage Ad: "Sugar Makes You Skinny!"

2010-07-26T11:00:00.002-04:00

On my feminist blog, I often post vintage ads to poke fun at the rampant sexism in advertising throughout history. Today, I came across an ad worthy of deconstructing here:

The unnecessarily long copy reads:

If sugar is so fattening, how come so many kids are thin?

Next time you pass a bunch of kids, take a look. Kids eat and drink more sugar than anybody. But how many fat kids do you see? The fact is, if you constantly take in more food than your body needs, you'll probably get fat. If you eat a balanced diet in moderation, you probably won't. And sugar in moderation has a place in a well-balanced diet. For kids, eating or drinking something with sugar in it can mean a new supply of body fuel. Fuel that can be used in not too many minutes. There's a useful psychological effect, too. The good natural sweetness of sugar is like a little reward that promotes a sense of satisfaction and well-being. The thing is, good nutrition comes from a balanced diet. And a balanced diet means the right amounts of protein, vitamins, minerals, fats, and carbohydrates. Now, what's one important carbohydrate? Sugar.

Sugar. It isn't just good flavor; it's good food.

Discuss.

Fun with Granola and the Benefits of Oats

2010-07-24T14:19:00.001-04:00

While Yoni Freedhoff was exposing the 12 different sugar sources hiding in Kellogg's new faux-healthy FiberPlus Antioxidants cereals, guess what I was doing?

I was filling my cereal bowl with my first ever batch of homemade granola!

Unless you know that granola = raw oats drizzled with something sweet and sticky and then baked until crispy and dry, the stuff seems like some sort elusive substance that can only be made by commercial means. Or it seems like something that occurs naturally in nature, like my husband thought. "You can't just make granola! You have to grow it!" Needless to say, making my own granola made me feel like a wizard.

Not all low carbers may feel comfortable eating granola, especially in early phases of diets like Atkins or South Beach. Looking at the carb count on a package of oats might cause a little bit of sticker shock for someone who's limiting net carbs to 20 or 30 a day. However, I'm beginning to regard oats as one of those exception foods (like yogurt) that should be sought out as part of a healthy diet rather than avoided. Jonny Bowden deems oatmeal a nutritional superfood in his book The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, and he has this to say about it:

Oatmeal has a place on virtually everyone's "best foods" list. It's the Muhammad Ali of foods -- everybody loves it, no matter where you stand in your dietary philosphy. Even those who are stringent about keeping carbs low soften a bit when it comes to oatmeal. The "guru" of diabetic diets, Dr. Richard Bernstein, who, one might say jokingly, "never met a carb he didn't dislike," allows oatmeal once a day for his diabetic patients.

He also goes on to discuss all of the amazing benefits of eating oats (whether in oatmeal form or not), including their extremely low glycemic load and their high level of beta-glucan, a soluble fiber that has been shown to help stabilize blood sugar. A low-carber's dream, right?

For the granola, I did the slightest low-carb hack on this amazing recipe from Shauna James Ahern of Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef, omitting the dried fruit and substituting the regular maple syrup with sugar free. I also used plain old Quaker Oats instead of the special gluten free kind. I halved the recipe since I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but my second batch just came out of the oven, and this time I made it in full, because damn. In a bowl with some almond milk poured over it, this stuff tastes like a mapley, gingery version of Honey Bunches of Oats. And I just found my new favorite breakfast.

Louis C.K. on the Differences in the Way Fat and Skinny People Think About Food

2010-07-22T15:30:00.001-04:00

In case you're like me and don't ever actually watch the videos people post, here's the part I like:

I hate skinny people, because they don't empathize with fat guy problems. You ever have a skinny friend, and you try to tell him, "I just wish I could have one doughnut and fuckin' walk away. I wish I could do that. I wish I had the power to eat a doughnut"? And your skinny friend's like, "Well, just eat the doughnut, then. What's the big deal? Just have a doughnut if you want one. Totally go ahead and have one. Just enjoy yourself and have a doughnut if you like them." Fuck you! You don't get it. It's a whole spiral that begins with a doughnut and later I'm killing hookers and don't even remember what happened.

It's not just that I hate skinny people for not understanding why I want to eat a lot; I hate them for not wanting to eat a lot themselves. I really do have a co-worker who buys a two-pack of wrapped doughnuts every day at lunch, eats one, and offers the other one around. Sometimes he doesn't even finish the first one. I really hate him. And then my other co-worker always takes the second one but also goes to the gym every morning for two hours, so I don't have to hate him as much.

Why I'm Doing This

2010-07-21T12:00:00.001-04:00

I don't mind being fat most of the time. I'm pretty, I'm healthy, and I don't feel bad being in my body. I have plenty of really worthwhile friends who actually think I'm smart and funny and don't seem to mind that I'm overweight. If the world was just, I could eat what I want to and look how I do, and like my friends, no one would think anything of it. But the fact is that according to a big chunk of society, I'm not attractive simply because I'm fat.

And I wouldn't care what society thinks, except that I have a few very personal blogs that right now seem pretty impersonal to me, because I rarely post photos of myself in them. My friends and I gallivant all over New York City, dining at the best restaurants and vacationing in the Hamptons and drinking on rooftops, and I take literally hundreds of pictures a month on a really fine camera that I spent a whole hunk of a paycheck on, but almost none of them end up anywhere public. I don't want to be judged.

I'm hesitant to add my blog readers to Facebook, because my blog is full of photos I've carefully selected to show me at my best, while my Facebook albums are full of the life I actually live and the way I look living it. I don't want anyone who's read my writing and liked it to have a different opinion of me when they see I'm not "normal". I hate having to hide all of pictures my photographer friend took of me in 50s pinup poses on the beach that made everyone laugh. I hate not being able to be myself.

I want to look good in photos. That's my number one motivation for losing weight. I want to never have to worry about hiding a double chin or belly fat or sausage arms. You sometimes see these things on thin people in pictures, and you don't even think about them, because you know it's just the angle of the camera or some awkward lighting. I want that to be me.

Kitchen Musings and Recipe Links

2010-07-18T21:30:00.001-04:00

Remember how when you were a little kid, you never wanted to take a bath, but once you got into the tub, you stayed until you were all wrinkly?

I'm beginning to realize that I'm exactly that way with the kitchen. I feel like getting started is like pulling teeth, but once I'm there, I'm usually content to whip up some low carb muffins, hard-cook some eggs, and clean and chop fruits and veggies so that I'll have a stocked fridge for the next few days when I need a meal or snack. There's nothing I hate more than feeling hungry and then realizing that I have to go through a million steps in the kitchen in order to make sure I have something fresh and nutritious instead of another microwaved hot dog covered in cheese. When I'm not in the mood to cook, getting into my car and driving to the nearest drive-thru is much more enticing than turning on my stove or chopping up a single cucumber.

Sometimes it's hard to convince myself to stop living like a college student and take charge of my health.

I'm working on making those long sessions in the kitchen more frequent, though, since they really do make my life so much easier all the rest of the time when it comes to eating.

Lately, I've spent a chunk of my kitchen-time on recipes I found on nutritionist Maria Emmerich's blog. I'm loving her recipes, because they so often consist of ingredients I happen to already have in my fridge and pantry, which means I can go straight to the kitchen, set the laptop on the counter, and follow her instructions. The last two things I made from her recipes turned out especially well:

Sunflower Seed Crackers:

1 cup shelled sunflower seeds
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup water
*Extra sunflower seeds (optional for topping)

Preheat the oven to 325°F-160°C. Put the sunflower seeds and Parmesan in a food processor and process until the sunflower seeds are a fine meal. Add the water, and pulse until the dough is well blended, soft and sticky. Cover a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Roll the dough out onto the parchment, tear off another sheet of parchment, and put it on top of the dough. Use a rolling pin or your hands to press the dough into as thin and even a sheet as you can get. Take the time to get the dough quiet thin--the thinner the better, so long as there are no holes in the dough. Peel off the top layer of parchment, then use a pizza cutter to score the dough into cracker shapes. Bake for 28-30 minutes, or until evenly browned. Peel off the parchment, break alone the scored lines, and let the crackers cool. Store them in a container with a tight lid. *Option: Before baking press additional sunflower seeds into the batter for an extra crunch.

Fudge-cicles (Extent of phallic shape depends on mold.):

2 ounces cream cheese
1 cup chocolate (or vanilla) unsweetened almond milk
2 packets of Truvia
3 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder

Mix all together and place in popsicle makers. Serves 4

The Vacation Food Dilemma

2010-07-15T11:48:00.004-04:00

Ohdeedoh is featuring the sweetest little guide on how to make a "budget" vacation special, and I normally wouldn't think to share something like this, but this little gem of advice caught my eye:

Splurge on food. You might think a good way to save is to eat hotdogs and Fritos for the whole trip. Don't do that. You should come home from a vacation feeling physically better than when you left. If your kids are picky eaters, this is a great time to introduce new foods as part of the adventure. If your kids are pretty good eaters, then now is the time to push the envelope. At the cabin where we stayed last summer, a gourmet 4 course dinner was included with the lodging. Holy Walleye en Papillote, I told you it was heavenly. A year later and my kids still talk about the palate cleansing sorbet like it was magical elf food from Lord of the Rings. Plus, if you're doing dishes each night, what kind of vacation is that?

This is the line that hit me, and it's amazing to me that it's something I've never really considered before. "You should come home from a vacation feeling physically better than when you left." My mind is blown.

I'm still at the point in my venture into healthy eating that "vacation" for me also means a vacation from having to work hard to figure out fresh, low carb, balanced meals everywhere I go and a chance to go crazy and eat whatever the hell I want. And even though I sort of philosophically agree with the notion that "vacation calories don't count", I don't think I have ever come back from a vacation feeling physically better than when I left. I usually come home feeling in need of recovery.

So my question is this. What's the best way to negotiate that in-the-moment desire to eat something delicious-but-really-bad-for-you while on vacation with the knowledge that it will make you feel crappy, thus keeping you from truly enjoying the non-food aspects of your trip? While this question might sound like a no-brainer to people who don't care much about food, for me, the food wins out nine times out of ten. It's easier at home, but when I'm out enjoying myself, I still haven't shaken that feeling that sugary, starchy food in mass quantities is a crucial component of my good time. When I scrapbook my vacations, pictures of the food and of my friends and me eating usually take center stage. And scrapbooking healthy food does NOT excite me. I mean, if you replaced my fried cheese with a celery stick, would it look as cool?

A First Thyme for Everything

2010-07-13T14:44:00.002-04:00

Pardon the pun, but I'm excited to share that today, for the first time in my life, I used a fresh herb in some food. And it just happened to be thyme!

Making it almost 30 years without ever using fresh herbs may sound completely insane to your average home-cook, but for some reason, these things have just somehow never been on my radar screen. Not only am I pretty new to preparing fresh food in general, but I don't remember ever seeing a fresh herb in my house growing up. Sure, I've seen them in the grocery store, but I've always just passed them by, knowing that if I bought them, they'd be doomed to rot away at the back of the fridge.

I'm glad to say that all that has changed due to the easy indoor herb garden I started just a few short weeks ago. I've never had a green thumb or known what to do with plants, but I am capable of pouring water on dehydrated, fertilized soil bricks and sprinkling seeds on top, so my fragrant little windowsill forest came out a success:

The fresh thyme I harvested today is currently hanging out in the Crock Pot along with some veggies waiting to become broccoli cheddar soup (adapted from a cauliflower soup recipe in Leanne Ely's Saving Dinner the Low Carb Way). Broccoli Cheddar Soup is one of my favorite menu items at Panera, but did you know that a 12oz. serving of the stuff has 24 carbs and contains wheat, processed cheese, and modified cornstarch?! Hopefully this homemade version will fill the void.

The Great Blog Revamp: Complete with New Author!

2010-07-13T01:10:00.006-04:00

If you visit this site directly rather than view the posts in a reader, you may notice that there have been some changes around here, the most important of which is summed up by the new subtitle for this blog, which now reads:

two twentysomething best friends combat carbs in a delightfully sugary, starchy world

That's right, folks. With the addition of my extremely talented and bitingly witty best friend Katie (posting here as plumpdumpling), Unbreaded has officially become a two-author blog!

Not only will Katie's presence here be the ultimate antidote to my general blog-laziness, but I'm super excited for us to be able to offer our perspectives on struggling to eat healthfully in very different environments. You see, while I live in an Ohio suburban sprawl filled with a million fast food chains and Wal-Marts, retreating to the kitchen to try to keep my carb-consumption in check, Katie lives in the Big Apple, practically kitchenless and relying on restaurant food for nearly every meal. Together, we're the perfect example of how low carb isn't one-size-fits-all, and we hope this blog can become a great forum for discussion on how people can individualize low-carb/low-glycemic eating and make it work for them.

I'll let her introduce herself properly when she posts, but I am so pants-peeingly excited to share the news of her arrival here that I had to let the cat out of the bag. Welcome, Katie!

Not sure what to wear on the 4th?

2010-06-21T11:08:00.004-04:00

I love that bacon holds the power to offend patriots and vegetarians at the same time:

Available today only at teefury.com.

Recipe Link: Homemade Peppermint Patties

2010-06-15T03:45:00.004-04:00

How exciting is it that the Craft Magazine blog, which tends to showcase sugary sweets and vegan concoctions, recently featured a recipe for a totally low-carb friendly "high-fat, low-sugar version" of York Peppermint Patties?

YUM!
Emily at Joyful Abode writes:

One of my husband’s favorite candies is the York Peppermint Patty. This minty-chocolate treat might not be the most popular candy bar on the market, but it’s not that far of a stretch from his favorite ice cream, mint chocolate chip.

But take a look at this ingredient list:

sugar, corn syrup, semi- sweet chocolate (chocolate, sugar, cocoa, milk fat, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, PGPR, emulsifier, vanillian, artificial flavor), invert sugar, egg whites, and oil of peppermint

Gross, huh? I mean, lots of dieters LOVE York peppermint patties because they’re “OMG FAT FREE!” but with sugar in their ingredient list four times, they’re far from “good for you.” So I set out to make a much more nourishing, high-fat, low-sugar version.

Click through to check out her recipe, which includes Organic Coconut Chips (which I had never heard of but are sugar free and sound delicious). Low-carbers would be wise to omit the honey in the recipe, which Emily even admits wasn't necessary due to the sweetness of the chocolate.

Even if the "real thing" isn't as good for you, there's still no beating their old commercials:

"Cheese-y"? Really?

2009-03-07T17:34:00.005-05:00

I've made something similar to this with actual tofu chunks, and I've had my fair share of shirataki, but this looks fantastic:

LOW-CARB SHIRATAKI-RONI & CHEESE-Y NOODLE BAKE
Two 8-oz packages of House Tofu Shirataki Noodles
1 large egg
½ cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. white pepper
½ tsp. hot pepper sauce

TOPPING
1 Tbs butter, melted
½ cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
½ cup seasoned dried low-carb bread crumbs

Yields 4 servings
PREP TIME: 10-15 minutes
COOK TIME: 30 minutes

Preheat oven to 350°.

Prepare noodles according to package directions, below. Cut into 1-inch pieces.

Lightly beat egg in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and the noodles (not topping ingredients). Stir well. Pour into a well sprayed or buttered 1 ½ quart baking dish.

In another bowl, blend topping ingredients together and sprinkle over noodle mixture.

Bake 25-30 minutes until set and the top is crisp. Serve as a side dish, light supper or breakfast item. Each serving contains 5g net carbs.

(Via Livin' La Vida Low Carb)

Shifty Eggs, and More Reasons to Eat Your Anti-Oxidants

2008-12-25T08:05:00.007-05:00

Check out this article from Dr. Jonny Bowden: Scrambled Eggs at the Buffet? Not So Fast!

Apparently, once you break up the yolks in eggs and expose them to air, the otherwise-not-bad-for-you cholesterol starts to oxidize and turn into actually-bad-for-you cholesterol. And the longer the exposure to air, the worse they get.

Luckily, I eat my scrambled eggs as soon as they're cooked so that they're nice and hot, but this information sorta sucks, since scrambled is the only way I trust restaurants to get my eggs the way I like them. (And even then, I get sick of choking down eggs for breakfast. I was always a bacon and home fries only kinda girl.)

Merry Christmas, everyone! One more thing to worry about!

The Politics of Dieting

2008-12-24T01:04:00.004-05:00

I realize that I don't blog here very much, and I think one of the reasons for this is that it is really, really hard to reconcile capital-"D"-Dieting with two things I truly believe in: feminism and fat acceptance. And, most of the time, I feel like it's really not worth all the effort it would take to try.

You see, when I read diet-related writing, I often find myself agreeing with a source's premises while disagreeing with its conclusions. Take this Gary Taubes article, for example. I think the research he refers to is crazy-fascinating. When he describes how diverse human bodies are in their calorie-burning/fat-storing abilities, I'm on the edge of my seat and wondering why society can't recognize that we aren't a bunch of predictable calories-in-calories-out machines. But he sort of loses me when he uses this information to prescribe a lower-carb diet for people who are more insulin-resistant in order to regulate blood sugar and prevent fat-storage. In other words, "if you're unlucky enough to be one of those people who easily stores fat, you are doomed to have to suck it up and ditch the bread and pasta." I guess I shouldn't be surprised by it, since it's Gary Taubes and that's what he's all about, but when you try to view the world from a social justice perspective, it just doesn't work.

When I am given information about how naturally different we all are, my brain doesn't translate that information into a belief that some people need to work harder in order to be like everyone else. Instead, I tend to think that there are deeply embedded problems with the ways in which we judge and punish people for not living up to societal ideas of what is and isn't "normal".

I find something SO wrong with our ridiculous cultural expectations: 1) that fat people need to make sacrifices of time, money, energy, and dietary satisfaction in order to become thinner, 2) that fat people must maintain for life whatever strict regimen they adopted to lose weight in order to keep it off, 3) that fat people are always able to lose weight in the first place if they just try hard enough, and 4) that all fat people even WANT to be thin.

I know that there will probably always be concern trolls who yell about how "fat is a health issue!" and "isn't it irresponsible to discourage people from trying to be thin?" I strongly encourage those people to visit here and to start thinking about the complexity of the issue of body size and shape. We are being completely unfair to people when we try to make judgments about someone's health by simply looking at her or his weight.

All that said, are you wondering why the hell I keep a blog about my own low-carb diet? Why do I "diet" in the first place? I often wonder about those same things myself. I think that for me, and for me alone, my personal reasons for doing it are pretty good, but it just bothers me that hardly anyone ever recognizes how completely political fat and dieting can be.

More on this later.

Great Gifts for Low-Carbers

2008-12-16T20:14:00.002-05:00

Examiner Columnist Linda Duffy shares some great gift ideas for your favorite low-carb eaters. Skip the cookies, and bring on the meat! Can I just say that I would be ALL about a stocking full of Slim Jims?

Also, check out Jamie Van Eaton's lists of bacon-related gifts. The items on her list are great and all, but she fails to mention this kickass BACON WALLET that was given to me last year by my best friend, or the maple bacon lollipops I sent her in the mail. We have, however, discussed wearing those bacon tuxedos at my wedding.

It's Not That Easy

2008-12-10T12:11:00.003-05:00

A couple of things about Oprah, because something about the way the low-carb blogging community is using her situation to promote their diets isn't sitting right with me.

I realize that by "coming out" with this story about her weight-gain, it can be said that she's opened herself up to a discussion about her body. But I see this magazine story as her attempt to respond to negative reactions and criticism she has likely received for her weight gain and not as an invitation for everyone to try and diagnose her "problems". I don't really need to drop links here, because it seems like pretty much everyone has weighed in on it, and they all have the same thing to say.

Like other low-carb bloggers, I feel for Oprah, but not because "She's just been on the wrong diets, and she would have it sooooo easy if she just cut out the carbs!", but because it's ridiculous to me that anyone is making this big of a deal out of 200 pounds. And, frankly, I'm not convinced by this implication that it's easy for everyone to be thin if they only cut down on carbs.

Why do we presume we have all the answers? Based on the weights/sizes/photos they choose to share, not a single low-carb diet blogger I have ever read has a body that is thin or perfect enough for the Hollywood standard set for people like Oprah.

And another thing. Low-carb bloggers who also happen to be doctors aren't her doctor, and it bothers me that, through speculation alone, these folks can presume to announce to their readers that Oprah surely suffers from insulin resistance, or she obviously has some sort of fetal whatchamacallit syndrome.

Just. Stop.

Have a recipe you'd like to share with 50,000 readers a month?

2008-11-23T22:04:00.002-05:00

Famous low-carb blogger and Examiner columnist Jamie van Eaton wants your recipes:

Instead of constantly trying to reinvent the low-carb cheese wheel, I am going to begin featuring the recipes of people nationally (that's you, adorable dollops of cooking wisdom). My kitchen can only take so much, and my children are having PTSD from the fear that everything I make contains cauliflower or oopsies.

So, if you have a recipe you'd like to share, shoot it my way. I'll gladly credit you for your brilliance and link to your site. With over 2 million readers alone in the last week at Examiner.com's site, your recipes will be noticed!

Contact me at cleochatra@gmail.com and let me know about what you have going on in the kitchen.

The fine print: Make sure you own the rights to the recipes you submit. I always give full credit for intellectual property, and recipes definitely fall under this heading. I do not in any way take your rights to your work, nor will I ever publish anything you have submitted without express consent to do so. If anything, cross-promotion will drive traffic to your site, and that is a bonus. Please ensure recipes are low-carb, and, when possible, include nutritional information and a picture of the recipe.

Details are at the bottom of this post.

Why I Read PastaQueen

2008-11-18T11:30:00.002-05:00

This post hit home:

The worst thing about weight loss is that I created a more perfect version of myself. When I reached my lowest weight of 170 pounds and looked in the mirror, my reflection spun herself off into her own world of possibilities where she still exists today. No matter how much I weigh for the rest of my life, I will always know that on one day in November of 2007 I was that thin.

I was never a skinny child. I never had a thin version of me to compare myself too. I only had the morbidly obese Jennette who spun herself into her own world of possibilities, one that exists in a parallel dimension from the skinny version. When I was losing weight, I would compare my current body to the fatter version of me. I could hang out with this fatter friend of mine in my mind where she made me feel skinny in her shadow. Even at 230 pounds I was 140 pounds lighter than the fattest me.

This year I've been dealing with chronic pain, the stress of a book release, and a variety of other happenings that are not ready for blogdom. Eating well and exercising shifted from being my top priority to being number four or five in my top ten life priorities, so I gained 20 pounds. On the way down I compared myself to the fattest version of me, but on the way up I compare myself to the thinnest version of me. Instead of seeing myself as 170 pounds lighter, I see myself as 20 pounds fatter.

I know this is silly. I know I'm not obese. I look in the mirror and think I'm pretty. I'm grateful that I can run and squat and cross my legs. I'm in better health than I've been for most of my life. But sometimes I resent making a slightly more perfect version of myself. I hate that I judge myself against her. I hate that other people compare me to her. I hate that I know I could be her again if I worked harder or cared more. I hate that she's out there, existing as a possibility I one day made flesh, but faded out of reality and into the mirror world of what-ifs.

I was close to putting a bunch of those line in bold type, but I think it all just speaks for itself.

On The Many Uses of Splenda

2008-11-07T11:54:00.002-05:00

It's very rare that I find something I can post about both here and my other blog. (Feminism and low carb eating don't seem to cross paths as often as you would think.) But this is just too good to not report.

Have you heard of KY Yours and Mine? In case you haven't, here are the commercials:

What does this have to do with low carb eating, you ask? Apparently one of the ingredients in the "his" lubricant is sucralose!

Do you think the makers of Splenda ever imagined, beyond their wildest dreams, that their product would ever accomplish so much?

(For the rant about why only the men's lube gets to be sweetened, click here.)

The Delicious Vegan Chicken Conundrum

2008-10-28T23:52:00.005-04:00

I realize it's in no way low-carb, but I nevertheless developed an infatuation with the General Tso's Vegan Chicken from Whole Foods after having it at a school event. I went there the other day to buy some, and when they put it in a to-go container for me, they stuck a label on it listing all of its ingredients. Here they are, exactly as they are listed:

Soy Popcorn Chicken (Non GMO Soybean Protein, Condensed Wheat Protein, Water, Soybean Oil, Sea Salt, Vegetarian Seasonings, (Soybean Amino Acids, Dry Mushroom Powder, Vegetable Extract, Sea Salt), Broccoli, Sauce (Shoyu (Soybeans, Wheat, Salt, Brewing Starter (Aspergillus Sojae)), Sugar, Stir-Fry Sauce (Water, Sugar, Soy Sauce (Water, Salt, Soybean, Wheat Flour), Salt, Modified Corn Starch, Yeast Extract, Caramel Color, Flavors (Contains Mushroom Extractives)), Mirin, White Wine Vinegar, Mushroom Soy Sauce, (Water, Soy Beans, Wheat Flour, Salt, Sugar, Extract of Mushroom), Garlic, Onion, Ginger, Vegetable Base (Salt, Maltodextrin, Sugar, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Dehydrated Vegetables (Leek, Tomatoes, Onions, Bell Peppers, Garlic, Fennel), Natural Flavors, Maltodextrin, Potato Starch, Spices and Natural Coloring (Tumeric), Silicon Dioxide), White Pepper) Garlic, Chinese Cooking Wine, White Wine Vinegar, Sugar, Canola Oil, Chili-Garlic Sauce, Green Onions, Chili Flakes, Cornstatch Contains: Soy, Wheat.

(To put this all into context, my friend and I have started experimenting with expanding our typical low-carb menus to follow a low Glycemic Load plan which allows slightly more wiggle room as far as sugar goes, but still places strong restrictions on starches.)

So here's my dilemma. When I eat the General Tso's Vegan Chicken, I find myself assuming that I'm eating something similar to meat as far as protein and whatnot are concerned. Am I wrong? I have no illusions about how sugary the sauce is, but the frequency of the word "wheat" and the presence of the word "starch" makes me worry that I'm actually just eating meat-flavored carb-nuggets. And the sheer number of weird ingredients is sort of a shock after following a diet where most of the ingredient lists for the items I buy are short and mostly natural.

Thoughts?

Gherkin Gherkin

2008-10-25T10:10:00.003-04:00

Who knew that Vlasic makes "No Sugar Added" sweet pickles sweetened with Splenda?

I picked these little babies up at the grocery store last week and finally popped the jar open last night to enjoy a couple. My observations?

If you're a Splenda enthusiast and tend to enjoy sucralose in all its forms, then these pickles may be a dream come true for you. For me, however, I find that Splenda functions differently on my taste buds in different foods, and the experience of eating these pickles was a little like that of drinking diet soda.

My reaction was not pleasant. Pickles are not supposed to have an aftertaste! I think I'll stick to dills.

Life-Changing Information!

2008-10-05T10:43:00.002-04:00

There's a step-by-step tutorial at the blog Polliwog's Cakewalk on how to cut a bell pepper without leaving seeds on the pepper or the cutting board.

My life just got a lot easier.

(Via CRAFT Magazine)

I Write Letters

2008-09-30T21:35:00.001-04:00

Dear Subway,

Thanks a whole heck of a lot for switching ALL of your packeted salad dressings to fat free. Was that really necessary? That tiny packet of ranch you tried to give me for my grilled chicken salad today had fourteen grams of carbs in it. Fourteen! It should have been obvious from the bacon and cheese on my salad that I'm not afraid of a little fat. I don't need or appreciate your futile attempts to keep me "healthy" by offering me a gross-tasting, sugar-filled version of my dressing of choice. I'm cool with you offering more choices of dressings to satisfy consumer demand for lower calorie options. I understand that customers like me who refuse your crackers but want extra bacon and full-fat dressing are rare. But come on! What kind of establishment stops keeping around good old trusty full-fat ranch dressing?!

And that little flimsy plastic side-cup of usually-for-sandwiches ranch you ended up giving me? The one you assured me was regular ranch? It popped open and spilled all over the inside of my to-go bag before I even made it to the car.

You suck.

Sincerely,
Tracey

(In other news, I did I quick Google Search to see if I could easily find a Subway picture or logo to put with this post, and I found this. Is it weird to anyone else that this exists?)

Lazy Sunday

2008-09-28T18:14:00.002-04:00

My lunch:

-4 slices of summer sausage
-2 sharp cheddar cheese cubes and 2 pepper jack cheese cubes (1 oz. total cheese)
-green pepper slices
-radishes
-wedge of raw cabbage
-baby corn
-a pickle spear
-2 WASA fiber crackers (each 4g net carbs)
-ice water to drink
-a piece of sugar-free chocolate candy for dessert

My fiance's lunch:

-a big bowl of Kraft macaroni and cheese
-a can of Pepsi

My plate was fresh, colorful, nutritious, delicious, and incredibly filling. For once, I wasn't jealous of Dan's carb-filled meal. I won't say that there aren't times when I wouldn't prefer mac and cheese to fresh veggies, but today, my meal was exactly what I wanted.

Besides, I learned this about Pepsi this week. So even though it's pretty much my favorite liquid, that image will hopefully make me think twice before downing a can.

Quote of the Day

2008-09-26T16:37:00.002-04:00

"Why must I live in a culture that stuffs fattening foods down my throat, yet mistreats people who are fat?"

-Jennette Fulda, at her blog Half of Me

In case you were wondering...

2008-09-13T09:42:00.003-04:00

My eating choices last night resulted in some sluggishness and extreme shortness of breath (reactive hypoglycemia, anyone?), and a ragin' case of indigestion when I woke up this morning.

My body hates me so much more than it did ten -- even five -- years ago. Either that, or it's having some sort of awakening of consciousness and starting to speak up for itself when I treat it poorly.

Sigh. Time to go out to breakfast and begin to undo the damage with a nice omelet and lots of water.