Feeds:
Posts
Comments

I just wanted to pop on and make a quick post. I’ve been away from boards and blogs for a bit of time; doing spring cleaning, entertaining over the Easter holidays, and working late in between.

I’m happy to say that I’ve been able to eat other Atkins bars (Endulge and Morning) in a variety of flavors without the incident that I reported in my last post…so I will chalk it up to a bad food day. :)

What I need to do is post my updated measurements, as I am slimming down a bit more. Nothing dramatic, but a half an inch off here and there is always encouraging. I’ve been working out steadily, adding Turbo Jam to my activities. I LOVE it! It’s the most fun workout I’ve done, and it’s definitely helping to shape my midsection and motivate me even more. I want abs!

I went to CVS after work yesterday for a few items, and while I was there I stopped by the nutrition aisle and looked at the various snack and “energy” bars. I had resisted to this point trying one of the Atkins Advantage bars, simply because I have been eating as much real food as possible, staying away from processed items. Then I saw it. My weakness…chocolate and peanut butter. Atkins makes a Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar and I suddenly craved it! Oh, I didn’t think for it a minute it would taste good, but I had to know. In looking over the nutritional information, I was truly puzzled how they could come up with only 3 net carbs impacting me when it still had 12 grams of carb once you subtract the fiber. I’m not a math whiz, but that didn’t compute. No matter, I trusted the good folks at Atkins and purchased the bar. 

Since my commute home from work is usually an hour, I unwrapped the precious treat and ate it very slowly. Can I tell you? It tasted great! I mean, for a bar…it really had great chocolate taste, and peanut butter flavor wasn’t bad. I thought to myself, this might just be the perfect treat to keep around to help me battle any chocolate cravings.

I did eat dinner a little bit later, did some chores, and settled in at around 9 PM to watch the Food Network before bed. WHAM! I’m suddenly hit with the worst cramps I’ve had in ages! Then came the, um, okay — I’ll just say it — gas. Wicked gas! Good thing my husband is still out of town – it would have driven him away! I am fortunate enough to say that I did not wind up with a case of diarrea, but I was shot as far as being able to do anything after 9 PM. I resignedly just pulled up the covers and tried to go to sleep early just to escape the cramps.

What caused this unpleasant reaction? My dinner, which consisted of sauteed beef and vegetables, and a little cheddar cheese? Nope. Pretty straightforward low-carb meal just like the last nine weeks of my life. The offending item had to be the Atkins bar.

Now, the Atkins website does not list maltitol in the ingredients of this bar. But if it wasn’t maltitol, what else could have caused this? Glycerine? Maltodextrine? I have Splenda regularly so it wasn’t the sucralose. Hmmm. Can anyone help me out with this?

Atkins does include maltitol in some of their other chocolate coatings (the “candy” bars called Endulge), and I’d love to hear about anyone’s experiences with this sugar alcohol or any other ingredients that cause unpleasant reactions.

I never thought I would publicly post my body measurements on the Internet, but the change in my shape is so motivating that I feel others may benefit from it. If you don’t already measure your waist and hips, I encourage you to do so.

When I was 18 (ah, now 25 years ago) I measured a classic 34-25-35. And I thought I was fat! What is wrong with kids????? :)

When I started measuring on SparkPeople, I measured my waist, hips and neck because that is all they record on the site.  Beginning last week I added my bust, arms, and legs. I’ll revisit these measurements weekly to record progress and hopefully spur others to do the same.

Body Measurements (in inches) and Weight (in pounds)

chart.jpg

*those not familiar with the term “lower hips,” this refers to the widest part of you including your derriere!

My weight loss during this period was only 4 pounds (out of the 17 I have lost since Jan 9) but my inches lost in the same period is 10 inches. Pretty good!

And yes, I am working out, but anyone who knows me knows that I do not love working out. Walking briskly is my favorite activity, and I’ve thrown in some yoga, pilates, weight training, and a little aerobics (via DVD). I do not work out everyday, maybe 4-5 times a week for 30-45 minutes. It doesn’t take a lot to get your body to respond to exercise. So go move around a little!

Let me leave you with a direct quote from Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution:

“My stand on exercise (I applaud it and encourage it) is the least controversial part of the book. Which doesn’t mean exercise isn’t important for you. Not only is it an essential part of the program, but in cases of severe metabolic resistance, it’s likely to be the difference between success and spinning your wheels…exercise is the only other normal activity that actually alters the size, thickness, contours, etc. of the physical you.”
- Dr. Robert C. Atkins

I’m hypothyroid, and that’s pretty metabolically resistant, believe me.

I had an interesting Sunday afternoon, and I had to blog it. My husband went on a short golf trip to Florida, so my father-in-law invited me for dinner. Well, FIL’s sister invited me, but that’s just a technicality.

A little background: When their mother (my husband’s grandmother) was alive, FIL and his sister shared the caretaking duties and lived in the same house. It’s a huge house, where you could come and go and never see each other. Grandma had the first floor, FIL’s sister had the upstairs and FIL had a basement apartment. (He and my mother-in-law have been divorced for more than 30 years.) Grandma passed away some six years ago, but FIL now has health issues of his own and his sister looks out for him. It’s a nice arrangement, and one I understand since my own mother and one of her brothers had a similar closeness.

Back to the story. FIL’s sis (we’ll call her Auntie Em) told me we’d be having Pot Roast. I love Pot Roast and my husband hates it…so I only get it on rare occasions. But I know what goes with Pot Roast. Potatoes! OK, not a problem, because low-carb is my lifestyle not my diet. I can easily outfox a potato. I emailed Auntie Em and asked if she would prepare some vegetables for me. She wrote back “Carrots, onions and potatoes are cooked with the meat.  In addition….you have a choice of frozen peas or corn.” Now, she wasn’t really trying to stick it to me, that’s truly what she had to serve us. But here’s my issue. My FIL is a diabetic. Why on earth would you serve a diabetic carrots, peas or corn? Why are these things even in the house?

The Pot Roast looked and smelled delish when I arrived, and there were plenty of onions and celery to enable me to avoid potato and carrot. She even had a bag of frozen zucchini from which I managed to snag a serving. All’s well, right?

Well, now come the snarky parts.

I have not mentioned my diet to FIL and Auntie Em since early January. The last time we were together (Ash Wednesday) we had dinner out at one of our favorite pubs and I ordered the wonderful blackened scallop salad.  They looked askance at me for not eating bread and for having my now-ever-present club soda with lime. But otherwise no words were exchanged. So here I am at their house, and we’re sitting in the kitchen just shooting the breeze about any old thing. And somehow Auntie Em works into the conversation something about not giving up particular types of food and eating everything in moderation. It actually had nothing to do with the conversation, so I knew it was a jab at me. I didn’t take the bait.  A few minutes passed, and I was asked if I wanted a snack. I asked for nuts. Auntie Em proceeds to tell me she has peanuts, peanut brittle, chocolate covered peanuts, and cashews. She knows damn well I’m not eating brittle or chocolate so I have the cashews. 

As I’m chewing she asks, “So, how much have you let go?” We had been talking about cleaning house and giving away things we don’t need, so I don’t immediately make the connection. When I hesitate, she slaps her hip and thigh. She can’t even form the words to ask me how much weight I’ve lost. “Seventeen pounds,” I say gently, turning back to the cashews. I’m not looking for a fight nor am I looking to gloat. But as I’ve learned in the past nearly-20 years of dealing with Auntie Em, everything is about her. She doesn’t say anything except “Well, I’ve lost 23 pounds. And I did it eating chocolate and chips and everything I love.”

What she fails to mention, dear reader, is that she lost 23 pounds because she has had some serious dental work over the past 3 months and has hardly been able to eat anything unless it can pass through a straw. And at her weight of about 240 pounds, she was bound to drop a significant amount if she couldn’t chew. 

All the while, I remained gracious and said, “Yes, I can see you’ve lost weight. It shows.”

She did not reciprocate the kind words. And believe me I knew my weight loss showed. I was wearing jeans and a black turtleneck tucked in, with a belt!

Then, I came across my first real temptation. After dinner, she put out some not-ripe melon that I avoided (yuk, unripe cantaloupe) and then proceeded to eat her favorite truffles. These were particularly nice looking, from a Valentine gift she’d received. I took the glossy insert that described each of the velvety goodies and began to read. They were Lindt – oh, yum! - and the ones that remained had dark chocolate, marzipan, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, and other delights that at one time I would have eaten with abandon. As in, shoved as many into my mouth as she would allow! I hesitated and stared for awhile at the one with the dark chocolate and macadamia nuts. Then I looked at the nutrition information, which thankfully, was on the insert. Just one of these lipsmacking treats had 22 grams of carbohydrate. That’s probably all the carb I’d had in the entire day. The perspective made it easy to hand back the insert and say “No, thank you,” with not a bit of regret.

I’ve really not cheated at all since beginning this lifestyle. Will I someday have a piece of candy? Probably. And it will be a wonderful treat only on a special occasion. Better yet, I’ll find a nice sugar-free goodie. But I won’t let non-believers try to derail my progress. Oh, how Auntie Em would have delighted in my transgression, had I eaten the truffle.  That’s kind of sad, isn’t it?

Oh, one last snide remark escaped my Aunt. When I talked about playing with one of my cats by making him chase a laser pointer around the room (he’s the dumb one of my two felines), Auntie Em said, “Well, of course you’re doing that to him. After all, you’re doing all this working out yourself, aren’t you.” That was before she asked about my weight loss. Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, until I said, “Why yes. As a matter of fact, I walk about a mile and a half a few times a week in addition to my weight training.” Her eyes got big and round after that and she dropped the subject of exercise in a hurry. ;)

__________________________________________________________________________

OK, Trish: so where’s the evidence you mention in the post title? Oh, yeah, almost forgot.

I visited the Jonny Bowden Solutions blog, and happily read this post. I love reading about low-carb’s effects on type 2 diabetes! If you read the post, you’ll see another snarky attitude, this time from Dr. Joel Fuhrman, vegan champion. Come on, dude. If you’re vegan, admit you’re doing it because you love animals – not because they aren’t good to eat! 

If you want to see more recent scientific evidence, check out this page on the About.com Low-Carb site.  I do believe that diabetics are better served by a lower-carb diet. It’s nice to see studies being done and (perhaps) taken seriously. I truly believe sugar is my enemy and I can tell right away when there is sugar in something I’m eating, even if its just a smidge in tomato sauce.  

I can’t wait to have my blood work done this month.  I would love to be able to stop taking my cholesterol medication!

Thank you for all the feedback on my last post. It’s nice to know I’m not alone when it comes to snarky remarks about my lifestyle choice. ;)

I’ve broken through the plateau, finally losing another pound. Even better, all my exercise is paying off. My body shape has changed significantly this week – I’ll post my new measurements tomorrow. The old “hour glass” figure is starting to come through. Yippee!!

Today I wanted to give a shout-out to the folks at True Lemon® . I read about True Lemon on Jimmy Moore’s “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” blog a few weeks ago and sent away for a free sample. It came very promptly (thank you, True Lemon!) and I was very pleased with the generous package. I received two packets (servings) of True Lemon and one each of True Lime and True Orange.

4_free1.gif

A use described on the site and in the literature that accompanies the samples is to put a packet into your bottled water for a new flavored treat. I prefer my water straight, and after putting a packet of the True Lemon into my water bottle, I didn’t change my mind. :) It’s actually very pleasant, but in my opinion, that isn’t the best showcase of the lemon, lime or orange flavoring. 

I wanted to use True Lemon in recipes and cooking, and, with my limited supply, I did just that. I really like this stuff! I dressed up one of my favorite low-carb desserts, and I’ll share the recipe below. I’ve only tried the Lemon flavor so far, and would love to find it at my local supermarket – but Stop & Shop, Waldbaum’s and King Kullen in my neighborhood do not stock it as yet. I’ll likely buy it online until I can get one of them to order it! It’s that good!

_________________________________________________________________________

So, here’s the recipe. The original recipe is “Bowl O’ Cheesecake” from SparkPeople, and I tweaked it to improve upon the texture.

“Lemon Chiffon Mousse”

3 Tablespoons of Whipped Cream Cheese (important – use whipped for a fluffy texture)
1 Tablespoon of Sour Cream (full fat, of course – same with the cream cheese)
2 teaspoons of Splenda® Granular for Baking (I’m sure the packets will work fine, add to taste)
1/4 packet of True Lemon (more or less to taste)

Combine with a fork, whipping until light and fluffy. Spoon into a small dessert dish, add a dollop of freshly whipped heavy cream and a smidge of freshly grated nutmeg if desired.

Less than 3 g of carb for approximately a 2.5 oz serving. It’s just enough to hit the spot as a sweet treat after dinner, yet elegant enough to serve others. Alternatively, you can multiply the recipe by 8 servings and spoon into a ground nut crust and refrigerate for a cheesecake. I’ve not tried that, but it will be my next experiment. If it works, I will serve it on Easter!

Enjoy, and don’t forget to try it with True Lime or True Orange.  

_________________________________________________________________________
One other recipe, having nothing to do with lemon or lime, is something any of you can whip up for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

“Kitchen Sink Omelet”

Use whatever you have – today, I had the following:

3 slices bacon
2 eggs
1/2 onion
2 large mushrooms
1 tablespoon heavy cream
2 tablespoons diced tomato (leftover, cooked with italian sausage earlier in the week)
1 tablespoon Kalamata olive spread
1 slice swiss cheese
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon sour cream
salt, pepper, red pepper to taste

Snip the bacon (with kitchen shears) into small pieces and saute until crisp. Drain on paper towel.  Chop onion and mushroom and saute in 2 tablespoons butter (1 tablespoon at a time,  mushroom soaks up the butter). Meanwhile, combine eggs and heavy cream, whipping with fork. Add last tablespoon of butter to onion/mushroom combo and pour eggs in. After eggs have set, flip omelet over with a large spatula to cook other side (try to do this without breaking the omelet, but if it looks like scrambled eggs, no matter – it will still taste good!).  Tear up swiss cheese slice and arrange over half of the omelet. Add the tomato, olive paste, and half the bacon atop the cheese. Slide spatula under the unadorned side of omelet and flip up to cover the cheese and other fillings. Put a lid on and cook just long enough for the cheese to melt. Transfer omelet to plate, and garnish with sour cream and the rest of bacon, plus the seasonings.

The best part about this is, you can use whatever vegetables, cheeses and or meats you have. Eggs are truly the perfect food – and there’s not much that doesn’t work as omelet filling.  As long as you have a couple of eggs, you can make a great low-carb meal.

_________________________________________________________________________

OK, I’m off to go do some aerobics. (Who’da thunk it? Me, intentionally getting off the computer to exercise! Huh.)

I started my Atkins low-carb lifestyle on January 9, 2008. This time I call it a “lifestyle” rather than a diet because the first time I tried it, I lost some weight and then greedily went back to eating the way I used to and gained it all back plus some more. Well, DUH! That’s not how it works. The difference is that this time I understand. I’ve read the book, researched the principles before I embarked on the journey, and I truly get it now.  :)

Anyway, my husband, who had lost about 30 pounds a few years ago on the South Beach Diet, was very supportive of my choice to live low-carb. And we went shopping together right away to stock up on what I needed. He still eats fairly low-carb, but is not hardcore about it.  I wasn’t worried about telling him, knowing he’d be alright with it.

My husband wasn’t the first person who knew I was doing this. A co-worker, Regina, approached me around the time I was thinking about it and said she’d planned to start Atkins in the New Year. Would I perhaps join her as a weightloss buddy? I agreed. We do keep each other on track, though she cheats and I don’t.

The next people to find out (as if it were a “dirty little secret”!) were my father-in-law and his sister. My FIL scoffed immediately. “You know, Atkins died from that crap. You’re going to follow HIS advice?” I corrected him, obviously, explaining that the good doctor suffered head trauma from a fall. “Oh sure,” FIL snickered. “Only because he was so weak from malnutrition. Of course he fell and died.” Allrighty then….moving right along. Dad’s sister was a little more encouraging, but not much. “You know, you just have to eat in moderation. Why cut out anything in particular? Won’t you miss all that chocolate?” she smirked as she popped a truffle into her mouth.

FIL and sister were only mildly impressed with my first few pounds of weight loss. But that, of course, didn’t stop me.

Another work friend, however, has been rather demoralizing. She’s someone I consider more than just a work friend, and I was surprised and disappointed by her reaction to my diet. I went to her house after work one week, and she commented on my modest weight loss. “Oh, I’m doing Atkins!” I chirped happily. She turned a funny shade of gray, and shook her head sadly. “You know, I’m glad you’re losing weight, but I wish you were doing it another way. That’s just not good for you.” I started to discuss it a little, but I could see there would be no swaying her. Thankfully, she had a platter of cheeses out and some crudites with spinach dip, so there was food to eat that wouldn’t cause me to cheat. She seemed annoyed that I didn’t eat the crackers or chips and that I brought some pork skins with me.

About two weeks later, in mid-Feb, this friend and I went to lunch. She openly looked me over as I sat down in the restaurant, at this time about 10 pounds lighter than when she’d seen me last, but made no comment about my obvious weight loss. Whereas we always order a glass of wine with our heavily carbed Italian lunch, I ordered a chicken caesar salad–no croutons–and a club soda with lime. She made no comment at all as I ignored the plate of bread, and said not a word about my food or drink or the way I looked.

She has since avoided me, which I find odd. I saw her the other day in the cafeteria, at which point she again openly looked me up and down (now a full 16 pounds lighter) and then merely remarked to me, ”I think I have that same sweater.”

What is it about low-carb and Atkins that turns friends into enemies and warm people into catty bitches?

A very senior level female executive came up to me yesterday and said, “you’ve lost a lot of weight!” I said, “Yes, sixteen pounds.” Her eyes grew round with amazement and then came the question. “How did you do it?” I hesitated. What do I tell her? Atkins? She’ll attack me and give me the whole ‘That’s bad for you’ story. I’m not in the mood! After a moment of contemplation, I said, “I’m eating low-carb.”

Her reaction? “Oh. Low-carb.” It was a conversation killer.

My mother-in-law sent me an email about two weeks ago about what was new and exciting in her life. She lives with her husband in Florida. I wrote back and told her some of our own happenings, and mentioned I’d lost 15 pounds since she saw me at Christmas. Her response was swift. “Tell me! How did you do it? I gained 10 pounds recently and I can’t seem to shed it!” So, I wrote back and told her. I even went so far (with a captive audience) to explain that it’s low-carb not no carb like so many make it out to be. I explained induction, and how I was now eating a lot of vegetables and including some strawberries in my daily menus.  I told her I was working out and getting fit, and feeling great and that I would be getting my blood done in a few weeks so I was looking forward to my numbers. Blah, blah, blah.

Well, can you guess what happened next? Nothing. Nada. No response.

The silence is deafening.

What is it about this diet that rouses people’s anger? Why does it cause so many folks to shut down and walk away? WHY WON’T THESE PEOPLE SHARE IN MY JOY??

It’s frustrating, but it only motivates me more. Are they insinuating, perhaps, that I’m crazy and have no idea what I’m doing? That my intelligence went the way of the potato and the pasta? That I threw the baby out with the bathwater?

No, I say! I’m in my right mind and I’m doing fine. I have no hunger cravings. I’m not starving. I’m not eating non-stop meat and cheese, or eschewing anything that remotely looks to be a vegetable. Read the book, people! It’s not a fad. It’s a scientific and nutritionally sound way of eating developed by a CARDIOLOGIST for goodness sake!  And the roadmap is right there in black-and-white. I don’t have to think about what to do, Dr. Atkins figured it all out for me!

It’s alright. You can keep your snarky and sarcastic comments, the rolling of your eyes, the mocking smirks to yourselves. I’ll have the last laugh. I’m already starting to wear 12s again when I was wearing 14s and 16s for the better part of past few years. And when I’m in 10s and 8s again (and, oh yes, I will be!) you can praise me all you want for my weightloss and–by golly–my willpower. I’ll just smile and quote what the good Dr. Atkins wrote:

Willpower is not required on the Atkins diet, only the wisdom to put yourself in a position where you won’t be needing it.”
- Dr. Robert C. Atkins
      

Although the scale still has not moved, last night I measured another half inch off both my waist and hips. That is 2 inches from my waist and and 1.5 off my hips since I started measuring a couple of weeks ago. Last night I started recording other measurements that are not captured in SparkPeople – bust, upper arm, thigh, calf and ankle.  When the weight isn’t coming off, the obvious reshaping of my body motivates me.

I’m not sure what is stalling me. I did Atkins induction to the letter, and thereafter slowly added back 5 grams of carbs each week. Coming up now on 8 weeks, I never seem to go above 40 g of carbs when tracking my food (which I am doing religiously) and, accounting for fiber and sugar alcohols, my net carbs are usually below 30 g. Although the plan recommends adding 5 g more each week, I’m inclined to go backwards to induction again and see if I can jumpstart this puppy. Not really sure.

Sheila Pike-Pereyra of Sugar-Free Sheila has offered to look at a typical menu for me and let me know where I’m going wrong. I’d wanted to tough it out, but frankly, I’m getting a little cranky so I may take her up on it. The only things that I’ve really added into my diet are a half-cup of cottage cheese and a few strawberries for breakfast on some mornings, a few ounces of nuts per week (sliced almonds in my salad and the occasional macadamia nuts), and salad a little more often (mostly just lettuces).  What gives??? Am I not eating enough carbs??? I don’t want to eat any more carbs! :(

I do think part of my problem is constipation. I’d blogged about this before, and I’m being a little stubborn about making Metamucil a regular part of my routine. I guess I have to give in and drink the stuff every day…

In my next post, I will talk about the reactions (both verbal and non-verbal) I’ve been getting from others when they hear I’m doing Atkins.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.