Weigh in: 200.8lb; total pounds lost this week: 3.0
Waist measurement, the Jorge Cruise way: 41 inches, so minus one inch.
I did not quite get under 200 lb, but that will be soon. At one point this week I was at 200.4lb, and was hoping....:-) Alas, that is the pitfall of weighing more often than once each week, is seeing the natural weight fluctuations.
Despite the weight loss and inch lost, I cannot see the extreme of this diet being practical for brain usage and overall energy. Not once this past week did I feel a huge energy burst, or a day where my muscles didn't feel fatigued. Some days were better than others, but no day was super-charged. Plus we were sleeping 9-10 hours each night. Richard is ecstatic to be able to have carbs and "free" vegetables and Zevias. In fact he just strutted in, with a big grin on his face, holding a Zevia, and announced, "Look what's FREE!" Now he's sucking it down. Happy boy!
We are planning to keep our sugar grams under 20, which will naturally reduce carbs for me, and our fat grams under 60 for me, and 85 for him. We are also tracking our protein to make sure we get enough. I have to keep it simple, as my time is going to be very limited for focus on this as classes begin this week. We also decided, and I'm not sure if I mentioned this yesterday, that we are planning to have one meal each week where we don't have to track anything. We are going to continue the "Cruise Moves" (the 8 minute workout each morning that is for toning and strength training), and continue our walking and my elliptical-ling.
I fully expect to be under 200 pounds next Monday morning. It's time, and on this plan, I'm sure it is more than possible.
So, now,
Monday, August 15, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Day 7, Most Importantly: LAST DAY of the One Week Challenge...
...also known as "Sugar Awareness Week".
We are already stoked for shifting our eating plan tomorrow to include more natural sugars and carbs, especially Richard who dearly needs them. My oldest son (a PhD student/candidate in neuroscience at Harvard) reminded me today, too, that the brain can only use glucose for energy, and if it's not there, that could cause a problem. He thought it was crazy to count the sugars in vegetables, that cinched it for me. With full time pharmacy school starting in three days, glucose is back in.
We have a plan, that yes, involves counting total sugar grams (maximum 20 grams), but we are not going to count the sugar or carbs from vegetables (or psyllium!!!) We are going to return to our healthy carb regimen we were on before, and with more awareness of how much we are eating. I am going to be more aware of my serving sizes with the carbs, limiting to some extent, as I am still working to reduce poundage, and Richard will be free to eat what he feels is right for him. We can breathe a sigh of relief. Ahhhhhhhhh.
I developed a check list for each of us, because our dietary goals are different from each other, as are our diets (with my eating (grass-fed, hormone-free and lean) red meat, in fact now prescribed by the acupuncturist/nutritionist and Richard's (pesca)vegetarianism). We can each check off 20 grams of sugar each day, up to 60 grams of fat for me, and 85 grams of fat for Richard, and AT LEAST 80 grams of protein for me, and 100 grams of protein for Richard.
We ARE going to continue with the morning toning exercises for abdominal, upper body and lower body Monday through Friday, because we think that's a good thing to add in, and seems reasonable to put into our morning routine. And we plan to continue walking (and I will do my elliptical), and meditation, and living peacefully.
Today's menu looked like this:
Breakfast: Mediterranean Omelet (as in previous posts), no carbs
Snack:
Lunch: Roasted chili pepper bake (with egg beaters and mozzarella), I had a piece of gluten-free toast with olive oil
Snack: Matcha green tea frapuccino (protein powder with stevia, matcha green tea, unsweetened Almond Breeze) and strawberries with nonfat plain yogurt with stevia.
Dinner: Me: hormone free steak; Him: Fish? tofu? and something to fulfill our remaining carb serving(s) of the week, some arugula salad with shaved Parmesan and homemade dressing (red wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic) . It looks like we will be splitting the remaining Almond Butter Cup (unless I make some more tonight - this was another good thing to come out of this experiment!)
Tomorrow is the official weigh-in for the One-week Challenge, and I'm sure I've lost weight; we will see about the inches.
We are already stoked for shifting our eating plan tomorrow to include more natural sugars and carbs, especially Richard who dearly needs them. My oldest son (a PhD student/candidate in neuroscience at Harvard) reminded me today, too, that the brain can only use glucose for energy, and if it's not there, that could cause a problem. He thought it was crazy to count the sugars in vegetables, that cinched it for me. With full time pharmacy school starting in three days, glucose is back in.
We have a plan, that yes, involves counting total sugar grams (maximum 20 grams), but we are not going to count the sugar or carbs from vegetables (or psyllium!!!) We are going to return to our healthy carb regimen we were on before, and with more awareness of how much we are eating. I am going to be more aware of my serving sizes with the carbs, limiting to some extent, as I am still working to reduce poundage, and Richard will be free to eat what he feels is right for him. We can breathe a sigh of relief. Ahhhhhhhhh.
I developed a check list for each of us, because our dietary goals are different from each other, as are our diets (with my eating (grass-fed, hormone-free and lean) red meat, in fact now prescribed by the acupuncturist/nutritionist and Richard's (pesca)vegetarianism). We can each check off 20 grams of sugar each day, up to 60 grams of fat for me, and 85 grams of fat for Richard, and AT LEAST 80 grams of protein for me, and 100 grams of protein for Richard.
We ARE going to continue with the morning toning exercises for abdominal, upper body and lower body Monday through Friday, because we think that's a good thing to add in, and seems reasonable to put into our morning routine. And we plan to continue walking (and I will do my elliptical), and meditation, and living peacefully.
Today's menu looked like this:
Breakfast: Mediterranean Omelet (as in previous posts), no carbs
Snack:
Lunch: Roasted chili pepper bake (with egg beaters and mozzarella), I had a piece of gluten-free toast with olive oil
Snack: Matcha green tea frapuccino (protein powder with stevia, matcha green tea, unsweetened Almond Breeze) and strawberries with nonfat plain yogurt with stevia.
Dinner: Me: hormone free steak; Him: Fish? tofu? and something to fulfill our remaining carb serving(s) of the week, some arugula salad with shaved Parmesan and homemade dressing (red wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic) . It looks like we will be splitting the remaining Almond Butter Cup (unless I make some more tonight - this was another good thing to come out of this experiment!)
Tomorrow is the official weigh-in for the One-week Challenge, and I'm sure I've lost weight; we will see about the inches.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Days Five and Six of Sugar Awareness Week
Yesterday went smoothly, although we did not do our four mile walk. Neither of us has had abundant energy since beginning this One Week Challenge, and after all of the body and energy work I'd had the previous three days, it was time to take a break. Today I moved my middle son into his dorm, which involved lifting and carrying on a day that is supposed to be a "break" day from the 8 minute exercise plan - oh well.
Yesterday's menus looked like this:
Breakfast: Chili Relleno Bake (essentially home-roasted Anaheim peppers sprinkled with a bit of low-fat Mexican-style cheese and a combo of whole eggs and egg whites whisked with some baking powder and salt and pepper).
Snack: Chocolate Protein Powder shake with unsweetened almond breeze
Lunch: More Chili Relleno Bake
Snack: low-fat, hormone-free mozzarella cheese stick, and 2 Almond Butter Cups since I could spare the carb servings (Recipe for Almond Butter Cups)
Dinner: 4 ounces of delicious pan-fried steak (Richard had marinated tofu), spring greens with a bit of parmesan cheese and homemade red wine vinegar dressing, and some strawberries and blueberries with an ounce or two of nonfat plain yogurt sweetened with stevia.
Today:
Breakfast: 2 blue cornmeal pancakes with stevia-sweetened maple syrup
strawberries and blueberries with an ounce of non-fat plain yogurt with stevia
Snack: Chocolate whey protein powder shake with unsweetened chocolate Almond Breeze
Lunch: (out with son at Egg & I) veggie fritatta (no mushrooms, no green peppers, no toast, no English muffin, and no potatoes - this made it is "free" Sugar/Carb meal, and it was very satisfying this way.
Snack: Matcha green tea frappuccino (Match green tea with stevia blended with unsweetened plain Almond Breeze and Vanilla protein powder shake (Jay Robb- sweetened with stevia).
Plus we cannot forget our daily Almond Butter Cup allotment!
Dinner: looks like it's going to be some roasted Anaheim peppers, mixed with some combo of cheese and corn tortillas (enough to make our carbs count, but not over-count), and probably a salad, too.
I do have to say, that on this diet, we have increased our saturated fat intake (cheese, a little bit of cream in the first frapuccino (Day 1), which can be tough on cholesterol levels, so I/we are thinking when we come to modifying our intake in light of sugar content of foods, we will be searching for a happier intake of types of fats.
Having said all of that, I did sneak a peak at the scale this morning, and am at 200.4 pounds, which means that I've lost 3.4 lb in the last five days following this eating plan and doing the 8 minute exercises each morning. We'll see on Monday what the grand total is and the difference from last week's waist measurement, and maybe I'll actually be under 200 lb, probably for the first time in several years. That would be pretty cool (as would seeing it decrease more and more!)
Yesterday's menus looked like this:
Breakfast: Chili Relleno Bake (essentially home-roasted Anaheim peppers sprinkled with a bit of low-fat Mexican-style cheese and a combo of whole eggs and egg whites whisked with some baking powder and salt and pepper).
Snack: Chocolate Protein Powder shake with unsweetened almond breeze
Lunch: More Chili Relleno Bake
Snack: low-fat, hormone-free mozzarella cheese stick, and 2 Almond Butter Cups since I could spare the carb servings (Recipe for Almond Butter Cups)
Dinner: 4 ounces of delicious pan-fried steak (Richard had marinated tofu), spring greens with a bit of parmesan cheese and homemade red wine vinegar dressing, and some strawberries and blueberries with an ounce or two of nonfat plain yogurt sweetened with stevia.
Today:
Breakfast: 2 blue cornmeal pancakes with stevia-sweetened maple syrup
strawberries and blueberries with an ounce of non-fat plain yogurt with stevia
Snack: Chocolate whey protein powder shake with unsweetened chocolate Almond Breeze
Lunch: (out with son at Egg & I) veggie fritatta (no mushrooms, no green peppers, no toast, no English muffin, and no potatoes - this made it is "free" Sugar/Carb meal, and it was very satisfying this way.
Snack: Matcha green tea frappuccino (Match green tea with stevia blended with unsweetened plain Almond Breeze and Vanilla protein powder shake (Jay Robb- sweetened with stevia).
Plus we cannot forget our daily Almond Butter Cup allotment!
Dinner: looks like it's going to be some roasted Anaheim peppers, mixed with some combo of cheese and corn tortillas (enough to make our carbs count, but not over-count), and probably a salad, too.
I do have to say, that on this diet, we have increased our saturated fat intake (cheese, a little bit of cream in the first frapuccino (Day 1), which can be tough on cholesterol levels, so I/we are thinking when we come to modifying our intake in light of sugar content of foods, we will be searching for a happier intake of types of fats.
Having said all of that, I did sneak a peak at the scale this morning, and am at 200.4 pounds, which means that I've lost 3.4 lb in the last five days following this eating plan and doing the 8 minute exercises each morning. We'll see on Monday what the grand total is and the difference from last week's waist measurement, and maybe I'll actually be under 200 lb, probably for the first time in several years. That would be pretty cool (as would seeing it decrease more and more!)
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Day Four: One-Week Challenge aka "Sugar Awareness Week"
"Challenge" is a good word. When four spears of asparagus (yes, that is FOUR SPEARS) count for two of your daily SIX allotted Carb servings, and 1 of your 15 Sugars, then that's a serious challenge.
As Richard and I walked this morning, we agreed that after this "Challenge" week is over, that we needn't count any of our vegetables as Carb servings. He is really feeling the lack of carbs, as he has always had a fast metabolism, and naturally needs more food. I keep offering for him to increase his carbs, but he insists he's going to complete the challenge "as is". I even just offered him my last Carb, and he rejected it.
I made a visit to a new (to me) acupuncturist, who, after a thorough intake and constitutional assessment, highly suggested that I eat grass-fed, hormone-free red meat (which will work well with this Belly Fat Diet, thankfully), but she also recommended greatly restricting the gluten-free breads and processed foods (which we've also been doing anyway due to the carb and sugar content of all breads, we clearly have to make every carb count with this). She suggests following more of a "paleo" type diet, restricting refined carbs and keeping fat intake moderate. Obviously that is going to take a bit more research and planning. She was very much "for" my becoming sugar-aware, and was in agreement with the craziness of the nitpicky details of the Belly Fat Cure.
Having said all that, we trudge ahead, even with our lower energy levels. We like the protein shakes and reducing our sugar intake, and will likely take those two aspects with us into our future plan. The acupuncturist also encouraged strength training, which we have introduced into our daily life through the Belly Fat Cure, so will likely move that forward and increase it with our new plan as well. She is very much for our starting up tai chi and/or yoga again to help with daily life balance and keeping our energy flowing.
We are past the half-way point, just days 5, 6, and 7 to go. We will see what results come from this week. As of today I'd lost 0.8 pounds, so I have a way to go to the 4-9 pounds in one week "promised" with the Belly Fat Cure. Perhaps if my diet was completely horrible and I didn't move regularly, this 4-9 pound loss would be attainable in one week. But a big part of me is thinking that rate of weight loss is simply unhealthy.
As Richard and I walked this morning, we agreed that after this "Challenge" week is over, that we needn't count any of our vegetables as Carb servings. He is really feeling the lack of carbs, as he has always had a fast metabolism, and naturally needs more food. I keep offering for him to increase his carbs, but he insists he's going to complete the challenge "as is". I even just offered him my last Carb, and he rejected it.
I made a visit to a new (to me) acupuncturist, who, after a thorough intake and constitutional assessment, highly suggested that I eat grass-fed, hormone-free red meat (which will work well with this Belly Fat Diet, thankfully), but she also recommended greatly restricting the gluten-free breads and processed foods (which we've also been doing anyway due to the carb and sugar content of all breads, we clearly have to make every carb count with this). She suggests following more of a "paleo" type diet, restricting refined carbs and keeping fat intake moderate. Obviously that is going to take a bit more research and planning. She was very much "for" my becoming sugar-aware, and was in agreement with the craziness of the nitpicky details of the Belly Fat Cure.
Having said all that, we trudge ahead, even with our lower energy levels. We like the protein shakes and reducing our sugar intake, and will likely take those two aspects with us into our future plan. The acupuncturist also encouraged strength training, which we have introduced into our daily life through the Belly Fat Cure, so will likely move that forward and increase it with our new plan as well. She is very much for our starting up tai chi and/or yoga again to help with daily life balance and keeping our energy flowing.
We are past the half-way point, just days 5, 6, and 7 to go. We will see what results come from this week. As of today I'd lost 0.8 pounds, so I have a way to go to the 4-9 pounds in one week "promised" with the Belly Fat Cure. Perhaps if my diet was completely horrible and I didn't move regularly, this 4-9 pound loss would be attainable in one week. But a big part of me is thinking that rate of weight loss is simply unhealthy.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Day Three of One Week Challenge
Today, since I knew I was going to to be out and about most of the day, I packed my lunch, drinks and snacks. The day started out with a fairly big breakfast including another Mediterranean omelet with the usual "free" veggies, a slice of gluten-free toast with olive oil and my bowl of fruit and yogurt (getting the Sugar counts in early in the day, so I could use them to get through the day - I learned from yesterday's fatigue!) I packed a couple of mozzarella cheese sticks, a small container of tuna, and lots of celery with a dab of almond butter on each one. I also included about 1/4 cup of roasted pumpkin seeds and a Virgil's Diet Root Beer (sweetened with stevia). This seemed to hold me through the day all right. I was pretty hungry when I got home, and Richard had prepared a light dinner for us that included some hummus with endive, and guacamole and 15 blue corn chips and a chocolate protein drink mixed into some unsweetened Almond Breeze. Of course we had to each have an Almond Butter Cup afterwards. Yum.
Richard's pretty tuckered out, as am I. We are a bit challenged by the fact that we need to limit our servings of fish each week to help decrease the amount of mercury we ingest. Richard is a vegetarian who eats fish, so it looks like we need to look into some tofu options to increase our protein intake, along with the protein shakes we drink every day. Everything I've read about greatly decreasing sugar in the diet is that it is supposed to increase your energy... maybe we are going through a natural process of fatigue as our bodies realize that it doesn't have free access to sugar anymore.
We're still in it, I continue to give Richard an "out" if he's not feeling well, but he plugs away with me, meticulously accounting for those Sugar grams and Carb counts. Also, I notice that we are not getting to the 15 grams of Sugar every day, even if we eat 6 servings of Carbs, so maybe if we made sure we get all 15 grams that would help energy-wise.
We did just a short walk around the neighborhood, about a mile, and it felt good. Not much else to report here, except I am looking forward to seeing what results show up on Monday after all of this accounting of sugar and carbs, plus those crazy "mini" toning workouts every morning. Maybe I will sneak a peak at the scale tomorrow morning, maybe not. :-)
Richard's pretty tuckered out, as am I. We are a bit challenged by the fact that we need to limit our servings of fish each week to help decrease the amount of mercury we ingest. Richard is a vegetarian who eats fish, so it looks like we need to look into some tofu options to increase our protein intake, along with the protein shakes we drink every day. Everything I've read about greatly decreasing sugar in the diet is that it is supposed to increase your energy... maybe we are going through a natural process of fatigue as our bodies realize that it doesn't have free access to sugar anymore.
We're still in it, I continue to give Richard an "out" if he's not feeling well, but he plugs away with me, meticulously accounting for those Sugar grams and Carb counts. Also, I notice that we are not getting to the 15 grams of Sugar every day, even if we eat 6 servings of Carbs, so maybe if we made sure we get all 15 grams that would help energy-wise.
We did just a short walk around the neighborhood, about a mile, and it felt good. Not much else to report here, except I am looking forward to seeing what results show up on Monday after all of this accounting of sugar and carbs, plus those crazy "mini" toning workouts every morning. Maybe I will sneak a peak at the scale tomorrow morning, maybe not. :-)
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Day Two of the One Week Challenge - ow!
Ok, I can barely move! I felt great this morning, if a little hungry, and eagerly did my seemingly simple upper body exercises for the prescribed 8 minutes. However, we just returned from our four mile walk, which was a challenge, because I not only felt the effects of yesterday's 8 minutes of abs work, but also today's arm workout, plus I think my body suddenly realized that it hasn't had any significant sugar in over 24 hours, and it may not (likely!) get significant sugar in the near future.
Richard and I agreed (AND pinky swore) that psyllium husks are NOT going to count as a Carb serving for us on our plan. We have only 6 Carb servings each day to work with. It just seems so silly that something that provides so much extra beneficial fiber and is nasty to drink, has to count against our total carb count. It is highly unlikely that I am going to get a severe craving for psyllium husks or even become a closet psyllium husk eater, so I think we are safe with this slight modification. I did tell Richard that if we end up gaining weight and/or belly inches, that we will have to go right back to counting the psyllium husks as a Carb serving.
We also made our yummy green tea (matcha) frappuccino after our walk, but without the 1/2 cup per serving of heavy cream from yesterday's drink. This is definitely preferable, I simply substituted some unsweetened Almond Breeze, and it was a much lighter drink than yesterday, so hopefully we won't have that sluggish feeling (if I'd even notice it with the recovering muscle aches) that I had last night. I also planned ahead and pre-made and cooled the matcha green tea drink, which takes awhile to cool down before it can be blended successfully into a cold and refreshing beverage. This way we could have it more immediately after our walk.
When I awakened this morning, I had a sensation of belly fat melting, my muscles, especially my abdominal muscles seemed to be heated up. Let's hope so!
We both chose to not have a piece of toast with our breakfast this morning, to save the precious Carb serving for later in the day. I also made an experimental recipe of almond butter cups (Recipe: Almond Butter Cups) that will count for 1 Carb serving, and no Sugar (I have a particular weakness for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (21 grams of sugar and 25 grams of carbs) so am hoping to create an alternative I can live with).
I am going to need to plan ahead for tomorrow since I'm going to be on the road for most of the day at various appointments. I plan to pack all of my food which will include snacks, drinks and lunch.
Today's Menu looked like this:
Breakfast: Mediterranean omelet (spinach, kalamata olives, garlic sauteed in olive oil, served inside cooked eggs with feta cheese and fresh basil) no toast, hot green matcha tea, water
Snack: Unsweeteened Almond Breeze with a scoop of chocolate whey protein (Jay Robb); two tablespoons of roasted pumpkin seeds
Lunch: tuna melts on Udi's whole grain gluten-free bread. (Tuna mixed with mustard and mayonnaise, topped with part-skim mozzarella cheese and alfalfa sprouts and 1/4 sliced avocado)
Snack: Matcha Green Tea Frappuccino (Unsweetened Almond Breeze, 1 scoop Vanilla Whey Protein Powder (Jay Robb), match green tea with stevia, ice cubes.
Fruit: strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries with goat yogurt and a bit of stevia
Dinner: Huevos Rancheros (Richard is foregoing his corn tortilla, which counts as a Carb serving (no sugar), since he had a Zevia earlier in the day) eggs, bit of cheese, a couple tablespoons of black beans, tomatillo salsa and a corn tortilla softly cooked in light oil, for me, and a salad on the side which this week we are making our way through arugula and spinach, tossed with a little shaved parmesan cheese - mmmmm, tasty!
After dinner snack: 1 Almond Butter Cup
Yum! Hopefully I will be able to move easily tomorrow when I awaken! Burn, Baby, Burn! (Says me to my belly fat!)
Richard and I agreed (AND pinky swore) that psyllium husks are NOT going to count as a Carb serving for us on our plan. We have only 6 Carb servings each day to work with. It just seems so silly that something that provides so much extra beneficial fiber and is nasty to drink, has to count against our total carb count. It is highly unlikely that I am going to get a severe craving for psyllium husks or even become a closet psyllium husk eater, so I think we are safe with this slight modification. I did tell Richard that if we end up gaining weight and/or belly inches, that we will have to go right back to counting the psyllium husks as a Carb serving.
We also made our yummy green tea (matcha) frappuccino after our walk, but without the 1/2 cup per serving of heavy cream from yesterday's drink. This is definitely preferable, I simply substituted some unsweetened Almond Breeze, and it was a much lighter drink than yesterday, so hopefully we won't have that sluggish feeling (if I'd even notice it with the recovering muscle aches) that I had last night. I also planned ahead and pre-made and cooled the matcha green tea drink, which takes awhile to cool down before it can be blended successfully into a cold and refreshing beverage. This way we could have it more immediately after our walk.
When I awakened this morning, I had a sensation of belly fat melting, my muscles, especially my abdominal muscles seemed to be heated up. Let's hope so!
We both chose to not have a piece of toast with our breakfast this morning, to save the precious Carb serving for later in the day. I also made an experimental recipe of almond butter cups (Recipe: Almond Butter Cups) that will count for 1 Carb serving, and no Sugar (I have a particular weakness for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (21 grams of sugar and 25 grams of carbs) so am hoping to create an alternative I can live with).
I am going to need to plan ahead for tomorrow since I'm going to be on the road for most of the day at various appointments. I plan to pack all of my food which will include snacks, drinks and lunch.
Today's Menu looked like this:
Breakfast: Mediterranean omelet (spinach, kalamata olives, garlic sauteed in olive oil, served inside cooked eggs with feta cheese and fresh basil) no toast, hot green matcha tea, water
Snack: Unsweeteened Almond Breeze with a scoop of chocolate whey protein (Jay Robb); two tablespoons of roasted pumpkin seeds
Lunch: tuna melts on Udi's whole grain gluten-free bread. (Tuna mixed with mustard and mayonnaise, topped with part-skim mozzarella cheese and alfalfa sprouts and 1/4 sliced avocado)
Snack: Matcha Green Tea Frappuccino (Unsweetened Almond Breeze, 1 scoop Vanilla Whey Protein Powder (Jay Robb), match green tea with stevia, ice cubes.
Fruit: strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries with goat yogurt and a bit of stevia
Dinner: Huevos Rancheros (Richard is foregoing his corn tortilla, which counts as a Carb serving (no sugar), since he had a Zevia earlier in the day) eggs, bit of cheese, a couple tablespoons of black beans, tomatillo salsa and a corn tortilla softly cooked in light oil, for me, and a salad on the side which this week we are making our way through arugula and spinach, tossed with a little shaved parmesan cheese - mmmmm, tasty!
After dinner snack: 1 Almond Butter Cup
Yum! Hopefully I will be able to move easily tomorrow when I awaken! Burn, Baby, Burn! (Says me to my belly fat!)
Stephanie's Low Carb Almond Butter Cups
Low Carb Almond Butter Cups
serves 12
Made in one mini-muffin pan (12 muffin cups)
Ingredients for chocolate shell:
8 ounce bag of Hershey's sugar-free chocolate chips (sweetened with maltilol, no sucralose)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
Filling Ingredients:
1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 cup almond meal/flour
1/4 cup protein powder (sweetened with stevia, not sucralose, i.e. Jay Robb Vanilla Whey Protein Powder)
dash of salt
Instructions:
1) Melt chocolate chips at very low heat, ensuring they do not burn, or separate.
Stir in vanilla and salt.
2) While chocolate is melting, mix together the almond butter, almond meal/flour, vanilla protein powder, and dash of salt until dough easily forms into balls, add more protein powder if it is too sticky, add more almond butter if it is too dry.
3) Put heaping tablespoon of melty chocolate into the mini muffin tin. If thick enough, push up the sides of each space.
4) Form almond butter dough into 12 equal balls. Push each one into the center of the chocolate, and push the top of each ball so that it's flat.
5) Chill the entire mini muffin pan in the refrigerator for at least 1/2 hour.
6) Remove from refrigerator and run hot water over the bottom of the pan for a few seconds.
7) Using a thin knife to insert at the edge of one of the cups to see if the cup can be turned and easily popped out. It may need another few seconds of heating the bottom of the pan under hot water.
In the entire recipe (all 12 servings), there is a total of 89 grams of carbohydrates, and 7 grams of sugar.
Each serving contains: 7.42 grams of carbs, so one Carb serving in the Belly Fat Cure, and 0.58grams of Sugar. (<0.5grams of sugar is not counted at a Sugar) Most of the sugar comes from the almond butter, so that could be reduced, to some degree, to make each serving less than 0.5grams of sugar) Of course if you have two, you have to count the Sugar. :-)
Monday, August 8, 2011
Day One Update 8-8-11
Update on our plan, and foods discovered:
The day was successful. It is quite eye-opening to discover just how much sugar is in our usual healthy foods. For example, for 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, we had to count 2 Sugars. Rice wine vinegar would have cost none, but I didn't have any on hand for the dressing I was making with the olive oil and garlic. 1/4 cup of brown rice has 38 grams of carbs, which count for 2 of the 6 Carb servings we are allowed each day. It's only a 1/4 of a cup, which is not much, but good to remember when it comes to portions eating out.
I tried the green tea frappuccino recipe in Jorge Cruise's Belly Fat Cure book, he calls it the "Energize Me Green Tea" with only 1 Sugar count and one Carb serving count, and I'm not sure where he's coming up with either. It's meant to be a replacement for Starbucks "Belly Bad" Tazo Green Tea Frappuccino Blended Creme beverage (at 69 whopping grams of sugar for their "lightly sweetened" version.) Yikes! This healthier recipe contains a total of 1/2 cup of heavy cream per serving, which is a LOT more saturated fat than we are accustomed to. It definitely creamed up the drink, and the product was mighty tasty, but Richard and I agree that it was a bit too heavy, and it would probably be just as good with the unsweetened Almond Breeze instead. The recipe calls for Jay Robb Vanilla Whey Protein Powder which would help thicken it up a bit even without the heavy cream. It was a good experiment though. I will definitely feel better about it without the thick cream. Regardless, even with that thick rich drink we managed to stay within our 15 grams of Sugar and 6 Carb servings.
We found a little challenge with getting Sugar counts without Carb serving counts, because everything we'd had in the day until that point had both. We solved that by having berries (strawberries, blueberries and blackberries) with enough goat yogurt to count for Sugar but not Carb servings.
On that note, we were a little dismayed to find out that our stevia-sweetened drinks (like Zero Vitamin Water and Sobe-life water) also contain maltilol, a sugar alcohol, so they each contain 1 Carb serving, even if they don't count in the sugar counts. so, those will have to be incorporated carefully. We were, however, delighted to discover that the Virgil's Diet Root Beer and Diet Cola are sweetened only with stevia, so count for no sugar grams and NO carb servings. Hooray!
Even our psyllium husks count for a Carb serving, if we take the full 2 1/2 tablespoons. So, since I was out of Carb servings, I took only 1 Tablespoon, which kept the total grams of carbs at 4 grams, so zero servings, and I still got some beneficial additional fiber.
We walked our delightful route into and through town and around our local lake. It was a gorgeous day, and I feel very good about our first day of the challenge.
The day was successful. It is quite eye-opening to discover just how much sugar is in our usual healthy foods. For example, for 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, we had to count 2 Sugars. Rice wine vinegar would have cost none, but I didn't have any on hand for the dressing I was making with the olive oil and garlic. 1/4 cup of brown rice has 38 grams of carbs, which count for 2 of the 6 Carb servings we are allowed each day. It's only a 1/4 of a cup, which is not much, but good to remember when it comes to portions eating out.
I tried the green tea frappuccino recipe in Jorge Cruise's Belly Fat Cure book, he calls it the "Energize Me Green Tea" with only 1 Sugar count and one Carb serving count, and I'm not sure where he's coming up with either. It's meant to be a replacement for Starbucks "Belly Bad" Tazo Green Tea Frappuccino Blended Creme beverage (at 69 whopping grams of sugar for their "lightly sweetened" version.) Yikes! This healthier recipe contains a total of 1/2 cup of heavy cream per serving, which is a LOT more saturated fat than we are accustomed to. It definitely creamed up the drink, and the product was mighty tasty, but Richard and I agree that it was a bit too heavy, and it would probably be just as good with the unsweetened Almond Breeze instead. The recipe calls for Jay Robb Vanilla Whey Protein Powder which would help thicken it up a bit even without the heavy cream. It was a good experiment though. I will definitely feel better about it without the thick cream. Regardless, even with that thick rich drink we managed to stay within our 15 grams of Sugar and 6 Carb servings.
We found a little challenge with getting Sugar counts without Carb serving counts, because everything we'd had in the day until that point had both. We solved that by having berries (strawberries, blueberries and blackberries) with enough goat yogurt to count for Sugar but not Carb servings.
On that note, we were a little dismayed to find out that our stevia-sweetened drinks (like Zero Vitamin Water and Sobe-life water) also contain maltilol, a sugar alcohol, so they each contain 1 Carb serving, even if they don't count in the sugar counts. so, those will have to be incorporated carefully. We were, however, delighted to discover that the Virgil's Diet Root Beer and Diet Cola are sweetened only with stevia, so count for no sugar grams and NO carb servings. Hooray!
Even our psyllium husks count for a Carb serving, if we take the full 2 1/2 tablespoons. So, since I was out of Carb servings, I took only 1 Tablespoon, which kept the total grams of carbs at 4 grams, so zero servings, and I still got some beneficial additional fiber.
We walked our delightful route into and through town and around our local lake. It was a gorgeous day, and I feel very good about our first day of the challenge.
One-week Challenge!
We started Jorge Cruise's One-Week Challenge today. Richard is joining me in this, so he measured his waist (which is, of course within the right circumference for his height). We measured according to Jorge's recommendation, at belly button level, parallel to the ground, and sucking in as much as possible. This is in contrast to the way I've been measuring which is with relaxed belly, and no sucking in, but still at belly button level.
My waist circumference measured this way is 42 inches (my goal circumference is 33.5 inches - which is half my height in inches - the general rule of thumb for women is <35 inches, and for men is <40 inches). I weighed in the morning at 203.4lb (so have lost a lb this past week.)
The One-week Challenge of the Belly Fat Cure is to eat 15 or fewer grams of sugar per day, plus limit our servings of carbohydrates to 6 each day. One serving is 5-20grams, Two is 21-40g, Three is 41-60g.
We started our morning with Jorge's 8 minute belly flattening exercises, which we are adding to the challenge. He prescribes belly toning exercises on Mondays, Wednesday, and Friday, upper body exercises on Tuesdays, and lower body on Thursdays.
Then we ate our delicious breakfast of a Mediterranean omelet (we used Egg Beaters since that's all we had on hand because a couple of the college boys were home for the weekend). I am now used to cooking our eggs in olive oil (I've done this for over a decade) so did not cook them in butter as Jorge suggested. I used kalamata olives, spinach, green onion, and garlic as the veggies (all "free" of countable sugars and carbs), as well as feta cheese (also no counts for sugar or carbs) and a couple fresh basil leaves from my herb garden. One slice of Udi's Whole Grain Gluten-Free toast (1 gram of sugar and 1 carb count), drizzled with a tsp of garlic olive oil accompanied our eggs. Richard makes the best stevia matcha lattes using matcha powder, unsweetened plain Almond Breeze (also "free"), and stevia to sweeten, in our cappuccino maker. It's a good start!
So far, it's not that much different than our usual breakfast, except where we might have had two slices of toast, we agreed we'd have only one, considering the sugar/carb content, even though it's pretty low for that particular bread. Also instead of using red peppers, which do count in the sugar and carb total, I used the "free" veggies: spinach, garlic, green onion.
Snacks that are free of sugar and countable carbs that I am going to implement today: celery stick with natural (no added sugar) almond butter, and a whey protein shake mixed in with unsweetened chocolate Almond Drink. For lunch we plan to have tuna sandwiches on low-carb gluten-free bread, and dinner is going to be tuna steaks with a salad and healthy carbs (brown rice, etc.) as we have any allotted left.
We will likely go on our usual four mile walk into town and around the lake today, and have done a lesson in A Course in Miracles. I am attempting to keep EFT in mind as or if any sugar cravings arise, so I can tap them out and move on happily.
Looking forward to feeling even better and better, and am excited to see how much sugar has been an issue, even with our pretty healthy current diets.
To Great Health and an Energized Day!
My waist circumference measured this way is 42 inches (my goal circumference is 33.5 inches - which is half my height in inches - the general rule of thumb for women is <35 inches, and for men is <40 inches). I weighed in the morning at 203.4lb (so have lost a lb this past week.)
The One-week Challenge of the Belly Fat Cure is to eat 15 or fewer grams of sugar per day, plus limit our servings of carbohydrates to 6 each day. One serving is 5-20grams, Two is 21-40g, Three is 41-60g.
We started our morning with Jorge's 8 minute belly flattening exercises, which we are adding to the challenge. He prescribes belly toning exercises on Mondays, Wednesday, and Friday, upper body exercises on Tuesdays, and lower body on Thursdays.
Then we ate our delicious breakfast of a Mediterranean omelet (we used Egg Beaters since that's all we had on hand because a couple of the college boys were home for the weekend). I am now used to cooking our eggs in olive oil (I've done this for over a decade) so did not cook them in butter as Jorge suggested. I used kalamata olives, spinach, green onion, and garlic as the veggies (all "free" of countable sugars and carbs), as well as feta cheese (also no counts for sugar or carbs) and a couple fresh basil leaves from my herb garden. One slice of Udi's Whole Grain Gluten-Free toast (1 gram of sugar and 1 carb count), drizzled with a tsp of garlic olive oil accompanied our eggs. Richard makes the best stevia matcha lattes using matcha powder, unsweetened plain Almond Breeze (also "free"), and stevia to sweeten, in our cappuccino maker. It's a good start!
So far, it's not that much different than our usual breakfast, except where we might have had two slices of toast, we agreed we'd have only one, considering the sugar/carb content, even though it's pretty low for that particular bread. Also instead of using red peppers, which do count in the sugar and carb total, I used the "free" veggies: spinach, garlic, green onion.
Snacks that are free of sugar and countable carbs that I am going to implement today: celery stick with natural (no added sugar) almond butter, and a whey protein shake mixed in with unsweetened chocolate Almond Drink. For lunch we plan to have tuna sandwiches on low-carb gluten-free bread, and dinner is going to be tuna steaks with a salad and healthy carbs (brown rice, etc.) as we have any allotted left.
We will likely go on our usual four mile walk into town and around the lake today, and have done a lesson in A Course in Miracles. I am attempting to keep EFT in mind as or if any sugar cravings arise, so I can tap them out and move on happily.
Looking forward to feeling even better and better, and am excited to see how much sugar has been an issue, even with our pretty healthy current diets.
To Great Health and an Energized Day!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Belly Fat
Awhile ago my husband told me about a show he watched where Wayne Dyer was talking about an eating plan where you could eat only 20 g of sugar each day, along with other nutritional foods like protein, vegetables, and complex carbs, with the result of quickly losing extra belly fat. I have kept this in the back of my mind since he told me about it, always thinking that 20 grams of sugar is not very much, and it must be pretty hard to stick to something like that.
As it turns out, it is The Belly Fat Cure, which allows only 15 grams of sugar, including the natural sugars in fruits and vegetables, so doesn't allow much extra anything in terms of sweets, unless one uses products with my favorite sweetener, Stevia. I am aware that most of the world is already aware of this eating plan before I am (even with Richard's knowledge of it) due to my lack of interest in commercial television and ads of any kind. Suddenly I am aware of all aspects of the Belly Fat Cure because it seems like a reasonable path on which to experiment since one of my recent decisions is to cut any extra and hidden sugars from my diet. I ordered three of his books that describe the eating plan, and so far, have been very impressed with Jorge Cruise's presentation of the data, and his ability to make it sound "simple". In his book, The Belly Fat Cure: Discover the New Carb Swap System, I have enjoyed his visuals for foods and items that are good for your belly (those that help reduce belly fat) "Belly Good", and those that increase belly fat, therefore "Belly Bad". Examples below:
One of the books I bought is Jorge Cruise's 8 Minute a Day exercises specific to reduce belly fat. Since this is the key area where I store extra fat, this plan seems to make sense. I will continue my aerobic and cardiovascular workouts, but will add these toning exercises in. I can accommodate my wheat-free status with this plan, and my desire to decrease saturated fats (even though he doesn't emphasize this in his plan), and really become aware of the hidden sugars in everything I eat. Our plan is to begin full force Monday and give the plan a whirl, the One Week Challenge, and meanwhile through the weekend, continue to observe and investigate the sugar content of the foods we eat normally, and decide how we are going to modify them further. I am excited that there are more and more stevia-based products on the market from which to choose, and that this plan looks doable. I will check in Monday morning with the stats (the main measurement for this is the waist circumference, but I will also be tracking my weight), and more of our plan. We have prepared by doing our grocery shopping for next week to have on hand the food and items we will need to be successful. Two of my boys will be home from college this weekend, and we want to remain flexible, food-wise while they are around.
It is pretty exciting to think that stevia is getting this amazing promotion. This is one of the most exciting aspects of this discovery for me.
As it turns out, it is The Belly Fat Cure, which allows only 15 grams of sugar, including the natural sugars in fruits and vegetables, so doesn't allow much extra anything in terms of sweets, unless one uses products with my favorite sweetener, Stevia. I am aware that most of the world is already aware of this eating plan before I am (even with Richard's knowledge of it) due to my lack of interest in commercial television and ads of any kind. Suddenly I am aware of all aspects of the Belly Fat Cure because it seems like a reasonable path on which to experiment since one of my recent decisions is to cut any extra and hidden sugars from my diet. I ordered three of his books that describe the eating plan, and so far, have been very impressed with Jorge Cruise's presentation of the data, and his ability to make it sound "simple". In his book, The Belly Fat Cure: Discover the New Carb Swap System, I have enjoyed his visuals for foods and items that are good for your belly (those that help reduce belly fat) "Belly Good", and those that increase belly fat, therefore "Belly Bad". Examples below:
 |
| Our beloved Zevia soda is on the Belly Good side, all other sodas on the Belly Bad |
 | |
| Belly Good items include most of the items we have already switched over to, including gluten-free bread items |
 |
| Belly Bad: all added sugars and artificial, man-made sweeteners; Belly Good: Stevia products |
 |
| Healthier chip and snack items on the Belly Good side, and traditional, even Baked Lay's! on the Belly Bad side |
One of the books I bought is Jorge Cruise's 8 Minute a Day exercises specific to reduce belly fat. Since this is the key area where I store extra fat, this plan seems to make sense. I will continue my aerobic and cardiovascular workouts, but will add these toning exercises in. I can accommodate my wheat-free status with this plan, and my desire to decrease saturated fats (even though he doesn't emphasize this in his plan), and really become aware of the hidden sugars in everything I eat. Our plan is to begin full force Monday and give the plan a whirl, the One Week Challenge, and meanwhile through the weekend, continue to observe and investigate the sugar content of the foods we eat normally, and decide how we are going to modify them further. I am excited that there are more and more stevia-based products on the market from which to choose, and that this plan looks doable. I will check in Monday morning with the stats (the main measurement for this is the waist circumference, but I will also be tracking my weight), and more of our plan. We have prepared by doing our grocery shopping for next week to have on hand the food and items we will need to be successful. Two of my boys will be home from college this weekend, and we want to remain flexible, food-wise while they are around.
It is pretty exciting to think that stevia is getting this amazing promotion. This is one of the most exciting aspects of this discovery for me.
Stevia Syrups Have Arrived!!
I have been waiting for stevia syrups to replace the Splenda-sweetened syrups I'd been using in my coffee and almond drink lattes. I haven't had many latts this summer because we finished up the syrups on hand, and I didn't want to order more, even if they were yummy. I was also getting Splenda in my Joint Juice for a few months last fall, and quit Joint Juice for that reason, and take my glucosamin and chondrointin in tablet form. I've also found a stevia maple-flavored syrup, which is still in transit, so I haven't tried it yet, it's traveling with Richard's stevia cherry-flavoring for his "cola" products.
I am sipping on my first Stevia Chocolate Raspberry (Almond) Latte at the moment, and I have to say... not bad! I am really hoping that Sweet leaf or Now or someone will come up with a Stevia pumpkin flavoring as fall and winter approach. That will be Heavenly!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Monday Morning Check-In (Knee Braces and a New-ish Plan)
As I contemplate my next plan of action, I went ahead and weighed in this morning, and was 204.4 lb, and 45% body fat. This is about where I thought I was. Still about 15 lb less than this time last summer, so this is better than the same, or even 15 lb more. No reason to feel frustrated with how little it seems, even though that's an easy route for me to take. Today (well, likely Friday since we are going out of town with friends for a couple days and I need enjoying and planning time) is a new day for a new plan and a great starting point. I'll get back to the plan shortly.
I was measured later in the day for my new lateral unloader knee braces for both knees. I am very excited about these since they are designed to separate the area of each of my knees so the bones do not rub on each other (where cartilage is missing and severe arthritis has taken its place) as I walk. There's a dial I can adjust on each brace that modifies the distance the my bones are separated to accommodate for steepness of stairs and hikes. So, potentially better workouts on my hikes, etc. I'm ready to give them a try, as I am very frustrated with pain in my body with simple movements that restrict much of my activity for years and years, decades even.
My main question to the brace fitter was about losing weight (feeling optimistic!) and the braces still fitting, and she did say that I will likely need to replace them after each 20 pounds of weight lost since they are made specifically for my legs and knees and current weight. She said that Kaiser would be likely to cover the 80% of the cost of a replacement set as long as they have documentation of my weight loss. Some of that seems ironic to me as one of the recommendations from the orthopedist is to lose weight, along with trying the braces, and trying the hyaluronic gel injections, but it's possible they wouldn't cover the 80% if weight is lost and it's not documented? Anyhow, I'm not concerned about the documentation as I seem to be at Kaiser pretty frequently now. 20% of the brace charge seems like a small price to pay every 20 pounds for the benefits of the braces and added benefit of weighing less and putting less weight on the joints. I will obtain these little miracle workers in a couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, in light of my goal or experiment with helping heal the underlying (and hopefully overlying) issues of uterine fibroids (story is here: An Experiment in Healing), and the success of my eliminating wheat and wheat products in late May, I am going to further modify my diet to eliminate sugar and most dairy. This seems the simplest route to take as I need to keep it simple with pharmacy classes beginning in a few weeks. I will still eat fruits, especially those packed with nutrients like blueberries and strawberries, but anything that has added sugar of any kind will not be included. Similar with the dairy products, pretty much the only dairy I'll be eating is the non-fat unsweetened yogurt I already consume. Eliminating wheat has been challenging, but doable. It is VERY difficult to control what wheat I consume when dining out, and I know the same is true for sugars (and salt!). So, one obvious solution is to eat out less often, as fun as it is, plus that will help relieve the "budget" to buy quality organic foods so that what I do put in my body is of the best quality I can find. By eliminating these three items, I pretty much eliminate whatever processed foods were left in my diet (there weren't many left), so this is extremely helpful for the immune system and preventing those kinds of toxins from getting in. That one is in my control, vs. other environmental toxins that are less in my control. A recent workshop presenter suggested diet-wise: if it doesn't have a mother or come from the ground, don't eat it.... For some reason I feel highly motivated and excited about this, mainly, I think because I'm ready to feel good and better and better now that I have some answers about what has been causing my pain and things I can do about it.
And it's not that I have a horrible diet, in fact, compared to he majority of Americans it's way on the healthy side of the continuum of healthy diets, however there are still foods that I consume that have deleterious effects on my health, so that's the part I'm looking at, and am hoping/planning to continue to lose weight. And perhaps there's a way to still have those foods that are so appealing, but on a limited basis, and to check in with their specific effects on my body. The wheat elimination was significant to the point that I have successfully avoided it almost for the sole reason to not feel deep burning pain in my joints and discomfort all over my body from the swelling and inflammation.
My ramble comes to a close. I will be checking in more frequently than I have this summer, so as to keep myself going and going. Life is short! The time to feel good is NOW!
I was measured later in the day for my new lateral unloader knee braces for both knees. I am very excited about these since they are designed to separate the area of each of my knees so the bones do not rub on each other (where cartilage is missing and severe arthritis has taken its place) as I walk. There's a dial I can adjust on each brace that modifies the distance the my bones are separated to accommodate for steepness of stairs and hikes. So, potentially better workouts on my hikes, etc. I'm ready to give them a try, as I am very frustrated with pain in my body with simple movements that restrict much of my activity for years and years, decades even.
My main question to the brace fitter was about losing weight (feeling optimistic!) and the braces still fitting, and she did say that I will likely need to replace them after each 20 pounds of weight lost since they are made specifically for my legs and knees and current weight. She said that Kaiser would be likely to cover the 80% of the cost of a replacement set as long as they have documentation of my weight loss. Some of that seems ironic to me as one of the recommendations from the orthopedist is to lose weight, along with trying the braces, and trying the hyaluronic gel injections, but it's possible they wouldn't cover the 80% if weight is lost and it's not documented? Anyhow, I'm not concerned about the documentation as I seem to be at Kaiser pretty frequently now. 20% of the brace charge seems like a small price to pay every 20 pounds for the benefits of the braces and added benefit of weighing less and putting less weight on the joints. I will obtain these little miracle workers in a couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, in light of my goal or experiment with helping heal the underlying (and hopefully overlying) issues of uterine fibroids (story is here: An Experiment in Healing), and the success of my eliminating wheat and wheat products in late May, I am going to further modify my diet to eliminate sugar and most dairy. This seems the simplest route to take as I need to keep it simple with pharmacy classes beginning in a few weeks. I will still eat fruits, especially those packed with nutrients like blueberries and strawberries, but anything that has added sugar of any kind will not be included. Similar with the dairy products, pretty much the only dairy I'll be eating is the non-fat unsweetened yogurt I already consume. Eliminating wheat has been challenging, but doable. It is VERY difficult to control what wheat I consume when dining out, and I know the same is true for sugars (and salt!). So, one obvious solution is to eat out less often, as fun as it is, plus that will help relieve the "budget" to buy quality organic foods so that what I do put in my body is of the best quality I can find. By eliminating these three items, I pretty much eliminate whatever processed foods were left in my diet (there weren't many left), so this is extremely helpful for the immune system and preventing those kinds of toxins from getting in. That one is in my control, vs. other environmental toxins that are less in my control. A recent workshop presenter suggested diet-wise: if it doesn't have a mother or come from the ground, don't eat it.... For some reason I feel highly motivated and excited about this, mainly, I think because I'm ready to feel good and better and better now that I have some answers about what has been causing my pain and things I can do about it.
And it's not that I have a horrible diet, in fact, compared to he majority of Americans it's way on the healthy side of the continuum of healthy diets, however there are still foods that I consume that have deleterious effects on my health, so that's the part I'm looking at, and am hoping/planning to continue to lose weight. And perhaps there's a way to still have those foods that are so appealing, but on a limited basis, and to check in with their specific effects on my body. The wheat elimination was significant to the point that I have successfully avoided it almost for the sole reason to not feel deep burning pain in my joints and discomfort all over my body from the swelling and inflammation.
My ramble comes to a close. I will be checking in more frequently than I have this summer, so as to keep myself going and going. Life is short! The time to feel good is NOW!
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