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! 

Recipe: Breakfast Burrito - Egg Beaters

These are yummy, nutritious and filling.

Egg Beater (or egg white) Breakfast Burrito:

I've copied and pasted my recipe ingredients from My Food Diary where I originally entered the foods.

Instructions:
1) Chop garlic, red pepper, and zucchini.
2) Heat olive oil over medium heat in small fry pan.
3) Saute vegetables and garlic in oil until semi-soft.
4) Add whisked Egg Beaters or egg whites to pan and cook until done.
5) Warm tortilla, if desired
6) Spoon egg mixture and organic green chile sauce into tortilla
7) Wrap and enjoy!

Nutrition Information:

Recipe: Healthier Pumpkin Pie

I know that I am through with Pumpkin Pie for awhile, however I wanted to go on record with this recipe I experimented with and offered a taste comparison at Thanksgiving between it and the traditional sugar-laden, full egg and milk version.  My son thought that my stevia pie was the traditional, but my mother could tell the difference.  That being said, it worked out great, I was very pleased and am very excited to have a healthy alternative in the future.

Enjoy!


Healthier Pumpkin Pie

2/3 c. Stevia Extract in the Raw Cup for Cup
1/4 c. Organic, natural sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup Egg Beaters
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp cornstarch
1 (12 fl. oz.) can non-fat evaporated milk
1 (9 inch) unbaked frozen prepared deep dish pie shell (for even fewer calories consider graham crackers crumbs for the crust.


Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2)  In small bowl mix Stevia Extract in the Raw Cup for Cup, organic sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves.
3) In large bowl, mix Egg Beaters and vanilla, then stir in stevia spice mixture.
4) In small bowl, dissolve cornstarch in 2-3 tablespoons of evaporated milk.  Blend in pumpkin mixtre and stir in remaining evaporated milk.  Blend well.  Pour into frozen deep-dish piecrust.  Set on cookie sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.
5) Reduce oven to 350 degrees F and bake another 45-50 minutes or until filling is set.  Remove from oven and cool on rack for 2 hours.  Garnish with light whipped cream before serving, if desired.
6) Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 2-3 days.