Death By Yam

"When you see this distinctive symbol on a product, you'll instantly know the food has been screened and proven to meet the American Heart Association's certification criteria to be low in saturated fat and cholesterol for healthy people over age 2."

This along with the American Heart Association red heart with a white check mark are prominently featured on a variety of foods. I saw this logo and statement on a can of Bruce brand Yams in an eye-level sale display as I shopped my local Albertson's. Having heard that yams are "better" than regular potatoes, I decided to check the label more closely in case it was something I could add to my "occasional, but not all the time" foods.

What I saw being recommended by the American Heart Association as "heart healthy" almost gave me a heart attack! The ingredients alone made me cringe... sweet potatoes, water, corn syrup, and sugar. Ummm...it's a SWEET POTATO! It's already sweet. IT EVEN HAS SWEET IN THE NAME! What insane person decided it also needed corn syrup AND sugar?

Anyway, the more I read, the funnier it got. It listed the carbs for a 6oz serving as 45g. Ok, technically I could eat one serving of these as long as the only other things I ate during the day were coconut oil and eggs, but whatever. Then it got sillier. That 45 carbs from the single serving is only 15% of the recommended daily carb allowance! Sure that recommendation comes from the government...but still...damn!

I guess I am lucky that as a kid I was a pretty picky eater. I thought the holiday sweet potatoes dishes my relatives made looked disgusting and wouldn't touch them. I bet they all thought I was a rude obnoxious kid. Well, I was, but it also turns out I had a healthy sense of self preservation. All that sugar on top of an already sweet item, and then what do people do with it? Cover it in brown sugar or PUT MARSHMALLOWS ON IT! AAAAACKKKK! Is there any wonder there is obesity problem? See for yourself!
http://www.brucefoods.com/recipes/Bruceyampecancasserole.html
http://www.brucefoods.com/recipes/sweetpotatoballs.html

Ironically, many decide to make this classic dish "more healthy" by leaving out the butter in favor of margarine, using low fat milk, and swapping the sugar out for honey and orange juice. So the only things in the dish that might possibly be able to signal your brain to stop eating this mess...THE FAT...is removed.

As the evidence piles up that carbohydrates and sugars are the cause and/or major contributors to obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's and dementia ALONG WITH heart disease*, why is their logo on a pile of sugar in a can? Does it make sense to you that a major organization that, according to it's mission statement, promotes "building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke" endorses the very products that are causing the problem in the first place?

In the interest of truth and honesty, maybe their logo needs a little tweaking...



*Source: "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes and "Natural Health and Weight Loss" by Barry Groves

Low Carb Coffee Treat

I have stumbled on a good low carb, sugar-free coffee that is really tasty...especially now that the temperatures are dropping and holiday temptations abound. I ran this recipe by several other low carbers at the Low Carb Friends forum and so far it is getting the thumbs up.

Real cream makes this coffee drink tasty and filling

Wifezilla's Coco Mocha
In a large coffee mug combine (leaving room for sweetener, etc...);
1/3 mug of fresh hot coffee
1/3 mug boiling water
1/3 mug cream
1-2 Tbsp cocoa (depends on your preference or the size of the mug)
a splash of pure vanilla extract
Sweetener (lately it have been using Da Vinchi sf hazelnut syrup and one equal packet)

Mine is heavy on the cream and light on the coffee. You can adjust the ratios to be lower or higher in caffeine by mixing up the coffee/hot water ratio. You can also adjust the calories by lowering or raising the amount of cream. Remember to blend your sweeteners to lower the aftertaste effect.

It might make you cringe if you are a calorie counter, but there are times that after I drink this I am not hungry until lunch. Whether or not it stalls you will depend on your individual metebolic issues. It may be worth a try if you are having a serious chocolate or sweet jones. A high-carb alternative would be much worse.

FEEDBACK:
"Wifezilla, my 18 yr old daughter is doing this diet with me. She was craving something sweet and hot and so I made the coco Mocha for her and shes like "Holy cow mom!" I bet she wont go to sleep til midnight. ha!" - SusieQue333

"I made that coffee this morning and it was really good! I enjoyed it and may even drink it with the decaf too." Determinedtolose

"...think of the money we are saving..These things at Starbucks are probably $3.XX."
"Wifezilla: I made the coco mocha..nommie, nommie, nommie..I do think it is going to be a regular thing for me." - CarolynF

The Truth is Out There!

YouTube clips from the upcoming anti-"Super Size Me" movie, FAT HEAD are up! I just saw them thanks to Dr. Mike Eades. He is the author of the book "Protein Power" and an avid blogger. His latest post features clips from the upcoming movie and they give short and sweet examples of how eating low fat/high carbohydrate came to dominate the nutritional landscape. (If you just can't seem to force yourself to read "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes, you could use these as video Cliff notes!)

For those of you hiding in a cave in the Middle East for the last 4 years, SUPER SIZE ME was a documentary made by Morgan Spurlock, who ate only McDonald's food three times per day, trying every item on the menu at least once. If the order taker asked him if he wanted his meal super sized, he had to say "yes". According to the Wikipedia entry, he ate an average of 5,000 calories (the equivalent of 9.26 Big Macs) per day during the experiment.

Not surprisingly, Morgan gained weight. The implication was this was all the fault of the fast food industry. This, or course, ignored his unrealistic eating pattern, his choice to drink soda loaded with sugar and high fructose corn syrup, his rule that EVERYTHING on the menu had to be tried and his taking the super size option. Apparently, there is also a lot of bad science in this film. FAT HEAD addresses this by having the movie maker eat at the SAME restaurant and LOSING weight while improving his lipid profile.

I look forward to seeing them both...back to back...with a bunless double cheese burger in one hand and my copy of "Good Calories, Bad Calories" in the other. Hopefully I wont get too much low carb ketchup on the pages.





For more on the upcoming Tom Naughton movie...
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/2006/08/10/appearing-in-the-anti-supersize-me-movie/
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/2006/08/16/the-anti-supersize-me-movie-from-the-horses-mouth/

Partyin' Low Carb

The holidays are here. We just made it through Thanksgiving, but there is still Christmas and New Years to go. If your own family gatherings weren't dangerous enough for someone trying to lose weight, you have office parties, get-together with friends, and community events to attend. Each will offer temptations you would rather not face from foods you would like to pretend no longer existed. Yet we have to make it through, and here are a few thoughts that can make the process easier.

1. Your diet is your problem.
It may sound cold, but your nutritional needs and dietary restrictions are yours and yours alone to deal with. Making special demands of the hosts at events you attend is annoying and rude. So is berating other people for indulging in foods you can't eat. It's the holidays....don't be a jerk and just let them enjoy themselves. If your hosts ASK, that's different, but even then I would be tempted to tell them not to worry about it. After all, you could just...

2. Offer to bring something.
I have a Christmas party at a friend's in 2 weeks. Since I am eating low carb, I offered to bring the relish tray and an olive platter. I KNOW I can eat everything on the tray I am preparing, so even if every other single thing at the party is loaded with more sugar than an episode of the Care Bears, I will still have something to eat. Of course, I could just...

3. Eat ahead of time.
Why leave things up to chance? Make yourself a tasty low carb meal before you head out for your festivities. If your tummy is full, you are less likely to indulge in questionable eating. Besides, do you really know WHAT Aunt Erma put in that casserole? And how many times have you heard things like "Go ahead and eat it! It's good for you! Instead of sugar I used honey!"

4. Don't sweat the diet for one night.
I know this might sound like blasphemy, but slip-ups can and do happen anyway. Why not schedule yours? I had decided that on Halloween that I would allow myself some candy. I had low carbed since May and lost 30 lbs. I knew eating candy for one night wouldn't kill me, and that I could restart on low carb the next day. That mind set actually seemed to reduce my stress level and I did not even try to eat any candy until the very end of the evening. I said "try" because I actually popped 3 mini M&M's in my mouth after turning off the porch lights and blowing out the candles in the pumpkins, but had to spit them out. Low carb had changed my sense of taste so much that those little M&M's were way too sweet and I just couldn't eat them.

True, not everyone will be so lucky, but if you are prepared to deal with the consequences of stalling for a couple of days (or even gaining a few pounds), enjoy yourself. I still "cheat" and have several glasses of wine during my monthly book clubs, but stay LC legal the rest of the time. Just be careful that you don't start scheduling cheats more and more often. It CAN be a slippery slope, so please be careful.

5. Offer to host.
In the case of friends and families, you can offer to have the party at your house. This will give you a little bit more control over the menu and give you access to your handy supply of healthy low carb ingredients. DO NOT use this as an opportunity to force everyone you invite to eat ONLY low carb! Sure, it's better for them, but you're not their mom. (Even if you are, once they are over 18, it's time to ease up woman!) Have whatever traditional foods your friends and family enjoy. People enjoy their old favorite foods as much as they enjoy the company. If you are clever about it, they shouldn't even realize a lot of the foods you have offered are low carb.

6. Run away.
Got vacation time? Got some extra dough? Take a vacation and get the hell out of Dodge! If you are willing to take the flack from friends and family you will get for not spending the Holidays with them, a vacation to a remote island that has never heard of processed food might not be a bad alternative.

Poor and still want to get away? Tell your parents you are going to see a distant relative on your husband's side of the family, while he tells his parents you are going to see a distant relative on your side (you know...like you and your friends used to do when you wanted to go out drinking back in high school). Then stay home, keep the shades drawn and unplug the phones. Put on the Christmas music, cook yourself some steaks and make huge salads. Dessert can be a sugar-free cheesecake...or each other!

7. Invent a new religion.
True, a bit drastic, but think about it. By saying "no thanks, it's against my religion", you could avoid buying presents, hanging out with people you don't like, traveling to places you don't want to go and listening to music you can't stand. This idea might not be as crazy as it sounds!

No matter what tips you decide to use (or ignore), be sure to enjoy yourself.

Happy Holidays!

This veggie tray with a low carb dip is a great choice for any party!

Low Carb Thanksgiving

I am the one who traditionally cooks Thanksgiving dinner, and this year is no exception. I am cooking for a "mixed" crowd. By this I mean I am eating low carb, hubby, while not hard core, is also eating low carb, but my sons (and some of their friends) are not.

Cooking for non-low carbers and not having them notice is a challenge, but it is also a good test of your cooking skills. If you can get some sugar junkie to eat a sugarless dessert, ask for seconds, and then beg you for the recipe...that recipe obviously rocks. I only have one of those so far, but I am hoping to add to the list with my Thanksgiving edibles.

On the menu so far is Turkey, a stuffing made with sausage and Winter squash, gravy made from Campbells Chicken Mushroom soup (quite low carb) plus added spices and pan drippings, a large green salad with homemade vinegar and oil dressing, a sugar-free pumpkin cheesecake with almond meal crust, and plenty of cheese cubes, olives, pickles, pickled peppers, and fresh veggies to nibble on while watching football and playing Nintendo Wii.

I doubt my substitutions will even be noticed by the ravaging horde and the only things conspicuously missing will be crackers, rolls and mashed potatoes. I will miss the crackers, hubby will miss the rolls, and our oldest will really miss the mashed potatoes. I did take a bit of pity on my son and warned him that I would not be making potatoes this year, but he is more than welcome to bring his own.

Adaptations are possible without throwing the family in to total chaos, or the low carber falling off the wagon. Just realize that not everyone is going to be joining you on the low carb journey and get a bit creative. Try new recipes, change the quantity of bad foods vs. good foods, make sure the low carb items are easy to grab and munch on (like my cheese, olive and veggie platter). Or just let your guest use your cookware and they can make their own poison all for themselves.

New Cat Food Alternative

By happy accident I found another wet cat food without grains and fillers. I was at Safeway and remembered we were out of Fancy Feast, so I headed to the cat food isle. They wanted 60¢ a can for the girl's usual stuff. When I get it at Walmart it is only 44¢/can...even cheaper if I buy the 12 pack. As I was complaining about the price to my girlfriend, she picked up a can of Priority Total Pet Care and said "this is on sale."

We both looked at the label and I was shocked to see it contained no wheat, corn, rice or other starches. It is the Safeway store brand and was only 30¢/can on sale. Even better, the cans are almost twice the size of the Fancy Feast brand. Like Fancy Feast, not all flavors are grain free. You have to get out a magnifying glass (or bring your electron microscope) and carefully read over the ingredients. One "safe" flavor was Beef Dinner. There were two others, but silly me forgot to write them down.

I will see tomorrow morning if this will pass the kitty taste test.

As for the girls, no additional loss this week. Looks like Xena is stuck in a stall. I will be heading over to PetsMart later today to try a different brand of low carb cat food. Maybe that will help her to start losing again.

As for me, I am at 215 after some fluctuation. I have been upping my exercise a bit, and that seems to make me gain (unfortunately). By upping my fat percentage and lowering calories a bit I was able to get rid of my temporary gain. I will keep on keeping on and see how it goes.

More Evidence That Low Carb Helps Fight Cancer

From a study at the Duke University Medical Center...

"The team compared tumour growth in 75 mice that were eating either a low-carbohydrate diet, a low-fat but high-carbohydrate diet, or a Western diet, high in fat and carbohydrates.

The mice that ate a low-carbohydrate diet had the longest survival and smallest tumour size, Freedland said.

"Low-fat mice had shorter survival and larger tumours while mice on the Western diet had the worst survival and biggest tumours."

Science Daily
Hindu Times
US News

Product Review: Heinz One Carb Ketchup

Switching to a low carb way of eating means giving up certain things. I was more than happy to give up bread, pasta, and rice in favor of cheese, cream, and butter, but lately I have really missed ketchup. I have always liked ketchup, but after reading the label on the bottle of Heinz I had in the refrigerator, I knew I was going to have to learn to go without. It contained both corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup . That adds up to 30 carbs for a mere 2 tablespoons...an amount I can easily put on a bunless, lettuce-wrapped burger without even blinking. Since I am trying to stay below 60 carbs/day, that itty bit of ketchup can easily blow half of my carb allotment.

So I gave up the ketchup, resorting to jealous glaring as my son put generous amounts on his burgers, or hubby dipped his bratwurst in to a big pile of the delicious red goo. I spent many shopping trips standing in front of the ketchup isle reading labels to see if, by some slim chance, there was some obscure brand out there not loaded with sugars. Imagine my joy the other day at finding several bottles of HEINZ ONE CARB, REDUCED SUGAR KETCHUP at the local Walmart! I was tempted to grab all of them, but I settled on two 14oz bottles. I had a bit of doubt about how it would taste. Low carb AND good tasting just seemed like too much to ask for!

When I got home, I grilled up a batch of all beef burgers, salivating at the though of finally being able to eat a burger with ketchup again. I opened the bottle as the burgers cooked and gave it a sniff. It SMELLED like real ketchup. I flipped the burgers and then squeezed some ketchup on the plate. It LOOKED like real ketchup. I took the finished burgers off the grill and put one on my plate. I used my fork to break off a piece, then got ready to dip. I gave the meat a heavy ketchup coating and took a bite. YEAH! It TASTES LIKE REAL KETCHUP!!! If anything, it was a touch sweeter than I remembered, but I have been off the stuff for a while, so maybe it was just me.

I am happy to say that I no longer have to go without my favorite condiment and highly recommend this low carb ketchup version. The price was annoying, being double that of the regular ketchups, but I do think it is worth the extra expense. Check the ketchup isle at your local stores, or there are places, like Netrition.com that have it online.

Ratings (out of 5 stars)
Flavor: *****
Value: ***

Stupid Things

If you are considering a low carb diet, no doubt friends, family, and random medical professionals will be more than happy to provide you with advice. Of course this advice will most likely be unsolicited as well as grossly inaccurate. Here are some of the dumber things that the average schmuck believes and says about a low carb way of eating along with the actual truth.

"Low carb is bad for your kidneys!"
No. It isn't. If your kidneys are healthy BEFORE you begin a low carb diet, they will not be damaged by reducing your intake of sugar and carbohydrates one bit. The higher level of fat and protein you eat on a low carb diet isn't a problem either. According to Elizabeth Ward, founder and president of the British Kidney Patient Association, "If you have healthy kidneys, you can't eat enough protein to damage your kidneys."

As stated by Barry Groves, nutritionist and author of Natural Health and Weight Loss, " The long-running Nurses' Health Study, for example, showed that a high protein intake was not associated with renal function decline in women whose kidneys were healthy at the start of the study."
http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/kidney.html

A special thanks to Nancy LC at the Active Low Carb forums for inspiring this cartoon! ©2007 Wifezilla

A Low Carb Diet is Bad for Your Heart!
Wrong!
"Theoretically, the high fat content in low-carb diets could raise levels of an inflammatory marker in the blood called C-reactive protein, or CRP.

But when the researchers compared the effects of a low-carb diet with a traditional fat- and calorie-restricted diet among 78 extremely obese adults, they found that CRP levels typically fell to a greater degree with the carb-cutting diet"

http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?191862

"We've spent billions of our tax dollars trying to prove the diet-heart hypothesis. Yet study after study has failed to provide definitive evidence that saturated-fat intake leads to heart disease. The most recent example is the Women's Health Initiative, the government's largest and most expensive ($725 million) diet study yet. The results, published last year, show that a diet low in total fat and saturated fat had no impact in reducing heart-disease and stroke rates in some 20,000 women who had adhered to the regimen for an average of 8 years."
http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=health&category=heart.disease&conitem=a03ddd2eaab85110VgnVCM10000013281eac____

"Critics of low-carbohydrate diets claim that they promote heart disease, but one of the first studies to examine the long-term effects of low-carb eating suggests otherwise.

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found no evidence of an association between low-carbohydrate diets and increased cardiovascular risk, even when these diets were high in saturated animal fats."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/08/health/webmd/main2164981.shtml

"In a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, investigators from the Harvard School of Public Health report that women who ate diets relatively low in carbohydrates (and thus relatively high in fats) experienced no increase in coronary artery disease."
http://heartdisease.about.com/od/reducingcardiacrisk/a/lowcarb3.htm

I Could Never Eat all That Meat!
Contrary to popular belief, a low carb diet doesn't necessarily mean a diet of mostly meat. Low carbohydrate vegetables like leafy greens, cucumbers, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, jicama and more make up a good portion of a low carber's daily fare.

Low carbohydrate fruit like blueberries and strawberries are also on the menu. Once a low carber transitions from weight loss to maintenance, more fruits like kiwi and cantaloupe can be added as well.

There are even groups of vegetarian low carbers out there in cyberspace. In my case, the largest component to my diet isn't meat OR vegetables. It's fat!

A Low Carb Diet Screws Up Your Bones!
"As of May 2006, the scientists conducting the studies continue to be “surprised” by the result that more protein in the diet at the very least causes no harm, and in most studies improves bone density rather than causes bone loss"
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/faq/f/lowcarbboneloss.htm

You also have to keep in mind that there are a couple of cultures that, for centuries, had thrived on a low (or NO) carbohydrate/higher protein/high fat diet. Among them are the Inuit people. Had a low carb diet caused bone damage, generation after generation of this way of eating should have left them mangled and broken. Instead, those sticking with their ancestral diet are perfectly healthy while those who have adopted a more Western style of eating with increased carbohydrate consumption are the ones who are unhealthy.

"Today, when diet books top the best-seller list and nobody seems sure of what to eat to stay healthy, it’s surprising to learn how well the Eskimo did on a high-protein, high-fat diet."
http://discovermagazine.com/2004/oct/inuit-paradox/article_view?b_start:int=0&-C=

You Need a Certain Amount of Carbohydrates Per Day!
Nope. You can live just fine without carbohydrates AT ALL! While is is true that your brain runs on glucose, and carbohydrates are a ready source for that material, if you do not ingest glucose, your brain is quite capable of running on ketone bodies.

In fact, eating glucose because your brain runs on glucose, instead of helping, actually causes more problems. "...there is a groundswell of medical evidence that documents how too much sugar can make the brain shrink, wither, atrophy and just plain work badly.

If you want to age your brain just eat the typical diet most Americans consume. That will lead to memory, attention and mood difficulties and will hasten the path to Alzheimer's"
http://www.commonvoice.com/article.asp?colid=7628

A low carbohydrate diet isn't a fad, it isn't new (having been written about and studied since the 1800's), and it isn't dangerous. The media and medical community have tried to blame a low carb diet for all kinds of ills, but the scientific evidence keeps coming up in low carb's favor. Instead of listening to sound bytes from the uninformed, do your own research. As much as the critics like to claim there is no telling what a low carb diet will do long term, there is plenty of history out there for anyone who cares to look.

In my case, low carb is the only thing that has lead to a significant weight loss. It has also lowered my blood pressure from 149/95 to 127/80. My kidneys haven't "Asploded!", my bones aren't broken, and my heart is still beating. My friends, who are following standard medical advice are gaining weight, on medication for type 2 diabetes and have high blood pressure. Unfortunately, we ALL know the long term outcome of that.

ENSURE: Ensuring cancer cell growth?

In a previous posting (here), I pointed out the connection between cancer and sugar. To quickly review, cancer cells thrive on glucose and carbohydrates and sugars turn to glucose in your body. After reading over the available information, I firmly believe that glucose and elevated insulin levels, if not THE causes, are at least major contributors to cancer tumor growth.

Believing as I do, I was shocked to find out that the nice maintenance lady where I work had been diagnosed with an aggressive thyroid cancer and she was drinking a lot of glucose. Due to the damage to her throat from the cancer and her subsequent surgery, according to a friend, the only thing she was able to ingest was ENSURE.

A quick check on the internet showed that ENSURE, while it may contain vitamins, is completely loaded with sugars. So this poor woman, recently diagnosed with cancer, in pain from surgery and not able to eat, got her last "nourishment" from a product loaded with sugar, maltodextrin and corn syrup. Your body converts these items to glucose, and glucose is what cancer cells thrive on. Needless to say, she did not survive long after her diagnosis. It was only 2 weeks from the time she found out she had cancer to the time she died. No, I am not claiming it was the ENSURE that killed her, but I certainly don't think it helped.

I didn't know her well enough to say for sure why she initially became a cancer victim, but I had seen her on one occasion smoking a cigarette. I do know that obesity was not an issue, because this woman was quite thin and very physically active. Even though she was in her 70's, she still mowed the lawn, took care of the landscaping, shoveled snow, raked leaves, cleaned up the parking lot, and kept the sidewalks at our office in great condition. I saw her quite often when I ended up pulling overtime on the weekends. She was friendly, always had a smile on her face, and seemed to actually enjoy her work.

And now she is another cancer statistic.

Hopefully by avoiding sugar and eating low carb, I will greatly reduce the possibility of getting cancer, but in case it does somehow happen, I want it on record that I do NOT want ENSURE. I think all that would do is ENSURE my cancer hung around even if I had surgery or went through chemo. I think an Atkins shake would be a much better option. True, it isn't a perfect solution, but the Atkins shake has only 4g of carbs per can (with 2g of fiber) while the ENSURE has 40 grams of carbs and NO fiber. With the established tie between cancer and glucose, ENSURE should be the last thing that doctors recommend to their patients.

Cancer patients need to keep up their strength and nourish their healthy cells while doctors try to eliminate the bad cells. I believe that recommending a product like ENSURE is a misguided attempt to keep them strong enough for treatment. Instead of giving patients sugar, there is something that will keep them strong without fueling cancer growth. It's called fat. Cancer cells cannot utilize the energy in fat, but the rest of the body sure can. If I ever get cancer, just get me a tub of coconut oil and a spoon. Better yet, get me a nice, cold quart of heavy cream and a bendy straw.


Here are the ingredients of the 2 products discussed in my post. Judge for yourself!

Ensure: Water, sugar (sucrose), corn syrup, maltodextrin (corn), calcium caseinate, high-oleic safflower oil, canola oil, soy protein isolate, whey protein concentrate, corn oil, calcium phosphate tribasic, potassium citrate, magnesium phosphate dibasic, natural and artificial flavor, soy lecithin, sodium citrate, magnesium chloride, salt (sodium chloride), carrageenan, choline chloride, potassium chloride, ascorbic acid, ferrous sulfate, alpha-tocopheryl acetate, zinc sulfate, niacinamide, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, cupric sulfate, vitamin A palmitate, thiamine chloride hydrochloride, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, folic acid, chromium chloride, biotin, sodium molybdate, sodium selenate, potassium iodide, phylloquinone, vitamin D3 and cyanocobalamin.
http://www.allegromedical.com/emergency-preparation-c5023/ensure-nutritional-supplements-8-oz-cans-p176498.html

Atkins Shake: Water, calcium caseinate, soybean oil, whey protein concentrate, cocoa (processed with alkali), cellulose gel, contains 0.5% or less of the following: potassium phosphate, cellulose gum, soy lecithin, natural and artificial flavor, carrageenan, sucralose (a non-nutritive sweetener), magnesium chloride, magnesium phosphate, tricalcium phosphate, d-biotin, d-calcium pantothenate, folic acid, niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, sodium ascorbate, thiamin mononitrate, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin B12, riboflavin, vitamin D3, vitamin E acetate, vitamin K1, chromium chloride, copper sulfate, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, potassium chloride, potassium citrate, potassium iodide, sodium citrate, sodium molybdate, sodium selenite, zinc sulfate, maltodextrin.
http://www.atkins.com/products/cafe-mocha-shake

The Kitties Weigh-In

I weighed the girls again today. Xena has hit a stall, staying at 14 pounds for the second week in a row. Cookie has lost again and is down to 8 pounds. Looks like Xena is a lot like me...very resistant to weight loss. I know how she feels and not losing is very frustrating.

Unlike me, though, she isn't bitching to her girlfriends about being stuck, nor do I have to listen to her whine about her old fur not fitting, but not wanting to buy new fur until she hits goal. Xena also doesn't have to wonder if her artificial sweetner use is stalling her, or maybe she is eating too much dairy.

I have a few more variables to worry about than my furry little friend, but I am possitive that all of us are on the right path. We'll see how we are all doing next week, and maybe I will have to make some adjustments. If Xena doesn't start losing more, I will make some adjustments for her too. Most likely trying a different brand of low-carb dry food. Things might be easier for me if I only had 2 kinds of food to choose from. It would be especially easy if I could get someone to come to the house and serve it to me every day and refill my water jug while they are at it.

Low Carb can Prevent Wrinkles

People have turned to low carb diets for their weight loss benefits since the 1800's. In our modern, youth centered society, there is yet another reason to consider a low carb diet...to prevent wrinkles.

It is already known that sugar and easily digestible carbohydrates can cause weight gain, feed cancer cells, cause type 2 diabetes (as well as heart disease and possibly dementia), but now the British Journal of Dermatology has added dry, saggy, wrinkled skin to the list of sugar's evils.

What happens when you ingest sugars or carbs is that they attach to proteins in your body and form what are called AGES (Advanced Glycation End productS). The more sugar and carbs you eat, the more AGES you produce. AGES destroy your skin's collagen and elastin, which leaves your skin looking old.

AGES are also tied to other problems, including eye damage in diabetics and atherosclerosis lesions. But if destroying you on the inside isn't enough of a motivation for you to quit the sugar habit, having your face look like a prune might get you to consider a low carb lifestlye.

For more information...
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2007/11/02/health.for.her.sugar.wrinkles.cnn
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21257751/
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/11/01/hfh.sugar.skin

Weigh-In

Well, I rousted the cats again and dragged them to the scale. I tried to get Xena to just stand on it by herself, but she didn't like the way it felt on her paws. So all three of us weighed in.

Xena and Cookie maintained.

Me.....I am down to 215 1/2.

After weeks of getting my butt kicked by the kitties, I finally started losing again.

Yeah me!

Breakfast Alternative

People get the impression that when someone is eating low carb, eggs are your primary breakfast option. While I do like eggs and eat them quite frequently (usually with zucchini and mushrooms sauted in butter), there are times when I want something different. Today was one of those days, so I cooked up a batch of almond ricotta pancakes.



Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 cups almond or hazelnut meal
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup water
2 tsp almond or vanilla extract
4 packets of splenda

Mix your ingredients together and cook like regular cancer disks...ahh...I mean carb-infested pancakes and top with a sugar-free, low carb maple flavored syrup or fruit (strawberry or blueberry) puree.

These will be a bit more delicate than death circles...errr...I mean wheat pancakes, so be sure they're done on the bottom before you try to flip them. When done, the edges will appear dry.

This recipes makes about 12 medium sized cakes. 2 may look like a small amount, but that is usually all I can eat before getting full.

Kitty Weigh-In

Cookie and Xena were subjected to another weigh-in today. They were pretty cooperative and there are no claw marks on my face, though Cookie did try to sneak out of the room when she saw me weigh Xena (she's a clever old thing!).

"Hurry up and weigh me. I'm late for my nap!"

They both lost weight again, this time being fed exclusively low carb foods. Breakfast is still the grain-free variety of Fancy Feast, and their dry crunchies, Innova EVO cat & kitten food, replaced their previous bag of chicken and rice cat food.

As of this morning, Xena, formerly 22 pounds, was only 14 lbs. Cookie, who was never really fat, but definitely not skinny, has slimmed down to only 9 pounds. According to some online vet sites, the average weight for a female cat is between 8 and 12 pounds. Since both of my girls are on the smaller side, they still have room to lose...especially Xena.

While Cookie's heritage is a total unknown (we found her in a field behind our old apartment in the middle of the night...during a snow storm!), Xena is half Ragdoll Siamese. While this breed tends to be large and females are typically 10-12 pounds, Xena was the runt of the litter. She wont be "trim" until she is closer to 8 pounds.

Xena..the star of "The Biggest Loser, Feline Edition"

Cookie doesn't need to lose any more weight, and I admit, I was a bit concerned her weight is going down too. But if you look closely, her coat is shiny, her eyes are bright, and she is still spunky despite her age. She even had enough energy to sneak up on Xena last night and wack her in the back of the head. No particular reason I could see...she just walked up behind her and ::SMACK!::. Maybe Xena called her an "old fart" when we were out of the room.

Sugar by any other name...

If you talked to your average schmuck on the street, they would agree with you that sugar is bad. But they would only be thinking of table sugar or candy, not the fact that most of the food they feed themselves and their kids gets readily converted to glucose during digestion, the same as sugar. As far as the body is concerned, foods like wheat, rice, barley, oats, potatoes, corn, bananas, pineapple, grapes, mangos, and raisins may as well be table sugar. Sure you can use whole wheat or brown rice and slow the sugar down a bit, but how is it any better to eat a cup of sugar in one gulp or to eat half of it now, and the other half a little bit later? It's still all sugar.

Sugar is bad. Plain and simple. Aside from the fact that it rots your kid's teeth right out of their cute little heads, it has been linked to cancer cell growth, obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, atherialsclorosis, alzheimer's disease, and premature aging.

People who go on a low carbohydrate diet cut sugars and other carbohydrates down to a very low level. By doing this, they lessen their blood glucose levels and reduce the amount of insulin rampaging around their blood streams. This helps them lose weight, get off of diabetes medication, lower their blood pressure, and generally look and feel better. Unfortunately for those of us who recognize the dangers of sugar, sugar can be hard to eliminate from our diet because, often, it is in disguise.

If you really want to avoid sugar, get used to reading labels. Sugar by any other name is still bad for you.

Different Names for Sugar
Sugar
Glycogen
Mannitol
Sorbitol
Balactose
Monosaccharides
Polysaccharides
Honey
Molasses
Maple syrup
Maple sugar
Date sugar
Brown sugar
Raw sugar
Turbinado sugar
Corn sweetener
Dextrose
Fructose
Glucose
Honey
Lactose
Maltose
Malt syrup
Molasses
Sucrose
High fructose corn syrup
Corn syrup
Beet sugar
Turbinado Sugar
Galactose
Xylose
Amylose
Amylopectin

Might As Well Be Called Sugar
Wheat
Flour
Corn
Corn Gluten
Rice
Brown Rice
Oats
Arrowroot
Tapioca
Arracacha
Buckwheat
Cassava
Oca
Sago
Sorghum
Kudzu
Banana
Barley
Dates
Grapes
Raisins
Nectarines
Pears
Pasta
Grits
Corn Starch
Bread
Cookies
Cake
Donuts
Bagels
Crackers
Breakfast Cereal
Fruit Juice
Carrot Juice
Milk
Ice Cream
Anything with a cartoon character on the label

Good Luck Finding Low Carb Dog Food

At least when it comes to Walmart and canned dog food. Since the "1 can of low-carb wet food and a free feeding bowl of low-carb crunchies" plan is working so well for my cats, I see no reason it wouldn't work for dogs. With sister-in-law's dog being 20lbs over weight, I wanted to find a quick solution.

Too bad I have not yet found the canine equivalent of the relatively inexpensive grain-free Fancy Feast canned foods listed on FelineDiabetes.com. I checked dog food label after dog food label and found ingredients like wheat gluten, corn, corn gluten, rice, barely, potatoes, and lots of other useless goop. It didn't matter if it was a cheap store brand or the fancy expensive stuff like Newman's Own. They all had a very high percentage of fillers.

The only canned dog food that I found that seemed more on the harmless side was Cesar brand, but even that has yams in it. Plus it is designed for small dogs. Anything bigger than a Shitzu would laugh at you for trying to feed them such a tiny amount, and then bite you in the leg for teasing them.

After the useless Walmart trip, I decided to give Petsmart a call and see if they had any brands they could recommend. I told the girl on the phone that I needed a canned dog food with no wheat, corn, glutens, or other fillers. She recommended Blue Buffalo brand. A quick web check for ingredients showed it is free of wheat gluten, soy, or corn, but does contain ingredients like brown rice, rye, barley and oatmeal!

Sorry underpaid, overworked Petsmart girl, those are still fillers!

Yes, you can order low-carb dog foods online, but the shipping costs are a killer. I will do some more local product checks and read more labels as long as my eyesight holds out. If I find anything good, I will post it here. Even though I have cats, puppies are also cute and also deserve decent, affordable food.

Fall Recipes

I love fall! I like the changing color of the leaves, I like the cool crisp air, and I LOVE fall foods! Maybe it's because I was born in September, but this is my favorite time of year.

Winter squash is now on sale in most grocery stores and is cheap at the farmer's markets. While Winter squash like butternut, acorn and the beloved pumpkin are higher in carbs than Summer squash varieties, with some careful consideration, Winter squash can be a tasty part of your eating plan.

Here are a few of my favorite recipes to help you get in to the spirit of the season.

Perky Pumpkin Seeds

This pumpkin seed recipe was passed on to me by my mom - no telling where she got it. My brother and sister and I loved this recipe and used to fight over the precious seeds. Waiting for them to cook was torture since they need to slow roast.

Ingredients:
2 cups (or so) fresh pumpkin seeds
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
2 Tbl melted butter
1 1/4 tsp salt (optional)

DO NOT wash or clean the pumpkin seeds. Really. In fact, the more GOO they have on them, the better. Spread the pumpkin seeds in a thin layer on a cookie sheet. Combine the Worcestershire sauce and melted butter. Pour Worcestershire/butter mix over the seeds and stir. Sprinkle salt over the seeds. Bake at 200º for about two hours, stirring every half hour. Allow to cool and store in an air-tight container.

This also works with acorn squash seeds or a mixture of pumpkin and squash seeds.

Wifezilla's Savory Acorn Squash Cakes
Ingredients:
The meat from 1 acorn squash (baked with butter and sprinkled with erethyritol or other sweetener)
1 lb turkey sausage or other ground meat seasoned with fennel (browned)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup grated romano or parmesan cheese (or any combination of the two)
1/2 cup chopped baby portobello mushrooms
1/2 cup almond or hazelnut meal
1 Tbsp dried minced onion
Salt, pepper and ground cheyenne pepper to desired spiciness level.

Mix all ingredients together and form into cakes (think crab cakes). Place on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray and bake at 325º for about 30 minutes, flipping once when edges of the bottom look a bit browned. Sprinkle the top with your favorite cheese while still hot and serve.

Wifezilla's Chicken & Squash Saute

Ingredients:
2 chicken breast, cubed
2 cups sliced portobello mushrooms
2 cups cubed cooked Winter squash
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp oyster sauce
grated parmesan cheese

In a frying pan, saute the chicken over medium heat in butter. Add mushrooms once the chicken is cooked, adding additional butter if needed to keep the mushrooms from sticking to the pan. Once mushrooms have softened and absorbed the butter, add the squash cubes, garlic, and oyster sauce and stir. Sprinkle with parmesan and serve.

Abi Fae's Pumpkin Stew

Ok, this is not exactly a recipe per se, and I haven't tried it yet, but my friend Abi makes this every fall. Adaptations are needed to make it low carb legal, but the basics are intriguing.

Abi says, "Make a beef gravy, add veggies, potatoes, stew beef, apples, cranberries.... water it down if need be... pour it all into a hollowed pumpkin, replace the lid on the pumpkin, and bake until the pumpkin is soft (instead of letting the stew... well, stew). The apples and cranberries make it though... mmmm"

Abi is a very good cook and I have enjoyed many of her cooking experiments in the past. By swapping rutabagas or turnips for the potatoes, and making flour-free gravy should bring this to low carb specs. Anyone brave enough to try it? Let me know how it turns out!

UPDATE: I got brave and gave it a try. Here is my stew cooked inside of a turban squash.



It turned out pretty well. Instead of a gravy, I used a bottle of Oatmeal Stout beer thickened with flax meal. Yeah, it was pushing the carb envelope, but it did taste good :D

Low Carb Dogs?

I got an email from my sister-in-law after she read the blog posts about my cats. It turns out her dog is overweight too. According to the vet, 20 pounds!

I did a little digging and found a few low carb dry dog food brands that she might like to try (below). If anyone has any experience with these brands or a low carb diet for their dogs, please leave a comment. I still need to see if there are some commercial canned foods that are readily available. Next time I go to Wally World I will bring my electron microscope so I can check the ingredient lists.

If sister-in-law decides to go ahead and put her puppy on low carb, I will post pictures and progress when they become available.

NOTE: Some of these links will lead you to the manufacturer's search results. Not all products by the same manufacturer are low carb. Read the descriptions carefully!

Embark
Barking at the Moon Brand
Orijen
Innova
Wellness

Low carb pets foods can be quite expensive, and if your budget demands you only buy what you can get at the local mega store, there is still something you can do. Get your pets a dry food that lists some form of MEAT as the first ingredient. The "one can of good low carb wet food in the morning with ok crunchies available the rest of the day" method has worked well for the cats. Sure, I am upping things a notch now, but you have to start somewhere.

Low Carb Cat Update

(I initially discus low carb and cats on this post...http://wifezillasway.blogspot.com/2007/10/cats-are-going-low-carb-too.html ...This is an update.)

Since my cats, Cookie (18) and Xena (10) have joined me on my low carb journey, they have done quite well. Actually, better than I expected. After just 2 weeks Xena had lost 2 pounds. Cookie, while she didn't lose weight, had noticeable improvement in her coat. I was pretty excited about this.

Then today I did another weigh-in. Xena has lost another 4 pounds! Even Cookie has lost weight...she is down 2 pounds! So that means Xena has gone from 22 lbs down to 16 in about 4 weeks. Cookie, while she has never been fat has trimmed down a bit too - from 14lbs down to 12. Their activity level is great, their coats are GLOWING, and they really like their new food.

In addition to the Fancy Feast wet food flavors with no grains, I picked up a bag of Innova EVO dry food. The EVO cat & kitten food contains 50% protein, 22% fat, and only 7% carbs. I was a bit surprised to see POTATOES listed as one of the ingredients, but it is far enough down the list to not cause a huge problem. They are used to having a bowl of crunchies available at all times, and with this particular mix, they should continue to do well. Cost is an issue, though. With shipping the Innova EVO is about $3.65/pound. This is more than I spend on meat for the PEOPLE in my family! If it isn't $1.99/lb or less, I just don't buy it!

So my fat cat is losing weight at a pretty quick clip, my ancient cat is chugging along, but my purse is a bit lighter. At least with the higher quality food, they are eating less overall. And you know what that means! Less garbage in = less garbage OUT! Will the additional cost of cat food be made up by the reduced price of cat litter? Doubtful. But healthy cats will sure save money on vet bills. I should just quit complaining and consider it a wash.

I will look for more affordable alternatives on the dry food front and continue to feed them cornless, wheatless, barleyless, riceless and other garbage-free wet food. I just need to get a better magnifying glass so I can read those itty bitty nutrition labels on the cat food bags when I go shopping. My friend Carolyn says the type is so small because it only has to be large enough for the CATS to read. Too bad they never bothered do their home work or go through the trouble to get a driver's license so they can go to the pet food store themselves. I can fix the fat kitty problem, but it just may be too late to fix stupid kitty.