This Low Carb Thing Works!

Although it's VERY hard to be creative with eating low carb and especially difficult to keep up with it when I rush around, not calculating calories, protein, carbs and sodium, I'm working it.

Originally I thought I was down one pound today, but it didn't seem right. So I went back and re-weighed about 20 minutes later (after only working on the computer) and my weight was actually down 2.6 pounds from Tuesday! Woohoo!

So today... I worked on my daily numbers so I could get caught up. See ... I really wanted to track sodium and cholesterol but my original spreadsheet didn't have those columns so it's taking me a while to add them in, then to go back and calculate numbers. It's revised now. Mostly.

I had been writing down what I ate so I went back to where I stopped calculating (Monday) and did the numbers. And OH BLEEP! Here's my numbers: http://veegettinghealthy.blogspot.com/p/stats-food-eaten-on-low-carb.html (That link [also at the top of this page] will be where I post my daily intake and maybe later, daily output. CALORIES!)

I went over carbs one day, over calories another, under calories another, and really didn't eat very healthy. I'm BACK to tracking daily again, because I really gotta. I want to be HEALTHY ... not just a lower weight.

BUT ... I must be doing something right because I'm dropping the weight again. I could probably eat more, so actually, I will today. I found a new gluten-free baking mix at the grocery last week ... by BISQUICK! I promised my Kid I'd make him some pancakes this week, so I plan to today, for dinner. Or I might do it tomorrow. We (and by "we", I mean "he") are having a major attitude problem today.

Back to this baking mix: thing is, it's HIGH in carbs so I'm only gonna have a small one and will probably guess at the numbers. Their nutrition facts on the side of the box is based on 1/3 cup dry mix and the recipe for pancakes (on the back) is for 1 cup of dry mix PLUS milk, oil and egg. It's gonna take some figuring. Hopefully they will be better than some of the other gluten-free pancakes we'd tried.

I don't like using so many carbs at one meal. I like to spread them around, except for my regular snack of dark chocolate chips!

I also don't like eating so much meat. I was trying very hard to get away from eating meat, but it's nearly impossible to do low-carb without it. Yes, I like eggs but even having 1 or 2 a day gets tedious. Nuts and seeds have a few more carbs than I'd like but I'm gonna start adding more into my diet (been eating macadamia nuts until I ran out, and peanut butter). Beans have way too many carbs.

After googling "vegan low carb diet", I got really confused. Like at http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/vegetarian/a/veganlowcarb_3.htm ... she ate 130 grams of carbs ... but the way I understand low-carb, it's between 20-50 grams of carbs a day so HOW is 130 grams LOW CARB?

Okay... so further research indicates that eating soy is the best option for vegetarian/vegan low-carb eating. Thing is, having more than a tiny bit of soy per WEEK messes with my hormones, and I already haven't had a period since Feb or Mar. So really, soy is not gonna work for me on a regular basis.

Next choice is peanuts. Ok. Fine. I can do healthy peanut butter. Maybe ONCE a day. I sorted my spreadsheet, nuts section, and came up with the following:

Protein, Nuts, Brazil, 1 oz (6-8 kernels) ... 1.4 carbs
Protein, Nuts, Macadamia, 1 oz (10-12 kernels) ... 1.5 carbs
Protein, Nuts, Pecans, 1 cup of halves ... 4.2
Protein, Nuts, Pecans, 1 cup chopped ... 4.6
Protein, Nuts, Pistachio, w/salt,dry roasted, 1 oz 49 knls ... 4.7
Protein, Nuts, Walnuts, 1 cup shelled ... 7.0
Protein, Nuts, Almonds, 1 cup sliced ... 7.3

So when I go to town tomorrow, I'm going to the health food store and getting raw unsalted nuts: brazil, macadamia and pistachio. Already have walnuts, pecans and almonds. Maybe I can have a different nut a day PLUS peanut butter. That's 2 sources of protein. PLUS 1 egg (boiled or scrambled). 3 sources.

AND

I like my drinks:
Drink, EAS Carb Control Strawberry, Protein ... 1.0 carbs
Drink, EAS Carb Control Chocolate, Protein ... 3.0 carbs

So I'll get more at the store this week because that's another protein source per day.

Then there's cheese. Yummy delicious cheese. Mozzarella string cheese. Grated colby jack. My homemade goat cheese. Yum.

Problem is ... too much cheese (and meat) makes me SEVERELY backed up! So I should eat those less often than I have been.

Where am I at?

Breakfast: Carb control drink
Snack: nuts
Lunch: egg(s) and sometimes cheese, or tuna
Snack: peanut butter (or soy butter or sunflower seed butter once a week)
Dinner: cheese and/or meat/poultry/hot dog

Basically.

Sorry for rambling on today. It's the best way I can work this out in my head. Because if I don't think it through like this, I'll end up not doing it, just focusing on what I **can't** have.

Shall I move on to fruits? Because if you've been following my blog, you KNOW I LOVE my fruits. I can give up breads but this no-fruit thing is bothering me. I love the taste of fresh ripe cantaloupe in my mouth. The crunch of ice-cold watermelon. The tang of raspberries. The satisfying sweet of fresh ripe strawberries.

I miss fruit.

Fruit, Blackberries, 1 cup ... 6.2 carbs
Fruit, Raspberry, Red, fresh, 1 cup ... 6.7
Fruit, Strawberry, fresh, 1 cup, sliced ... 9.5
Fruit, Watermelon, 1 cup diced ... 10.9
Fruit, Cantaloupe, 1 cup diced ... 11.3
Fruit, Blueberries, 1 cup ... 17.5

These are the lowest carb fruits on my spreadsheet that I'll actually eat. (I'll eat apricots and plums but don't really care for them. I'd rather enjoy what I **do** like!). BLUEBERRIES: I have lots in my freezer already, and I'd eat only a half a cup, making the carbs about 9.

So at the store tomorrow, I think I'll get some frozen blackberries, raspberries and strawberries. (Raw will just go bad too quickly and make me waste money, which we can't afford right now.)

Is there a low-carb gluten-free cereal around?

Should I go to low-carb regular cereal? and forget the gluten-free part for now? But then my rash will come back, and so will some major stomach problems.

Argh!

Question of the day:
What can I do with frozen berries that doesn't involve carbs (like cereal or bread) or making smoothies more than once a week?

Coz I googled "low-carb recipes for frozen berries" and almost everything brought up smoothies! I do love smoothies but more than once or twice a week, and I'm bored.

HELP!