A call for yellow squash recipes

Regarding gardening, it's not too late to get one started! And, it doesn't really take up that much space. My garden is only 10x16 feet and contains yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and parsley. Many people even grow veggies in flower pots on apartment balconies. Fresh veggies from a garden blow away those you buy at the grocery store. Garden veggies are not just fresher but tend to also have much better flavor than store bought.

Like every year, I have planted a small garden with every inch jam packed with veggies. And, like always, I try to plant at least one thing that I've never tried to grow before. This year's experimental veggie is two small mounds of yellow squash. Today, I went to check my garden and picked an entire grocery bag full of yellow squash. It looks like the squash is going to grow fast and produce much more than I could possibly eat. Yellow squash is very low in net carbohydrates. If any of you have good uses for it or would mind sharing recipes, please post comments and share with us!

Grilled Romaine with Ceasar-Cado Dressing - 6 net carbs

My wife is a big fan of Rachael Ray. This recipe was pulled from Rachael Ray's web site. I've never thought of grilling lettuce before, but absolutely love the grilled flavor. The dressing also is to die for.

I'm estimated 6 net carbs to be on the safe side. I wasn't really certain about the net carb count on romaine lettuce hearts so I used the count for a whole head. The hearts are smaller so the real count might be a little lower.


Grilled Romaine with Caesar-cado Dressing

Makes 4 servings at about 6 net carbs per serving.

Ingredients:

1 avocado pitted (6.7 net carbs)
Juice of 2 lemons (8.5 net carbs)
2 tsp. anchovy paste (0 net carbs)
2 cloves garlic chopped/pressed (0.2 net carbs)
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce (less than 1 net carb)
salt & pepper to taste (0 net carbs)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (0 net carbs)
2 romaine hearts split lengthwise half way through core. (about 10 net carbs?)

non-stick cooking spray

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat grill to med-high.
2. In food processor, combine all ingredients except lettuce and olive oil. Pulse to chop everything. Then turn on high and add olive oil until thick dressing forms.
3. Dry romaine heads. Spray cut sides with cooking oil. Grill cut-side down until marked (about 2 minutes).
4. Serve romaine topped with Caesar-cado dressing.

Rachael Ray recommends serving with Tequila-Lime Chicken with tex-Mex-chimi-Chop. This is also a good recipe that is relatively low in carbs.

Garlic Relish Sauce

Last month, my wife and I were eating dinner at a local Nicaraguan restaurant (Nicholasville, Kentucky). It's a very unusual scene with formal white table cloths snuggled away in a run-down but fully functional gas station. While the surreal setting is a bit unorthodox, the food is spectacular. The dishes they serve have substantial meat portions along with slaw plus some delicious non-carb-friendly sides like fried plantains. Along with the food they serve a garlic relish sauce that is out of this world. When I was eating the sauce, I kept thinking that I'd had it somewhere... and then I remembered several years ago eating at San Francisco's Stinking Rose restaurant. The Stinking Rose is probably one of my all-time favorite restaurants. And, yes they serve the same garlic relish! This stuff is awesome with beef. Your carb-loving family and guests will enjoy putting it on their baguettes or other crusty breads. The possibilities for this stuff is endless. If refrigerated, this should keep at least a couple of weeks. I'd recommend keeping some on hand at all times to liven up your own creations.

This entire recipe has about 15 net carbs but the number of servings is so high that the net carbs per serving must be near zero.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of parsley chopped (Italian or curly)
1/4 c. chopped fresh garlic
2 T. white vinegar
1 t. salt
olive oil, enough to cover

Instructions:
If you use a food processor to chop the garlic and parsley, pulse chop the garlic first then add the parsley and don't over-do it! Then, mix parsley, garlic, salt, and vinegar. Add enough oil to cover. Stir. The longer it sits the stronger it gets. Refrigerate left-over.

Update on Making Diet Soda Pop

My wife and I are still avidly making our own diet soda pop.... we buy the carbonation and mixes from Soda-Club. The diet cola with Splenda is, in our opinions, far superior to diet Coke and diet Pepsi. The diet orange is awesome too. It's great that we can adjust the mix up or down to suit our tastes. I know it's not cheap to buy the equipment, but after the initial investment, it's much cheaper than buying soda at the stores. And, it's easier than lugging tons of cans and bottles of liquid home from the store. If any of you try it out, please come back and post your comments here.

Progress Slows... Taking breaks when sick...

My initial method this time was: Keep each meal to less than 15 net carbs with snacks of under 15 net carbs no closer than one hour to a meal or another snack. It resulted in a quick 30 pound loss followed by a plateau. I know that your body can not easily store fat if there is a shortage of carbohydrates, regardless of calorie intake. Some people claim that you need a calorie deficit to lose weight. There may be some truth in this however, I didn't have a deficit during the initial weight loss yet it still worked. But, alas, my body has apparently adapted and as usual, weight loss slows to a crawl. I'm sure that I can lose more weight but I have accepted that it will likely be a long drawn out time period. It's so frustrating how easy we can gain weight when it is so hard to take off!

I had planned on taking Valentines day off of the diet... And come V-Day, I came down with a really bad cold. I've been fighting it for the last 4 days. During this time, I thought it might be wise to ease off the low-carb diet so that my body would be sure to get adequate nutrients, calories, and vitamins to fight off the cold. I'm feeling somewhat better today... if I'm 90% tomorrow, I go back onto the low-carb diet. Either way, I should be back in the swing of things this coming weekend...

Wii Fit

I bought a Wii fit for my wife for Christmas. My two year old is actually pretty good at some of the games on it. While the hand-held controls are a bit difficult for him to manage, he took right to the pad. I also bought the Jillian Michaels disk for it. This is a fitness program by one of the Biggest Loser winners. Both the Jillian disk and the Wii fit disk are actually kind of fun to play with. I don't use either one regularly... I'm not home enough to do anything on a regular schedule.

Warning... maximum weight is 330 pounds. This is with clothing. So, if you're on the edge be prepared for it to sometimes let you play and sometimes tell you that you're too fat. Also, regardless of your weight, the Wii fit disk makes an annoying sound whenever you step on that sounds like it's saying "ouch". The noise, while funny, gets on my nerves.

Life

Last week was to be my only full week at home for January and most of February. There was an ice storm early in the week that brought down trees everywhere. Some 600,000 Kentuckians were left without power including my house. After a couple of days, we had to set everything from my fridge and freezer outside to stay cool. The frozen meats all thawed and the other stuff froze. I took the family to my parents house which is an hour and a half away. I worked from their house part of the week. Saturday we returned home... still no power. I had some really good exercise sawing up the large tree that fell in my front yard. My wife took our meat and the kid to her parent's house, about 2 hours away, where she remains. I spent Saturday night on the sleeper sofa in front of the fireplace and left for Nashville the next day. I can't imagine how the pioneers dealt with not having electricity. I now realize how for granted we take it. I'll be heading home tomorrow and will finish cutting up my trees this weekend. Everything's been so hectic lately that I haven't even thought about jumping onto a scale in over a month. I have absolutely no idea how much or how little I have lost recently. But, I have actually pretty much stuck with low-carb throughout all of it.

Making my own soda pop

My wife and I recently bought a soda machine from Soda-Club. It came with a variety of flavored syrups. The diet pops are all flavored with Splenda (sucralose). Which is awesome, because I don't think that aspartame and other sweeteners are very healthy. The flavors that we've tried so far have no "diet" after taste. The cola is great but my favorite is the grapefruit seltzer. When I worked in Paris France, I used to drink non-diet Schwepps sparkling grapefruit. Until now, I've found nothing similar available in the United States. And, I am extremely happy to have finally found a diet equivalent that doesn't even taste like diet! I never knew that pop could taste so fresh. The cost of carbonation and their syrups runs about 18 cents per liter. Soon, my wife and I are going to start experimenting with making flavors from scratch (ginger ale, etc.). My two year old son told me this morning that I need to make his Mom some tea pop because he knows that she loves tea. I think we'll give it a shot and see what happens.

What I'm doing now...

Just a quick FYI.... I've lost about 30 pounds and 4 inches around my waist since Thanksgiving (about 2 months). My "fat" clothes are once again too loose and I need to break out my box of skinny clothes again.

Here's what I'm doing: I'm not strictly following anyone else's program. I'm no longer looking at total carbs per day. Instead I'm just trying to keep each meal to less than 15 net carbs with snacks of under 15 net carbs no closer than one hour to a meal or another snack. Essentially I'm trying to avoid insulin spikes that cause the body to store fat. To my surprise, this has allowed me to stay in ketosis most of the time. I used to think that if I went over a total of 45 net carbs in a day that I'd quit losing weight. But now I'm finding that I can go higher as long as I spread it out.

As for vitamins, this time, I'm not taking lots of expensive vitamins. The only ones I am taking are potassium and chromium.

Also, I'm planning to take 2 days off of the diet per month. This allowed for me to partake in my brother's family's traditional Bulgarian Christmas Eve vegetarian dinner. I'm off again this weekend and enjoyed a smoothie made with frozen plums that I picked from my own back yard last summer. It seems that I crave fruits more than junk food. The re-feeds I think are good to replenish vitamins & muscle glycogen stores as well as to prevent my metabolism from slowing.

So far, this strategy has been working well.

Almond Macaroons - 1 net carb per cookie

This is an original. I simply modified my coconut macaroon cookie recipe.

Makes 30 cookies at about 1 net carbs each.

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1/4 t. cream of tartar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 T. amaretto
1/2 t. sweetzfree (or 2 Splenda Quick Packs)
2 c. almond meal

Instructions:
In mixing bowl beat on high all ingredients except the almond meal. A whisk attachment on your mixer will make this go much faster. Whisk on high until thick enough for peaks to form. Very gently fold in almond meal until just barely mixed. Drop spoonfulls onto cookie sheet. Bake 20 minutes at 325 degrees.

El Rey del Cabrito in Monterrey

Here's the pictures from the restaraunt "El Rey del Cabrito" (The goat king) in Monterrey Mexico. This place could easily be featured on Andrew Zimmerman's TV show, Bizarre Foods. The specialty is baby goats.

Low Carbing in Mexico (Days 2 & 3)

Last night, we had a wonderful low-carb meal at one of the most famous restaurants in Monterrey, El Rey del Cabrito (The Goat King). This restaurant's speciality is cabrito (baby goat). And yes, we ate baby goat. It was greasy and flavorful, like a cross between lamb and pork. There were essentially no side dishes, just a plate of peppers and a few garnishes of boiled broccoli and cauliflower... As an appetizer before the goat, we had "dried shredded meat" (apparently beef). This restaurant is a low-carber's dream. My camera batteries were dead but co-workers took pictures. The staff let us into the kitchen and my buddies took a wonderful picture of myself surrounded by baby goats on sticks roasting over open coals. I'll post the pictures once I get copies.

Breakfast at the hotel was eggs with warm spicy salsa and a small side of refried beans.

Lunch today, at the office was a large hamburger. I gave away the fries and stripped away the bun. There was plenty of meat, avocado, and cheese to keep me happy.

It is currently after 9:00 PM and we haven't left the office. Yes, I'm posting from work as my ability to attention in the meeting is beginning to wane. They ordered pizza. The only non-pizza items were salads. A no-no in Mexico. But, everyone assured me that Monterrey food and water is not as risky as other parts of Mexico and that eating their lettuce wasn't all that dangerous. So, I ordered a chicken Caesar salad. About half way through the salad, I found a rat turd. Argh!!! This sucks. I just hope I don't get sick. I didn't make a scene... I just quietly threw my salad in the trash and ate the cheese off of a few slices of pizza.

It's past 10:00 PM my home time. I'm ready to get the heck out of here but it looks like we may be here for a while...

I'll be going home tomorrow arriving on the last plane into Lexington, Kentucky. I'd love to see more of Monterrey but am getting rather tired of the conference room inside the plant.

Low Carbing in Mexico

I am in Monterrey, Mexico this week. I've not yet had time to see much of the city, but from what I've seen so far, it looks like a U.S. city. The hotels near the office are all U.S. chains. Just next door to my hotel is a Chili's and a 7-11 gas station. The company doesn't require armored cars here as they do in most of Mexico. The people are friendly and it feels much safer than Tijuana did a couple of months ago.

Even while traveling, I'm sticking with my low-carb plan. The folks here at the office were great and took my diet into consideration before ordering lunch for everybody. Today, for lunch we had steak, guacamole, pork rinds, and fondido (cheese w/ chorizo sausage). Tonight, they say that we are going out for an authentic dinner at some place that specializes in goats. I have to say that I've never eaten a goat. I wonder if it is going to taste like lamb?

Last night for dinner, I had steak, chicken, sausage, fondito, guacamole, hot peppers, and a side salad that was substituted for a potato. About half way through the meal, I remembered that I was in Mexico and shouldn't be drinking from a glass with ice cubes nor eating leafy veggies. I've always been taught that in Mexico you should only eat vegetables that need to be pealed. Hopefully I won't get sick. I caught Monazuma's Revenge about 10 years ago in Mexico City and it sucks to be spewing out of both ends simultaneously. The Mexicans I was eating with claim that it's not risky to eat and drink in Monterrey but I'm not sure if to believe them as they're not susceptible to the same bacteria as we gringos.

On another note, just before leaving, I made an experimental batch of cookies that turned out awesome! They're almond macaroons with less than one carb per cookie. I brought some with me to eat on the plane. I'll post the recipe soon after returning home... promise.

An Update

Sorry for not posting much recently. I've been extremely busy, working long hours and traveling most of the time. I thought I'd have two weeks at home over the holidays but due to a death in the family, I've been on the road and away from the Internet. Next week, I'll be in Mexico, working long hours. I'll try to post when I find time.

Regardless of the turmoil, I've managed to stay on my plan for the most part. I had planned on taking off Christmas Eve and Christmas but started off the diet the day before Christmas Eve. But, I've now stuck with it even though I've been visiting family and eating meals (or portions of meals) that I had no control over the content. This evening, after a funeral, my Grandparents ordered Kentucky Fried Chicken and I went out instead. There was enough people there that I don't think they were put off by my leaving early.

I'm spending New Years Even with my brother's family at a hotel. We're calling it a New Years Eve swim party because all of our kids are currently playing in the pool (I'm in the lobby typing this). My wife just called asking where the heck I'm at... so I guess I need to wrap this up.

Anyhow, around Christmas, I weighed myself and had lost 18 pounds. I'm at a sickening 293, far above what I weighed a year ago. This time I'll need to focus on establishing a workable maintenance plan.

Regardless, I'd like to wish all of my readers a happy new year! And, I look forward to meeting all of the new folks who's new years resolution is to lose weight.

Eggnog - 8 net carbs per serving

The holiday season is here. One of my family's traditions was always to have eggnog on Christmas Eve. I mixed up a batch last night to try my hand at making a low-carb version. I must say that I like it as much as the high-carb version.

5 servings @ 8 net carbs each.

Ingredients:
4 cups Hood Calorie Countdown Dairy Beverage
1 cup heavy whipping cream (not whipped)
1 cup equivalent to sugar (I used 1/4 t. Sweetzfree)
7 large egg yokes
1 T. vanilla
Nutmeg (optional)

Instructions:
Add all ingredients to saucepan on medium high. Whisk (or use beaters) while cooking, making sure to keep it moving so as to not scorch the bottom for 7 to 10 minutes until thickened. To see if it is done, insert a spoon and if a thin film sticks to the spoon, it is ready. Remove from heat and continue whisking occasionally as it cools. Then chill in refrigerator for 8 hours or more. If desired, after cooling, add alcohol. Serve with a little nutmeg sprinkled on top.

Pumpkin Soup - 8 net carbs per serving

This recipe for Pumpkin Soup was pulled from "Winsor Pilates Low-Carb Cookbook". My wife and I made it for dinner tonight and it was great.


4 servings @ 8 net carbs each.

Ingredients:
1 can (4 oz.) diced green chilies
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup cilantro
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 can (14 oz) chicken broth (I used water & bullion)
1/2 cup water
1 t. cumin
1/2 t. chili powder
1/4 t. garlic powder (I used diced garlic)
1/8 t. ground red pepper
Additional sour cream (optional)

Instructions:
In food processor or blender process green chilies, cilantro, and sour cream.
In sauce pan, combine all other ingredients and bring to boil. Add 1/2 the sour cream and green chili mixture. Reduce heat to medium and simmer at least five minutes. Stir occasionally.
Pour into bowls and top each with small dollops of remaining green chilies and additional sour cream.

Coconut Battered Shrimp - 0 net carbs

Lightly battered coconut shrimp is easy and has virtually no net carbs.







Ingredients:
Aloha Nu Coconut Flour
Egg
Raw shrimp, pealed and de-veined
Salt
Vegetable Oil (or other)

Instructions:
Heat oil in fryer or sauce pan (Med. High). In a bowl, beat egg. Put coconut flour in another bowl. Dip shrimp in egg then into coconut flour. Fry until golden brown. Salt to taste.

Dining Out on Low Carb

Eating on the road seems to be one of my major themes. At least for the next year it will be mostly U.S. domestic travel rather than international. I'm spending about 75% of my time right now living in a hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. As such, I eat out most of the time. Lunch is extremely difficult as most of my co-workers would be happy at Taco Bell or McDonalds. So, I wind up being the difficult one with only about 3 local options that are guaranteed not to talk long. Option 1 is Chicago Gyros which has an incredible amount of mystery meat on top of a salad. Option 2 is a Chinese buffet where I tend toward the broccoli and meat stir-fry the carb count of which I haven't got a clue. And Option 3 is Bar-B-Cutie which has an awesome selection and is fast. I'd like to see Bar-B-Cutie franchises spread as it's economical and filling even on low-carb. I think it'd go over in just about any part of the country.

Dinner presents many more options. The only annoying part is that I have to look picky and negotiate lots of substitutions. For example, asking "what can I substitute for my bread, and potato?". Whenever you ask for substitutions, expect either the waiter or the cook to screw it up.

More than anything, after being on low-carb again for just under two weeks, I am already getting really sick and tired of salads. Argh! But there are often no other options at some restaurants.

Another peeve is company functions where I have very limited choices. 2 nights ago, I was at such an event. We had apostatizes including fried cheese, nachos, fried mushrooms, etc. This was followed by a variety of sandwiches with fresh fried potato chips. And that was followed by dessert. So, I had to hang around all evening immediately following work pretending not to be starving watching everyone else eat and guzzle beer as I slowly picked the breading off my cheese sticks and then ate a slice of lunch meat off my sandwich and finally watched everyone eat the decedent desserts.

On the bright side... Last night, upon returning to Lexington, my wife and I went to a pizza and pasta place called Puccinni's Smiling Teeth. Puccinni's has a small low-carb section on their menu with two dishes that are so incredibly delicious and filling that I could go back and eat there every day.

chicken torino chicken breasts with pesto, bubbling Monterrey jack, toasted pecans &
bacon, sautéed mushrooms 10.95

baked roman holiday two chicken breasts capped
with thin canadian ham, alfredo sauce, provolone & bacon 11.50

Locations are in Indianapolis, West Lafayette Indiana, Lexington Kentucky, Louisville Kentucky, and Bucceto's in Bloomington Indiana.

Sausage and Sauerkraut - 5 net carbs per serving

Tonight for dinner, I fixed up a batch of sausage and sauerkraut. It's extremely easy to make and also low carb. The actual carb counts will vary depending on the brand of sausage and sauerkraut that you choose. Proportions are up to you.

Ingredients:
kielbasa sausage
sauerkraut

Instructions:
Cut up sausage into slices no more than one inch thick. Brown in a skillet on medium high, turning as necessary. Once sausage is browned on both sides, add sauerkraut. Turn heat down to medium and cook, stirring occasionally until heated through.

Progress Report

Well, it's only day six of being back to low-carb. When I started, I was up to 311.6 pounds... This morning, I weighed only 301. I'm sure that some but not all is water weight. Either way, it's a good ego boost that will help keep me going. As long as I see progress, it's easy to stick with the low-carb life. It's after six months or so when the weight loss slows down that it becomes very frustrating.

I'm so angry with myself for having gained back so much of the 85 pounds that I lost (now over a year ago). While eating carbs, I was keeping it off pretty good while walking around Paris, France. But when I returned home in July the pounds started adding up really fast. My diet was horrendous. The more carbs that I ate, the more carbs that I craved. The funny thing is that if I keep my carbs extremely low for at least a few days then all of the carb cravings go away.

My wife made some excellent spinach & feta quiche the other day. She started with a base recipe from a diet book and made it better. I'll try to post her recipe and maybe some pictures within the next few weeks.

I'm back!

During the year plus that I've been off track, I have gained quite a bit of weight back. A couple of weeks ago, I had to break out the box of fat clothes. I've not been on a scale recently but suspect that I've gained back 50 of the 85 pounds that I had lost. I'll weigh in the morning so that I have a good morning weight to baseline my progress against.

I'm determined to stick the low-carb lifestyle until I reach my ideal body fat percentage. I did extremely well when I first began my blog, a couple of years ago. I lost eighty five pounds in about a year. And, like so many other people, I failed to stick with a good maintenance plan. The longer I was off of the low-carb bandwagon, the more carbs I let creep back into my diet. And, the more carbs that I eat the more carbs I crave. It's a vicious cycle that I need to break.

I've been wanting to start back for a few weeks but waited until after returning from visiting extended family. During our trip, we stayed at my 85 year old grandparents' house. It seemed too difficult to explain my special dietary needs.

Now that I'm back, I'm as determined as ever to lose the pounds. I'm not sure if I'm going to go back to carb-cycling or if to just allow 2 floating days off as I did at first, last time. Right now, I think I'll take two days off in December (Christmas Eve and Christmas day).

I think my wife may join me in the diet. And, if she does, I'm wondering what to do with all of the high-carb foods that have found their way back into our kitchen cabinets. Do we give it to charity or keep it for "diet vacations" or scheduled carb-up days?

Sleeping my way thin...

A few months ago, I went in for a routine doctor's visit. I mentioned that my wife said I sometimes stop breathing in my sleep. He suggested that I do a sleep study. I did the study a few weeks ago. Today, I went to the neurologist so that she could tell me about the findings. I stopped breathing for more than 10 seconds 82 times per hour and I had virtually no REM sleep. This is a condition called sleep apnea. The neurologist suggested that my sleep apnea might be a contributing factor to my weight problem. She says that the body only releases certain hormones during REM sleep. The lack of some of these hormones she says could cause weight gain.

After a quick search on the Internet, I've learned the following:

1. Obesity is a major factor in sleep apnea. But, while significant weight loss may improve obstructive sleep apnea, it usually won't eliminate it completely. It is more likely that sleep apnea contributes to obesity which then makes the sleeping disorder worse.
2. Sleep deprivation results in lower activity levels.
3. Low energy causes cravings for high energy foods.
4. Sleep deprivation causes lower levels of the hormone leptin which suppresses appetite. It also causes higher levels of grehlin which causes cravings for more food intake.

See these articles:

Article: Short Sleep Duration Is Associated with Reduced Leptin, Elevated
Ghrelin, and Increased Body Mass Index)

About.com article: a recent study from Turkey now indicates that people suffering from sleep apnea have a higher level of leptin than is considered normal. This may cause an inability to
control appetite and weight.

And to think, all along, I had thought I simply wasn't a morning person. I had no idea that the quality of my sleep was so bad. Nor did I associate poor sleep with weight gain. But, it makes sense. When I feel low on energy during the day, that is when I reach for an energy boosting high-carb snack! And, since I feel somewhat tired all of the time, my metabolism is likely much slower than other people's. I can't say that sleep apnea is absolutely what made me fat, but I can now see that it was a contributing factor.

So what can be done about it? Treatment of sleep apnea usually involves the following:

1. Medications to stimulate the respiratory center of the brain to keep you breathing while asleep.
2. Masks (CPAP) that force your airway to stay open, thereby allowing you to breath.
3. Mandible (jaw) positioning devices that help reposition the tongue to help prevent the airway obstruction.
4. Surgery to relieve any obstructions. My doctor says that 9 out of 10 patients she has seen who tried surgery still had symptoms afterwards.
5. Weight reduction (over 95% of individuals suffering from sleep apnea are obese). Weight may contribute but likely is not the root cause.

I'm opting for #2 (CPAP mask) & #5 (weight loss). Not only am I going to sleep my way thin, but I'm also going back on low-carb after Thanksgiving.

Home Made Soda Pop Results

It's been almost two weeks since I mixed up some old fashioned ginger ale. There has now been ample time for the yeast to eat up the sugar which causes natural carbonation. I made 2 batches. One with a full load of sugar and one with just barely enough sugar for the yeast to eat plus some sucralose. The sugar one was in a two liter bottle. The low sugar version was split into two one liter bottles. And here's the results....

The control with a full load of sugar did not carbonate. The bottle is still flimsy.

However, one of the two low-sugar bottles did carbonate. The bottle felt hard and when pouring it into a glass, it had fizz. The other low-sugar bottle is still flat. The fizzy one tastes a little off. I'm thinking it might be mildly alcoholic. I'm not sure if it's a healthy drink so I'll probably not consume any more than a swallow.

I had suspected that if anything carbonated it would have been the full sugar version. I can't figure out why one low-sugar bottle became carbonated and the other did not. When funneling the mixtures into bottles, I filtered it. I did this so that I wouldn't have lemon pulp and ginger shavings in the beverage. But, I wonder if the filter didn't take out some of the yeast. This might explain the inconsistent results.

So, in short the experiment failed. If I want to make my own low-carb carbonated beverages, I think that I should stick with the modern method of using a soda fountain or soda siphon. The modern method of forcing carbon into the drink seems much safer than fermenting.

If any of you have made your own diet soda pop, I'd love to hear your stories and get some advice.

Soda Pop Fermentation & Carbs

I am experimenting with making my own old fashioned diet soda pop. I have not tried my first batch yet. So, if you duplicate my experiment, I can't be held responsible if it bombs. I'm sharing the experimental recipe in hopes of getting help calculating the net carbs.

Old fashioned soda pop is carbonated naturally via fermenting sugars rather than carbon infusion. To cause carbonation, my experimental base recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of white granular sugar (about 24 carbohydrates), just enough to allow the yeast to work. Carbonation happens as the yeast breaks down the sugars. So, I can't help but wonder, how many of the carbohydrates will be consumed by the fermenting yeast? Any science buffs out there want to tackle this for me?

Here the recipe I am going to try:

1/2 gallon water (zero carbs)
1/2 teaspoon concentrated liquid sucralose (equiv. to 2 cups sugar, zero carbs)
2 tablespoons white granulated sugar (24 carbs from sugar, needed for fermentation)
4 tablespoons ginger (4 carbs from sugar)
Juice from 1/2 a lemon (2 carbs from sugar)

Boil the ingredients above. Then mix in the following:

1/2 gallon water, room temp. (zero carbs)
1/8 t. active dry yeast (0.1 carbs from sugar)

Bottle (in plastic) and let sit at room temperature for one week.

The total recipe has about 30 carbs from sugar. But after fermenting, the carb count should be much lower. I suspect it may be near zero but am not sure how to verify this hypothesis. Is there any one out there who is good at chemistry and wouldn't mind tackling this question for me?

Of course, I could get my pop down to nearly zero carbs by forgetting about fermenting yeast and going out to buy an expensive soda siphon with expensive carbon chargers. But where's the fun and money savings in that?

Note added Oct. 11, 2008: The experiment failed. Read the results by clicking this link.

A year off track...

In August of 2006, I started doing the low-carb thing. And, I was quite successful. I stuck with it for a year and lost 85 pounds. However, the longer I was on the diet, the slower the progress seemed. For a while, I tried carb cycling. It too worked well at first but then my metabolism adjusted and progress slowed to a halt again. I wasn't gaining weight, but I wasn't losing any either. Being that I felt pretty good physically, it was oh-so easy to slide farther and farther away from a healthy lifestyle. It has been about a year since I basically gave up low-carb.

Statistics:

On 08/13/2006, I weighed: 336
On 07/08/2007 my weight was: 251
In 329 days, I lost: 85
My goal is to weigh: 236 (top of healthy % body fat range)
At a low weight, I was 15 pounds from my goal weight.

During the first few months off of the diet, I gained a whopping 20 pounds. However, I then began working 50% of my time in Paris, France. In Paris, I ate everything that looked good but I was forced to walk 4 to 10 miles a day. Each 2 week trip, I'd lose 5 to 10 pounds. Then, I'd come back home to Kentucky for a couple of weeks and gain it all back. As of July, my business travel to France has ended. And, I have since been gaining at an alarming rate. I'm now up to 288 pounds, 37 more pounds than I weighed a year ago.

My feet are now starting to hurt sometimes. Yesterday, I realized that the clothing purchased this year is starting to get snug. I'm horrified by the idea of pulling a box of my "fat clothes" out of the attic. It'd almost be easier to just buy more clothes. Buying new clothes would be a form of denial. I could do so due to things wearing out and lie to myself about getting fat again.

It sounds so simple to just go back on the diet. But, why is it so hard? I can think of a hundred pathetic reasons to wait before getting back on a diet. For example:

1. I should wait until after the holidays.
2. I should eat all of the carby foods in my house so that they don't go to waste.
3. I need my wife to go on the diet with me or else I'll be too tempted to cheat.
4. I like sweet things.
5. I like baking breads and preparing carby foods.
6. Carby foods are so much easier to make.
7. Carby foods are so much cheaper.
8. ....

I could keep going but the reasons get more pathetic as the list grows. I realize that I have a problem. I know that I am addicted to carbs. The more carbs I eat, the more I crave. The more I crave, the more I eat. It's a vicious cycle. The irony is that I know when I remove virtually all carbs from my diet that the cravings mostly go away. So, why is it so hard to make the leap?

Great Recipes

I'm not positive what attracts my readers... my recipes or my posts... or a little of both. But for those of you who haven't noticed, I have keep my recipe list at the right side of this screen. If you try some of these, I would love for you to come back and comment. Any feedback or suggestions for improvements or variations are greatly appreciated.

Main Course
Beef with Mushroom Gravy - 4 net carbs per serving
Better Carbquik Pot Pie - 5.5 net carbs per serving
Brandi's Breading for Frying - 1 net carb per serving
Brandi's Salmon Patties - 1 net gram per patty
Cheeseburger Pie - 2 net carbs per serving
Chicken Chimichangas - 6 net carbs per serving
Chicken Enchiladas - 3.7 net carbs each
Classic Meatloaf - 3.6 net carbs per serving
Crunchy Tacos - 0 net carbs per shell
Fettuccini Alfredo Impasta - 3.5 net carbs per serving
Fried Chicken (Pork Rind Version) - 1 net carb per serving
Kentucky Hotbrown - 8 net carbs per serving
Pizza Crust - 2.5 net carbs per slice
Salmon and Swiss Cheesecake 3.6 net carbs
Simply Chicken - 4 net carbs per serving
Simply Scallops - 10 net carbs per pound
Soda Pop BBQ Chicken - 4 net carbs per serving
Spaghetti - 4 net carbs per serving
Thin Crust Pizza - 8 net carbs per serving

Breakfast
Biscuits - 1 net carb each
Cheeseburger Pie - 2 net carbs per serving
Chipped Beef - 4.5 net carbs per serving
Cinnamon Streussal Flax Muffins - 2.5 net carbs per serving
French Toast - 3.5 net carbs per serving
Jicama hash browns - 5 net carbs per serving
Pancakes - 1.75 net carbs each
Salmon and Swiss Cheesecake - 3.6 net carbs per serving
Satisfying Biscuits & Gravy - 7 net carbs per serving

Appetizers and Salads
Buffalo Chicken Dip - 4 net carbs per serving
Bulgarian Shopska Salad - 2.5 net carbs per serving
Carb Freedom Fries w/ Bacon & Cheddar - 2 net carbs per serving
Cauliflower Salad - 2.9 net carbs per serving
Country Cucumbers - 1.5 net carbs per serving
Fried Green Tomatoes - 4 net carbs per serving
Guacamole Dip - 3 net carbs per serving
Rainbow Slaw - 4 net carbs per serving

Breads
Better Bread - 3 net carbs per serving
Biscuits - 1 net carb each
Cinnamon Streussal Flax Muffins - 2.5 net carbs
Cornbread - 5 net carbs per serving
Crepes - 0.5 net carbs each
Hamburger Buns - 0.4 net carbs
Pizza Crust - 2.5 net carbs per slice

Desserts
3 Minute Brownies - 3 net carbs per serving
3 Minute Lemon Cake - 3.5 net carbs per serving
Chocolate Mousse - 6 net carbs per serving
Cinnamon Streussal Flax Muffins - 2.5 net carbs per serving
Classic Cheesecake - 6 net carbs per serving
Coconut Macaroons - 0.6 net carbs per cookie
Crumb Crust for Desserts - 12 net carbs entire recipe
Divine Zucchini Cobbler - 9 net carbs per serving
Fried Icecream - 8 net carbs per serving
Lemon Birthday Cake - 7 net carbs per serving
Peanut Butter Mousse - 7.2 net carbs
Pecan Pie - 7.5 net carbs per serving
Pumpkin Cheesecake - 5 net carbs per serving
Strawberry Delight - 7.2 net carbs per serving
Strawberry Lemon Pie - 7.5 net carbs per serving
Yum Yum Salad - 6.25 net carbs per serving

Beverages
Hot Chocolate - 5 net carbs per serving
Lemonaid - 4 net carbs per serving
Vodka Highballs

The Best of June

This month, I have been traveling extensively. I worked a few days in Nashville and three weeks in France. I brought my family to France with me. So, during the day I worked and during the evenings I was a tour guide. As a result, I've not read all of the posts on each of my favorite low-carb blogs. Of what I have read, my favorite posts for June were...

1. All About Carbohydrate and Calorie Cycling & A Few Abs Articles To Boot on Kudos for Low Carb. Carol pulls together numerous articles on carb-cycling.
2. Country Biscuits w/ White Gravy .... MLBF heads South on Mr. Low Body Fat's Blog. MLBF discusses travel issues ranging from airplane seatbelts to sampling regional foods.
3. The American Way on The Bionic Broad's Low-Carb Blog. Ever notice how unhealthy everyone looks during their rush-hour commute?
4. Reasons Dieters Get Stuck & Solutions - Number 2: Low Carb Verses Low Fat, Part 2 on Kudos for Low-Carb. Carol says, "I really cannot help but notice that the majority of low carbohydrate dieters I come in contact with say that they rarely or never reach goal." She discusses some potential causes and solutions.
5. Is Your Low-Carb Honeymoon Over? on The Lighter Side of Low-Carb. Cleochatra discusses the frustration of long term low-carbing.

The Best of May

Here's a list of blog posts that I enjoyed reading in May....

1. Low-carb and calories on Health and Nutrition by Michael R. Eades, M.D. Dr. Mike explains why we often plateau after several months of successful low-carbing.
2. Is it the Carbs... Or the Calories on Kickin' Carb Clutter. Vickie comments on Dr. Mike Eades' blog post on low-carb and calories. Do calories really make all the difference or does the metabolism's "adaptation" kick in or both?
3. Nothing is Certain - Of This I am Sure on Low Carb Confidential. We low carbers might feel a bit alone in the world, but maybe it’s because we know we have to question everything - we have to think, and thinking is something most people avoid as much as possible.
4. Sugar Addiction on Johnny Bowden's blog. This article discusses the reality of sugar addiction.
5. I Found Gold on The Divine Low Carb. PJ says, "I have learned so, so much from low-carbing. Ironically, only some of the things I've learned have much to do with the carb count of foods."
6. Zucchini Quiche... on Oh.2.B.Fit. Niki gives us a great summer recipe. I always plant zucchini in my garden and am anticipating another huge crop this year! I'm always looking for more recipes! You can't beat this low-carb veggie.
7. Coca-Cola and Cargill Announce New All-Natural Sweetener on Healthy Low-Carb Living. Carol discusses a new breed of sweeteners: stevia, truvia, and rebiana.
8. Another 33 Fabulously Fun Low-Carb Blogs on Livin' La Vida Low-Carb. Jimmy tells us about several low-carb blogs. Most appear to be fairly new.
9. Who says Low Carb Doesn't Work? on Low Carb Lollygagging. Another success story.
10. No Sweets for the Sweet from The Bionic Broad's Low-Carb Blog. A brief discussion on her personal experience regarding the lack of sugar cravings while low-carbing.

Jicama Hash Browns - 5 net carbs

My wife and I both love jicama hashbrowns! These taste a bit sweeter than potato hashbrowns but are equally good if not better.

Makes two servings at 5 net carbs per serving.

Ingredients:

Splash of oil
2 cups coarsely grated jicama
1 t. dried onion flakes (optional, add one net carb)
Salt to taste

Instructions:

Grate jicama on a coarse cheese shredder. Heat oil in skillet on medium high. Add jicama and optional onion flakes. When brown, put them on paper towels then sprinkled with salt. Perfect side item for breakfast or dinner.

Living Comfortably

As I said in my last post, I decided to take a few days away from my diet until I was over my illness. And, after a few days, I got over my illness. But, I didn't return to my l0w-carb diet. Hopefully, I'll be on track again soon.

The first year of doing low-carb, I stayed very focused and lost 85 pounds. For the last six months or so, I've been alternating on and off plan. I gained some weight back. And, I lost most of it, again. But, I find it increasingly hard to stick with a plan. Why? I think it's because I am comfortable with my size. When I was 85 pounds heavier, I had back and foot pains and would tire very quickly. Now, I feel pretty good. Without weight related health problems, I have a hard time staying loyal to my diet plan. I don't think that there is anything wrong with the way I have conducted myself over the last six months. I just have to be very careful not to slide too far down the slippery slope of gluttony that resulted in my gaining so much in the first place. The real goal was to feel better. And, I do feel much better. Yes, I'm still obese. But, I'm no longer morbidly obese! I'm at a point where my body is happy.

So... this week, I'm off plan. But, I don't plan on straying too far away. I'm not sure when I'll be back on track. While off plan, I continue reading about low-carb and will keep posting. Even off plan, I'm conscious of what I consume and continue to eat some of my favorite low-carb dishes. I will likely return to the full blown low-carb lifestyle when my weight pops up another ten pounds, or I start feeling fat, or when my wife decides to diet again.

I have also picked up a couple books on glacemic load diets. All low carb diets are low glacemic diets but not all low glacemic diets are necessarily low-carb. As far as I can tell, a low glacemic load diets (such as the popular nutrisystem) will prevent fat storage but might not result in rapid fat loss. I'm not one to jump into something until I have studied it thoroughly and come up with a plan. After I finish studying this subject, I may give it a whirl. If nothing else, it might be a good maintenance plan. Perhaps beginning in August?