Food Diary Week 5

I've been in the hospital so things have been a little weird food wise...

Monday --In the ER and hospitalized overnight
Breakfast: Almond flax chocolate muffin
Lunch: None--in the Emergency Room
Snack: Wasa crackers with butter and cheese (that I brought with me to the ER)
Dinner: Panera salad and tomato soup, dark chocolate
Snack: String cheese (brought with me)

Exercise: None unless fighting to breath and artificially jacking up your heart rate with albuterol counts

Tuesday -Out of the hospital
Breakfast: Bob Evans omlette with sausage, salsa, cheese, and sour cream (I'm starving)
Snack: Almond flax chocolate muffin
Lunch: Taco salad with ground turkey, fresh salsa and fresh guacamole and cheese (homemade)
Snack: Bite of cookie
Dinner: Cajun bleu cheese burgers and roasted yellow squash (homemade)

Exercise: None unless fighting to breath and artificially jacking up your heart rate with albuterol counts

Wednesday
Breakfast: Almond flax muffin
Snack: 1 wasa cracker with cheese and 2 tsp butter
Lunch: Taco salad with ground turkey, cheese, salsa and lettuce. 1/2 of almond flax muffin (that toddler refused to eat)
Dinner:

Exercise: None, still sick.

Low Carb Chocolate Cake for Breakfast Recipe

Okay, so the cold has moved on and I can taste now--the chocolate low carb muffins turned out great! I'm really happy because now I have an easy option for breakfast that's not eggs. The texture is like a high end European torte. The flavor is mildly sweet. Plus they are healthy; full of fiber, antioxidants courtesy of the cocoa powder, and protein. I am thrilled with how these turned out.

These muffins have approximately 15 g carb per serving assuming you get 12 muffins out of the recipe (around 10g if you use Splenda as a sweetener). Remember to count this in your daily nut allotment, you don't want to overeat on the nuts as that can stall weight loss! Also, due to the flax content, don't eat more than one a day unless you feel like spending some quality time on the toilet.

At some point I will add a picture.

Here's the recipe...although I plan to keep tweaking it to try and get the carb count down.

Ingredients

-1 1/2 cups almond flour (I used Honeyville which had the best price I've found--Order direct, Amazon sells at a higher price!)

-1/2 cup ground flax 'flour' (I used Bob's Red Mill --Amazon has a good price for 4 packages)

-1/2 cup cocoa powder

-2 tsps baking powder

-1/4 tsp salt

-1/4 cup brown sugar or 1/2 cup Splenda Brown Sugar blend (See note at the bottom about why I used sugar in this recipe)

-1 stick butter (I have used slightly less with no ill effect and want to try to cut it in 1/2 in future experiments)

-1 mashed banana (for flavor and as a natural sweetener, you could also try prune puree. See my note about why I use a banana below.)

-1 tbsp vanilla

-3 eggs (I've used just 2 eggs with no noticeable change, so that's an option too)

-1/3 cup water

-1/2 cup 60% Ghiradelli chocolate chips

Instructions

1.Preheat oven to 350F

2. Mix the following dry ingredients together and set aside--almonds, flax, salt, baking powder, cocoa powder. FYI the sugar gets creamed with the butter.

3.Cream butter with mashed banana, brown sugar, vanilla, eggs and water. (The butter might fleck instead of blend, which is fine, but consider melting in the microwave next time for better blending.)

4.Add in dry ingredients and mix.

5.Fold in the chocolate chips or allocate 8 chips per muffin once they are in the muffin tin.

6.Fill 12 muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 20-25 minutes. Check them as they bake as they can cook fast.

How I got the carb count...

I went through the ingredients and added up all the carbs, subtracted fiber and divided by 12.

Why the recipe uses sugar and banana...

Just a note since not everyone may have read the blog archives... I try to cook without using chemical sweeteners because we have a toddler at home and don't want to feed her 'frankenfood' not even if it's homemade (although I suppose you could argue that sugar is no better, sometimes you can't win for losing). If you want to use Splenda or Stevia in place of the sugar and banana, go right ahead. I would suggest using 1/2 cup of artificial sweetener.

Actually, as it turns out the toddler hates these muffins, so I have been making them with Splenda for myself. The toddler now gets a flour/almond flour/flax blend muffin which she likes better.

Food Diary Week 4 & Weigh In Results

Menu plan? What menu plan? There's no plan.

I have a cold. All my planning energy is going into figuring out how to get some shut eye without having to wake up to catch the drips from my nose.

Food has been less than stellar as well.

But apparently I have lost 22 lbs in 3 weeks doing this. I must be doing something right.


Sunday

Lunch: Almond muffin, Taco salad

Dinner: Brownies and milk

Exercise: None, sick.

Monday:

Breakfast: 1 piece string cheese

Lunch: Almond muffin, 2 chicken strips (package says they have 13 carbs total)

Dinner: Asian meatballs with broccoli coleslaw

Exercise: None, sick

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Almond muffin
Lunch: Chicken piccata-1 breast, salad (takeout)
Dinner:Chicken piccata-1 breast, green beans (takeout)

Exercise: None, sick. Started prednisone for asthma flare

Wednesday
Breakfast: Almond muffin
Lunch: Meatball soup with 2 ground turkey meatballs
Dinner: Kielbasa and side salad
Exercise: None, sick.

Thursday
Breakfast: Almond muffin
Lunch: Nothing
Snack: 2 prunes, sip of kefir
Dinner:All meat chili from Longhorn, 2 frozen chicken tenders (13 g carbs)
Snack: More frozen chicken tenders--maybe my appetite is coming back???

Exercise: None, sick.

Low Carb Chocolate Cake for Breakfast

I've been experimenting with almond flour lately and trying to make edible muffins. The goal is to create something everyone in the family will eat as I've decided (and hubby agrees) that we all need to be eating whole foods low carb. The toddler, of course, gets fruit and Greek yogurt and I do sometimes make pasta for the hubby and baby, but other than that, they're eating what I'm eating.

Also, I'm sick of eating eggs for breakfast and want something lighter, easier and more flavorful.

Enter almond flour. I'd been making carb laden muffins for the family but was unhappy with the amount of sugar and refined flour the recipe contained. I started out adding some ground flax and then scoured the internet looking for low carb muffin recipes that would yield something edible.

I like the almond flour muffins I've made so far. Sort of. They don't have much flavor but they bake up beautifully--they look like real bread!--and there's potential. They have the texture of cornbread, which leads me down the path of how I could flavor them to accompany a taco salad.

Last week's almond muffins (the first batch) were edible for my palate only if I added some nutella (12 g carb per tbsp by the way). The toddler didn't much like them although she licked the raspberry jam off with gusto. The husband is more goat than human and would eat paperclips if we let him, so he ate them just fine. In fact, I had to remove them from his hands and remind him the flax content would come back to haunt him in unpleasant ways.

Since my first batch, I've been crunching the numbers trying to see what I could add to improve the flavor without increasing the carb content too high. Also, I want to avoid artificial sweeteners as they tend not to taste good and I worry about their effects on the toddler--this is where the whole food ethic comes into our family nutrition plan.

Of course, I got an awful cold just as I started cooking/experimenting today and I can't taste anything, but I ended up making banana chocolate almond flax muffins today using 1/4 cup brown sugar. They are not super sweet, but are quite cakey, in a good way. They remind me of a European torte, which tend not to be very sweet. The carb count comes in at 11 g of carbs. I can add some dark chocolate chips next time or even look at making a low carb ganache and still come in under 20 g carb. Now, of course, if I eat this for breakfast, I need to watch my carbs the rest of the day but I think I could fit this in pretty easily into my diet.

It could easily be adapted into a rich low-carb-ish dessert for special occasions. And it's all natural--no chemicals. Very much like having cake for breakfast.

Unfortunately, the toddler still doesn't like them. Even after I topped her muffin with some banana pudding (full of sugar, I found the package hiding in the cupboard). I'm crossing fingers that adding some 'real' chocolate will change her mind. I think I'll get some chocolate chips and nuke them a bit to use as an icing right before serving.

I will post photos and the recipe soon so you can try these muffins too.

Next I want to try some savory ideas. A Mexican cornbread. A pepperoni pizza muffin. Those sound good, no?

Low Carb Meal Plan Week 3

Dinner
1.Asian meatballs

2. Grilled kielbasa and kraut

3. Corned beef w/ roasted cabbage

4. Lemon chicken with asparagus

5. Pork tenderloin roast with broccoli

6. Tacos with homemade guacamole

Lunches:

1.Grilled chicken salad with fresh salsa

2.Asian slaw with broccoli rabe served with grilled chicken

And...here's what actually happened...

Sunday
Breakfast: 2 pieces of string cheese. Coke zero.

Lunch: Cabbage and ground turkey in a tomato sauce. Almond-flaxseed muffin. Coke zero.

Dinner: Asian meatballs with ground turkey, salad with homemade sweet n sour dressing sprinkled with peanuts and cilantro. Roasted kale chips with sea salt and balsamic vinegar.

Exercise: 30 min elliptical

Monday
Breakfast: Almond-flax flour muffin

Snack: 12g carb dark chocloate

Lunch: Asian meatballs with broccoli 'coleslaw'

Dinner: Bunless cheese burger, steamed broccoli

Exercise: 40 min elliptical

Tuesday

Breakfast: Almond-flax flour muffin

Snack: 12g carb dark chocolate

Lunch: Lettuce with broccoli and peanuts.

Dinner:Breadless reuben

Exercise: 45 min elliptical

Wednesday
Breakfast: Almond-flax flour muffin

Snack: 12g carb dark chocolate

Lunch: Cabbage and ground turkey in tomato sauce

Dinner: Grilled chicken and salad

Exercise: 30 min elliptical

Thursday
Breakfast: 2 oz cheese

Lunch: Almond-flax muffin, 12 g carb dark chocolate

Dinner: Pork roast with steamed broccoli and asparagus

Exercise: 30 min walking the dog

Friday:
Breakfast: Cheese? I think. I can't remember!

Lunch: Green bean casserole with chicken

Dinner: Green bean casserole with chicken

Exercise: None. Sick.

Saturday:

Breakfast: 1 egg with salsa and light sprinkling of shredded cheese
Lunch:2 ground turky asian flavored meatballs, 1/2 almond muffin
Dinner: 4 ground turkey asian flavored meatballs and 1.5 cups of broccoli slaw with red cabbage.
Exercise: None. Sick.

Food Diary Week 2: Low Carb Menu Plan Week 2

Menu Plan:

--Slow cooker pulled pork (cooked in salsa, cumin, chili powder) 'tacos' with lettuce, homemade guacamole, fresh salsa, and cheese. I have small corn tortillas that are supposedly (per product label) 9 grams of carbs and may have 1--otherwise I'll eat this as a salad.

--Slow cooker corned beef and sauerkraut with caraway seeds. Served topped with melted Swiss cheese and  Thousand Island dressing on the side. Basically a breadless reuben.

--Bunless burgers with roasted brussel sprouts (roasted in basalmic vinegar, shallots and olive oil--may add some bacon)

--Jamaican jerk pork served with salad and roasted Kale (shallots, vinegar, olive oil, some sea salt).

--Take out--leaning toward Longhorn all meat chili and side salad or maybe steak and salad

Breakfasts
--Spincah Frittata with feta cheese. I'm trying to use up some bulk feta cheese before it goes bad.

Lunches
--Taco salad with ground turkey, salsa, light sprinkling of cheese, and almonds.
--Leftover pulled pork and corned beef

Improvement Goals Over Previous Week
--Eat less cheese, even though the menu may not seem like it's less, I will be cutting back on amounts.
--No more kefir for now--too many carbs in my opinion and I don't like it plain
--Reduce consumption of Wasa crackers
--Eat more calories for breakfast

So that's the plan...here's what actually happened.

Monday
Breakfast: 2 eggs scrambled, sprinkled with 1 tbs cheese, served with fresh salsa

Lunch: Taco salad with 2 cups romaine and green leaf lettuce, some cucumber, 1/3 cup fresh salsa, 1 tbs shredded cheese, 3/4 cup ground turkey, 8 almonds. 1/2 cup sliced strawberries and 1 prune.

Dinner: Breadless reuben

Exercise: 30 min walking

Tuesday
Breakfast: 2oz cheese and then 1 egg scrambled with salsa

Lunch: Taco salad, 1/2 cup strawberries

Dinner: 2 Jamaican jerk pork chops

Exercise: 30 min elliptical

Wednesday:

Breakfast: 2 spinach egg muffins

Lunch: Breadless reuben

Dinner: Pulled pork taco salad

Exercise: 40 min walked the dog

Thursday:
Breakfast: 1 pint brussel sprouts roasted with bacon, shallots and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

Lunch: Nothing. Wasn't hungry.

Dinner: Houlihan's 6 chicken wings, salad with chicken

Exercise: Didn't have time.

Friday:
Breakfast:1.5 egg with 2 tbsp spinach and 2 tbsp cheese

Lunch: I really need to cook--there's nothing to eat! 2 wasa crackers with laughing cow light cheese

Snack: 2 wasa crackers with 2 tbsp natural peanut butter and 2tbsp red. sugar jam, 12 carbs worth of dark chocolate
 
Dinner: Frozen meatballs. Package says they have 5 carbs per serving.

Exercise: 30 min elliptical, 40 min carrying boxes up and down stairs

Saturday:
Breakfast: 1 egg with spinach and cheese

Lunch: Roasted chicken breast

Dinner: Panera salad with chicken and tomato soup

Exercise: No time. I would have walked the dogs if it hadn't been raining. We had a full day and I got to go out to a movie with my hubby for the first time since December.

Low Carb Recipes: Shepherd's Pie

I don't think I've ever had the normal version of Shepherd's Pie. In fact, I'm not even sure exactly what it is. I know there's ground meat and potatoes, but that's the extent of my knowledge. So, you know, if this recipe isn't anything like actual Shepherd's Pie, please do not sue me!

Ingredients:

1 to 1.5 lbs ground turkey or other ground meat
Garlic powder to taste (or minced garlic)
Onion power to taste (or diced onion)
Red pepper flakes to taste
1 small diced onion
2 pkgs frozen cauliflower
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
1.5 cups shredded cheddar
Bacon crumbles (optional)

Instructions:
1.Cook the ground meat adding the garlic, onion and red pepper flakes.

2.Cook and mash the cauliflower. I use my handheld blender too. Do this while it's still hot.

3.To the cauliflower, add the cream cheese (which will melt because the cauliflower is still hot), 1 cup cheddar, bacon, and diced onion. Mix.

4. Spread half the cauliflower mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 pan (or whatever size you're working with).

5.Top with all the ground meat.

6.Cover the meat with the remaining cauliflower mixture.

7.Top with remaining 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese.

8.Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is melted and the casserole is heated through.

Low Carb Meatballs

This is how I make low carb meatballs. I eat it like a soup and it's very tasty. Also, it's a slow cooker recipe so you can 'fix it and forget it.'

The slow cooker is important because it carmelizes simple marinara sauce and gives it a wonderful flavor.

Ingredients
1 to 1.5 lbs ground turkey or other ground meat
1 egg
1 diced onion
Minced garlic or garlic powder
Dash of red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 to 3/4 cup parmesan cheese (this is your binding agent and replaces bread crumbs)
2 16-20 oz jars of marinara sauce (I like Newmans)

Instructions:

-Mix the meat, egg, onion, garlic and parmesan cheese together until ingredients are well incorporated.

-Pour 1 jar of sauce in bottom of the crock pot.

-Gently form ping-pong or golf ball sized meatballs and place in slow cooker. Be sure each meatball has its own space, don't stack them. I can usually fit 12-13 in my slow cooker.

-Top with the second jar of spaghetti sauce.

-Cook on low for 7 to 8 hours.

I serve it like a soup. 2 meatballs per serving with a healthy dollop of sauce and topped with some mozzarella cheese. It's really yummy; a thick hearty tomato soup and spaghetti-style low carb meatballs.

This is a good freezer recipe too.

Note: Pasta sauces can be a bit carby--read labels carefully. I don't sweat a small amount of sugar in sauces, but that's just me.

Low Carb Recipe Index: Low Carb Breakfast

Low Carb Chocolate Muffins

Low Carb Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

Low Carb Egg Muffins (i.e. mini quiches)

Low Carb Pancakes

Low Carb Pepper Poppers with Scrambled Eggs

Low Carb Ham Quiche Souffle

Recipe Index: Low Carb Casseroles

Ground Turkey Moussaka Like lasagna, only weirder (and delicious).

Slow Cooker Kielbasa and Kraut Simple and filling.

Green Bean Casserole with Chicken Making green bean casserole low carb and a one pot meal!

Simple Italian Peppers The flavors are superb in this dish, really really excellent.

Shepherds Pie Easy to make.

Recipe Index: Low Carb Salads

Low Carb Greek Salad One word to describe this; Amazing! Add some grilled chicken for a meal.

Low Carb Spinach Bacon Salad with Homemade Tomato Dressing Perfect for Spring!

Low Carb Asian Fusion Ginger Steak (or Chicken) Salad Excellent excellent salad.

Not the Usual Low Carb Taco Salad Learn how to spice taco meat for this salad.

Low Carb Salad Inspiration: Goat cheese, nuts, dried cranberries with balsamic dressing Love this classic combination of flavors.

Moderate Carb Red Cabbage Coleslaw Such a colorful and festive salad with a nice sweet and savory flavor contrast.

Tex Mex Flank Steak Salad with Roasted Jalapeno Chutney This is a really special salad that offers a lovely new twist on Tex Mex flavors.

Asian Broccoli Coleslaw Make a big batch of this sweet and sour coleslaw to gnosh on all week long.

Longhorn BLT Salad with Balsamic Glaze Excellent, elegant, sure-to-impress dinner guests salad.

Low Carb Wonders (Substitutes for Carb Laden Favorites)

Low Carb Dumplings

Low Carb Appetizers and Snacks

Garden Vegetable Roll Ups

Bacon Cornucopias

Low Carb Nachos 1

Low Carb Nachos 2

Low Carb Vegetables

Low Carb Rutabaga Fries (Also read If You Love Yourself, Eat Rutabaga)

Low Carb Vegetarian

Faking Palak Paneer

See the Salad section for lots of great ideas, just skip the meat and add some tofu products or hard boiled eggs. Several salad recipes stand alone with out meat.

Also check out the breakfast recipes section for almond flour muffins and pancakes that are vegetarian and low carb.

Low Carb Desserts

Low Carb Cheesecake

Dark Chocolate Mousse

Low Carb No Bake Cookies

Low Carb Meat Recipes

Swedish Meatballs

Cajun Blue Burger

Pork Chops with Mushroom Gravy

Pork Chops with Pickled Cabbage

Slow Cooker Kielbasa and Kraut

Lemon Caper Chicken

Almond Breaded Chicken with Goat Cheese and Roasted Vegetables

Low Carb Chicken Wing Dinner

Rosemary Mustard Chicken

Italian Meatballs

Indian Butter Chicken

Pork Goulash

Longhorn Steakhouse Chili (slow cooker)

Low Carb Kids

Low carb quesadilla lunch with homemade guacomole

Veggie Cracker Stackers

Swedish Meatballs lunch

Scrambled eggs, salsa and fruit lunch

Greek yogurt, salad and fruit lunch

A Concise History of Why I Low Carb

I was a fat kid.

Then for many, many years I was a low fat aerobics bunny and lost a bunch of weight. I was hot too--that was kind of fun.

Then I got mono.

Which aggravated my asthma.

Which meant I was on a lot of prednisone (oral steroids).

Which led to Cushings-- a bad thing that happens to adrenal glands while taking steroids. My adrenals became very lazy and barely did anything for years.

The Cushings led to weight gain that resisted a low fat diet and exercise. This consumed the entire decade of my 20s. The best years of my life were a nightmare.

Doctors told me I needed to go to Overeaters Anonymous and diet. They weren't very helpful. So I stayed fat.

Symptoms of PCOS appeared. PCOS is short for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. It is a hormonal condition that affects women and leads to weight gain, difficulty losing weight and infertility. Long term, it can result in Type II Diabetes and heart disease. It affects anywhere from 6% to 10% of the population and is underdiagnosed. (Tip: If you are a woman who is overweight, ask your doctor about PCOS.)

(A thought: If we properly screened every woman in America for PCOS and properly treated them we could decrease the obesity rate in the US by 6% - 10% and prevent or delay a similar percentage of Type II Diabetes diagnoses. Why there are not PCOS centers that offer comprehensive, coordinated care for this population, I don't know.)

The PCOS was diagnosed when we tried to conceive and could not.

The reproductive endocrinologists were only interested in my uterus, so I sought the care of a 'regular' endocrinologist to try and mitigate the other components of PCOS.

He started me on a Protein Sparing Modified Fast (PSMF) diet and promised me I would lose weight.

I laughed in his face. Rudely. I did not believe him. At all.

He was right though. I lost 20 lbs in a month and went on to lose about 60lbs over the course of a year.

I liked low carbing. I learned a lot about it--read everything I could; books, medical studies etc... I was ecstatic to find a solution finally.

We did IVF and were able to conceive our daughter. I had a wonderful, happy pregnancy. Happiest time of my life, especially after 4 years of infertility treatment hell.

I gained about 40lbs with pregnancy and then kept gaining once the baby was born. Between the sleep deprivation (it was so bad, I quit my job after an episode where I didn't sleep for 3 days) and breastfeeding, I was a hungry, hungry hippo.

High blood pressure appeared. As did an enlarged thyroid which is still working for now, but the theory is I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis--I'm in the process of seeking a second opinion on this.

And here I am. Trying to lose it all again and maintain it long term.

P.S. Usually for PCOS they prescribe metformin, however, I had some serious side effects so it was discontinued. Meaning I'm kind of handicapped in my fight against PCOS. The one medication that could help and I can't take it. That really sucks! I am considering doing another trial run just to triple check on the off chance my body has changed and will tolerate it. You never know...it can't hurt (much) to try, right?

Food Diary Week 1

Monday
Bfast:
2 scrambled eggs with light sprinkling of cheese

Lunch:
Low carb meatball 'soup' with 2 low carb ground turkey meatballs (no breadcrumbs)
5 Strawberries

Dinner:
1 wasa cracker with natural peanut butter and reduced sugar jam
'Shepherd's pie' with ground turkey, mashed cauliflower and cheese
Small amount of dark chocolate

Normally, I would not have had the cracker with peanut butter, but I was starving! My meals were all off schedule the entire day due to various appointments, which lead to feeling pretty lightheaded and crappy from hunger.

Exercise:
30 min. on the elliptical. Workout quality: Poor, near constant interruptions from family.
Vigorous walking and climbed 6 flights of stairs going to various appointments

Tuesday:
Breakfast:
1 bite of a banana (before I handed it to my toddler)
1 prune (before I gave some to my toddler...umm, fruit is a serious downfall for me)
1 cup kefir--mixed 1/2 cup plain with 1/2 cup blueberry flavor for a carb count of around 20g.

Lunch:
Meatball soup with 2 low carb ground turkey meatballs in tomato sauce with 1/4 cup mozzerella cheese
4 Strawberries

Snack:
Small gherkin pickles
4 carrot sticks

Dinner:
1 wasa cracker with natural peanut butter and red. sugar jam
appox. 1 cup of 'shepherd's pie' with cauliflower, ground turkey, and cheese
2 Strawberries
2 small pieces dark chocolate (6 carbs)

Super hungry again at dinner. Maybe I need more food at lunch?? Or I'm going through carb withdrawal???

Exercise:
30 min elliptical Quality: Fair. I didn't have to get off the elliptical, but had to stop moving twice to negotiate with the toddler about leaving me alone to exercise.

Wednesday

Breakfast: 1 cup kefir; 1/2 plain, 1/2 blueberry flavor

Lunch: 1 1/2 cups 'shepherd's pie', 1/2 cup mixed berries

Dinner: 2 Wasa crackers with natural peanut butter and reduced sugar jam.

Snack: 2oz cheese

Exercise: None. Sick with sore throat and some wheezing.

Thursday
Breakfast: Kefir 1/2 plain and 1/2 blueberry

Lunch: 2 cups romaine with 2tbsp Italian dressing, 1 chicken thigh (skinless), 1 cup segedynsky goulash (pork with kraut in a sauce--it's low carb), 1/2 cup raspberries, Coke Zero

Dinner: Panera greek salad with chicken (under 20g carbs per their nutrition info)

Exercise: 30 min elliptical.

Friday:
Breakfast: 2 Wasa crackers, 1 tsp butter, 2 oz cheddar cheese (this is fewer carbs than kefir and more filling, which I think I may need more calories in the morning)

Lunch: 2 cups romaine, fresh salsa, 2tbsp Italian dressing, 1 cup segedensky goulash

Dinner: Spinach Frittata: eggs, spinach, feta and mozzarella

Snack: Diet Root Beer

Exercise:30 min elliptical, good workout for once.

Saturday
Breakfast: 2 spinach fritatta egg 'muffins'--slightly less than 2 eggs. Coke zero.

Lunch: 1 cup segedensky goulash

Snack: 2 Wasa crackers, 2 oz cheese, 2tsp butter

Dinner: 4 chicken nuggets (oven fried), 1 cup segedensky goulash

NOTE: Pulled an all nighter with sick toddler. Look at the carb creep as the day wears on due to lack of sleep.

Exercise: 1 hour moving furniture upstairs, carrying boxes down stairs etc... to complete stage I of home remodel project

Sunday
Breakfast: 2 egg muffins (less than 2 eggs in total though). Plain black tea.

Lunch: 2 wasa crackers with 2 oz cheese. Plain black tea.

Snack: 1 cup kefir--Feeling like I need some carbs. Not feeling so good. Feel slightly better after kefir--not so shaky now.

Snack(about an hour later): Home made flax muffin (not low carb) Something is wrong with my blood sugar here I think--I am not hungry, I feel sick and weak after moving boxes and furniture up and down stairs. I'm eating carbs on purpose to see if that helps me feel better. Feel slightly better again after the muffin.

Snack: Bacon (another hour later)--Now adding fat and protein along with calories--again this is a calculated attempt to resolve whatever is making me feel so shaky/low sugar. Begin to feel better, but ravenous.

Dinner: Roast chicken, 1/2 cup raspberries. Diet Root beer

Exercise: 2 hours moving boxes and furniture up and down stairs. Heavy duty cleaning.