Why Am I HUNGRY all the time?

I feel like I am eating pretty much the same as I was a month ago, but I'm hungry.

Is it sleepiness? Am I not eating enough salad? Not drinking enough water?

This is something that had not been plaguing me before.  I can't seem to sleep past 4 AM and that might have something to do with it- I'm  slightly tired which often leads to hunger. Trying to take a nap this afternoon, but of course, the phone rings just as I am dozing off.  My thyroid tests came back borderline, and my doctor said she wouldn't adjust my dosage if I was feeling okay.. I thought I was, poor sleep can be a symptom of low thyroid. Maybe I'll have to rethink that when I see her again.

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarbsalads/a/worldsalads.htm?nl=1

Salads are really a centerpiece for low carb eating because they are VERY filling when you eat a nice big one with lots of lettuce.. A big salad at lunch time can be a great way to eat less calories but still feel satisfied.  The link, above, is a great list of a links to a ton of salad recipes from around the orld--courtesy of  About.cm's low carb site.

The other day, I had a great simple salad with my chicken and mole sauce -- just some iceberg lettuce with a few thin slices of avocado, drizzeled with some sour cream--a mexican variety that is thinned out and tastes good enough to substitute for dressing all by itself.

Two days ago I made a really simple fresh salad with just very fresh  green leaf lettuce, cucumbers, mushrooms, and a basil olive oil with red wine vinegar. I ate it with a low carb tortilla pizza spread with homemade pesto that I made with pumpkin seed,  topped with  black olives, artichoke hearts and mozzarella. The tortilla got pretty crunchy and it tasted great.

I seem to be gaining and losing the same 2 pounds this week. Hopefully, I'll see another one pound drop over all. But I am starting to watch my calories more again. I'd stopped writing down what I eat..which is one way to really get off track. So I'm back to making a daily "menu"  and then seeing how well I stick to it.

Sleep, I think, is an issue. My allergies have been acting up this summer, so when  wake up at 4 AM, they kick in and I am not able to stay in bed...(after sneezing and blowing my nose for 15-20 minutes, it's over (dust mites) but by then, as my granddaughter says, "I'm Awake!"

Down over a pound when you least expect it -- breaking habits

Yesterday morning I was frustrated because my weight went up 2 pounds when I least expected it. This morning I was shocked to see my weight had dropped 3 pounds when I least expected it.

Yesterday I had my 3 year old grandaughter, who, having stayed overnight -- which means only partial sleep for me- stayed with me the rest of the day. We had lots of fun doing a variety of out door things - nothing vigorous for me but I was active. I had eggs and sausage for breakfast and we snacked on nuts then I took Zoe to McDonalds as she said she'd like to have a burger and we were nearby. She had fries and a cheeseburger and I ordered a Latte on Ice with sugar free vanilla syrup and a quarter pounder. (I have Never orderd a quarter pounder before.)  THe latte was a bust because I really can't stand strong coffee...I threw it away for water.  I tossed the top of the roll and felt guilty eating real catsup and the skimpy bottom half - well - not guilty exactly -- more like concern. I snitched a few fries from Zoe before they got cold. I was still feeling really hungry. So I ordered ANOTHER quarterpounder-- tossing the top of the roll again (which is 3 times the size of the bottom half.) - For afternoon snack I had an Atkins Indulge Bar (like a baby snickers)  and after dropping Zoe off at 3:30, and going grocery shopping, I ate a Breyers Carb Smart icecream bar on the way home. I considered it a fully indulgent, Junk Food Day. Not a lick of salad, My only vegetable was the pickle on my burger.

Somehow, I got a second wind, and starting cleaning the bathrooms, vaccuming and sweeping the patio for Zoe's b-day party on Saturday. Dinner time rolled around and I wasn't hungry and my husband wasn't coming home, so I decided not to eat. Around 8 PM -- still not hungry, but a little restless, I ate half of Zoe's leftover banana with peanut butter on it. THen I drank some water and watched my son play baseball on TV. I felt like I'd taken a vacation from health eating for the day.  So what a surprise when I hopped on the scale and was down to 185.4 --A pound lower than I've been since returning to Atkins. Go figure.

But the take away from this, for me, is-- maybe eating hearty protein at morning and lunch (With a few more veggies) and not eating much dinner really is a good idea for me. Though it's rare that I don't have to cook dinner --it doesn't mean I have to eat it and I wonder how often I AM eating it out of habit and circumstance, rather than hunger.  So that will be my experiment for the next few days. Making sure I get ample protein and seeing if Dinner is extraeneous....why a meal when I small snack will do?

Walked the canal this morning -- two guys were setting up to fish with these cool, fancy sort inner tubes that looked like baby plontoons. They had seats and their legs will dangle in the river....I think I need one!!!  I"ve been thinking about exploring more seriously what I can do to enjoy the Delaware besides kayak - since that takes a lot more effort and help from at least one other person.  Going to research Skiddo's and fishing with an expert guide I know, who could show me the ropes of fly fishing...

At 6:30 AM, the canal and river were misty with fog, with bright rays of sunshine crashing through. Beautiful.  At 69 degrees. I didn't have my camera or cell phone camera-- so this picture from two days before will have to do.

Has it really been 10 days since my last post???

Well, I guess it's getting too boring -- that's the thing about regular "dieting" or lifestyle changes. The weight loss is slow and so the drama is gone. You're just slogging through and there's lots of variation in the scale- up and down, that can be deceptive.

Once again, if I haven't already said this, I've realized that fooling around with sweet recipe that try to mimic sugar laden pastries, cookies, etc are a major waste ot time, money and and ingredients.

Over the past week I have made recipes that people raved about online, and I almost barfed from.

For Example - the One Minute Muffin -- which was pure flaxseed flour, egg and agents for rising...that you cook for one minute in the microwave...uggggghhhh. That was the main barf fest.

Then I made some okay ish blueberry muffins from Almond Flour ---I think adding vital wheat flour would probably improve the density issue.

I also made some chocolate peanut butter cookies from one of the Atkins's books and blaaaaaaaaah.. The only ingredient I did not have was chocolate extract -- maybe it would have made the chocolate flavor more instense...I used stevia instead of splenda -- they were really dry and hardly sweet at alll and I found them utterly unappealing-- and my grandaugter felt the same way.

So instead of scouring cookbooks and websites for other people's ideas of delightful sweet treats without sugar, I am opting for fruit and cheeses as the only decent source to assuage a sweet tooth --and the Atkins Bars, which still really taste like snickers to me (the little indulge bar) and I don't seem to really mind the sugar alcohols.  Better to learn more about how to cook, season, marinate and sauce various sources of protein than to vainly go in search of a recipe that will never fulfill a raging sweet tooth that's trying to go into remission.  BTW, Atkins peanut butter cups are pretty good too and a nice after dinner treat.

The scale was up today but I was on the run yesterday and ate no salads and little veggies...and I put on pants I wore at my reunion, which starrted all this and they were hanging off me like I'd lost 20-25 pounds, not just 15. No kidding!

I was so proud of myself yesterday-- at a big flea market where all you saw was pretzels and the usual sugary and doughy Pa fare, I found myself very hungery but unwilling to budge on Atkins. We finally found an indoor Amish meat market and I asked for a few slices of ham and turkey and part of an end of  farmer's cheese I saw stuck in a little baggy -- and walked around eating that with my fingers rather than succumb to all the typical greasy, carbohydrate laden stuff that was being offered every 30 feet.  I rather amazed myself!!

Tuesday July 13 --An Olive Oil Adventure!

Last night, following an Atkins recipe from the 2010 book, I pureed some fresh strawberries to make strawberry vinagarette. After straining them and adding some ingredients, the final ingredient was  -extra virgin olive oil. I put that in and tasted it and YUK!! 

What had tasted fine in the pumpkin seed pesto I had just made was a disaster in the vinegarette. What were they thinking??? I Dumped it all out.

Today, while having lunch with my son and daugther in law (I found out that Mole Sauce does not contain a lot of carbs so I suggested we go to a Mexican restaurant -- I said no rice please but ate some refried beans and was totally satsified.  I mentioned that I wished there was somewhere I could go to taste different kinds of olive oil to see what I liked and my son said, "There is an olive and vinegar tasting place right down the street!"  Who knew? It was like instant gratification... we went in to "Seasonings" and the walls were lined with cannisters of olive oil and balsamic vinegars of all types...including dark cherry and chocolate venegars and EVOO's with lemon, apple and truffle aspects..you just grab a little paper cup and taste to your heart's delight. I bought a lemony light olive oil and a blueberry balsamic which I had over a leafy salad with blueberries tonight. I just put a little in some plain yoghurt and yum!! It's awfully sweet though-- so now I need to go look it up on Atkins..I think balsamic is okay after induction.

For dinner I made hamburgers on the grilll (grassfed) and made sure mine were very rare. I found that eating them that way made me not miss the bun one iota. A slice of meunster and some avocado on the side, plus the leafy greens was just perfect along with some unsweetened passionfruit iced tea.

 This is the way hamburger tasted when I was a kid and I used to pick it out of the pan as my mom was cooking it. Since the meat is from  local, grass fed steer on small farms, I am not concerned about eating the meat rare.

futher success and the tyranny of sweet

On Thursday I tubed down the Delaware River with my daughter in law. We tied up our tubes and carried a cooler with water. And we sneaked two cheese sticks along in my pocket -- since were told we could have no snacks in our cooler...good thing. The river was VERY slow and it took us about 4 hours to get to the HOT DOG MAN where you can stand in thigh high water to get your "Free" hot dogs, soda and snack.

We had to paddle quite a bit, and current picked up near the hot dog stand so I was paddling and kicking furiously to make sure we made it into shore. I had no idea what time it was, but by the time we got out of the water, I was shaking -either from hunger, exertion or the adrenal rush of almost not making it in.

our "free" lunch consisted of 2 hot dogs in buns, a drink (mine a diet Pepsi) and I gave my snack to my daughter in law. Since the diet soda offered no calories to burn, I put my two hot dogs into one bun and ate them. My FIRST contact with white flour in over a month.  I was a little weirded out by that, but not too much. I knew I was burning fat and whatever else I ate today. In fact, the next day I dropped 2 pounds...probably some of it due to dehydration...though by Saturday I am still in the 186 realm...

When I came home I immediately made myself a nice big salad from red leaf and green leaf lettuce, spinach, shrimp, avocado, pumpkin seeds, purple cauliflower a sprinkle of blue cheese, baby portebellos and  oil and vinegar.  It was DELICIOUS.  Having everything handy and much of it cut up in pouches or containers makes it really fast. I have now found I really crave at least ONE BIG SALAD a day..so many flavors, no artificial sweeteners lingering after taste and the bulk is satisfying too. (Having a big bag of frozen peeled shrimp in the freezer is great for quick meals.)

FRIDAY-- the WORST CESAR SALAD EVER

On a trip with my son and granddaughter we stopped at a local deli for an early lunch. Instead of my usual turkey Ruben, I ordered a Caesar salad..yuck...what a disappointment.  She warned me that she only had ice berg lettuce, but she put on cut up toast instead of croutons (Maybe that was good, I wasn't the least tempted to eat them)  The chicken was out of one of those precooked bags, and the dressing was in a packet. Yuk. There was some shredded cheese on top. Makes you realize how easy it is to make your own dressing and how good it is!! I've been making blue cheese and ranch dressings--which taste so fresh and wonderful.


SATURDAY

Is usually communal breakfast day but I got up early to do some work and then decided to try and make low carb pancakes---using vital wheat gluten and ground almond  meal. It wasn't bad but after the first 3 I was still hungry (should have downed a glass or two of water first) and it was impossible to turn them after that--despite washing the pan and starting over.  It would have helped if the author had said make them silver dollar sized...but even so, my Emeril pans need the temp to be just right--or stuff seems to stick. And these did not get solid enough in the middle to turn easily.  I think a non-stick pan is essential for success. But the pancakes that I did manage to get out of the pan tasted good and had a nice texture.. The fake maple syrup tasted good at first too, but by the second batch I was noticing how fake it was...(Walden farms 0 calorie pancake syrup. I had 2 strips of bacon and some coffee with cream. But I'm vowing to stay away from any sweeteners the rest of the day. This was a pretty high carb meal- with 6 pancakes I may have eaten as many as 12 net carbs....(for comparison -- know that 1 cup of multi grain cheerios is 20 net carbs)

TYRANNY OF THE SWEET TOOTH
I'm still too attracted to sweet stuff -- though it's ALL about chocolate.. I'm having the max recommended 2 Atkins bars a day (2 net carbs and about the size of one ha;f a pack of an Almond Joy) ...one usually as a snack and one after dinner as "dessert." --I'm sure this is craving related rather than hunger oriented...and I'd like to cut back and make substitutes. For instance, a little natural  peanut butter on a celery stick tastes sweet to me now (no sugar in the pbutter) or a little brie with maybe a few berries would be more natural, satisfying and healthier than the bars..it's a worthy goal.....Slowly getting into having some cheeses around to sample and relish--in a house that's seen American slices for too long.

By the WAY -- scale dips a half pound

I think after 6 days off the minimalist diet known as BEAD --my weight has stabilized and I'm beginning to shed again. This morning I was down a half pound.  At the same time, I found an old paper with my measurements from Dec 2 years ago and compared my measurements of this morning:

Pecs (right above the breasts)  DOWN 1/2 inch

Bust  DOWN 2 inches

Ribs (right under breasts)  DOWN 1.5 inches

Waist DOWN 3 /12 inches (No wonder I can button those shorts now!)

Abdomen DOWN 2 inches

Upper Thigh -DOWN 1 1/2 inches.

And this without being able to exercise much more than walking around my yard.  I do miss my morning walks!! But there seems to be no rushing a broken ankle to heal.

Family Atkins and Miracle Noodles?

As I continue to follow the Lo-Carb way of eating, my husband seems to be figuring that maybe this isn't just a blip on my radar screen. So he has asked for some help in following a low carb plan. However, he doesn't want to read about it-- he just wants me to tell him what to do. Hmmmm.

I wrestled with the idea and then I told him I didn't think he had what it takes to do an Induction diet-- he has so many strong food habits and he eats the same things over and over again-- without thought...like having multi-grain cheerios every weekday of warm weather and switching to oatmeal once the weather cools down. This is partly because he gets up very early and needs to get out of the house by 5:30 AM, but partly--I think it's just the way he is. He doesn't like to eat many different kinds of food and if I change a single ingredient in his meals, he notices.

So, after a sleepless night of trying to figure out how to help him, I told him maybe he should do the reverse of the Atkins plan- which is to drop all but 20 grams of carbs and then add them back in, slowly, to see what your carb tolerance is (the amount you can eat without gaining weight)  I said, "Why don't you start cutting carbs here and there and see what happens? At the same time, you can start experimenting with replacement foods.

I couldn't imagine, for instance, separating him from his hamburger or hot dog buns...!!

So, for several days now, he has been trying to lessen his carb intake. One way this happens is that I now make his breakfast as well as his lunch at 5 AM!  Hmmm. All the while the dog is whining for me to feed her!

My husband loves to say that he'd rather teach someone how to fish than fish for them, or whatever that familiar phrase is...so today I went out and bought a lot of potential low carb snack items, like almonds, pumpkin seeds, whey shake powder, green peppers etc and I got out a marker and some recipe cards:

FIRST! I wrote out the recipe for a lo carb breakfast shake: 4-6 ounces of almond milk (Whoops, he didn't know that's what I was using instead of milk!)  a couple of dollops of whole milk yogurt, 1/4 cup of cream, a scoop of sweetened with stevia, vanilla whey powder plus 1/4 cup of frozen blueberries or strawberries. Mix and BLEND!  So now he can make that every other day, at least, when I'm not making him over easy eggs and bacon.

Then I made a list of 12 different snacks...like wrapping a piece of ham or cheese around a slice of green or red pepper, or peanut butter or cream cheese on celery, or cheese on a slice of Wasa crisps instead of his usual 4  pretzels...you get the idea. Wings, with blue cheese dressing. A dill pickle wrapped up in roast beef, etc. Pumpkin seeds over 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, or 10 pecans with 1/2 cup of cantaloupe. Trying to incorporate more than just the meat and cheese or eggs--and of course, the satisfying Atkins chocolate bars!

I've been doing some stocking up, but also noticing the grocery bills-- it's expensive to eat lo carb!!  SO once I see what it is we really like to eat, I'll start looking for some cheaper ways to buy them. Like where can I buy Atkins bars wholesale!!?? Today I bought a bunch of chicken legs and thighs to cook up and have for snacks or salad components...they're cheap. And good.

As for MIRACLE NOODLES?  I finally got around to trying the angel hair variety I bought via the Internet. I combine them with an Indian Chicken dish--tandoori chicken and sauce. And the only miracle I thought of is why people every buy this stuff AGAIN!  It is very rubbery and tasteless (made of shirataki mushrooms) and I've been off pasta long enough that I just don't care anymore. Anyone that eats this stuff has not broken their "addiction" to spaghetti. This does NOT taste like food. Fa gedda boud it!!

Next, I want to tackle some Atkins type cookies for Zoe- using stevia instead of splenda. I also ordered some Lo Han-- which is a Mercola approved sweetener from China. I think Mercola is a bit of a nut case, after reading his book (And sending it back) when I saw that he tends to jump from one mode of eating to the next- each time with the fervor of a religious zealot that feels no one else can possibly be "saved" any other way.  But when it comes to sugar substitutes, I'm willing to use him as a guide. Though I DO occasional drink stuff with aspartame!

Pumpkin Shortage

Who knew? I went to three grocery stores yesterday before I was told that because of a poor crop of pumpkins last season, people started hoarding the  canned pumpkin several weeks ago (?) for this Thanksgiving?
 The canned pumpkin shelves were bare. So, I had to leave it out--I put the cheesecake into my really nice stoneware, fluted edge pie plate instead of my springform pan, which was going to be too big, and it turned out great. The pecan crust was almost as good as graham cracker--just different really. And the filling was not overly sweet -- just right in fact.

I stayed at the first picnic till the burgers and hot dogs were served. I was surprised that there wasn't any kind of green salad or veggies really, so my meal was a bald burger and a really overcooked hotdog-- but I did take a couple of slices of mozzarella from between the tomatoes to make the burger slide down easier. It was also really well done. (Tip to self, bring your lo-carb ketchup with you barbecues!)

We went on to the next party- it was dark by the time we got there and little outdoor lighting so I really couldn't see what was available  to eat except lots of brownies. I did finally find the roast pork and had a little bit, but then just went for my own Atkin's safe cheesecake and a diet coke.

It was nice, actually, not to be too concerned with the food fare and just focus on talking with the many people I hadn't seen since leaving Rodale. Made some great Jim Thorpe connections for future tours, in fact.

We were way out in the country and the skies were chock full of stars. Kids were playing with sparklers and someone put a dayglo ring on my dog's collar so we wouldn't lose each other.  I didn't even look at the brownies twice-- a former very favorite food of mine. Pretty soon Ill have to make up the Atkin's version and see what that's like....but today I tried to stay away from sweeteners and just eat sensible snacks like peanut butter on celery.

I think I have been reasurring myself that I CAN have access to lots of sweet, chocolately and dessert like things.. now that I know I can, it's good tor realize that I need to focus on the savory as well as the sweet and keep my eye on getting the requisite salads and veggies in every day.

We're going to a ball game tonight, so in honor of that, I'm having a hot dog and cheese in a low carb wrap-- "sauteed" in a little olive oil spray....with some sauerkraut on the side. --

As far as I can tell, I'm staying within a 25 gram-30 gram limit- which is well within Ongoing Weight-Loss standards. And my appetite was really low today. I chucked the last few bites of my cheesecake breakfast!

The Cook's Nook and Eating Out

Soooooo. I was so busy I didn't blog for a couple of days! 

Well, here's the lastest scoop

1. I found my watch buried deep in my new little purse. Sorry for all the bad thoughts I thought about the people at the pool. I can hear my sister laughing all the way across the ocean, in Greece-- I did also find that dress, Paula, in a plastic bin in the basement. What was I thinking when I put it in there??

2. My pounds are up by 3, but given that I'm eating a much greater quantity of food that's also sticking to my insides some, not surprising. I learned that I need to take in more salt to be more "regular" - the Newest Atkin's book says drink 2 cups of broth a day to make sure you get enough. I'm measuring now bust, waist, abdomen and hips now and the inches are lookin good! At least two inches off  or more everwhere I Place the tape measurer. And Clothes continue to loosen up. Awesome.

3. I WENT OUT TO DINNER LAST NIGHT!! Now, I didn't share his with my husband but that almost brought me to tears. After all, I've been workin really hard in the kitchen for the past couple of weeks, and I was counting on staying away from restaurants till the end of July-- so an evening at the Marblehead, which always makes me feel like I"m "down the shore" as we Jersey Girls like to say, was a real treat - not to mention the FOOD!  Here's what I had- strict Atkins style: Crab and fliet mignon tips, zuchinni and broccoli in butter, and a nice big wedge of iceberg with blue cheese and bacon crumbles. And a diet coke with lemon. I couldn't eat but half of the crab and steak, (Eat till your satisfied but not stuffed, is the mantra and it's not like pushing aside piece of chocolate cake, at all - its much easier to say no to heavy duty protein.)  SO I'm having the leftovers for lunch today. I also snagged the butter and the sour cream my husband didn't use. -- after all - those are valuable ingredients now. (Isn't this a crazy, upside down world?!!)

I'm graduating to OWL (ongoing weight loss)  because I did induction a while back and I think I've got the carb cravings pretty well under control and am probably burning fat - since I haven't had any bread, pasta, potatoes etc in a month -- but the BEAD diet was actually mostly carbs and milk sugar -with the fruits and the whole milk and veggies like butternut squash -- which you can't have till Pre-maintenance in Atkins. Imagine that, no WISE FRIES?

So that basically means I can have tiny portions of berries and some nuts..

It's a little nutty counting carbs, which I've never really done in a detailed way because I've never done much more than the induction phase...I bought the newest Atkins book -- 2010--which is co-written by 3 top docs and is VERY detailed.  It's interesting reading and also a litle overwhelming. I have Veronica Atkin's nice, colorful, lots of pictures, cookbook which seems great- and you can tell at a glance whether a recipe is good for your phase. I'm making a pumkin pecan cheesecake for a 4th of July Picnic -- and some vanilla custard icecream for another one....but staying aware of portion control-- you really can't sit down and eat a big bowl of icecream--you have to have enough fat and protein and yet not go overboard. -- and that seems to be pretty easy. You need to eat salad greens twice a day and some veggies too --so it's healthy and makes sense.  Its not, as some people think, eggs, steak and bacon all day, every day.

I have found that it's best not to wait TOO long to eat --but for me that means don't wait till 12 when you ate at 5:30 AM-- that's almost 7 hours and when I got home at 11:30 the second day-- I was so ravenous I did eat my max in cheese -- 3 slices of provolone which was 3 ounces --- before I could get my shrimp salad on the table.

I've not tackled any fancy dressing yet - to add fat to the salads. But red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper taste terrific to me right now.And since it's permissable to have 2 Atkins bars a day (though its' advised not to rely on them too heavily)  that little indulgence is truly a wonderful thing....

I've been ruminating how to get my husband's diet turned around, little by little, but he has so many ingrained habits and distinct food preference (don't we all)  it will really have to come from him -- today I made his yoghurt from whole milk and blueberries instead of giving him the diet stuff. It wasn't much, but he might not like it!  I had to put xanthum gum it it to thicken it up after I ran it and the blueberries through the mini blender. If I change one little item in his favorite recipes--he'll always say-- What did you do???!

Well, as I keep this up, he'll automatically get some of the beneft and as I keep losing --he will probably get jealous...Time to go shop for the Makin Bakin doodad. We had one but I must have dumped a couple of the t-bars in the trash. They now sell it at K-mart. Their homepage still has a picture of the little girl who came up with the idea when she was 8, but guess what-- she's now 34!!!