Archive for the 'Low Carb' Category

If, like me, you can look back at the many diet plans you tried over the years you may recall how you felt when you found a plan where you actually started losing weight and your clothes started fitting better. There was this feeling of. WOW, I'm actually doing this and it's working. Remember that feeling of re-gaining your self esteem - feeling more in CONTROL? But, then after losing a few pounds and feeling cocky about it you gradually started re-introducing those very things that made you fat - and pretty soon, boom!, back to square one - or worse. This forum is about sustainable weight loss and how to achieve it. I want you to have that feeling of control and I want you to like yourself ALL the time. Don't accept that you are overweight and there is nothing you can do about it. Don't utter those awful words to yourself that kill any chance of a better life "well, I'm fat and that's what I am." Bullcarb!

I keep washed and fresh celery in foil in the fridge to use as dipping scoops for this recipe or I use those terrific parmesan cheese wafers which satisfy the crunchy urge that seems to come over me frequently. This is a filling salad that can be inserted in a scooped-out tomato, set atop a bed of lettuce or eaten by itself.

Two large cans of Chicken of the Sea Albacore Tuna - drained

One can of Maria's quartered artichoke hearts - chopped

Five stalks of fresh celery - chopped or sliced to suit

Enough Mayo to suit your desired texture - remember Mayo is just about carb free and if you can stand the taste use low-fat Mayo

Salt & Pepper to taste

Dash of curry - less than quarter teaspoon

Teaspoon of Dill weed

Three hard boiled eggs - chopped

Finely shredded mozzarella cheese - about 1 cup

1/2 cup Macadamia nut pieces if desired

Mix all ingredients in a serving bowl that has a tight lid or a tupperware container so that you can munch on this later. If kept cold it will keep for 3-4 days without getting soggy or stale. If it has been sitting for a while stir with a fork to mix. Serving size is an ice cream scoop full containing less than 4 net carbs.

I found this interesting article in the December 29th issue of the Arizona Republic Newspaper; Kalahari's hoodia a darling of world dieting industry written by Robyn Dixon of the LA Times. It motivated me to add my comments in rebuttal to the ridiculous amount of buzz that this supposed new "diet wonder drug" is causing.

MARIENTAL, Namibia -

In the article Ms. Dixon describes a plant that she claims resembles something from the Day of the Triffids or some other science-fiction creation: a squat succulent with thick, spiky arms, purple fleshy petals and seedpods like rhino horns. But I liken it to Audrey II, the blood drinking monster plant from outer space that gave Rick Moranis so much grief in the hit movie; Little Shop of Horrors. FEED ME!

Hoodia Gordonii is no beauty, but this humble plant is Africa's latest cash crop, priced almost like a narcotic at $40. an ounce. The plant which grows wild in the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa, was once used by indigenous tribes to suppress hunger and thirst when hunting. Now, as Dixon points out, it's the darling of the international dieting industry and a search for the word nets about 14 million responses! Once again it seems that the overweight among us have discovered a new miracle pill that takes the place of balanced nutrition, self-control and exercise.

The "get rich quick at the expense of the fat and desperate" folks have found a new way to drink our blood just like Audrey II, a metaphor used to illustrate the money that people will spend in the hopes of finding that miracle pill, the one that you take right before bedtime so that you get thin while you sleep. The demand for hoodia is so great that supplies of the plant have been severely compromised, smuggling is rife and farmers in southern Africa are trying to cash in on the trend. One hoodia farmer, Dougal Bassingthwaighte calls it "an impossible phenomenon that is too good to be true." International giant Unilever is licensed to commercialize hoodia but world-wide demand is far outstripping supply and there is a mad race on to get plants to the market. Does anyone remember the old adage; if it's too good to be true, it usually is? But in the hopes that maybe this time there is a pill that really does what it claims, for some, all common sense goes out the window. Unfortunately for farmer Doug the plants that he is currently cultivating as of this writing (some 130,000 seedlings) will take two years before they can be harvested. By that time the "hoodia" being peddled on the internet will have caused a heart attack or stroke, the FDA will have issued a ban and the the entire South Afican agricultural industry will be shut down by a class-action law suit. Use of Hoodia will taper off as all fads do and the impatient dieters of world will move on to the next great get-thin-by-taking-a-pill miracle drug, leaving farmer Doug stuck with a million pounds of Audrey II look-alikes. FEED ME! (more…)