2015 Dietary Guidelines - Yeah for Eggs!! Limits on Sugar

One of my favorite egg dishes

In case you haven't gotten your daily dose of news, the U.S. has posted the 2015 Dietary Guidelines and they contain some surprises and for some of us...some validation we've been waiting on for some time.  Turns out...eggs are okay and haven't been proven to increase blood cholesterol.  There are no limits on how many eggs you can eat a day.  I think, I'll make deviled eggs this weekend..

What was really quite refreshing for me and an obvious peeve for the soda industry is that there are now limits on sugar intake!  I am actually astonished to know that there haven't been guidelines on sugar intake before.

Here's a little snapshot directly from the guidelines for you to see what that means:

"Because added sugars and solid fats are not nutrient dense and solid fats contribute to saturated fat intake, the USDA Food Patterns recommend that intake be limited. The guidance on the approximate amounts of solid fats and added sugars that can be part of a healthful diet is as follows: children ages 2 to 8 years: 120 calories/day; children 9 to 13 years: 120 to 250 calories/day; girls ages 14 to 18 years: 120 to 250 calories/day; boys ages 14 to 18: 160 to 330 calories/day; adult women: 120 to 250 calories/day; and adult men: 160 to 330 calories/day. Intake limits varies by age and sex and are based on residual calories after all food group intakes are met. The intake limits include solid fats and added sugars from all sources in the diet: from sugar in sugar-sweetened beverages, including coffee and tea, and breakfast cereals, to solid fats in burgers, sandwiches, and pizza, to the combination of solid fats and added sugars in snacks and desserts such as cookies, cakes, ice cream, and donuts."  - find this information here:  http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015-scientific-report/06-chapter-1/d1-3.asp

What does 120 calories of solid fats and added sugars look like:

My homemade beignets... I stop at 3 of these

A medium sized donut with chocolate glaze is 193 calories, 6 grams saturated fat and 11 grams of sugar. - The 11 grams sugar approximately 3 teaspoons - 48 calories + 6 grams of saturated fat at 9 calories a gram - 54 calories: - 102 calories right there - this would be advising an eight year old to stop after 1.

There are some very popular items out there which people may even frequent daily.  For all our Starbucks lovers out there who may love that blueberry yogurt muffin with honey!  It sounds awesome!  30 grams of sugar and 4 grams of saturated fat. -120 calories from the sugar and 36 from the fat - total: 156 calories. - You better have your coffee black with that one...

These exercises remind me why I count carbs and not calories and why, I'm not going to count my sugar.  Because at 50 gross carbs a day (I do not subtract the fiber) - if 100% of my carbs came from sugar that would be 200 calories.  Most of my carbs come from vegetables so I know I'm in the clear here.

Hope I didn't spoil your breakfast!

Happy Carb Counting

Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It - Book Review

As many of my readers know, I came about the low carb lifestyle through my doctor.  I had gained too much over too short a period of time for her comfort that she suggested it.  Over a 14 month period, I lost 50 lbs.  I had needed to lose 22 lbs., but the lifestyle was so easy, I just continued and achieved a healthy, normal weight for my frame.

For many years, my days and my goals were mainly mandated by someone else's schedule.  It's called working, or for many people, overworking.  During the last several months, I've been enjoying my schedule since I stepped back from the corporate life.  I have after 18 years, two kids, too many mortgage refinances to count, finally have the chance to actually read something not related to a corporations goals, but related to mine.

One of my low carb coaching participants who has a great thirst for knowledge on all things low carb shared a great book with me written by Gary Taubes, called Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It.  Gary writes about the science of diet, shares the history of how we have gotten to our recommended food pyramid and why it's difficult for the medical community to whole heartily recommend the low carb lifestyle when they certainly should be.

If you are a history buff, you will enjoy the background he provides on the very first low carb diets. The shorthand version is that the low carb lifestyle is not a fad, it's been around for a very long time. Bursting the myths of not eating fat and calories in: calories out balance will make you thinner is something that should be taught in elementary school.  Anyone who believes in these two core areas of thinking, should read the book.

What is evidently stressed is that SUGAR is bad and starch should be avoided.  He has direct ties back to the core epidemics plaguing world health today - obesity and diabetes.   Hmmm, the two things I was on the brink of being before I started my low carb lifestyle change.  

The author shares results of testings conducted by universities, namely Stanford and Duke.   Stanford who compared the low carb diet to several low calorie and vegetarian diets and found that low carb had the best results and the most sustained results.  Duke came to such a resoundingly successful findings on the benefit of low carb that they have their own list of foods and guidelines for getting started on a no sugar, no starch diet.

My key benefit was reaffirmation that I am indeed, heading in the right direction.

Happy Carb Counting!

Waste Not....and Frozen Lemonade Yogurt Pops

Frozen Lemonade Yogurt Pops

I am on a bend to not waste anything.  I am ultra conserving.  It drives my kids wacky that I'm doing this, but I'm trying to teach them that we can get ahead in many ways in life if we just pay attention to all the details.

One of the biggest areas I needed to pay attention to was just how much food I bought and how much I threw away. When I was able to finally focus on what I was buying and preparing, I uncovered a pretty huge savings.  My first month of this experiment was this last fall.  I set out to not spend more than $500 on groceries that month.  I did my best effort to clip coupons and try to buy sale items. At the end of the month I had spent $900.


I tightened in again.  $500 for the next month.  I refused to buy boxes, I write The Carbometer, I shouldn't be cooking with the help of a box anyway!  This new rule would help get all those refined sugars and grains out of our diet.  Result that month $650.  I'm not one to give up too easily.  I set out again.  No grocery stores the next month.  Result that month $420.   For January, I've brought the grocery total to $360 and I believe I can get it to $250 for February.

No boxes, no grocery stores - except for 1/2 priced meat specials, lots of meal planning all help make the goal.  Now I make one trip to Costco a month and pick up milk at a big box grocery outlet during the month if I can't get back to Costco and I pick up my fresh spinach from the farmers market.

The problem with shopping bulk is that you sometimes have things which are leftover and you don't know what to do with them.  This month is was plain yogurt.  I had used about a serving of the tub and it was going to expire the next day.  I would literally need to make a lot of something.   I searched the internet and found yogurt pops.  Though it's not hot yet, I thought, nice treat for the kids, but do I have enough of the stuff to make them.  I certainly didn't want to throw in a lot of honey or sugar to make the pops taste good.  It's one thing to save something, but another if it would still go to waste if no one would eat it.

There on the counter was my last container of Country Time Lemonade....I wonder what those pops would taste like with that.  I made a small sample of a cup of yogurt with a tablespoon of Country Time Lemonade.  I had both kids taste it and my husband.  My son and my husband both wanted a bowl of it right away...2 cups down.  My daughter said she'd eat it as a frozen pop.  With the remainder I made 8 frozen pops and 6 two-ounce cups.

Yogurt officially saved!  Will I buy more Country Time Lemonade?  I have to think about that...  technically it's not a box.

Yogurt pops:

7 servings of plain yogurt - 133 carbs
8 tablespoons of Country Time Lemonade mix - 128 carbs
Total carbs: 261 carbs

Mix well and place in pop containers and freeze - This made 8 - 3 oz pops and 7 - 2 oz pops
Approx.  13.7 carbs for 2 oz pops and 20.6 carbs for 3 oz pops.

Happy Carb Counting!