The Lady on the Box and Going the Full Measure

The Lady on My Treasure Box

Have you ever had a treasure box?  One that you put only your most treasured items in.  Something that you may have hid under your bed or left on your dresser so you could see it often.  I had and I still have such a box.  My grandmother gave her to me as a consolidation instead of this seashell jewelry case I was really keen on.  I'm so glad she did.

There was a lady on this box.  She was from another time and appeared to be pretty tranquil, I like to think of her as french and from Provence!  I used to hold the box and wonder what it would be like to be her.   I identified with her in some ways, she had brown hair, so did I.  She seemed to be shaped like me or how I would have liked to have been shaped.  I thought of her as beautiful.

Inside of her I kept some very, very special things.  My dad's military tags, he had been in the Korean War.  I never met him, he passed away before I was born and the tags and some pictures are how I remember him.  A comb, I used to always wear combs in my hair, my Jr. Miss medallion, I was the underdog so there is some sweetness still to that achievement.  A picture of my grand prize sewing outfit for 4-H.  A pin from my achievement in the Hugh O'Brien Youth organization. Jewelry and gifts from my parents, grandparents and my pen pals.

I kept the box, she still has these things inside.  I found her recently in my room at my parents farm when I was packing up my stuff to move it permanently to California.  My parents were moving to town and so at the very young age of 42 I had to go clean out my room.   I can only say, I spent a good hour with her in my lap, going through everything inside of her sections.  I still wondered what it would be like to be her.   To be her with only the things which represented the best of me inside of her.

My Best Treasures

I've been thinking of her again, as I started to think how I would craft this next blog about measuring
food and why that's so important.   About being aware of only putting the best inside of you.   If you really want to be something better, if you really want to achieve something great, you have to do your best and be accountable to yourself.

As for my low carb lifestyle, I'm the treasure box.   I have to only put the best inside of me!  I have to eat right and exercise right and be the best I can be.  I know we all can do that.   If you don't already have measuring cups...go out and treat yourself to some.   Start to measure your food, start to count those carbs and those steps.

Measure your food and measure yourself!  Trainers will do this, they will take measurements to see where you are losing or gaining muscle.  I did that at the beginning and I just remeasured this week.  Shockingly in total I've lost 19 inches.  7 off my chest, 6 off my waist and 6 off my hips.   I hope this inspired you.  I hope you are able to look inside, to see that you owe it to yourself to treat your body well.

Happy Carb Counting!

Most Frequently Asked....When or How Do I Cheat?

Visitor at Pine Mountain Tree

I have been on a quest to become a low carb coach.  I've been talking up a storm to almost anyone who will listen to me.  I have had some great conversations, heard other people's successes and trials and I realize and understand that low carb may not be right for everyone, especially for those with certain health issues. However, what has come up the most is the desire or the need for people to have an outlet to cheat.

I must admit, I've had this desire before but I didn't allow myself to cheat until I met my first goal.  It was not the experience I wanted to have and I believe if people truly try the low carb lifestyle and get over the hump of having a lot of excess sugar and carbs in their system, they won't need to cheat with food. 

In the past,  I decided to reward myself with FOOD.   To reward myself with the highest carb containing item I used to LOVE to eat.  A biscuit.  I had made my weight goal.  Right..why not?   You can read about that experience in my blog on March 7 titled: Taste Bud Sensations.  Long story short, once I had gotten the carbs and sugar lowered in my system, the food I used to love ...didn't taste so good anymore.   The only way to keep that from happening and keep you from being successful at your lifestyle change is to keep from cheating with food during the first months of trying to make this lifestyle change.

What about birthdays, or special occasions?  In the beginning, I didn't do it.  I didn't cheat.  Later, I'd have a little.  A spoonful.  Like the Mary Poppins song; "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down."  Believe me, if you are successful in making the change...that spoonful will taste like medicine and you won't want anymore.   However, the toughest part is to get to that point.

The other fuzzy area of cheating that is brought up is on exercise.  I realize many don't have the time but I do believe it's because they have not embraced the opportunity to TAKE the time.  Moving to a low carb lifestyle or any lifestyle change for that matter means CHANGE.  I was thinking about my journey recently and I realized that I need to share with people how I came to my formula that works for me.  That is key, every one's formula will be different.

When I was told by my doctor to start watching my carbs, I found most websites like this one at Mayo Clinic http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/weight-loss/in-depth/low-carb-diet/art-20045831, state a low carb diet is one in which a person limits their carb intake to under 130 carbs a day.  Most people take in usually 300-370 carbs a day.  So by limiting to 130 you are cutting not only 1/3 carbs but also likely your calories.

I started at 100 carbs a day paired with 10,000 steps of exercise.  I did not lose any weight that week.  I did not gain either.   I went down to 75 carbs with 10,000 steps a day of exercise the next week.  I lost .5 lbs.  I wasn't happy with that, I could have continued at that, but I decided to go to 50 carbs.  I am now at the most extreme level of low-carb diet.  I lost 1 lb. that week and I've pretty much kept to this diet for the next 52 weeks.  I experienced plateaus and had periods of lower than ideal exercise which kept my weight steady for several weeks from December to March.  I am literally down to my last pound.   I am determined to get there this week!  I'm increasing my exercise to 12,000 steps and keeping my carbs at 50 or below each day this week to make it happen.

I wouldn't be able to write this blog for you if I built in a day of cheating.  My cheating on exercise only kept me from gaining weight.  My exercise is light...but it's long.   It's this way for my personal reasons.  I have a heart murmur so I can't actually be overly energetic.  I need to be consistent and not overdo things.  This kinda sucks because I can't go to an incredible spin class and sweat 3 lbs off in a 45 minute setting.  So I walk.  I hike.  I wear a pedometer and I like to go on a hike near my house.  It takes me 91 minutes to do this hike right.   Some days I have to break the hike up into 2 sections because of schedule.  I rarely have the opportunity to do this hike if school is not in session or if it's the weekend because 90 minutes away from my kids is too much time.  Technically, that's when I cheat.  I cheat on exercise.

Steps up to Pine Mountain

I believe most people only walk about 2500 steps a day.  Even those who exercise for  20 - 30 minutes.  I know that because it takes me 35 minutes to climb my mountain and the steps in that are only 3878.  Here is my pedometer reading at the top of Pine Mountain.

Here it is at the bottom of the mountain before I start Blue Oak Trail: I'm 58 minutes in and I'm only at: 5876.  I'm home now and I'm at 9587 steps, I've walked 4 miles.  The rest of the day, doing everyday things, I should get to 11000 or if I'm lucky 12000 steps.  That is why I recommend people who truly want to lose weight should exercise for at least 1 hour to 1 hour and a half and that's almost equivalent to 10000 steps, which is where we all should be and whatever else you do over that is extra.

So...my advice to those who want to cheat with food on the low carb diet...go ahead.  For every 10 extra carbs you take in, just know how many extra steps you'll have to take to get them off.   If it were me..and my formula that works for me.  Another 10 carbs would mean 2000 more steps.  If I want to eat 100 carbs, I need to take 20,000 steps.  It will be important to find your personal formula.

If we cheat, we can't say something didn't work...because we cheated.  So don't cheat, find your formula, make your adjustments.  If you know you are going to walk more..eat more.  If you know you won't be able to exercise more than 2500 steps a day...you may need to really watch your food intake.  I don't know how else to make this point clearer other than that.   Let's hope you have fabulous metabolism and you lose weight by eating 130 carbs and taking 2500 steps a day.  If you are successful at losing a .5 to 1 lb a week doing that...I'll send you a gold star.


Happy Carb Counting!

Circles of Influence - Making the Grade

The tree at the top of Pine Mountain, my favorite hike!

As a parent I am continually reminded that everything I do is witnessed and participated in by my children, even if it doesn't touch them directly.   It doesn't matter if it's a positive or a negative activity, it is all absorbed by the little sponges (your kids) in your life.   When I embarked on the low carb changes, my children of course were part of this.  I tried not to keep them from enjoying everyday food but I certainly cut back on the number of times we visited the pizza parlor or the fast food restaurant.

I knew they were being influenced by my diet and I started knowing some really nice things.  They eat a lot more vegetables than they used to.  They will literally push me out of the way to get to cucumber slices and ask for lettuce on their sandwiches and eat spinach salad.  More often than not when I ask them what they would like to eat for dinner, my son will say, "What you're having."

Our dinners have evolved from die hard spaghetti, pizza, subway sandwiches, rice bowls to steak or chicken, even fish, a spinach salad and a vegetable.  A small loaf of bread usually for my kids to split which recently I've noticed we usually have some left over.  The sweets are still a problem, but I don't buy them often and I try to make things that are low in carb and I never over bake anymore.  I used to love to make holiday cookies, I'd have parties to do so and tubs and tubs of cookies were the result.  There was usually a cake, or brownies or something soft and chewy and sweet to eat with ice cream.

That came to a screeching halt on Sept. 9, 2013 when I had to face the fact that I had to change my diet or I would be facing some serious health problems like high blood pressure, diabetes and who knows what else as I had added 10 lbs per year to my frame for several years in a row.  I went on a low carb diet and restricted myself to less than 50 carbs a day.  I figure my family is likely still getting 150 - 200 carbs a day. We had cake for birthdays, we shared dessert at special dinners out, occasionally we'd have oreos in the house or I'd make 12 cookies.   We tried to stay as active as possible.  By Thanksgiving, I had reached my first weight goal.  I had lost 27 lbs.

I celebrated by making muffins for the kids which disappeared instantly.  My parents were visiting and they both have adult on set diabetes so we didn't continue to have a lot of sweets around.   I actually, by preference, continued on the diet, but increased my carbs to about 100 a day.  I kept the weight off and at one point in the spring I thought...what weight am I really supposed to be and looked at a chart and saw that 125 was the median for healthy weight for my frame.  I was still on the cusp of overweight at 145 but yet acceptable healthy weight so I thought...why not?  What does 125 look like anyway?

So, that's me...all about me.

In my home this is what is happening......

My son's grades are improving in school.  Yippee!! He is getting homework done without a lot of prodding.  The teachers are calling to let us know he got an A on his test.  THEY ARE CALLING!  Wow, I think, all our hard work with helping him is paying off.  This is fantastic, way to go sweetheart.   We end the year on a high with a C average.  Some parents may think that's not so great...but the story is not over yet... read on.

My son has a cognitive processing learning disability and ADHD.  We work VERY diligently to get the results.   My husband and I have been strong advocates for my son, getting private tutors, helping him as much as we can and trying to instill independence.  We even moved to a new, more accessible community to get out of the city so that we could have more control.   I'm sure all these things helped with what I am going to share with you next.

School is going to start, we haven't had our son on his medication for focusing and ADHD all summer.  We go to the doctor for a check up.  Just on observing him, the doctor asks my son if he thinks it's still necessary to take the medication.  My son doesn't think so....I on the other hand, want the grades to prove it.   We get our prescription.

School starts, it's going to be challenging, I'm waiting for homework.  I'm waiting.  "Where is it?" I'd ask.  "I did it at school." he'd say.  "I'd like to check it."  I'd say.  "I already turned it in." he'd say.   I'd go sit on my hands and wonder what I should do next..."Let's read your book!"  I'd say.  We would do that, read through some assignments, go over a novel he was reading for class.  But more and more, he's just doing it.  He's growing up.  Yeah!

This week we had our progress report on the education plan the school has for him.  "We can remove this goal." the specialist told us...WHAT! - "Did you say, we are removing a goal?  Why?"  "Because he made it."   My son has been on an education plan since 2nd grade.  He is now in 7th.  He has never made one of the goals on the plan.  He has had sporadic success but never made a goal.  We removed 3 out of 6 goals that day.  There is still work to be done but his grades across the board are good, in ALL subjects.  ALL.

You better believe we praised him.  I wish I could do more for him.  I bought him a new pair of sweatpants.  I made him his favorite sandwich (2 times).  We let him stay up and play video games.  I would buy him a car if he was older if I could afford it ...that's how PROUD I am of him.  We just may try life at school without the medication.  All our hard work paid off.

Then I read this article yesterday:
https://www.yahoo.com/health/how-to-ward-off-grain-brain-98825902702.html

To summarize, a New York Times best selling author and neurologist states in his book "Grain Brain" that a low carb diet helps the cognitive and memory functions of the brain and aids in lowering ADHD.   My son has basically been on a low carb diet of his own for 13 months.  He didn't lose weight - he gained, he grew taller than me, his hands are larger than mine and his feet are huge!  But he didn't eat as much processed food as he has before and he had more well rounded meals with a lot more protein than before. 

We weren't part of a trial, so I'll never know if the diet had something to do with it. But I do know, I'm not going to chance it.  We are staying low carb, all of us.  ALL.

Please share this story with anyone you may know who may be in a similar situation.  Parents with children who are struggling in school with learning disabilities are motivated to do whatever they can to help their children.  I am willing to do whatever I can to help them.

Happy Carb Counting....from all of us.

Low Carb Camper Success and Chicken Sausage and Asparagus Wraps

Beach Picnic with leftover Chicken Salad and Cheese 

I just waved off my first low carb camper.  She was pretty happy leaving and is actually planning to come back on Monday!  After just four days of low carb camp she lost 2 lbs and is getting creative about making her own low carb meals.

We had a great few days, enjoying some wonderful meals and two memorable excursions.  It was great to have her visit and helped me focus on how to structure the camps for a great experience for the camper. On the third day she made our main meal which was a picnic that we enjoyed at Hearst Castle.  It was incredibly low carb:

Trader Joe's Chicken Sausage with shredded cheese - 1 carb
four asparagus tips wrapped in sliced ham - 5 carbs
small spinach salad with ranch dressing - 4 carbs

Total carbs:  10

Low Carb Camper Creation: Chicken Sausage and Asparagus Wraps

We spent some time walking and hiking.  I shared my favorite hiking trail, visited Montana De Oro's tide pools, toured Hearst Castle and saw the Elephant Seals.

She also visited Trader Joe's to purchase items that are lower carb and familiarize herself with what is available.  I recommend doing this at your local grocery store.  I recommend that everyone should know what they are eating.  For the counting of carbs in vegetables, I would recommend a smart phone app.  I use Carb Counter but even it doesn't have all the vegetables so I actually have the best luck just typing in a browser:  How many carbs in....xx

Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas

I loved this: 0 to 60 in 15 minutes: weight loss has a similar feeling.

In closing, the low carb camp worked....I'm going to keep doing them so please, if you have a week of vacation or even two and you want to try the low carb lifestyle....come stay with me and I'll help you get going.  I'm also offering to do low carb coaching and I'll be available on as frequent a schedule as the carb counter needs, checking in with email, Skype and providing tips and guides that are more in depth and instructive as to how I have managed to lose 44 lbs in 13 months.   Let me know if you are interested in either the low carb camps or the coaching by emailing me for more details to thecarbometer@gmail.com.

I believe the low carb camps help those who desire weight loss to focus more on the process of counting carbs and creating their meals with low carb ingredients, taking you out of your home environment where it may be too easy to cheat.  Having a bit of accountability and support present to keep the motivation going and focusing on simpler things in life...the view, the hike, the conversation of a friend, a picnic on the beach ect. To come to accept that it's a lifestyle change, it's not a diet and that to get the results you want, will take time.

Happy Carb Counting!
Enjoy Your Journey!

Inaugural Low Carb Camper! - And Awesome Chicken Avocado Salad

Beautiful Heirloom Tomatoes for our salad

I am hosting my very first low carb camper.  Susanna joined me on Monday and we started off with an overview of the low carb lifestyle basics and it was refreshing for me to know that the information I was sharing was new and interesting.  It's so easy to settle into our patterns for eating, and it's with discipline that we have to overcome them to change to healthier eating patterns.

  After an overview, I asked her about the goals she wanted to achieve with a low-carb focus and then shared how I felt she could achieve it and how long it could possibly take.  There has to be some expectation setting and several pounds do not disappear overnight.  The now 44 lbs I have lost took over a year.   That's less than a pound a week.

This is a lifestyle, it's not a diet.  There are no cheat days, sure there are special occasions and that's up to the person.  I would use moderation then, especially if you want to lose weight.

Our low carb lunch was fun to make and beautiful.  Susanna had brought several avocados and we made a special Chicken Avocado salad.   Here's the breakdown for 1 serving:

1/2 cup cooked chicken, cut in cubes - I used leftover chicken breast from an earlier dinner - 0 carbs

Lovely and delicious Chicken Avocado Salad

1 heirloom tomatoes - beautiful small ones - 3 carbs
1/8 cup chopped nuts - we used hazelnuts - 3 carbs
3 tbsp mayonnaise - 0 carbs
1 tbsp dijon mustard - 0 carbs
1 small avocado half - 7 carbs
1/8 cup of shredded cheese - 1 carb (had cheddar in it, slight carbs)

Paired with a Spinach salad with sliced red onions and balsamic vinaigrette - 2 carbs

Total Carbs: 16 carbs

It looks awesome and it was fabulous.  I had mine cold.  Susanna melted her cheese over the chicken and then placed it in the avocado.

It was fantastic and special treat to make this.

Happy Carb Counting - we're off to Morro Bay and Montana De Oro today to visit the tide
pools.

Why Do Low Carb Diets Work?

Mini Pepper and Spinach Open-Faced Omelette   

I recently watched a video on low carb diet research and the uncovering of how the diet actually work.  This wasn't my first foray into a low carb diet, but it is my first acknowledgement that it's a lifestyle choice and needs to be in order to maintain one's weight.  

In my singlehood, I had a roommate who did the Atkins Diet and lost an astounding 60 lbs.  He inspired me to try the diet as well.  I did lose weight, I remember around 20 lbs. but I never did hit the weight I currently am at.  After that point, I slowly crept up over time, got married had children and until the recent past I was relatively good at keeping the weight in check until I hit 40 and then it was as if no matter what I did, I gained weight.

Many people ask me if I'm on the Atkins diet, I'm not.  I count my carbs only.  I try to stay between 30 and 50 carbs a day when I'm actively trying to lose weight and allow myself between 50 and 75 when I want to maintain my weight, paired with exercise on a regular basis.   The Atkins diet has you do a lot of different tests, mainly on trying to find ketosis which was thought to be a way of getting rid of excess calories more easily.

Just this last week, one of my very good friends forwarded to me a link to a video about how low carb diets work and it's GREAT!  I recommend it if you want to know why the low carb diet works.  It's from a credible source and contains some historical information on Dr. Atkins and why he looked into doing the diet himself and why he started advocating it.  Dr. Atkins wasn't a diet doctor, he was a cardiologist. 

View from Pine Mountain - my daily hike

The video shares a lot of studies and other health information if you are concerned with other issues you may have before you embark on a low carb diet.    So if you are curious...watch this!
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=epxp_Viq484

I loved watching this, because it validated my thought about counting carbs instead of calories. 

Exciting news!  I will have my first Low Carb Camper coming on Monday to Friday this week, staying at our Airbnb and enjoying low carb meals that we'll make together and go on excursions in my wonderful community and surrounding area.  More pictures to come!
If you want to come and Low Carb Camp with me...send me an email and I'll tell you how it works! - thecarbometer@gmail.com.


Check out the Mini Pepper and Spinach Open-Faced Omelette featured above  from my March 19th blog here


Happy Carb Counting!

Great Eats with Cauliflower

Oh! Cauliflower

I have re-discovered cauliflower through the low carb diet.  Many of the recipe substitutions for rice or pasta mention using vegetables like spinach, broccoli and cauliflower.  I really never was too keen on cauliflower so I tended to use a lot of broccoli and spinach.  One Saturday, while at the farmers market, I saw a purple cauliflower.  I was curious, I asked the farmer if it tasted different than white cauliflower, she said she thought it did and preferred it to the white.   So I bought one.  She told me to broil it, not steam it and put lemon pepper and olive oil on it.  I've done this with asparagus and it's my preferred way of eating asparagus so I decided that would be what I would do.

DELICIOUS!  The purple did taste better than the white, I had to do a taste test and I broiled both.  Purple cauliflower seems a bit rare here, but I started to use white more often because it wasn't as bland tasting as I had remembered.  Since I'm focusing a bit on soups to make, I found a nice recipe for a cauliflower soup.  Here are the ingredients and carb counts.

Cauliflower Soup

olive oil  - 0 carbs
1/4 cup chopped onion - 4 carbs
1 small carrot, grated - 6 carbs
1/2 cup chopped celery - 1.5 carbs
1/2 head of cauliflower - 15.2 carbs
4 cups chicken broth (I use bouillon cubes - less carbs than broth in a can) - 4 carbs
1/4 tsp pepper - 0 carbs
1/2 tsp tarragon - 0 carbs
1 small bay leaf - 0 carbs
5 tbsp butter - 0 carbs
3 tbsp cornstarch (recipe called for flour but cornstarch has fewer carbs) - 21 carbs
1 cup milk (I should have used Almond Milk, but I was out...) - 13 carbs
3/4 cup half and half (I know...sinful but few carbs and makes the soup delicious!!!) - 24 carbs

The soup serves 4 - 88.7 carbs for the batch - 22.17 carbs a serving.

If I were to substitute Almond milk for the milk and cut down on the cornstarch by 1 Tbsp.  I could trim more carbs without really effecting the taste.  You could also use a bit less half and half, maybe 1/2 cup instead and use a bit more almond milk.   That substituting would save 32 carbs....bringing it to 56 carbs for the batch and 14 carbs per serving. 

 I like to try to stay under 50 carbs a day so my version with 88.7 carbs is a bit high and could account for almost half my carbs for the day.   However, as I get closer to my goal weight - now only 1 lb away, I am closer to maintaining and I'm not too worried if I go over 50 a few days a week.  It's important to exercise and I credit exercise more than I credit the diet with helping me lose the last 10 lbs towards my goal weight.

The soup was delicious.  My kids were not too keen on trying it so it was lunch for 3 days for me.  I will make another batch next week and do the substitutions I mentioned and get back to you with a taste test.

Have a great rest of your week and happy carb counting!