it has been a few days...

since i have posted and this has been the longest and one of the most miserable weeks. i'll post some updates soon, but i think i'm heading to bed early tonight so i can get a decent night sleep because i've got class early tomorrow morning. ay!! saturday classes are not my idea of a good weekend.

i have been extremely busy and stressed this week and have strayed a bit from my better eating habits. i have been falling off the horse in every sense of the word and so i'm looking forward to this weekend to clean and refresh myself and get things situated and ready to put my best foot forward this next coming week.

hoping next week will be much better than this one.

week two

two weeks down on the belly fat cure diet and i am down another 1.8 pounds. actually i think it may be a little more than that because toward the beginning of last week i gained a couple pounds, but didn't figure that into the calculation of weight lost.

i'm fairly pleased with the results. of course i wish it were more, but i'm steadily going down and i'm feeling lighter. there have also been days that i have gone over my carb/sugar count. for myself i'm noticing that's it's more difficult to stay within the carb range than the sugars. i thought the sugars would be difficult, but it really hasn't unless i want some fruit and then i go over. i figure going over because of fruit is much better than going over because of sodas or junk foods

the thing probably holding me back most is my fiber intake. i REALLY need more fiber. i have some psyllium husks to mix in a drink, but i'm not good at chugging things down so well. so that's my big focus of improvement for this week and the next coming weeks. i'm going to seek out more foods that have a higher fiber count even if it means it will be a bit higher in carbs. i'm also thinking of getting some benefiber packets and eating more avocados. i had an avocado for dinner last night and will probably have another this evening since one avocado is 12 grams of fiber.

anyone out there have great ways to get in more fiber??? sure would love to hear your comments or suggestions.

"makin groceries"

i did some grocery shopping sunday afternoon and wanted to share some of my finds. i would love to hear of the great grocery finds you guys are finding also and that have helped you stay on the program.

please comment!! i know you guys are reading! and if you're registered "follow" me.. i'd love to see who all is out there reading this and start a conversation going on here. thanks!

now to business:

grocery shopping at wal-mart i picked up these items.

breakdown:

digiorno crispy flatbread pizza with a fairly low S/C value compared to most pizzas

classico pasta sauce on sale with low S/C

pepperjack cheese sticks. great snack for 0/0

fast bacon i can stick in the microwave for 30 seconds 0/0

avocados 0/0 and on sale!

some new dark chocolate. tried the 90% and it's a little too dark for me, but i'm anxious to try the ghiradelli

bagel thins have a fairly low S/C value

mediterannean chip mix love this. i think it's a value of 3/1

gardetto's!! i love this and was afraid to look at the S/C value. i was pleasantly surprised to find it is an S/C value of 0/0

then there's some tea, cheeses, heavy cream and sour cream for recipes

and an S/C value of 0/0 for the beef/cheese stick for a snack

right away this is what i did with the gardetto's. they're ready to go!!

then i stopped at vitamin city in san dimas which is a small little health food store i love and they have good prices and then also stopped at trader joe's

i purchased a bag of xylitol which is an alternative sweetener supposedly without the harmful affects of equal, sweet and low and splenda. actually it has a really great taste. but i hear you have to be careful if you consume too much you can get stomach pains and diarrhea. i made a cheesecake yesterday and also some homemade lemonade using this and it's really delicious, but i'm going to be careful not to overdo it since i'd prefer not to have those side effects. these think thin bars/bites are pretty good. a little higher on the carb count, but no sugar and they are pretty good. i had read about some people using coconut milk as opposed to almond milk saying it tastes more like "real" milk. they lie!!!! it's awful!!! i wish i could get my money back. i think i'm going to experiment with it though because i think with the coconut flavor it may make cereal taste good or may be a nice base for ice cream. i'll see what i come up with, but i surely cannot drink this straight. if anyone has any ideas or suggestions i'd love to hear them! then of course a nice piece of parrano cheese. my favorite!!! i know i've mentioned it before, but really.. it is my favorite. and then nature's hollow sugar free ketchup and sugar free syrup. i don't use ketchup too often, but if i'm having a burger or some chicken i do use it. these are both sweetened with xylitol so it should taste really well, but i believe it does give it a carb count so i'll have to be sure to remember to take this into consideration

over easy...

ain't so easy!!

yesterday morning (sunday).. ahh.. my one day to sleep in a little more and wake up leisurely and cook a yummy breakfast. simple pleasures. i thought it would be nice to have some french toast and i wanted to learn how to make fried eggs over easy.

attempt #1 - not so good

attempt #2 - yay!! :D

if you're inexperienced at the over easy egg and wanna give it a try i suggest a really slick pan. grease it well with some PAM or butta and then when the egg is ready use a nice swift smooth motion to flip the egg. and try it over the sink. i don't think my first attempt would have been very nice in the gas burner

now for the french toast. i mix a little bit of unsweetened almond milk (i purchased the 'original' by mistake and will get the 'vanilla' next time) in with an egg and whisk it up a little with a fork

take your bread of choice (mine is currently sara lee 45 calorie whole grain) and soak it in the egg/milk mixture and put it in a sprayed pan

when it's ready give it a little flip. i love the sound and aroma of it sizzling in the pan and getting a beautiful golden crisp

go ahead and make one more and then drizzle with a sugar free syrup. this was a few hours before i purchased the nature's hollow sugar free maple so i used my aunt's sugar free syrup. i'm anxious to try with the nature's hollow. it is much thinner than regular syrup and i do miss true real thick maple syrup, but this was just as delicious and i really enjoyed it. the S/C value for this is 0/1. it may be 0/2 however with the nature's hollow syrup because it does have a few carbs in it. still.. a great count for two slices of french toast along with an egg. you can even have bacon for 0/0 along with this as well if you would like.

oh my delicious heart...

of palm and flank steak.

i haven't posted in a couple days and thought i would catch up this weekend with a few recipe posts of what i've been eating. and since today is my one day off i'll be taking off to a few stores and picking up some new food for the coming week and also hoping to test out some new recipes today and i'll be sure to share some of my favorite finds.

oh, and on a good note i have lost a few pounds over the past couple days. i'm finding it a bit easier to not go over my S/C value per day. i still did a little yesterday because i ate some fruit, but i'm starting to get a feel for this program a little better which keeps me within my daily limit most of the time. also, my aunt was interested and picked up a copy of jorge's book at costco and has been starting to follow the program. she has been low carb from the south beach diet for about a year and so this is a nice complement to her previous program. now i think she's paying a little more attention to her daily sugars since jorge talks so much about the 15 grams of sugars per day. and since she likes to cook as well it will definitely make our weekend meals a little easier and we'll have more S/C friendly foods around the house.

okay enough of that.. now to the FOOD!! friday night my aunt cooked some fish tacos from the recipe it jorge's book. it was altered slightly because we didn't have the same cheese and she also used a magic seasoning salt-free blend my mother sent us from new orleans to cook the fish. it was delicious!! i'm not a huge fan of fish tacos, but these were really good. i must apologize i was too hungry and ate the food before taking pictures. next time ;)

last night's dinner i did take photographs and will be happy to provide recipes :D


the menu: marinated flank steak, hearts of palm salad, acorn squash, asparagus 

my aunt found this recipe for marinated flank steak. it was de-lish!! lots of flavor and well, i love my meat still bleeding. i think i ate a little too much of this, but really did enjoy it.

with a happy little S/C value of 0/0

 next up.. hearts of palm salad and acorn squash. 

the salad was another recipe my aunt found on her south beach diet website. i enjoyed it, but it is an aquired taste. hearts of palm i find to have a slight artichoke flavor, but with a crunch. the dressing tossed with the palms gave it a strong citrusy punch due to the lemon juice and the bit of dijon mustard. i really liked it and thought it was a beautiful dish to serve. very light and perfect for spring/summer, but i still think it could use a little something extra special, but i'm not quite sure what. if you try this recipe and experiment let me know what you put in it? i'd like to try it again with a different type of dressing to toss it in. the S/C value = 0/1

the acorn squash was the first time i had ever cooked it. i had it at my best friend's house during the christmas holidays. her dad threw it in a roasting pan with lots of other things and it was so delicious i've been anxious to try it. i think i'm out of season, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. i was thinking to roast it in the oven along with the asparagus and realized how long it took so.. my way... SUPER fast and easy. i cut it in half and put it cut side down in a microwavable dish filled with some water and zapped it for about 8 minutes. it was perfect. i then cut it up in smaller pieces and dumped it in the bowl. drizzled some olive oil and gave it a little bit of salt. i tasted and it was good, but realized what would make it amazing would be a little bit of brown sugar. so, i did a bad thing on the bfc diet, but it's not something i'll do always. so i took a little bit of a splenda brown sugar blend and sprinkled some on top and put it in the microwave for another 30 seconds or so. it was really really warm, sweet, tasty side dish, but i won't be making it a regular vegetable. for 2/3 of a cup of cubed acorn squash it has an S/C value of 2/1. then there was the sprinkle of brown sugar. not bad, but lets not talk about this. if you'd like to forgo the brown sugar it was still good before i made it a "belly bad" food.

 

 final dinner had some roasted asparagas on the side. 4 has an S/C value of 1/0, but since these were so skinny to begin with i think more than four would count as that, but that's just my opinion. we typically drizzle them with a little olive oil and then salt and pepper and roast in the oven.

 

and then there was dessert... so yummy :) i'll save that one for a little later. i'm ready for my sunday breakfast and to get some grocery shopping done before the day passes me by!

kfc grilled chicken

last night for dinner i stopped at kfc and wanted to try their grilled chicken. with zero sugar and zero carbs this has an S/C value of 0/0. little did i know that when i order just two pieces of chicken they throw in a biscuit!! oh, the sabotage!! and of course i ate it, but it wasn't in the plan. i still think i managed to stay within or relatively close to my daily S/C value.

it was so good i stopped today and got the chicken again for lunch. i recommend it. however, even though it has an S/C value of 0/0 i wouldn't really consider this a healthy food. i looked online and there were some nasty ingredients in it like msg and other things i really couldn't remember so i don't think i'll be making this a regular food, but i sure did enjoy it!

i've been eating more of my uncle sam cereal yesterday and today. i poured some in a plastic container with a little truvia this morning and munched on it while on my way to school this morning and i was surprised how well it held me over until lunch. i wasn't starving by lunch. i'll be sure to keep eating more of this cereal. it has about 10grams of fiber per serving which is also great.

U.S. Mills Uncle Sam Cereal

didn't take any photos today, but i'll update maybe tomorrow with some pictures to show my newest drinks i have been preparing.

for my mother...

i've been saying i am going to post this because i've been telling my mother about it and promising i'd post.

this is actually in jorge's book and is becoming one of my favorites.

fage (greek yogurt) with a strawberry banana swirl. what i have done is put 1/2 cup portions in these little plastic containers so that when i'm running out of the house in the morning or need a quick snack to grab they are already measured out and ready to take. they do sell them in single serving sizes, but it is a little cheaper in the larger container and i like the additional room in my own containers to add things to mine.

i start out with the yogurt and since it is a bit flavorless i tried adding a packet of truvia. i think i'll do this next time as well.

 

then i measure them out into these nifty little cups. and this is the magic ingredient!!

Barlean's Organic Oils Omega Swirl Flax Oil in strawberry banana.

i wait until I'm ready to eat it and then i get to the center of the yogurt with my spoon and squirt about a tablespoon in the center and then push the top layer of yogurt back and then squirt about another tablespoon on top. i noticed that if i squirt it all on top and then mix it all up the great flavor of this gets lost in the yogurt.

so, don't swirl!!

i stopped at the vitamin shoppe last week looking for some protein powder and found they had these. i had previously purchased mine at vitamin world which is a tiny natural food store in san dimas. they are a little pricy, but i believe worth the price. you're getting two tablespoons of flax oil and you don't have to take it in a capsule or down a disgusting spoonful of it. i was nervous to spend so much on this because i thought it would be disgusting and have a strange flavor, but it's actually really delicious and doesn't have any funky aftertaste at all. this is definitely one of my favorites and i can't wait to try the other flavors as well.

if you're looking for other ways to make your plain yogurt yummy you can also get some almond ezekeiel cereal and sprinkle a little on top for a little added crunch. i have uncle sam so i may try that the next time also since i really need the added fiber. i have also heard you can sprinkle a little truvia and cinnamon and i'm thinking maybe even a little vanilla or almond extract may be nice although i'm not sure if there's sugar in that or not. anyone?? i'll have to look into it because there's no nutritional information on mine. also, from time to time these little tidbits are yummy as well though they do have quite a bit of sugar so be careful!! i love these gogi berries and cacao nibs. they are a bit expensive, but they last a long time. sometimes i even mix them in with a tiny baggy of pecans or almonds as a snack.

and for a really tasty treat. if you have an ice cream maker!! this is the one i have... and LOOOOVE

Cuisinart ICE-20 Automatic 1-1/2-Quart Ice-Cream Maker, White

you can mix up your sweener of choice with the yogurt and then throw it in here. the reason i LOVE this one so much is that you don't need ice or special salts. you freeze the inner portion in the freezer and then when you're ready to use it you just turn it on and pour your mixture in. that's it! in about 20 minutes you have delicious homemade ice cream. one mistake i made once though is i used an ice cream mixture that needed to be heated over the stove. i didn't take into consideration that i should have made sure to get the mixture cool before i put it in the machine. so the heated mixture heated up the machine too much and i had soupy ice cream. so, make sure whatever you are putting in is cool or cold first. other than that it is pretty quick and simple and foolproof and you can get as creative as you want with it.

week one

this morning means i have completed week one on the belly fat cure. geez, i wish he named it something different. it sounds so disgusting... belly fat.. bleh.

anyway, my results are not as phenomenal as i would have liked, but then there are several reasons for this so i know what to improve on for the next weeks.

i am down 1.2 pounds. (i actually weighed less yesterday!) and down 1 1/4" on my waist.

now, according to the book i should be practically looking like another person at the end of week one!! i really didn't expect THAT much weight loss and i'm fine with that. so, let me talk about the reasons i did not achieve better results for this first week.

reason #1 - it's that time of the month.. nice excuse for us women right?? yes, i love to use this one as an excuse, but let me move on to the real reasons

reason #2 - i only stayed within my S/C range the first day. now, considering this!! a 1.2 pound weight loss sounds pretty good. everyday after that i went over and it always ended up being towards the evening. my aunt was cooking and i would try to make the best choices, but i wasn't able to figure the count on what i was eating and so i figure the count was over my daily limit. not to mention we had a dinner party friday evening and she made sweet orange rolls TWICE last week and we did eat out at california pizza kitchen. i tried to have something healthy, but california pizza kitchen does not have sugar count so i really was not sure of what the count i was consuming.

reason #3 - i believe i need more fiber in my diet to keep things moving.

so, now that i know what my problems were from last week i'm tweaking things some this week, trying to plan ahead and look for some solutions this week to help me out with some of these little bumps i've encountered my first week.

overall, i think things will begin moving along well (no pun intended)

i'll post more later about my new favorite finds and some more quick foods and recipes as i'm able to find a few minutes here or there.

now, on to class for another four hours!!

best of luck to everyone else out there!

eat like a king

at school this morning i was talking with a friend and we were talking about losing weight and various diets and another friend walked up and we started talking about how she recently lost about ten pounds in a month in a half. she said she had seen someone who had lost a lot of weight and she asked what she did and she said all she did was switch her breakfast to dinners and dinners to breakfast and started walking. what she really meant was she ate her large meal of the day in the morning and the lightest meal of the day in the evening. so, this friend of mine started doing that and lost ten pounds. not bad, huh?

i've heard this many times before and even found it in this little poetic statement that i feel is worth mention:

"Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper."

Adelle Davis
(1904 - 1974)

only have a little bit of time...

but it's lunchtime!! and i am HUNGRY!

i ran home for lunch and was looking forward to my tuna sandwich. i had already prepared some tuna yesterday (sunday) so that i would have enough to make a few sandwiches during the week when i need to fix lunch quickly.

and it was delicious.. so yummy... (p.s. - those are my aunt's new flowers on the table. lots more in the backyard i'll have to showcase later)

i use the sara lee 45 calorie whole wheat bread which is an S/C value of 2/1. and of course there's the glass of refreshing sportea i love. we haven't gotten the shipment of more tea yet. this was the last pitcher i brewed yesterday. :( sure hoping it comes quickly.

how i made the tuna:

i drained two cans of tuna and dumped it in a bowl with two or three spoons of the olive oil mayo (figure if i'm gonna have fats i should have the good ones, right?) chopped up one celery stalk finely, some chopped fresh green onion just green parts (the bottoms have added sugar) couple squirts of dijon mustard, a spoonful or so of relish, one packet of truvia, little grind of pepper and pink himalayan salt and i think that may be about it.

next time i won't use the relish, it adds a tiny bit of sugar and i didn't like the relish in it so much. i don't think i'll add the dijon mustard next time either, if so just a tiny squirt not as much. however, i will be sure to slice up a boiled egg. i do like that in my tuna.

but i came home and toasted the bread put a little mayo on and then the tunafish and sliced up a fresh tomato and used some shredded lettuce we had in the fridge. it was so good i'm wishin i had another right now.

now, in jorge's book his tuna sandwich do-over has egg slices rather than the tomato. i believe this is because it saves you on the sugar count. however, i believe i needed a little boost of sugar 'cause yesterday i was feelin a little hypoglycemic. besides, i'm hoping to get as much of my sugars from natural fruits and veggies rather than junk foods and chocolate. tomatoes are so good for you and it was so fresh and delicious. i can't wait for my tomatoes to grow so i can pick my own.

then, another favorite find i have from trader joe's are these little crispy rounds of yummy

these little pita crackers are 0 grams of sugar and it is 1 serving of carb for 9 crackers which is plenty enough actually. so i had these crackers with some leftover spinach and artichoke dip my aunt made for her dinner party on friday evening. i counted the dip as a 1/0 S/C value. i'll post the recipe when i have time later because it has been a favorite at all our dinner parties and with this low of a count it'll be a great treat to whip up a bowl and keep in the fridge for the week.

the spinach artichoke dip with pita crackers is a quick, easy and delicious S/C value of 1/1

sportea is the only iced tea...

i drink. unless of course there's a sweet tea somewhere out there like chic-fil-a sweet tea or mcdonald's sweet tea or my ex's homemade sweet tea, but that's all another matter.

this tea is amazing. it's unsweetened, but has a hint of lemony citrus yumminess. i've included a mention on my favorite things, but i believe it deserves a complete blog because of my devotion to this tea.

the website says:

	Is Energizing
	Is Sustaining
	Is Nutritious
	Is All Natural
	Builds Endurance
	Leads to Peak Performances at Work and Play
	Enhances Mental Alertness
	Fights Stress
	Provides Basic Vitamins, Minerals, and Electrolytes
	Fights Colds
	Builds Stamina
	Is clean, refreshing, and truly quenches thirst
	Is a Blue Ribbon Award winning gourment tea (Westword Magazine)
	Has a CitrusSweet™ flavor that excites the taste buds
	Has no negative attributes... No Calories, No artifical sweeteners and is a decaf equivalent - so no caffeine or sugar letdown
	Is a unique beverage to drink throughout the day... Every day for best results!
	SPORTea® tastes great and it works

and i have to say... i agree!

so, this is how we do it:

we begin with this iced tea maker which we love the best, sportea, water and ice

you fill the pitcher to the line with enough water for how many quarts you're going to brew. we always brew three quarts at a time in this house

then you add the water into the teamaker, but be sure to remove the brew basket first!

keep pouring...

but wait!! make sure you don't overflow this hole.

now fill the pitcher with ice, for the three quarts i'm making i'm fillin' it all the way to the top

(oh, and that little glass jar in the background.. i'll talk about that later)

add your teabags. for three quart brewing i'll add three quart size bags

move the little brew handle over the basket and we're ready to go

close the top and press the button until it turns red

and in about ten minutes or so you'll have a beautiful pitcher of fresh brewed iced tea.

cheers!!

now, if you don't have a teamaker what i used to do when i lived in my apartment was i got one of those little pitchers from wal-mart. the plastic ones with the screw tops and i would fill it with fresh water and drop in the proper amount of tea bags. i'd shake it up and leave it in the fridge. by the end of the day i'd have tea that steeped in my fridge and would just leave the teabags in the pitcher. now that we brew it so much here i don't do that anymore, but i believe that's the way my mother still makes her sportea. enjoy! and of course this is a 0/0 S/C value. there are no calories or sugar at all.