just about fed up

[higgies]

Re: just about fed up

Hi Tequilarose! Maybe you could post a sample menu for a typical day in the Review My Menu forum? Include the amounts of each food too and we'll all take a look and give any suggestions if necessary.

[PigsInSpace]

Re: just about fed up

Everyone's giving good advice. So I just want to say--please, hang in there! You sound exactly like I did when I first started. You get angry because all you want is a quick sandwich or a yogurt and go. It just takes time and the will to do it. Look up recipes online, buy a low carb cookbook.Tweak them to make them Induction friendly if you have to. Every Sunday, I get ready for the week and have adopted food preparation for quick breakfasts and snacks into my routine. I am totally hypoglycemic, and a breakfast junkie. For me, having food available for that at all times is the key to success

I am not on induction, just On-going weight loss. But the funny thing is that when I first started, I could hardly wait to get off Induction. But I gained such great habits and recipes through Induction that I stick to it without even really trying.

Trust me, right now it seems like there are no easy and quick snacks or things to "pick up" on the way home and like you can't just pop over to the store and pick up some lunch or dinner. Just keep in mind that you are learning how to grocery shop and eat all over again. It's going to take time for you to figure out your menu and that really, it does have a nice selection and variety of foods to choose from.

Here's my menu for the day. Almost entirely Induction friendly, without even trying. You tell me if it sounds boring to you.

Breakfast:
2- Lemon Poppyseed Butter "cookies" (made with zero carb soy protein powder, butter, splenda, lemon zest, poppyseeds and vanilla). I make these little breakfast and snack "cookies" on Sunday just for days like this, when I need something to just tide me over, if I'm in a hurry, or if I'm just tired of eggs!.
Hot unsweetened chammomile tea.

Lunch:
Chicken and Egg salad (using canned chicken and hard boiled eggs) made with chopped red onions, lots of pepper and some salt, mayonnaise and sweet relish (sweetened with Spenda).
A small salad with several Snow Peas
A few mushrooms with ranch dressing.
Salted smoked almonds with Gouda cheese cubes (nectar of the gods!)
3 Ounces of Homemade cinnamon ice cream! (made with heavy cream, splenda, eggs, vanilla,sprinkled with cinnamon and frozen in ready-to-go little tupperwares
Oh, and I splurged and had a diet orange soda today!

For snack at work:
Almonds and Gouda cheese cubes
Jicama chunks (pronounced "Yickama" if you don't know), this is a sweet vegetable allowed on Induction that not a lot of people give credit to. It tastes sweet, but sort of like a turnip. I say it tastes like "sweet dirt". Some people understand the appeal of that, some don't. To me, it's a real treat! Try it!

For dinner this evening I'm having my favorite quickie meal:
Chicken pan fried in 1 part Italian dressing, 1 part salsa until it burns, laid over a nice salad with cheddar cheese, avocadoes, and sour cream as "dressing". MMMM MMM GOOD!

For dessert later, I'll have a lemon "cookie" again or more ice cream.

I eat this way and I am still in deep purple Ketosis. Not everything I've listed is Induction friendly, but they are in what FOR ME is a negligible amount in my ongoing weightloss and it does not affect my ketosis. So I just wanted to give you an example of what lay ahead. I hope it helps.

One thing I did is photo copy a list of Induction foods and keep it with me at all times. I'd read it everywhere--waiting in long lines, on my lunch break, at home, whatever. The more I read it, the more I was able to come up with meal and snack ideas.

It's soooo worth it and it gets easier. Hang in there girl! You CAN do it!

[ValidRouge]

Re: just about fed up

Pigs, I think your menu sounds great! And it's all the reason more for people to move up through the rungs of ongoing weight loss so that they can have those small additions to spice up their menus.

I got so excited because you brought up my favorite vegetable--Jicama. Mmmmm Jicama! I cannot *live* without Jicama. (Yes, it's an overstatement) but I truly can't understand how I did live without it for most of my life. This is such a great veggie.

[TEQUILAROSE]

Re: just about fed up

Pigs,
Thank you so much for the info. I am feeling alot better today. Did alot of cooking yesterday to get me through the week, you are right that is the key to have it at the tip of your fingers like junk food always is. I am enjoying the induction and the way I am feeling these past days. Instead of feeling guilty about what I eat I can now feel good about it and myself for sticking with it. Those lemon poppyseed cookies sound good, do you have the recipe posted anywhere. Sometimes in the am I just need a little pick me up but not a full breakfast. Thank you so much for responding.

[MidnightJulliett]

Re: just about fed up

I think we all go through it to some degree. It's just so easy to open a box, pull up to a drive through, or slap some meat between two pieces of bread and call it a meal. However, like an above poster mentioned, these are the habits that got you in trouble in the first place. You have to re-set your thought process and almost try to learn to enjoy preparing your meals and snacks.

I make a whole shebang out of it. Call me crazy, but here's how I keep plugging away succesfully. I have collected 100's of recipes from this site, and other sites, like lowcarbluxury.com and even Atkins Cookbooks. I print them out, three hole punch them, and place them in a binder. Every week, I sit down and plan out my meals for myself and my mum who I've also got on Atkins! I pick out new snacks, breakfeast ideas, lunches, everything that all focus on somewhat of the same products for that week, saving time and money at the grocery store, and reducing waste. I take inventory of the ingredients I have in the kitchen, and then make a list of the ingredients I need. I then collect the 4 local grocery store flyers that come in the mail (that I used to toss in the trash), and scroll through them. I circle items on sale, or items that I have coupons for that correspond to my menu for the week. I seek out the lowest priced items at each store, put my coupons to use, and buy my groceries for the week. I'll usually spend a good three hours in the kitchen preparing things.

Atkins can be expensive for some of us on a budget. Using coupons and planning ahead really saves a significant amount of money, time and waste. If hamburger is on sale, I'll buy in bulk. I'll make hamburger pizza's and freeze them, taco meatballs, meatballs, meatloafs etc. A lot of things will end up in the freezer so when I come home from work I can pop them in the oven. I make large batches of pepperoni chips, and flax crackers for mum who misses crunchy stuff. I even make beverages in large pitchers for that moment when I can't bear to sip another glass of water. Homemade lemonade made with fresh lemon juice (applied lightly due to carbs), and stevia is great for a cup now and then. I brew caffeine free tea from tea bags in a large pitcher as well, let it chill, and add stevia. It's much better, and healthier than sugar free iced tea mixes loaded with aspartame.

Creating things in the kitchen can really be fun. And I can say one thing with confidence. There is really nothing that I can think of that cannot be transformed into a low carb substitute. I have recipes for almost anything you can think of. As crazy as it might sound, this has actually become one of the highlights of my week. Finding bargains, baking and cooking keeps me busy, and really does releive stress. Not to mention how much better we feel after eating foods prepared at home with quality ingredients, sans chemicals and preservatives. It's a mind-set. You'll get through it. You just have to get over the can and box mentality, and make a fun time out of it. I have a stereo in my kitchen or sometimes put my favorite show on the TV that I can watch while cooking. I bring leftovers to work and watch people happily devour them and compliment my creativity. Just keep an open mind.

[PigsInSpace]

Re: just about fed up

Firstly to Valid Rouge--your before and after picture really stands out to me as encouragement. You look great! Also, I think I read once where you wrote that you loved chayote (I may be typing that wrong) squash? A substitute for apples that you can eat with splenda, butter and cinnamon? Where do you get it? I tried two major chain grocery stores and Whole Foods here in Denver. Nada. Any suggestions? Also, have you tried Jicama any other way besides plain? I LOVE apples and cheese and am thinking I will try that with Jicama.

Tequila Rose: I'll attach a recipe for the butter cookies below....I got it from this book caled "Low Carb Sweet and the Art of Self Indulgence" by Sharon Allbright. However, I don't really recommend it because I've tried a lot of the recipes and I only find a few that work. I've tried everything to make her recipes come out right and I consider myself a good cook. But stuff either comes out raw or flavorless or just plain weird. There are a few jems, the Lemon Poppyseed cookies are pretty dang good--you just sink your teeth into them! Look on the internet and get a cookbook ands start collecting recipes. There's soooo many out there! Stay armed with snacks and alternatives at all times and you'll be just fine. That's my motto.

Poppy Seed Butter Cookies
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup Splenda
1 Egg
1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
3/4 cup soy protein powder (Please note that this is NOT soy FLOUR. I buy my soy protein powder in a canister at Whole Foods in the vitamin section for about 14.99 per canister. One cansiter goes a long way).

1. Preheat your oven nice and proper (for about a good 30 minutes) to 375 degrees.

2. cream butter and Splenda together. Whip it by hand or with electric hand mixer. Cream it for a few minutes and get it nice and whipped.

3. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.

4. Mix in protein powder, poppy seeds and grated lemon peel.

5. Drop by teaspoonful onto a greased (I grease it with butter) cookie sheet and flatten with spoon or your fingers (these do not melt down into a cookie shape, they will stay in whatever shape you leave them).

6. Bake for no more than 7 minutes, depending on how you like them to come out. I like mine as moist as possible (soy powder tends to make it too powdery if overcooked), so I cook them around 5 minutes. Sometimes even less. I am actually still tweaking the cooking times on these (and I'm starting to suspect a lower oven temp might help).

The recipe says to turn them over and brown them on the other side for three minutes, but I find this completely unneccesary. It doesn't "brown" the other side in my oven anyway and makes cracks in the cookie when you flip them over and/or handle them too much. Let them cool and store in airtight container.

I find that hot chamomile tea is FAB with these cookies. Or at least some sort of drink. I take these to the movies with me sometimes and get an iced tea. They go really good together. But now that I discovered Parmesean cheese chips, I'll probably take those instead! Yum.
The cookies are good for us girls--the soy is especially good for those in menopause. I make them for my older friends who suffer it and they love it.

Good luck!

[Tracie515]

Re: just about fed up

Roseann I am glad to hear your doing well, hang in there. Let me know if i can do anything.

[TEQUILAROSE]

Re: just about fed up

Pigs,
Thank you so much for the receipe. I will make them this weekend, and also for the info (menopause) I am . Although I have noticed since I have been eating better I haven't been having that many hot flashes, heard diet could help just never tried it.

[ValidRouge]

Re: just about fed up

Pigs, Thank you so much! Yes, chayote is my other favorite veggie. I made some tonight into what some of the girls here call "Fapples" (Fake apples lol). I get my chayote at the Walmart Super Center, same with the Jicama. I would imagine in Denver, with all the hispanic culture that there would be some ethnic groceries that cater to this population--you could try those as well. In Louisiana, the chayote is also called a mirleton. Not sure if people in your groceries might know it by that name instead. As for the jicama, I've tried to cook it a couple times and it just doesn't soften. I'd much rather have it fresh, raw and cold. I like to dip it in blue cheese, ranch or creamy garlic salad dressings on occasion. However, I'm perfectly happy to just peel it and eat it. I also chop it up into sticks and put it on a salad with some walnuts. There is something about the combination of the jicama and the walnut on a salad that is just delicious to me. I often eat the jicama with some cheese cubes. I'd love to get some smoked gouda...mmmmm.

Firstly to Valid Rouge--your before and after picture really stands out to me as encouragement. You look great! Also, I think I read once where you wrote that you loved chayote (I may be typing that wrong) squash? A substitute for apples that you can eat with splenda, butter and cinnamon? Where do you get it? I tried two major chain grocery stores and Whole Foods here in Denver. Nada. Any suggestions? Also, have you tried Jicama any other way besides plain? I LOVE apples and cheese and am thinking I will try that with Jicama.

[Wonder Woman]

Re: just about fed up

Here's another tip:

I LOVE eggs but sometimes plain eggs and bacon make me kinda sick.

But I LOVE eggs scrambled with American cheese and salsa and then bacon on the side! The combination is heavenly and I eat this almost EVERY morning and I haven't never gotten sick of it! I've eaten if for probably 2 years!