Not excited about rung 1

[purplecat]

Re: Not excited about rung 1

I can honestly say that I wasn't thrilled with the thought of more vegetables. And, again, I can honestly say that the longer I've been on this WOE that I actually crave vegetables now. I love to do a veggie bake with zucchini, yellow squash, celery, and russet potatoes - I'm on rung 8 - with some olive oil, butter, seasoning salt, and pepper. Delish!! I also fix vegetable soup with zucchini, yellow squash, celery, diced tomatoes, russet potatoes, and ground beef (fried) mixed with low carb ketchup, seasoning salt, salt, and pepper. Also delish!! However, for me, I had to cut out all sweet snacks (even those with Splenda) before I actually started craving vegetables. I guess what they say is true, without the sugar your body will let you know what it really wants.

[kate58]

Re: Not excited about rung 1

A great way to get your veggies is as soup. I use a recipe I call "Cream of Anything Soup" and it really is different each time I make it and is superquick and easy.

Ingredients

2 cups cauliflower (trust me on this!!)
1 small onion or 0.5 of a large one
2 stalks celery
2 cloves garlic (optional)
0.25 of a sweet red pepper
2 cups of "anything" (this can be mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus, turnip, leeks - basically any veggie you want)
2 pints of stock (a sugar free stock cube is fine)
1 oz (0.25 stick) of butter

Put the stock on to boil and put the cauliflower and the "anything" into it. In a pan melt the butter and gently saute the onion, celery, pepper and garlic (you don't want to brown them, just soften them) for about 5 mins. Add to the stock.

Simmer the water/veg for about 20 minutes or until veg is soft. Don't overcook - it makes everything go bland. Zap in a food processor. Thin with some more water if it's too thick for you (it'll depend what your 'anything' is!). Season to taste and eat!!

The cauliflower already gives this soup a lovely creamy texture, but you can add a dollop of cream before eating if you like. Some garnishes that work well if you want to make it even more yummy include:

With Mushroom: Chopped parsley or chives, chopped walnuts or hazelnuts.
With broccoli: grated cheddar cheese
With leeks or turnip: fried bacon bits
With Asparagus: lemon juice and black pepper

You end up with 5-6 generous portions of soup with this recipe.

The whole recipe, minus the "anything", has 14 net carbs, so around 3 per serving. You need to add the carbs for the additional veg you use - it generally totals around 5 carbs or so per serving - and of course for any garnishes you use.

[cafe_et_creme]

Re: Not excited about rung 1

Hi

I know how you feel Bette, the thought of eating more vegtables was not appealing to me at first either! but after reading the post's in this thread i think the key is to try new ones and new ways of eating the ones we usually eat.

I have got really lazy about my veggie intake this last few weeks, and i have not had a loss for about 4 weeks now. So im going to make a big effort to eat more veggies! I have ended up having the same ole veggies day after day, boiled brocolli, Sprouts, Green Beans, sometimes Carrots and spinach, and am getting really bored and not eating them all.

So im going to try and double my veg intake over the next couple of weeks and see if i can shake off these last few pounds.

[mitzimarie]

Re: Not excited about rung 1

(cauliflower is NO CAN DO.. lol)

Please do not count out cauliflower! I thought I hated it, too, I cooked it for years for my husband, turning my nose up at it the whole time.

Try this:





"LOADED" CAULIFLOWER
1 cup cooked cauliflower
1 teaspoon butter
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 ounce cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon ranch dressing or sour cream
1 strip bacon, crumbled
1 teaspoon chives

Butter and season the cauliflower. Place in an individual-serving baking dish, then top with cheese. Microwave or broil until cheese is melted. Top with ranch dressing, bacon and chives.

Makes 1 serving Per Serving: 290 Calories; 25g Fat; 12g Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 3g Net Carbs



http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/loaded_cauliflower.html


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This is off of Linda's website. I use the sour cream instead of the ranch dressing. It's not meant to taste like potatoes - it's just "loaded" like one. OMG, this is soooo good! I'm having it today. And, I'll use the drippings from preparing the bacon, to fry some cabbage in. Also fantasitic!

[mitzimarie]

Re: Not excited about rung 1

I have got really lazy about my veggie intake this last few weeks, and i have not had a loss for about 4 weeks now. So im going to make a big effort to eat more veggies! I have ended up having the same ole veggies day after day, boiled brocolli, Sprouts, Green Beans, sometimes Carrots and spinach, and am getting really bored and not eating them all.

So im going to try and double my veg intake over the next couple of weeks and see if i can shake off these last few pounds.

Cafe, I jumpstarted my losses after a slowdown, by adding more veggies. I have them at every meal. And, I snack on raw sugar snap peas, jicama, and raw bellpepper strips (the red, yellow, and orange ones) as snacks.

Good luck!

[mitzimarie]

Re: Not excited about rung 1

Since I have quite a bit to lose should I do the 2 week rung method instead of the 1 week?

Bette, I stayed a minimum of 2 weeks on each rung. Each new food is introduced by eating it for 3 days during a week, then you can have it every day the next week if there are no problems. I would not add more than 1 food a week, because if you do and there is a problem, how do you know which food did it to you? So, unless you only want to add 1 food from each rung, I don't know how anyone could progress any faster through them.

I stayed on the veggie rung for 2 months. I tried all sorts of new veggies, and on the weeks that I didn't add a new food, I started upping my carbs to find my CCLL. That way, I had more carbs to "spend" when I got to the other rungs. Veggies are pretty safe, so it's easy to find out how many carbs you can tolerate, while on that rung. In the upper rungs, the foods are more apt to be trouble, and if you already know that you can handle the number of carbs that you are eating, if there is a problem while trying foods from the other rungs, you will know that it is the kind of carb that is the culprit.

Good luck.

[Bettestress]

Re: Not excited about rung 1

Thanks again!
More great advice and cooking suggestions, exactly what I need!
The recipe mitzimarie posted looks a LOT like the dish I made tonight with squash. And I must report, it was delish, the only difference I used mozarella.

And kate your soup sounds great too!

Good points on how to advance too mitzimarie, I hadn't thought about how to keep it easy to identify problem foods!

I'm glad I asked, I'll be referring to this thread for a while to come!

[cafe_et_creme]

Re: Not excited about rung 1

Thanx for the tip Mitzi!
Im definetly going to increase my veggie intake, i have always hated soup, but am going to try different types of soups, as this looks like an easy way of getting more veggies in.

[Elizellen]

Re: Not excited about rung 1

Another good way to add veggies is to cook sliced red or yellow bell peppers in butter till soft and slightly caramelised and serve it as a sauce or garnish on cooked meat. 5 net carbs (3/4 cup) of this cooks down into just a couple of spoonfuls so isnt too much extra food to eat.

[not2late]

Re: Not excited about rung 1

Or use veggies as sauces. Tomato sauce, red pepper sauce, etc. Layering zucchini and onion slices with tomato sauce and cheese makes a nice faux-lasagna.

If you like gravy, you can make it by sauteeing onion and celery. Then add broth or the cooking juices to it and simmer until the onion and celery are very soft. Puree it and you have a delicious vegetable-thickened gravy.

Finely chopped or pureed cooked veggies can be put into meatloaf or meatballs.

[SunnySmile501]

Re: Not excited about rung 1

Thanks so much for the advice! There are some veggies I like, but not enough to offer much variety, and most of what I do enjoy are starchy. I was just becoming concerned that my dislike for most veggies might completely sabotage this diet for me, period.

I'll definitely make an effort to find different ways to jazz up the veggies that I DO like. I wasn't exactly serious about skipping rung 1, but more like wishful thinking.

I usually have a garden salad at lunch, then a cup of "other" cooked veg for dinner. I do find ways to prepare asparagus, broccoli and zucc/summer squash. But I'm sure here are great suggestions on the website that will help me mix it up.

I appreciate the info!!

(cauliflower is NO CAN DO.. lol)

I love veggies, but I never liked cooked cauliflower prior to Atkins. I also didn't like cooked turnip or pumpkin at all. It took a while, but now I panic if I don't have any cauliflower and I love it cooked, now. My favorite way of having it is drizzled with olive oil and roasted! Yummy! I also like cooked turnip in place of potatoes and I am so hooked on pumpkin, now, that I have to make myself not have it more than once a day.

I never dreamed that I would ever like cream cheese, mayo or anything fatty, but I love it all now. You have to make an effort to change your tastes and your attitude about foods that you are not used to eating.

Sunny!

[Bettestress]

Re: Not excited about rung 1

New additions to my grocery list for Saturday:

jicama, cauliflower and libby's natural pumpkin.

(assuming my weigh in goes ok Sat morning)

[SunnySmile501]

Re: Not excited about rung 1

New additions to my grocery list for Saturday:

jicama, cauliflower and libby's natural pumpkin.

(assuming my weigh in goes ok Sat morning)

Good girl! Your tastes really do change! Go into it with an open mind and a positive attitude! We weren't born liking anything but mother's milk--everything else you learned to like by being introduced to it until you learned to like the same foods that your family likes. I believe we can learn to like anything we really want to like.

[Bettestress]

Re: Not excited about rung 1

New veggies all accounted for! And here's a good sign, the cashier didn't have the jicama in the system, so he said, "well I guess it's free". lol
Got free jicama, that doesn't happen every day!