All posts tagged: low carb

10 Days, 10 Ways to Lower Carbs: Day 7

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Avoid, or at least be skeptical of anything labeled “non-fat”. This is the biggest scam around.  We were taught, since the 1960’s that fat was to be avoided.  Now that recent research has cleared that stinkin’ thinkin’ up, we still see recipes calling for low fat cheese, low fat milk, low fat yogurt.  WHY?!?  Because habits are hard to break!  Yes, it is ok to eat low fat cheese and yogurt, but NOT if you choose one that has had carbs added to make up for the taste of taking the fat out!  That’s how food companies get low fat/non-fat items to taste better.  Additives, carbs and thickeners.  (chemicals!) I’m going to pick three common foods and compare them side by side.  Full fat is often better, keeps you full longer, and won’t spike insulin.  Dr. Atkins had some of it right, and with the exception of avoiding dairy, I basically eat a low carb diet. Example 1: Peanut Butter Low Fat Peanut Butter is a joke, because they add sugar to make it taste …

10 Days, 10 Ways to Lower Carbs, Day 6

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T2T Restaurant Carb Hacks. It’s not as hard as you think to go low carb at a restaurant.  Here are some of my favorite tricks to stay low carb and still enjoy yourself: I want to say something first.  If you eat out once a year, or it’s your birthday, use the 90/10 rule:  decide when you’re going to have that 10% “blow my rules” meal, and then ENJOY it!  If you order something and then feel guilty about eating it, what’s the point?  For the rest of the time, use these hacks: Look for entrees that offer a simple fish, meat, or poultry option.  Stay away from pasta and things with sauces that may contain cornstarch, flour, sugar, or other thickening agents. When rice or potatoes are served, ask for two servings of the vegetable instead. Order a salad with dinner, and specify you want a dressing without sugar.  Oil and vinegar are usually available, and many restaurants make their own vinaigrettes, you just have to be assertive and ask what is in it.  …

10 Days, 10 Ways to Lower Carbs, Day 5

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Today is a very important one.  I’m not posting these in order, and maybe this should be considered #1.  EAT MORE FIBER.  Sounds simple, but here’s a trick that can help you get healthier, thinner, and lower your cancer risk.  A win/win! The Role of Fiber in Weight Loss, Heart Disease and Diabetes: Dr. Dennis Burkitt, an English physician, studied the differences between indigenous African bushmen and western people like you and me.  The bushmen seemed to be free of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity.  They ate a ton of fiber every single day.  In fact, the bushman had a stool weight of 2 pounds and the westernized men had a stool weight of only 4 ounces (yes, 87.5% smaller!).  Today, the average American eats about 8 grams of fiber a day. But the average hunter and gatherer ate 100 grams from a raw whole foods diet (roots, berries, leaves and plant foods). And the fiber is what helped them stay much healthier than the average American today. Why is fiber so great? Fiber …

10 Days, 10 Ways to Lower Carbs, Day 4

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This one is simple once you see it in facts.  Stop drinking ALL juice.  Here’s why: Let’s take something you’d never eat on a diet.  How about a “fun size” snickers bar?  That’s clearly in the “no-no” zone, right?  Well, what if I told you that when it comes to blood sugar, insulin, and weight gain, orange juice is worse?  Would you be incredulous?  Here are the facts, based on TWO tiny snickers vs. 1 cup of OJ: So, the calories are a bit higher in the snickers bars.  But, although nutrient devoid (and that’s another post), they have less sugars than the OJ!  Now, this does not mean I want you to go out and eat snickers, but it does mean your use of juice should be negligible to NONE.  These calories go straight into your bloodstream, as there is no fiber in the juice to slow digestion.  Juice is not an item you want in your food plan at all.  In case you’d like more information, all the juices are listed here.  I …

10 Ways, 10 Days to Lower Carbs, Day 3

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Eat a Low Carb Breakfast My mother battled her weight her entire life.  She was never heavy, but it was a constant struggle for her, and she passed on to me and my sister a “deprivation mindset” about food.  But, that is a story for another day.  I have truly battled my weight, for a variety of reasons (read my story later) and changing how I ate breakfast helped enormously. A carb free/low carb breakfast is one way you can start your day off to not sabotage yourself!  My mother complained that “If I eat breakfast, I’m hungry the rest of the day“.  She probably was.  With the American custom of high carb, low fat, low protein breakfasts, you sabotage yourself.   Here’s what happens:   First, you eat a carb heavy breakfast. (BAGEL, OATMEAL, TOAST, CEREAL, JUICE, PASTRY…)→ your body gets a sugar load (that’s what carbs convert into once you digest them) so your body produces INSULIN in response to the spike in your blood sugar (Insulin stimulates the cells throughout your body to …

10 Days, 10 Ways to Lower Carbs: Day 2

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Watch out for fructose and sugar in disguise. Fructose is in many natural foods.  But where we get into trouble is the HIDDEN addition of sugar into processed foods. If you stick to a low carb diet, you’ll lose weight in part because you’ll ingest less fructose.  Fructose can be converted by our bodies into body fat very quickly.  The bottom line is that if your only source of fructose came from eating an apple or orange a day, keeping your total grams of fructose to below 25 per day, then eating it would not be an issue. Here’s the problem:  the typical person is consuming 75 grams of fructose each and every day. Because fructose is so cheap it is used in virtually all processed foods. The average person is consuming one-third of a pound of sugar every day, which is five ounces or 150 grams, half of which is fructose. This is 300 percent more than the amount that will trigger biochemical havoc, and this is the average — many consume more than …

10 Days, 10 Ways to lower carbs: Day 1

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The secret to staying healthy is lowering your carbohydrate intake. And I don’t just mean losing weight, I’m talking about lowering your cholesterol, triglycerides and inflammation.  The stuff that makes us chronically sick. I’m going to post 10 days/10 ways you can lower your carbohydrate intake. DAY ONE: Ditch Dairy, specifically Milk MILK is nutritious, but it’s also fairly high in carbs because it contains a type of sugar called lactose. (Remember, its purpose in life was to GROW baby cows!). An 8-ounce (240 ml) glass of full-fat or low-fat milk contains 12–13 grams of carbs. This is especially important if you drink milk by the glassful or in lattes or shakes. SWITCH TO: coconut, almond milk, hemp milk. (Again, this isn’t about dairy, it’s about CARBS:  case in point?  Rice milk is a dairy alternative, but is FULL of carbs, and isn’t any better than milk, in fact it is the highest in carbs.). Look for unsweetened varieties that have less than 2 carbs per serving (carbs minus fiber = total carbs).  Look at …

Almond Flour Pancakes (WF/GF/DF/Low Carb)

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If you are sugar free, wheat free and dairy free, and want to eat low carb, breakfast options are limited, just because our American culture is SO heavy on carbohydrates as the way to start our day.  I remember my Mom, who always seemed to be dieting my entire childhood, say “If I eat breakfast, I’m hungry the rest of the day”.  And she was right!  She would have a bowl of cereal (mostly CHO/Sugar) and milk (again, mostly CHO/Sugar), and toast (CHO), and NO PROTEIN.  Without protein and fat to slow down the digestion into your system, the typical American breakfast shoots a giant sugar load into your bloodstream, which in turn, causes a huge insulin spike, and overcompensates, and with many of us, we are STARVING 2 hours later.  Why?  Because although we’ve digested our breakfast, we still have too much insulin floating around screaming “feed me”!!  Again, it isn’t your fault.  You just have to know how to eat carbs wisely.  Here is a very low carb, low sugar, high protein breakfast …

Eileen’s “Tastes Like Summer” Salad

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I threw together this salad today that was inspired by a salad we created in the cooking class at Food As Medicine recently.  Using what’s fresh, I gave it a new spin.  Similar to tabbouleh, it makes a great side dish, we had it with lamburgers one night and local wild rice brats on July 4th.  Yes, this does have a few carbs, but good ones. As you make this, keep in mind that any ingredient can be modified.  If you hate cilantro, leave it out, if you adore basil, add more.  If you are addicted to spicy, add some.  You cannot screw this up!  Just go slow and keep tasting it until you like it. Summer Quinoa Salad ½ cup quinoa, rinsed and cooked (I used white quinoa variety) 1 cup red seedless grapes, halved 1 handful parsley, stemmed and chopped 1 handful cilantro, chopped (stems are ok, they have same flavor as the leaf!) 1 small bunch of basil 1 handful mint, stemmed and chopped ¼ Cup Olive Oil (up to ¹/3 cup …

Raw Dark Chocolate Brownie Bites

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I’m always looking for snacks that are low sugar and have some protein, but taste good!  I made these today, and they are good!  So, throw this all in your food processor with the metal blade, and violà!  You have a snack that will give you some holding power. Why does it have holding power?  It has three crucial ingredients:  fiber from dates, fat and protein from nuts.  Some things are this simple! Raw Dark Chocolate “Brownie Bites” Ingredients for ~ 12 balls: 1 ½ Cups Raw Walnut Halves 1 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract ¼ Cup Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder 10 Medjool Dates, pitted Grind the above ingredients in a food processor. Continue processing until a dough-like texture is formed. Scoop out the mixture and roll into bite sized balls. Store in frig until ready to eat!  Yum.   Here are some finished Brownie Bites ready to eat!

Shallot Vinaigrette

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I have resorted to making most of my salad dressings these last several years because salad dressings have lots of hidden SUGAR.  Just look at your favorite dressing, many have HFCS in them (high fructose corn syrup) and most are full of preservatives. Here’s an easy dressing that is worth the prep time (~15 min) and will last about a week in your frig. Everyone who has had it raves about it, so I think I’m on to something.  If, when you’re done it is too vinegary, just add a bit more oil or a teaspoon of honey. It is helpful to have a really good blender for this recipe.  You cannot create it without one. 2016 update:  I also want to add that this recipe can change VASTLY if you have huge shallot bulbs.  See my notes below.  A friend made this when I first posted it and it was awful, but her shallot bulbs were HUGE.  I use small shallot bulbs, the size of a garlic clove.  You can use the big ones, …

The Better Pasta

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Recently I had an appointment with my Nutritionist, who is responsible for millions of people getting healthy.  Kathie Swift, MS, RD, LDN is the practitioner who introduced Mark Hyman, M.D. to both functional medicine and food as an avenue to health.  She was the person who taught half of my week long workshop in 2008 when I began my wellness odyssey and I am eternally grateful to her for her wisdom and guidance. She is the person I turn to when I get stuck in my weight loss journey, and she is brilliant and up to date on all things regarding food and medicine.  We were recently talking about the “holes” in eating gluten free (things we miss) and I mentioned that my husband and I occasionally ate Einkhorn pasta (a wheat pasta using the original wheat from Italy that hasn’t been hybridized and modified the way our wheat has, thereby making it much less reactive).  She suggested we try some of the low carb pastas made from alternative beans (black bean and mung bean). …