I want you all to meet my man, Cameron.

or % of calories

or even counting carbs for that matter

Call me lazy, stupid or unscientific, I don’t care

I’m gonna eat food and that’s it.

Ok Ok…Rant over.

All I’m sayin is…I don’t want to over intellectualize my diet.

The other day I was talking to my folks about wanting to get fit for summer and both my parents said I should lose a good 10 lbs. I think they are right but the solution my mom found to lose my last 10 was, guess what???

Erika, eat less meat and fat.

I go: What? Are you serious?

And replace those with sugar?

Anyway, the conclusion to our big discussion about my weight was: If I have to obssess over each morcel of food that goes into my mouth, it probably ain’t worth it. I can live with being overweight 10 lbs if it means having fun with the girls or enjoying a beautiful dinner my mom prepared.

Breakfast:

 1 day: Bowl of full fat yogourt, golden flax seeds, walnuts, banana

other day: 3 eggs cooked in butter, piece of gouda

other day: 2 eggs, 3 pieces of bacon

Lunch: Can of salmon, 1 avocado, mixed nuts, 2 squares of Lindt 90% dark

Spaghetti sauce with lots of ground beef, pork sausage and brocoli

Dinner:

1 night: Coconut shrimp curry

another night: Butter chicken

1 crazy night at the bar: 4 Tom Collins, 6 double vodka sodas (total indulgence)

Any changes in my waist? It’s a tiny bit smaller and I’m not as hungry as last week. I still have a few carb cravings but in general my appetite is more modest.

Maybe if  I relax about the carbs it calms me down and at the same time it surpresses my appetite.

Last time I made a reference to how I was eating was in my last post. I told you about my carb cravings. I regret to inform you, they have not magically disappeared. They have gone through a makeover though. The cravings aren’t for sweets that much anymore, but for starch, like a baked potato. Haven’t had one yet. I’m keeping it for a special occasion. (Ok anyone normal reading that last line must think I’m a nutcase…anyway)

My latest dietary/culinary fantasy is a baked potato topped with lots of butter, sour cream, scalions, bacon bits and maybe some cheese accompanied by a thick ribeye and fried onions. Ha! I sound like Matt Stone and his HIGH EVERYTHING DIET. Or wait a minute….I sound like Grandpa&Grandma! They ate potatoes and were thin… Does that mean I can too?

You know…sometimes I have my doubts about Very Low Carb. SShHHhhh!! Don’t tell anyone. I don’t want to be treated like some dietary apostate…I’m just keepin’ my head open to new ideas here.

So…getting back to my food log, this is what I’ve been typically eating in the last few days:

Breakfast: 4 eggs, 15 pepperoni slices, bag of spinach, coffee with tablespoon of 35% cream

Lunch: Beef Curry, coconut milk and cabbage, water

Dinner: 2 ground lamb patties, 3 chicken thighs, carrots, handful of almonds, 2 pieces of Lindt 90% chocolate

I eat like a lumberjack on most days, and yet I always feel hungry…

Exercise: 2 sessions of sprints and walking everyday at least 30 min.

WHY AM I ALWAYS HUNGRY?????

My eating habits have suffered a bit. Was it the break up and having to “deal” that got me craving carbs? Was it the fact that the food was simply around? Or could it be the weather and the change of seasons?

When I moved in, I started drinking more coffee and alcohol. I started buying more sweeteners and low carb products. Since the move, I’ve been eating like a horse.

I talk about low carb all the time…it is MY PASSION. I’m usually hyperaware and strict about what I eat. I mean, don’t get me wrong…I still am compared to 99,9% of people I know. But these last 3 months , I’ve given in to some things such as chips and beer, coke zero, sugar free ice cream, dried fruit, bananas, peanut butter, chocolate….

I stopped losing weight. My pants were getting very tight. I constantly had the munchies.

Then, I had an idea. I said to myself: If I’m craving carbs, then maybe I should have a few real ones and see what happens. Maybe the real ones will satiate me better then the fake ones and I won’t have to eat as much. So no more artificial sweeteners, only a few starchy vegetables and some fruit here and there, nothing crazy like bread.

So I tried this a week ago. I cut out the coke zero completely and 3 days later my pants aren’t as tight as they were. Coincidence?

 I don’t know. All I’m saying is, if you’re low carbing and your weight has stalled, try ditching the non-caloric sweeteners and see what happens.

Have any of you experienced something similar?

I have a recipe for LC faux chocolate chunk cookies. They are dramatically lower carb because I do not use regular wheat flour or sugar, except for the tablespoon of molasses. As one of my Paleo friends says, it’s part of my 80/20 rule. I wouldn’t have these at the end of each meal but once in a while is ok.

Ingredients

2 cups of almonds, finely grinded (45.4 NET grams of carbs)

3 tbsp of golden flax seeds, finely grinded (approx. 3 to 4 grams of NET carbs)

2 tbsp coconut flour (6.1 NET grams of carbs)

1 tbsp of blackstrap molasses (14 grams of carbs)

1/2 cup of your favorite non-caloric sweetener (I used a mix of Xylitol and Splenda)

4 squares of 86% cacao Ghirardelli chocolate (10 NET grams of carbs)

3 eggs

1/2 stick of melted butter

dash of salt

Preheat the oven to 350.

Start by melting the butter and beating in with the eggs. Add molasses and sweeteners to taste.

In a bowl, mix the flax seeds, coconut flour and almonds together. Incorporate into the wet mix. Break off small chunks of chocolate squares and distribute evenly throughout the dough, actually it’s much more like a paste. You might have to wear a pair of plastic gloves to do this or if you don’t mind, just get your hands dirty.

 Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and make small balls that will be flatened in the shape of a cookie. You can make between 8 and 15 cookies, depending on how big you like them.

11 minutes in the oven should be just right.

Enjoy!

This recipe is based on Lauren’s ccc recipe at healthyindulgences.blogspot.com

All the recipes I have tried on her website are AMAZING. I’m warning you, they are highly addictive! Do not make any of these if you are alone…or you’ll be like me and eat the whole pan and have a belly ache.

The first attempts at Paleoish Pizza were Meatzas, basically a layer of cooked ground beef topped with cheese, tomato sauce, veggies… These taste awesome but lack the delicate texture of the crustiness mixed in with the greasiness. I tried making cauliflower crust but that did not satisfy me.

Then finally one day, I stumbled on a recipe using one of my favorites: Coconut flour.

All you need is coconut flour, eggs, cheese and parchment paper. You can add flax seeds, italian spices, nuts, bacon pieces to it if you want.

Here is a video if you want to see how it’s done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWjp5QvjSMU&feature=player_embedded

You cook it for 15 minutes or until the crust goldens and add all your pre-cooked ingredients. Broil it for at least 5 minutes.

When I have this version of pizza, I just need 1 or 2 slices instead of a whole regular one. The dough is MUCH more nutritious. Coconut flour is low carb because more than half the carbs are fiber and fiber doesn’t raise blood sugar like sugar and starch. Coconut flour is needed in much smaller amounts than other varieties. It absorbs alot of moisture so you will need to use quite a bit of eggs and fats if you try baking with it.

This crust is higher protein, high fat and dramatically lower in carb than regular store bought which means it shouldn’t induce the scary post-meal hyperglycemia. It also has the benefit of being gluten free and very tasty. : )

Coconut flour can be purchased online and in well stocked health food stores. I make all kinds of sweet and savory breads, brownies and cookies with it.

The point of my post was to reassure you that you can still enjoy pizza on LC. I’ll admit it might sound a bit expensive and somewhat labor intensive compared to ordering out but the results are excellent and it’s much better for you. When you stop thinking about price and focus more on value, I think it’s a bargain. Enjoy! And please share any of your LC pizza or crust recipes.

The other day, I was discussing bacon and other important subjects with an older gentleman. He was telling me about how his vegetarian girlfriend would be HORRIFIED by his bacon consumption. The temptation was too strong for me not to mention my blog. As I’ve mentionned before, I am a former vegan and did not begin to follow a low carb paleo meal plan without serious examination and justification.

I told him not to worry about bacon or any saturated animal fats for that matter and to instead watch his carbohydrate intake. He told me he would check this out but that he would not tell his cardiologist, because he is telling him to go easy on bacon because the saturated fats will damage his heart.

But…wait a minute. Aside from the occasional bacon binge, what is this person probably eating most of the time?  Remember his partner is a vegetarian. I’m assuming that she is fixing the meals. Generally speaking, most classic vegetarian menus are more carbohydrate heavy than omnivorous ones.  Remember, all foods are composed of 3 macronutrients: protein, fat and carbohydrate. If you take out the protein and or fat, what’s left? More carbs or carbage as they say.

It’s so sad and it makes me mad to see doctors give out advice like this! Are they not aware that most people eat astronomical amounts of carbohydrate?  Somehow consuming 300 grams of carbohydrates DAILY is fine…but 5 grams of fat will somehow kill people. It makes me cringe when someone says how McDonald’s food is bad for you because it’s full of fat, especially saturated. If you look at a typical order: Big Mac, fries and a regular soda for example, how many grams of fat and carbohydrate are there in that?

166 grams of carbohydrates and 46 grams of fat, 10 of those being saturated fat + 24 grams of protein.

 DID YOU GET THAT? There’s almost 4 times as much carb as fat in that. The saturated fat grams represent only 4.2% of the entire meal. And 4.2% of what people eat is killing them??? The media keeps pushing this image that we are eating bad fast food and becoming obese because of fatty food, and they always imply natural fats such as butter and red meat. If you do the math, that doesn’t make sense.

If you skip the fries, the total fat content of the meal is very low. So why call it High Fat?  It’s more like High Carb, Moderate Fat, Adequate/Lower Protein.

Let’s now discuss pizza. Pizza is very High Carb, Moderate to higher fat and low protein. Somehow though, pizza gets a green light. It can be made healthy some say, by skipping the high fat cheese and meats. When you do this, you’re having a less nutritious meal than a hamburger. Your carb to protein ratio is way too high and that’s what makes it a worse choice in my book. So, if you’re going to indulge in some fast food, go for a nice burger (take 1 bun or both off) if you like instead of a vegetarian pizza, ok?

Let’s be logical here. You can’t blame a substance that you’re not eating much of on your weight gain.

I see what people eat everyday and the percentage of people who truly eat high saturated  fat is very low. It took me a while to realise that.

Word of the end: Don’t be shy to correct people who claim fast food is high fat/high saturated fat. Tell them it’s high carb and that’s why it’s bad, oh and tell them it’s bad because the fats they use for the carbs are TOO unsaturated. You’ll really get their attention. Polyunsaturated fats are more prone to oxidation and when heated to high temperatures will create damaging free radicals. That’s why it’s better to stick to old fashionned animal fats and tropical oils for frying, they are higher in saturated fats, which are more stable.

Oh and you can eat pizza on low carb, you know… it’s called Meatza. I will post a recipe pretty soon.

Filet mignon

Whipped cream

Chocolate

Not only do these foods sounds delicious, they will keep you sexually healthy as well. Fat is where it’s at on Valentine’s. Don’t believe the Peta ads telling you you’ll get rid of ED by eating fruits & veg.

Go read this article about a diet that is good for ED:

http://coolinginflammation.blogspot.com/2009/10/erectile-dysfunction-diet.html

I already knew that steaks were high on the list of most sought after items. I actually knew these 2 guys who lived together who would go to the store and just try to fit as many steaks as possible in their oversized jeans.

So here are the most popular items:

-perfume

-meat

-razor blades

-butter

Not many carbs on that shopping list!

Come to think of it, that’s pretty much what’s on my list. In order of importance: razor blades, meat, butter, perfume.