Just wanted to drop a line to everyone who reads this.  I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays!  I have not been completely diligent with my diet, but I have not dived off the deep end either.  My main goal is to get to January 1st without gaining any of my lost weight back then to hit it hard again. 

So please be patient with me, and I promise to have more recipes posted soon!

I have no idea how this recipe holds up to a truly authentic recipe, since the only Italian wedding soup I'd ever eaten came out of a can.  I've been craving soup lately with the cold temperatures and needed a change from clam chowder (though I still love that recipe).  I whipped this up last weekend and was very pleased with the results.

Italian Wedding Soup
For the meatballs:
1 lb sweet Italian sausage (ground)
1 lb hamburger
1 cup parmesan cheese (I used the canned, not fresh)
1 tbs dried basil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 large eggs

For the soup:
2 tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
3 stalks celery, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup dry white wine (optional but I think it added a nice touch of flavor)
10 cups chicken stock
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
3 large eggs
1 bunch of fresh baby spinach, approx 5 oz, roughly chopped (I just bought the prepackaged stuff in the salad section)


To make the meatballs:
1) Preheat over to 350 degrees.
2) Mix all ingredients in a big bowl, until everything is fully incorporated (I just use my hands).
3) Form into roughly 1 inch sized meatballs.  The size is really personal preference.  While I actually enjoy the soup with a bunch of very small meatballs, I had no patience to follow through and made slightly larger meatballs.  You really want them to at least be small enough to fit on a spoon.
4) Place meatballs on a cookie sheet and bake in oven for about 30 minutes, until browned.

To make the soup:
1) While the meatballs are browning in the oven, add the olive oil to a heavy stock pot and heat on medium heat.
2) Saute the onion, celery and garlic in the olive oil until softened, about 5 minutes.
3) Add the dry white wine and chicken stock to the pot and stir, bring to a low boil.
4) Whisk the eggs in a bowl.  Once the soup is boiling, slowly drizzle the beaten eggs into the soup while stirring in a circular motion.  The egg will form thin strands that substitute nicely for pasta and also thicken the soup (just like Chinese egg drop soup).
5) Once the meatballs are brown, add them to the pot and stir.
6) Reduce heat, add the remaining spices and spinach and simmer until the spinach is limp.

I do not have the nutrition information yet, but this makes about 8 good size servings of soup and there are aren't many carbs in the entire pot. 

Nothing terribly new to report.  I didn't lose any weight and didn't gain any weight, though I lost another inch in my waist, so that's good! 

Work is busy, as is usual this time of year.  I've never quite understood why companies schedule massive deadlines at year end when everyone is in a merry, want to goof-off, holiday mode.  Not to mention that our vacation days don't carry over, so most are scrambling to use up the rest of their time, leaving the cubicle farm fairly empty in December.

I've been in a sort of diet ennui lately.  In summer, I crave salads and light fare, but in the winter, I just want to hunker down with a big bowl of stew and half a loaf of bread in my fist and dig right in.  I've tried to make a few new dishes but nothing has been good enough to post, in my opinion. 

I've been making the clam chowder quite often--I really love that recipe.  I've varied it a few times depending on what I have in my crisper that needs to be eaten.  I made it with asparagus once and that turned out really nice.  My mom says she's made it with turnips and liked it, but I honestly don't miss the potatoes or potato texture at all.  I've also made the crab cakes as tuna cakes, which I really enjoyed (Mom's idea--she's a better cook than I am!).  I followed the same basic recipe, using three cans of tuna (drained well), adding the juice of 1 lemon, and 1 stalk of celery, finely minced.  The cakes didn't stay together too well, but they were extremely tasty with some tartar sauce.

Hope everyone else is enjoying the holiday season and keeping to their diets as best they can. 

This is my list of the strangest places I've found high fructose corn syrup.

1) Horseradish!  I literally could not find a jar of horseradish at my grocery store that did not contain it.  What the heck??
2) "Authentic" braunschweiger.  Again, all brands at my grocer had it.  Doesn't seem very authentic, does it?
3) The seafood spice rub I mentioned in a previous post (I can't remember the brand now) had HFCS solids in it.
4) Stove Top Stuffing.  Not that I was planning on purchasing this or consuming it, but when I was shopping for Thanksgiving I picked up a box and looked at it out of curiosity.  Seriously, why would you think stuffing needed some extra sugar on top?
5) Sara Lee's "Heart Healthy" whole grain bread.  Well, we knew the 'whole grain' in these breads was a myth anyway and not so good for you in the end, but to add HFCS to it as well?
6) Most 'savory' type of salad dressings.  The brands are too numerous to list.  It's difficult to find a bottled salad dressing that doesn't contain it.  Sure, we expect it from the French and Catalina varieties, but this includes Italian vinaigrette, ranch dressing, Caesar dressing, among others.

I will add to this list as my shock and awe continues.  I knew how widespread the use of this product was, but some of these truly surprised me (like the horseradish).

How did everyone else fare at Thanksgiving dinner?

I didn't do too badly, though I make such good stuffing that I did indulge in a small serving of it.  Otherwise, I stuck to low-carb.

Here's what I made:

--Turkey, rubbed all over (under skin and on top) with sage butter (mixed finely chopped sage with softened butter).  I stuffed the cavity with pieces of lemon to infuse the turkey with some subtle lemon aroma.

--Low carb green bean casserole.  I will post the actual recipe later, but it involved a lot of bacon.

--Mashed carnival squash mixed with loads of butter and a touch of honey.  This was in place of sweet potato casserole.  To go even further low carb, sugar free maple syrup could be used in place of the honey, but I only used about 1 tbs for a humongous bowl, so I wasn't too concerned. 

--Roasted asparagus with homemade hollandaise sauce (I used Mark Bittman's recipe from How to Cook Everything for the sauce).

--Giblet gravy.  I just simmer the turkey organs and neck in water while the bird is cooking to make a broth.  When the bird is done, remove the neck and toss it, take out the orgrans and chop them finely.  Then return to the broth, add all of the lovely pan drippings, then whisk and thicken with low carb thickener (I prefer Thicken Thin not/Starch).  I had some leftover sage butter and whisked it in as well.  Wow, the gravy this year was so rich and tasty, I could almost eat a bowl of it like soup.

And for the non-low carbers:

--Traditional stuffing with sausage, mushrooms, onion and celery.  Even though it's wonderful, I won't post the recipe because it's not low-carb!

--Mashed potatoes with bacon and cheddar cheese.

--Pan rolls (store bought 'cause I just don't bake).

I didn't make any dessert this year.  Nobody is a big dessert eater, so I didn't really want any temptation around. :)

Unfortunately, the scale wasn't kind to me, saying I'd gained 5 lbs.  I figure it must just be some water weight from the stuffing, because I didn't overeat and barely indulged in non low-carb.  Monday is my official weigh-in, so I hope it's back to normal by then!

Well, I think I've finally recovered from my latest sinus infection.  I still blame Januvia for making it worse.  I'm going to try to see a sinus specialist after the new year, because horrible sinuses are something I've been dealing with my entire life, and I'm pretty tired of it.  I've tried everything under the sun: allergy medicine, nasal steroids, sinus irrigation (I have one of those irrigators that is like a water pik for your nose), pepper spray (no kidding).  Everything offers very temporary relief but not much else.

I'm going to start posting numbers and recipes again starting tomorrow.  I've been suffering from a little bit of carb creep, so I really need to batten down the hatches and start keeping better track of what I'm eating again.  I haven't gained any weight, thankfully. 

I'll be sharing a few of my Thanksgiving dishes.  I really don't make anything terribly fancy, but I don't think Thanksgiving is about how complicated a meal is or how long you slave in the kitchen.  There's probably nothing more frustrating than spending hours and hours preparing something only to have it gobbled up in 10 minutes and then have to clean up. 

I'm off to make some tacos for dinner tonight.  Again, nothing extravagent.  Just beef, a very small amount of refried beans (I spread probably a tablespoon on each taco), cheese, sour cream and salsa on the 3 net carb tortillas (that way I can get away with two of them).

This week, I'm down a couple more pounds, for a grand total of 19 lbs so far!  On top of that, I think I've lost about 4 inches around my waist.  Nobody has particularly noticed yet though.

My a1c was 6.9.  Still waaaaay too high for my taste.  My doctor was happy with it of course, saying 'it's not bad.'  I'm going to switch to a dose of time release metformin before bed to see if that helps my crazy morning fasting numbers out a bit.

I apologize for being so lazy with the blog.  I actually have about 4 or 5 recipes I need to post.  I've just been pretty busy working lately and haven't wanted to look at a computer when I get home (I'm a computer programmer so get dazed enough by the glowing screen during the day).

My weight was jumping up and down like crazy all week.  Today, my weight was down 1 lb from last week, so weight-wise I'm moving in the right direction.  I have a pair of jean shorts that I'm using as my first pair of 'test clothes' that I couldn't even zip when I first started this journey.  Now, I can actually button them!  They're extremely tight and uncomfortable, but I'm happy with the progress. 

I've been working on the Wii Fit Plus almost every day, for 30-60 minutes.  I've been really amazed by how quickly I've improved on some of the exercises.  I'm really glad that we bought the Wii, because I feel like this is something I can actually stick with. Though, I think I overdid it yesterday.  I was in massive pain for most of the day, but I'm feeling okay this morning.

Yesterday, I was trolling the spice aisle at the grocery store for some good spice mixtures.  I was really disgusted to find sugar in almost all of them.  There was one seafood mixture that looked promising until I saw that it contained high fuctose corn syrup solids.  UGH!  I think I'm going to keep a list of unlikely places that I find the nefarious ingredient and post them.

I will try to get my lazy butt in gear and get some of my latest recipes posted this week. 

I've decided that my scale is conspiring against me.  You see, all week my numbers were way down.  Last Thursday I was down 5 lbs.  Then comes "official" weigh in day, and my weight jumps back up.  I believe I heard my scale maliciously giggling as I stepped upon it.

So, only a 1 lb official loss this week.  I'm actually feeling really bloated and rather ill today, so that might have something to do with it.  I'm slightly worried about swine flu symptoms.  I pretty much have all the symptoms, but I really don't think I feel THAT bad.  Then again, I'm very good at thinking I'm not really feeling "that" bad then ending up in the hospital over something or another.    I'm trying to be better about that sort of thing.  I'll see how I feel in the morning, but I might be dialing into work.

Only a couple more weeks until my next doctor's appointment.  I'm really interested to see how my labs turn out.

We bought a Wii last night, and I've been pretty much enamored with it ever since.  Of course, I bought the Wii Fit Plus with the balance board, as a main goal of the purchase was to get my rear in gear as far as exercising goes.  I've had 3 back surgeries in the past 10 years, and my last bout of physical therapy included a lot of work with a balance board.  My therapist said that the very act of balancing helps strengthen the otherwise difficult to work back muscles.  The Wii seemed like a good solution for me to help strengthen my back and increase my general activity level.

The game came with Wii Sports, and we also purchased Wii Sports Resort.  We have played through most of the mini-games in both packages, and I have to say they are really fun.  My favorite so far is probably table tennis, and I was quite surprised by how well I did with basketball.  The great thing is that while you are having all sorts of fun with these games, I believe you are also getting a decent workout.  I could definitely feel the muscles in my arms protesting.

After a short break and some lunch, I whipped out my Wii Fit Plus.  It was quite distressing to see my little persona get alarmingly fat after the body test.  This basically measures your weight, and you input your height and age, then it calculates your BMI.  I don't take much stock in the BMI measurement, and even the manual tells you not to distress if you're muscular and the BMI indicates you're fat.  Of course, I am fat and hardly muscular, so the fat little bobblehead representation of myself is unfortunately fairly accurate.

The initial balance tests indicated that my balance pretty much stinks.  I lean to the left and back and its a major effort for me to not do it.  I have some nerve damage in my right leg from my initial back surgery (my sciatic nerve was damaged pretty badly before the surgery and I never recovered all of the feeling in that leg), which causes that leg some discomfort.  I'm sure that is why I lean to the left, even though I don't think I have any major strength issues with the leg. 

I went though all of the balance games at least once just to see how I fared.  About the only one I did well on was the one where you sit still for as long as possible.  I'm a real pro at sitting still!  The most difficult were the skiing and snow boarding games.  It was a little frustrating just how bad I was, but I look forward to improving.

I did a few of the aerobic exercises.  Let me just say that I'm thankful that Better Half was napping during the hula hoop game, because I'm sure I looked utterly ridiculous, but I did manage to at least get 2 stars!  The basic step routine was fairly easy for me to do, and I could definitely feel the hips getting a workout there.  The game I fared best on was the rhythmic marching game.  This brought back fond memories of my high school marching band experience.  It was the only game where I managed to unlock the advanced level.  I was always good at marching.

The Wii Fit program reported that I burned approximately 160 calories today.  I figure that combined with the sports games gave me more exercise than I've had in a long while.  All while having a relatively good time!

It will be interesting to see how this improves my diet success and blood sugar numbers.

Nothing too thrilling to report this week.  I didn't lose any weight, didn't gain any weight.  I've had a bit of a cold and my blood sugars have been a little demented, higher after some meals then rebounding to near hypoglycemic levels (70s).

I did make an excellent Asian inspired peanut butter beef stir fry and also made some pumpkin cheesecake cupcakes.  I'll try to get the recipes up some time this week.

In the mean time, I'll continue to stay the course...

Be careful of pants that no longer fit and want to slide down to your ankles while walking in public!

Okay, it wasn't quite that bad, but I had to keep tugging my pants back up while walking to lunch the other day.  When I got home, I finally became brave enough to pull out the pants in my closet that are a size lower, and lo and behold they fit!  And they fit nicely, not tight or anything, even the ones with buttons and zippers in lieu of stretchy elastic. 

Hopefully it won't be too long before I'm forced to purchase new clothes due to my shrinking waistline. :)

I think my mom came up with this recipe because she had a bunch of mushrooms she needed to use before they went bad.  This probably isn't her exact recipe but is fairly close (I lost the email she sent with the recipe when my computer died).  My mom and I are not very good at measuring when we come up with recipes.  We generally throw in a little of this, a bunch of that, a smidge of this, etc.  It's been an effort for me to actually pay attention to how much of everything I throw into a new dish, both for the sake of sharing my recipes and also logging them accurately into my diet software. 

This soup was nice and hearty and made a very filling meal all by itself.  I estimated it at 4 servings, which turned out to be pretty nice sized bowls.  If you are only eating it as a side to a meal, you should divide it into smaller portions.

Mom's Mushroom Clam Chowder
1/2 small onion
1 stalk of celery
4 oz mushrooms (I used 1/2 portabella and 1/2 button)
2 cloves of garlic
4 slices bacon
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup clam juice (1 bottle was 1 cup)
2 10z cans of clams (I used 1 can chopped and 1 can whole baby clams)
2 tsp celery salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg or allspice (Mom's secret ingredient)
pinch of cayenne pepper
low carb thickener of choice (guar gum, xanthum gum, Thicken Thin-Not Starch)

1) Chop onions, celery and mushrooms into chunks.  The size of the chunks is really up to you.  I diced my celery and onions fairly fine and left the mushrooms a bit chunkier.
2) Dice garlic.
2) Slice bacon into chunks.
3) Toss bacon into the bottom of your soup pot and fry until crisp.  Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel.
4) Toss the celery, onions and mushrooms into the pot and saute in the bacon fat. 
5) Once veggies are soft, toss the garlic in and cook for a few minutes.
6) Add cream, clam juice, spices and bacon.  Stir and heat on medium heat.
7) Once the soup is warm, use thickener of choice to thicken the soup.  The best way to do this is to add a little bit of thickener at a time (I put mine in a salt shaker), whisk and wait a minute.  Repeat until the soup is the desired thickness.  It's best to be patient adding the thickener, because if you add too much it'll become gummy and nasty.
8) Simmer for about a 1/2 hour then serve and enjoy.

Nutrition Information per serving (as calculated by DietPower):
Assuming 4 servings:
Calories 413, Carbohydrates 7.79 g (Fiber 1.72 g, Sugars 1.15 g), Fat 37.2 g (Saturated 21.7 g, Polyunsaturated 1.83 g, Monounsaturated 11.1 g, Trans 0 g), Protein 14.9 g, Cholesterol 157 mg, Sodium 400 mg, Potassium 526 mg

I can't believe it's been 2 months since I really decided to take control of my health again.  I've had a few slips along the way, but nothing disastrous that I couldn't recover from.  I've learned so much that in many ways I feel completely overwhelmed.  I went from believing that taking insulin meant that I was doomed and my life would be over to seriously considering asking my doctor to start using it.  I know I want to stop taking Januvia.  Too many studies are coming out linking it to complications, such as permanent sinusitis (I already had problems there and they've since become worse), pancreatitis (I've had a couple bouts of that), and CANCER!  If that doesn't make you want to run for the hills gibbering, I don't know what will.  I stopped taking the Actos my doctor had prescribed a while back, since I've since learned it reduces blood sugar by making even more fat cells to push the glucose into.  Yuck.  I really don't need my insulin to be even more efficient at storing fat--it does a good enough job at that as it is.

Some of the sites that have really helped me the last couple months are Blood Sugar 101 (and her associated Diabetes Update Blog), Dr. Bernstein's book and website, the Eades' website and blogs,  Jimmy Moore's Livin' La Vida Low-Carb site (especially the forums), as well as The Bionic Broad's Low-Carb blog.

As for the weekly update:  I only lost 1 lb this week, but I'm not stressing about it.  Aunt Flo is visiting, which always causes me to gain a few pounds anyway.  I was actually able to stay off the scale most of the week, so I didn't see any of the daily fluctuations to know if I was trending up or down.  I have lost 2 inches on my waist and hips in the last 2 weeks!  I took my A1C yesterday, and it came in at a 7.0%.  That's far from my goal, but a drop of 1% in 1 month seems like great progress.  My biggest issue with blood sugar control remains Dawn Phenomenon.  I just can't predict what will happen with my morning blood sugars, and it's really frustrating.

On another note, related to the pcos--my periods seem to have normalized.  I had started right before I began this blog and have started exactly each 4 weeks since.  Granted, 3 normal periods in 2 months is not a large number of samples, but I was going 4-5 months between periods before.  I had never heard of a connection between regular menstruation and blood sugar control, but I'm going to start researching it now.  Pcos has been linked to insulin resistance, but it would be wonderful to learn that regulating my blood sugar might also help regulate my female issues.

I have an appointment with my doctor early next month, so hopefully I will go in armed with enough information to get what I want.

I do  have several new recipes to post in the next few days, so keep checking back!

I apologize for the belated week 7 results.  Both of my main computers are down right now due to hard drive failures (strange that both pcs have the same problem at the same time--I think it's gremlins or I'm emanating a weird electromagnetic field of some sort).  I also had jury duty this week so was in court the last 3 days.  Thankfully, the courthouse had a decent salad bar, so I was able to keep on track with my diet for the most part (the dressings were a little higher than I like but all in all not bad).

Anyway, for week 7 I lost 3 lbs!  Yay!  Unfortunately, I ran out of egg protein powder, so I have been off the Eades' plan for a couple of days.  I know it will work now, so I'm going to buy much more powder and restart on Monday (just to align it to my weekly updates). 

Next week, I will be doing a home A1C test again.  All I have to say is it BETTER be better! 

No new recipes for now.  The only new thing that I tried was an Asian slow cooker beef recipe that really turned out horribly.  My mom did mention that she made my crab cake recipe with 2 cans of tuna and it turned out really well (I think she said she added some diced celery and lemon juice as well).  I might be trying that myself for dinner.

For those who have asked how the egg protein powder is working out with the Eades' 6 Week Cure Diet:  It is working wonderfully!

I am not having any big blood sugar spikes from the shakes at all.  In fact, I actually entered 'hypo' range yesterday with a reading of 70!  This was my reading right before eating lunch, so I didn't have to worry about it dropping too low right then, but it's definitely something to keep my eye on.

My weight was down 5 lbs yesterday morning, but it doesn't count until Monday. It is definitely encouraging though.  I didn't weigh myself today (my morning routine is non-existent on the weekends, which includes hopping on the scale right before my shower).

I am still having terrible trouble with Dawn Phenomenon.  I'm going to ask my doctor about possibly switching to a time release Glucophage that I can take before bed to help cover the morning hours.

The question now is, what the heck am I going to do with this jumbo container of whey protein powder I have!?

I was craving chicken nuggets and came up with this recipe.  It's nothing extraordinary and others have probably come up with similar recipes.  However, they turned out pretty good, were very filling and satisfied my craving.

Low Carb Chicken Nuggets
1 package chicken tenders (approx 1 lb)
2 eggs
1 cup almond flour (I used Bob's Redmill)
3 tbs herbs and spices (I used a garlic & onion blend)

1) Slightly beat eggs in a decent sized bowl (I used a big square shaped tupperware container).
2) Mix together almond flour, herbs and spices in a big mixing bowl.
3) Rinse tenders under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
4) Cut tenders into nugget sized chunks.
-- Do the following 2 steps in a few batches
5) Dredge the nuggets in the egg.
6) Throw the dredged nuggets in the almond flour mixture and toss until the nuggets are evenly coated.
7) Place coated nuggets into a big Ziploc bag and put in the refigerator for at least an hour.
8) When ready to fry, heat the oil to about 350 degrees.  You can either deep fry or pan fry, just until the centers are no longer pink.  It only take a few minutes.  To test, fish the biggest chunk out of the oil and cut into it.

This made about 4 10 piece servings.  When I first made them, I made an initial batch immediately and put the rest in the refrigerator.  While the first batch turned out decent, the ones that I made later from the refrigerated nuggets were much better.  I used peanut oil and deep fried them.  I'm beginning to learn that peanut oil is not a great oil to use (high O6 content), but I'm not sure what to use as an adequate O3 substitute yet.

I used ranch dressing as a dipping sauce.  Next time I'm going to make a lemon pepper version.  I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll have to come up with my own lemon pepper spice mixture, because all of the commercial brands I've seen are loaded with sugar!


The nutritional information is a rough estimate of using 1/2 the egg mixture and 1/2 the almond mixture, not including the oil used for frying:
Calories 189, Carbohydrates 3.1 (Fiber 1.5 g, Sugars .596 g), Fat 8.74 g, Protein 26.6 g.

My blood sugar has been acting like a Mexican jumping bean the last few days.  Yesterday, I tried another Eades' shake with nothing but the whey protein powder, ice, water and cream.  Once again, my blood sugar skyrocketed after consumption.  It stayed high for 2 hours then dropped drastically the next hour and was back to 95 before lunch.  It stayed fairly level until just before bedtime and jumped up to 130.  This morning, it was back up to 176!  It's steadily declined throughout the day and was 110 before dinner.

In addition to the blood sugar spikes, my weight went up 3 lbs yesterday then down 5 lbs this morning.  Neither day is an official weigh-in, but I just can't help myself (I know, I need to smack myself for the bad daily weighing habit).

I have no idea why the BS is acting quite so freakish.  I also cannot figure out why I'm reacting to the protein powder like I am, but it's obvious I must be super sensitive to either Whey or the protein powder I'm using flat out lies about the carb content (it claims 100% natural, 1 carb per scoop, no sugar, yada yada).  Today, I purchased some 100% pure egg white protein powder (it is the ONLY ingredient listed), so I will try another shake in the morning using that to see what happens. 

Meanwhile, I've been reading Dr. Bernstein's book a bit.  If the egg protein powder does not work for me, I'm going to switch to Bernstein's plan (which is pretty similar to what I've been doing anyway with somewhat less focus on fat and more on protein). 

As usual, I will keep everyone updated on my results and progress.

This is a de-carbed version of a traditional "Mom's Meatloaf."  It is pretty similar to the meatloaf that my mom used to make, with a few changes.  I always cook meatloaf in the crock pot, mainly because it's easier for me with my work schedule.  If you want to go that route, the best thing to do is to make a couple of  tinfoil "handles" to facilitate lifting the meatloaf out of the crock at the end of the day.  Basically, just take a couple of long strips of folded foil and place them in the bottom with the ends hanging over the top of the pot.

Low Carb Meatloaf
2 lb ground meat (I use 1 lb ground beef and 1 lb ground pork)
1/2 small onion
1 stalk of celery
4 average size button mushrooms
2 eggs
1/4 cup reduced sugar ketchup
1/4 cup prepared yellow mustard
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 tbs garlic & onion seasoning (I have a blend that has no sugar.  Be careful of the various blended spices because most of them add sugar.  Of course, if you don't have a blend, you can use a combination of garlic salt and onion powder.) 
1 tbs dried oregano
1 tbs dried basil
1 tsp black pepper
2-3 tbs bacon grease, heated just slightly until it's a liquid (optional) **

1) Spray slow cooker down with cooking spray.
1) Process onion, celery and mushrooms in a food processor until finely diced (I don't like big chunks of veggies in my meatloaf).
2) Throw everything together into a big mixing bowl and mush together.  I just use my hands.  Make sure everything is blended well, especially the eggs.
3) Form into a loaf that will fit your slow cooker.
4) Place loaf into slow cooker.  Drizzle the bacon grease on top.  Cook on low for about 8 hours.

In my house, it usually cooks for about 10 hours with great results. After I remove the meatloaf, I take the drippings from the crock and pour them into a sauce pan and heat it on medium heat.  I stir in about 1/2 cup of tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of beef broth and mix it all up with my stick blender to make a nice sauce for the meatloaf.  Mashed cauliflower makes a nice accompaniment to round out the meal.

This makes 4 generous portions of meatloaf.  Better Half loves meatloaf, so he eats really big servings.  I think you can divide this into 6 and it'll still be reasonable sized servings.

** When I do cook meatloaf in the oven, I place a couple strips of bacon on top.  This doesn't work in the slow cooker because the bacon just gets mushy and sticks to the top of the meatloaf.  I always store bacon grease in a mason jar in my fridge, so I have plenty on hand.  The bacon grease adds a touch of flavor to the meatloaf, but it's by no means necessary for the meatloaf to turn out great.

Nutrition Information per serving (as calculated by DietPower):
Assuming 5 servings:
Calories 582, Carbohydrates 4.82 g (Fiber 1.29 g, Sugars .854 g), Fat 41.6 g (Saturated 15.9 g, Polyunsaturated 3.01 g, Monounsaturated 18.1 g, Trans 0 g), Protein 44.9 g, Cholesterol 246 mg, Sodium 390 mg, Potassium 805 mg

Another week has passed.  I only lost 1 lb this week.  I'm somewhat frustrated with my lack of progress, though I know I shouldn't be.  After all, 11 lbs in 6 weeks is still a decent rate of loss.

My blood sugar was pretty flat all week.  My morning numbers have come down but my numbers throughout the day were up a bit (not above 140 though).  I think part of it is that my mouth is still healing from the bone graft, so I've been in constant pain for the past 2 weeks now.  It's taking a LOOONG time to heal, though I was finally able to do some chewing on that side of my mouth today.  I think it'll be healed within the next 3 or 4 days (I hope!). 

I decided I would give the Eades' 6 Week Cure a try to jump start my weight loss.  I started this morning with a banana protein shake (their basic shake recipe with Davinci sugar free banana syrup added).  It was quite tasty and filling.  However, my blood sugar spiked to 185!  I'm not sure why.  The carb count for the shake was only about 3.  I would think if it was a spike from protein being converted to sugar it wouldn't have happened quite so quickly (since protein is supposed to be converted to sugar slower than carbs).  I ate normally the rest of the day.  I'm a little scared to try again tomorrow without knowing what the problem was.

This is a pretty easy recipe I threw together that I like to serve as a side dish.  I usually only eat 2 at a time because they are very rich and filling.

Low Carb Stuffed Mushrooms
8 average size button mushrooms (the 8 oz packages usually have 8 mushrooms)
3 slices bacon
1/4 medium onion, finely chopped (this worked out to be about 1 oz of onion)
3 oz cream cheese (I used the garden vegetable flavor), softened.
1 oz shredded cheddar cheese
Garlic salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1) Gently wipe off any dirt from the mushrooms using a paper towel or mushroom brush (do not wash!).
2) Remove the stems from the mushrooms, leaving a hollow in the mushrooms to hold the stuffing.
3) Finely chop the mushroom stems.
4) Fry the bacon in a skillet until crispy.  Remove the bacon, wrap in a couple of paper towels and allow to cool.
5) Toss the onion and mushroom stems into the bacon grease.  Sprinkle on a couple dashes of garlic salt and saute until the onion is clear.
6) Crumble or chop the cooked bacon pieces.  I like the pieces to be fairly small so I don't end up with huge chunks of bacon in my filling.
7) Mix the bacon pieces, sauteed onions and mushroom stems, cream cheese and shredded cheddar together in a bowl.
8) Stuff each mushroom cavity with a generous spoonful of the cheese mixture. 
9) Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until the mushrooms release their juices.
10) Finish off for a few minutes under the broiler to brown the tops of the mushrooms.

Experiment with different flavors of the cheeses.  I think next time I might try spinach and artichoke cream cheese with parmesan cheese in place of the cheddar.

Nutrition Information for each mushroom (as calculated by DietPower):
Calories 69, Carboydrates 1.33g (Fiber .254 g, Sugars .522 g), Fat 6.11 g (Saturated 3.5 g, Polyunsaturated .344 g, Monounsaturated 1.94 g, Trans 0 g), Protein 3 g, Cholesterol 17.3 mg, Sodium 78.6 mg, Potassium 91mg

Well, no weight loss this week.  I seem to be in the pattern of one week of loss, one week of nothing, which I suppose I can live with if it remains that way. 

I'm considering starting the Eades' "6 Week Cure" diet just to see if it prods my weight loss along a little better.  Obviously, I have enough weight to lose that it's not going to happen in 6 weeks, but they give advice on how to cycle the diet for longer term weight loss.  I've seen reports from people who had stalled who are now starting to lose again on this diet.  I'm more interested in the liver cleansing aspects that the diet presents, especially if this does prompt the opening of the fat stores, as well as better blood sugar and insulin levels.  Once you get to the maintenance levels of the diet, it's really no different from Atkins.


My blood sugar was a little weird this week, mainly due to the steroids I was on.  The first 2 days of steroid use, the sugars were running a little bit high, then dropped to a more normal rate after that.  My morning numbers have been great all week (110 this morning, by far the best morning number I've ever seen).  I'm not sure why the improvement, but I'll take it.  Hopefully, it remains this way.

I don't have the blood sugar averages for the week.  I'm still not feeling great (still too much tooth pain), so I didn't get my numbers transferred from my meter to my spreadsheet.

I'll try to post a bit more often as I start feeling better.  I definitely have a few more recipes to inflict on everyone!

I'm recovering from the bone graft I had done yesterday.  It wasn't too horrible, but I'm still in a bit of pain.  They told me to eat ice cream and milk shakes all day since I couldn't eat anything crunchy or warm.  Of course, I completely ignored them.  I subsisted all day yesterday on deviled eggs and ice water (since the eggs were soft enough and cold enough not to cause an issue).  I ate a few bites of scrambled eggs this morning but couldn't eat much more than that due to jaw and tooth pain. 

My blood sugar is a little out of whack because they have me on steroids to control the swelling and inflammation.  It's been hovering between 140-150 throughout the day, which I don't like one bit.  Oddly enough though, my morning numbers are lower--around 120. 

I'll be posting more as I get to feeling better.  For now, I'm going to head back to bed and rest some more.

Do you ever just have one of those days where you feel like everything is falling apart?  Today is one of those for me.  On the positive side, I lost 3 lbs this week!  On the unpleasant side... Well, I have a cavity... And a failing root canal...  And I'm having a bone graft done on my lower jaw tomorrow so that I can keep my teeth.  My dentist is convinced I have sleep apnea, and since Better Half says I snore worse than anyone he's ever known, I probably do.

And then my dentist says, "Do you have lupus?"  I say very firmly that I do not have lupus.  "Are you sure?" he replies, "Because that butterfly rash you have on your face is a major symptom of lupus."  Ugh!  I was tested a couple of years ago for it when I had some wonky test results, but the test was negative at that point in time, but geez, should I be worried about it now??

And on top of all that, I did my home A1C test yesterday, and my results were 8.0!  I don't really see how, since it was 7.6 a couple months back, and I have been monitoring my blood sugar so carefully the last month.  Since 50% of the A1C is supposed to come from the last month, where my numbers are rarely over 140, how do I end up with an 8.0?  I'm not going to take it again, since the tests are costly, but we'll see how it is next month.

So anyway, I'm a bit depressed and feeling sorry for myself.  Hopefully, I'll be able to cheer myself back up before too long.

Sorry for the delay in posting my week 3 results.  Better Half and I started playing the new MMO Champions Online and have been pretty busy with the shiny new game. :) 

No weight loss this week (boo), but my blood sugar is improving so drastically that I'm remaining positive.  I had one cheat (boo again).  In a fit of pure laziness, I dashed across the street to McDonalds for lunch on Sunday.  It was an interesting experiment.  My pre meal bg was 95.  My 2 hour reading after a McDouble, medium fries and a Diet Coke was 203!  Yikes.  Luckily, my bg was back down to 85 before dinner, so it didn't stay that high for too terribly long, but I learned my lesson.

My averages for week 3 were:

Day 1: 114, highest 136, lowest 102
Day 2: 118, highest 148, lowest 101
Day 3: 120, highest 158, lowest 100
Day 4: 127, highest 138, lowest 117
Day 5: 109, highest 138, lowest 90
Day 6: 117, highest 146, lowest 95
Day 7: 125, highest 203, lowest 85 <-- McDonald's Day

Clearly, the numbers have improved drastically from my starting numbers 3 weeks ago.  Again, my highs were always the morning numbers with the exception of the McDonald's day.  I haven't really figured out any rhyme or reason to controlling these morning numbers--they seem to do what they want to do.  Overall, they're still steadily declining (just at a fairly slow pace), so that gives me some hope that they'll shape up soon.  I swear I'm not dipping into Better Half's M&M stash in the middle of the night!

Keep watching.  Next week I take my first A1C test, which will be interesting.  I'm not expecting a drastic drop yet, because it will still have 2 months of "bad" in the average.

More recipes coming soon!

That last few days, I swear my meter was taunting me.  I was happy with my readings, but I was looking for numbers below 100.  I was getting numbers like 100, 101, 103, etc.  FINALLY, I got a reading of 90!  Woo hoo!  This was my 'before lunch" number yesterday.  Let's see if my low carb lifestyle rewards me with continued good numbers.

Well, I'm ecstatic to have gotten two morning blood sugar readings below 140 in a row!  Both of the previous nights, I ate a spoonful of peanut butter before going to bed.  I don't know if that actually made the difference or if it was a coincidence, but we will see.

I also forgot to take my night time medicine last night (I'm usually really good about it, but fell asleep watching TV), so I was quite shocked to see the improved reading of 136 this morning. 

I whipped up some induction friendly crab cakes last night.  I was experimenting a bit, but these turned out really great.  Better Half even gobbled them up, not even realizing they were low-carb. :)

For crab cakes, stay away from the imitation crab.  It can be full of carbs (texturizing ingredients)!  I usually get my lump crab meat from Wal-Mart in the refrigerated seafood section.  My Wal-Mart sells it in pouches (similar to tuna) and also in 1 lb containers.  I've made crab cakes before with canned meat, and it'll do in a pinch, but I much prefer the refrigerated kind (I'm sure I'd prefer fresh crab meat if it was available in Denver).

I added cream cheese to make the mixture hold together better, and I think it was a worthy addition.  These would be good with some minced bell pepper as well, but alas, Better Half doesn't care for peppers so I left them out.

Low Carb Crab Cakes

1 lb lump crabmeat
2 oz spicy pork rinds, ground into 'crumbs' (use your food processor or coffee grinder)
2 eggs
3 oz cream cheese (I used the chive flavor)
1 tbs mayonaise
1 tbs dijon mustard
2 tsp seafood boil & grill seasoning (something like Old Bay)
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
a couple dashes of salt

1) Drain and rinse crabmeat, then dry as much as possible.  I put it in my colander and used the back of a big serving spoon to push as much liquid out, then drained on some paper towels.
2) Throw the crabmeat in a big mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly.  I put on latex gloves and just mushed it all together with my hands. 
3) Form into 6 patties (these were pretty nice sized patties, and I was impressed by how well they held together).
4) Heat oil of choice over medium heat.  I used peanut oil in my electric skillet, but I think I'll try them in butter next time.
5) Fry for about 5 minutes per side, until the cakes develop a nice brown crust.  Then gently remove them and drain on paper towels.
6) Enjoy with your favorite sauce.  Better Half used traditional tartar sauce, and I used a mustard sauce that I whipped up on the spot (about 1 tbs mayo, 1 tbs dijon mustard, the juice of 1/2 lemon).  We each ate 2 cakes (Better Half added some fried potatoes but I just ate the cakes).  They were very tasty and filling.

Nutrition Information for each cake without the oil (as calculated by DietPower):
Calories 203, Carboydrates .684 g (Fiber 0 g, Sugars .157 g), Fat 12.5 g (Saturated 5.37 g, Polyunsaturated .681 g, Monounsaturated 2.17 g, Trans 0 g), Protein 21.4 g, Cholesterol 149 mg, Sodium 498 mg, Potassium 275 mg

Not much changed on the weight front this week.  I lost 1 lb, for a total of 7 lbs over two weeks.  I wasn't watching calories as carefully as I should have been, and I know I had a few days that were pretty high (darn salad dressing).  Still, 7 lbs in two weeks is really something to be happy about.

Blood sugar wise, my numbers are continuing to improve.  I still haven't gotten a number under 100, but I'm not seeing many numbers over 140 anymore (except my MORNING numbers--argh), so that's definite progress in the right direction.  Plus, I have to keep telling myself that I've only been watching my carbs for 2 weeks. These averages DO include readings 45 minutes to 1 hour after my meals.  I'm trying to take about 8 samples a day so that the numbers are as representative as possible of my true average.

My averages for week 2 were:

Day 1: 130, highest 163, lowest 130
Day 2: 130, highest 149, lowest 115
Day 3: 125, highest 164, lowest 107
Day 4: 123, highest 153, lowest 111
Day 5: 133, highest 149, lowest 117
Day 6: 130, highest 136, lowest 102
Day 7: 114, highest 135, lowest 103

Again, my highest numbers for every single day were my readings upon waking each morning.  At least they are steadily dropping.  After I eat breakfast, I stay pretty steady throughout the day, barely peaking after meals.

I'm planning on continuing induction for at least 2 more weeks, so keep watching as I chart my progress.

I never really thought of my deviled eggs as anything special or noteworthy, but they are one thing that are requested frequently when I'm asked to bring something to a gathering.  When I make them for the two of us at home, Better Half gobbles them up so quickly that I generally only get one or two before they are gone.  I'd make them more often if I didn't have to peel the darn hard boiled eggs first!  I often eat a couple of these for breakfast, along with a Dannon carb control yogurt.

Low Carb Deviled Eggs

Ingredients
12 hard boiled eggs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup prepared yellow mustard
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp ground mustard seed
1/4 tsp black pepper
Paprika

1) Peel your hard boiled eggs and split them in half, removing the yolks to a separate bowl. 
2) Add all ingredients except paprika to bowl and mash together with a fork until everything is fully incorporated into the yolks.
3) Fill the egg yolk halves with the yolk mixture.  I use a spoon and don't worry about fancy presentation by piping it prettily into the cavity. 
4) Sprinkle with paprika.
5) Eat a couple before everyone else gets their grubby hands on them and they disappear!

I usually end up with 22 egg halves from this (inevitably, one egg white is destroyed while peeling).  These eggs are a little tangy with the additional mustard--just how we love them.  If you want less mustard flavor, increase the mayo and decrease the mustard by equal amounts.  Feel free to adjust the seasonings to your taste. 

Nutrition Information for each half (assuming 22 halves, as calculated by DietPower):
Calories 57, Carboydrates .519 g (Fiber .0356 g, Sugars .253 g), Fat 4.66 g (Saturated 1.12 g, Polyunsaturated .379 g, Monounsaturated 1.05 g, Trans 0 g), Protein 3.6 g, Cholesterol 116 mg, Sodium 140 mg, Potassium 42.4 mg,

Why do people insist on trying to sabotage your dieting efforts?  I just had a coworker attempt to shove a doughnut down my throat.  It took me about 5 minutes of insisting that there was no way I was going to eat it for him to give up.  This makes no sense.  First, he KNOWS I am diabetic.  Second, he can obviously see how fat I am, and a doughnut is definitely something I do not need.  So why do people persist in this behavior?

Would they buy Whiskey shots for an alcoholic?

Since eggs are a low carb staple, and I've been making many hard-boiled eggs for salads and deviled eggs lately, I thought I would post my 'recipe' for making a perfect hard-boiled egg in Denver. 

I am sure that if you followed these instructions at a lower altitude, you would end up with a nasty overcooked egg.  However, these turn out perfect here--the whites are firm but not rubbery, the yolks are a nice creamy yellow without a tinge of green.

1) Place eggs in the bottom of your pot and fill about half way with cold water (enough to cover your eggs plus a couple extra inches).
2) Discard any eggs that float (that means they're bad!).  If they're just 'standing', they're still okay.
3) Do not salt your water.  Salting the water causes the water to boil at a higher temperature, and my method works for the lower boiling temperature.
4) Heat on high.  As soon as the first 'hard boil' breaks the surface, set your timer for 15 minutes.
5) After 15 minutes, place the pot in the sink and turn on the faucet.  Allow cold water to pour into the pot for several minutes.  This gently brings the water temperature down.
6) Once the water is cool, pour ice into the water to cool the eggs down the rest of the way and cease any cooking.  Allow to sit in the ice water for several minutes.
7) Peel and enjoy. :)

I survived week 1 of induction!

After one week, I've lost 6 lbs.  More importantly, my blood sugar is definitely improving.  It is still far too high, but I'm not hitting any numbers over 200 anymore. 

My averages for the week were:
Day 1: 170, highest 214, lowest 140
Day 2: 156, highest 200, lowest 117
Day 3: 150, highest 194, lowest 116
Day 4: 135, highest 150, lowest 117
Day 5: 145, highest 160, lowest 131 (though these numbers are a bit off since I forgot my meter when I went to work so had less samples)
Day 6: 130, highest 148, lowest 115
Day 7: 130, highest 150, lowest 116

Clearly, the numbers are trending downward.  My Excel spreadsheet tells me my estimated A1C for this week is 7.1.  For every single day, the peak number was my morning fasting number.  Thank you Dawn Syndrome.  I've tried many of the suggestions for coping with this phenomenon to no avail.  For now, I'm going to stay the course and see if the morning numbers continue to improve along with the rest of the numbers. 

Aside from the numbers, I'm feeling much better.  I have more energy, my sleep is more restful and I'm not waking up 10 times a night.  The hunger was extremely nagging the first couple of days as my brain cried out for potato chips and a Snickers bar, but now I'm almost having to force myself to eat enough calories.  After I'd logged my food on Sunday, I found I hadn't even eaten 1000 calories.  On the surface, this might seem like a great thing, but I do not want my body to panic and decide it is starving, so I'm trying to keep a fairly steady amount of fuel for it throughout the day.

Onward to Week 2!

Well, I wanted to put on the record where I'm starting, number-wise.

Lipids:
Cholesterol: 215
Triglycerides: 331
HDL: 29
LDL: 120
CHOL/HDL Ratio: 7.4

Sugars:
Hemoglobin A1C: 7.6
Mean Plasma Glucose: 193
Fasting Glucose: 134

Lbs to lose to goal weight: 105

I'll be having these tests done again at the doctor's office after 3 months on the Atkin's diet, and I expect to see a dramatic improvement.  In the meantime, I will post my average blood sugar numbers weekly and plan on taking my A1C at home every month.

I was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome about 10 years ago, when I was having some "female" issues. At that time, information about the syndrome was scarce, and doctors hadn't really made the connection between insulin resistance, type II diabetes and pcos. I was basically told that it would be more difficult for me to get pregnant and to take the pill to regulate my menstrual cycles, then sent on my way.

I scoured the internet for more information and found some scattered newsgroups related to pcos. Eventually, I found some posts about a possible link between insulin resistance and pcos and how some doctors were prescribing glucophage (metformin) to treat it. I was lucky enough to find a doctor who knew what pcos was and how to treat it. She prescribed metformin and tested me for diabetes. I was not diabetic at this point in time.

Meanwhile, my quest to lose weight continued, separate in my mind from the pcos. I bounced around from diet to diet. I had the most success on the Zone Diet but found the diet incredibly difficult to adhere to. In retrospect, it was probably the dramatic lowering of my carb intake and increase in fat that caused this diet work for me (though the carb percentage is still too high, it's much lower than the typical American diet) . I knew a couple of people on the Atkin's Diet but was still brainwashed into believing that this diet was incredibly bad for you and would kill you if you tried it. At that point in time, I didn't know a lot about insulin, blood sugar, and how carbohydrates play their role. I knew I should stay away from sugar but never truly made the connection between sugar and other carbohydrates.

The next 5 years of my life skipped by. I moved, settled into a new job and found a new doctor. When she did my initial blood work, she again said that the numbers indicated I wasn't diabetic, but she felt that this was only because I was taking metformin, and it was keeping my blood sugar under control. She recommended a low carb diet, and this is when I went on Atkin's for the first time. I stuck with it faithfully for about a year, and I lost about 40 lbs. Everything was going great, and my bloodwork (HDL, LDL, Triglycerides, etc) dramatically improved.

And then I leaped off the Atkin's wagon and flopped face down back into carb addiction. I can only make lame excuses as to why, but the main reason was that my Better Half and I moved in together, and he is lean, fit, a carb lover, AND a pretty picky eater. The stress of trying to continue eating low carb while cooking food he would like got to me (not to mention the upheaval of trying to live with someone when I'd been used to living on my own for so long). Because of this, I allowed the carbs to start creeping back into my diet. For a few months, everything was okay, my A1C tests remained normal, but then slowly things started falling apart.

My inner nagger kept telling me I had to go back on Atkin's. I just never got my mind wrapped around the idea. Meanwhile, my doctor had to keep prescribing me more medicine and in higher dosages, but my A1C number crept higher and higher. About a year ago, I started taking Januvia, and it seemed to be a life saver. My numbers improved, and my blood sugar stabilized. I even lost a little bit of weight. Alas, it didn't last. I started the roller coaster climb upward again around January of this year. It seemed that the Januvia just wasn't working anymore.

During my last visit in June, my current doctor told me that if I didn't get my blood sugar under control I would have to take insulin. That thought sobered me up. How had I allowed things to get so bad? I had been unhappily shuffling through my life with blinders on as far as diabetes and my weight was concerned. I knew what I had to do and that was to switch to a low carb lifestyle permanently. Luckily for me, my doctor agrees with the low carb lifestyle (though he'd prefer it if I did Southbeach but isn't completely anti-Atkins), so I don't have to worry about convincing him I'm not killing myself with the diet.

It's taken me a couple of months to really psych myself up for the full jump back into Atkins induction. As with all addictions, you have to truly be ready to make the lifestyle changes or you will not be successful. For me, I feel that that time is now, and I will be successful this time.

Better Half supports me, but he will not give up carbs (he doesn't have any health or weight issues so sees no need to), so I still struggle with meal plans that will satsify us both. In general, I try to make a meat and vegetable for us both. I add some type of potato to his plate and a salad or fauxtatoes to mine. Otherwise, he might make himself something like hamburger helper while I eat my own meal. We will see how this strategy works in the long term.

Phew, that was longer than I expected, and I tried to condense it as best I could!

This recipe was born in my household when my Better Half informed me that it was tradition in his household to eat sauerkraut and porkchops for New Year's. Apparently, eating this will ensure good luck for the upcoming year. I have always loved sauerkraut so had no qualms about trying it for myself. The other strange addition to BH's sauerkraut was butter. Butter? It sounded odd, but I'm willing to try most things once (and I do love butter!). I came up with this basic recipe which we now eat quite often as it's too good to reserve for New Year's alone. Plus, the recipe is induction friendly.

Low Carb Slow Cooker Pork Chops & Sauerkraut
This recipe makes 4 servings.

4 boneless pork loin chops (I use the thick chops, about 6 oz each when raw)
1 package or jar of sauerkraut, drained but not rinsed (we use the Hebrew National brand)
5 tablespoons butter
1 tsp caraway seeds (optional)
1/2 cup of broth or water.

Use 1 tbsp of butter to grease the bottom of the slower cooker. Place chops in a single layer in the slow cooker. Evenly spread the sauerkraut in a layer over the pork chops, then sprinkle the caraway seeds over the sauerkraut layer. Place the remaining tablespoons of butter on top of the sauerkraut. Pour the broth (I've used both chicken and beef with good results, but water will be fine if you are out of broth) around the edges of the chops so that there is some cooking liquid in the bottom of the crock. Cook on low for several hours.

Since I generally throw this in the slow cooker in the morning before work, it cooks for about 11 hours in my house., but it should really be ready to eat within 4 to 5 hours. After pulling the chops and sauerkraut out, I usually make a tangy gravy out of the remaining liquid by whisking in a little bit of guar gum until it has thickened (to keep the guar from becoming a goopy lumpy mess, I place it in a salt shaker and sprinkle it over whatever liquid I am thickening while whisking continuously).

If you are not a big fan of the sour flavor of the kraut, you can rinse it first and the flavor will be extremely mild by the time it is done.

Approximate Nutrition Information Per Serving (as calculated by DietPower):
Calories: 553, Fat 38.6 g, Cholesterol 155 mg, Sodium 832 mg, Potassium 844 mg, Carbohydrate 4.69 g, Dietary Fiber 3.19 g, Sugars 1.85 g, Protein 45.9 g

I've been trying to figure out how to begin this blog for a while. Starting with my story seemed too much for an introduction. Explaining why carbs do indeed suck will probably consume more than a single post. I finally decided on sharing the reasons why I'm moving to a low carb lifestyle and why I'm going to blog about it.

Why low carb? First and foremost, I want to be healthy. I want to kick the triglycerides and LDL out and invite the HDL in. I do not want to die by 50 or even 60. I want to be able to jump out of bed in the morning full of energy, looking forward to the day instead of dreading it. I want to enjoy a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater and not feel like I'm going to keel over and die trying to reach my seat. And yes, I want to lose weight. I'd like to look in the mirror and no longer see Tweedledum or Tweedledee staring back at me, and I'd like to buy my clothes in a normal department store.

Why blog about it? First, I have no doubt that it will help keep me honest and on track. I also believe it will be interesting to see my progress from beginning to end (not that there will be an 'end' to this change). I hope that along the way I can inspire and help others who are suffering through some of the same struggles that I am.

I'm now on day 4 of Atkins induction (I didn't quite get the blog ready by day 1!). In the days that follow, I will begin to share recipes, menus, product reviews, pitfalls and anecdotes and anything else that I find pertinent and interesting.

Welcome to my low carb journey. I hope you enjoy travelling this road with me.