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.