What's In the Crockpot (tm)?
Submitted by Dana on Sun, 2008-03-16 12:23Yes, Rival, it really is a Crockpot, not just a slow cooker.
Whey Low
Submitted by Dana on Thu, 2008-03-13 13:10A reader called hummingbird asks:
i've just been researching whey low today and i came across an old article from you from 2005. it was interesting but obviously dated. i was/am very curious to know if you still feel the same way today as you did back then. in 2005 you didn't like whey low. what do you think today?
To refresh my memory I went to the Whey Low website and read the nutrition labels for Whey Low and Whey Low D, the blend they market for diabetics. I have to say, I am still unimpressed.
Insulin's Evil Twin
Submitted by Dana on Mon, 2008-03-10 19:46From the Learn Something New Every Day Files: While writing The Glycemic Load Cookbook, I learned something fascinating from Dr. Rob Thompson: Insulin has an "evil twin," a compound called amylin For every molecule of insulin the beta cells in your pancreas create, they also create a molecule of amylin. Your body can get rid of small quantities of amylin, but large quantities will build up in what Dr. Rob termed "sludge" and cause the beta cells to burn out and die.
Daily Menu
Submitted by Dana on Wed, 2008-03-05 12:51March 4th, 2008
Somehow just didn't eat a lot yesterday. I had:
Breakfast:
3 fried eggs
Lunch:
Leftover roasted chicken leg-and-thigh
Snacks:
Sugar-free Dark Chocolate
Cheesy-Chicken and Broccoli soup
Dinner:
Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Soup
Beverages:
Tea
Sparkling Water
Light Beer
Dry Red Wine
Daily totals: 1386 Calories; 73g Fat; 79g Protein; 30g Carbohydrate; 10g Dietary Fiber
Dana Fixes the Soup
Submitted by Dana on Tue, 2008-03-04 17:30It's truly nasty here in Southern Indiana today, cold and rainy with sleet expected. I had a fresh batch of chicken broth in the house, so soup seemed the perfect thing to make for supper. I heated 2 quarts of chicken broth while I grated a half-pound block of sharp cheddar. Once the broth was hot, I whisked the cheese in a little at a time, and at the time it seemed to melt. I then added a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced, and a 1 pound bag of frozen broccoli "cuts" and let the whole thing simmer.
What's Cooking?
Submitted by Dana on Mon, 2008-03-03 21:01Last week I got a killer deal on chicken -- legs and thighs for 48c/lb. Unsurprisingly, we've been eating a lot of chicken! So I just put some in the oven. Here's what I did:
Preheated my oven to 350. Salted and peppered four chicken leg-and-thigh quarters and laid them, skin side up, in a baking pan. Then I stirred together:
1/4 cup Smucker's low sugar apricot preserves
1 1/2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
And spread this mixture all over the chicken. Now I'm roasting it, probably for about 75 minutes, but I'll go by how it looks.
You Have To Watch This!
Submitted by Dana on Mon, 2008-03-03 12:23I was reading Dr. Michael Eades' blog today, as I do regularly (and so should you -- see "Protein Power" on the blogroll.) Found a link to this great little film clip about Ancel Keys, the father of the lipid/heart hypothesis -- the idea that eating fat and cholesterol causes heart disease. This is a clip from a longer documentary called Fat Head that will, with luck, soon be released.
And The Torture Never Stops
Submitted by Dana on Sun, 2008-03-02 00:37Y'all have been so kind about my rough year-and-a-half, I wanted to tell you -- one of my ferrets, Blaze, died in my arms long about midnight tonight. He was the sweetest, lowest-key, friendliest ferret I've ever known. He and my big dog, Jed, were very good pals. We'll miss him.
Going to bed now. :-(
Splenda Now Available In Generic
Submitted by Dana on Sat, 2008-03-01 11:45You want to know how long I've been low carb? When I started, Splenda (sucralose) hadn't been approved yet in the USA. Cyberpals sent it to me from Canada.
How time does fly -- I was in my local Kroger the other day, and they now have store-brand sucralose. So it looks like the cost of the stuff will be going down. That's good news for us. I haven't tried the Kroger knock-off Splenda yet, since I had a full "baker's bag" of Splenda at home, but when I do I'll report back. I expect it'll be just fine.
Sorry About The Anti-Spam Code!
Submitted by Dana on Fri, 2008-02-29 17:15As you probably know, there was a rash of spam on this blog. The Webmaster, aka That Nice Boy I Married, installed a spam-foiling thingie that made you type in a code to post. But it was only supposed to make you do that when you first signed up, to foil 'bots. Instead, apparently it was making everyone do it every time they posted.
Anyway, he says it's been fixed. So register and post away!
Daily Menu
Submitted by Dana on Thu, 2008-02-28 16:04February 27th, 2008
Pretty dull food day yesterday, mostly leftovers. One thing I find interesting: I ate considerably fewer calories on Wednesday than I did on Tuesday, about 800 calories less. I've seen this pattern several times. What this tells me is that my body is maintaining a long-term balance in food intake; if I eat a little more one day, I automatically eat a little less the next, because the food I eat actually quells my hunger. This happens automatically for me, so long as I keep my carb load low. Pretty cool.
Breakfast:
Column Reprint: St. Patricks Day
Submitted by Dana on Thu, 2008-02-28 14:13??How did an Irish Catholic holy day, dedicated to the 5th century bishop who Christianized the Emerald Isle, become a big American secular celebration? How did we end up with parades, paper shamrocks, dopey hats, and the Chicago River dyed green? More to the point, how did Americans of every ethnicity find themselves feasting mid-March on potatoes and green beer, higher carb than which it is hard to get?
And In The Tabloids...
Submitted by Dana on Wed, 2008-02-27 18:49This week's "Star" has a picture of little Suri Cruise on the cover, with a big splashy headline about "SURI'S STRANGE LIFE!" Withholding all opinions of Tom Cruise and Scientology, the first weird thing they list on the cover is "NO TV! NO HAPPY MEALS!"
Hear that, gang? If you don't buy your toddler fast food junk (and let them watch lots of video programming), you're weird enough that the tabloid press will write about it.
Next thing you know it will be "THE HEARTBREAKING ABUSE! SURI MADE TO EAT HER VEGETABLES!"
Just a "Whither are we drifting?" moment.
Daily Menu
Submitted by Dana on Wed, 2008-02-27 13:13February 26, 2008
Breakfast:
Leftover meat loaf with two fried eggs (YUM!)
Lunch:
Another slice of leftover meat loaf
Leftover green beans
Snacks:
Sugar free dark chocolate
Raw carrot
Cup of leftover Sopa Azteca (Mexican chicken-and-vegetable soup) with shredded Monterey Jack and a little diced avocado
Dinner:
Roasted chicken
Cole Slaw
Beverages:
Tea
Sparkling water
Dry red wine
Daily Totals: 2398 Calories; 145g Fat (61.2% calories from fat); 138g Protein; 69g Carbohydrate; 27g Dietary Fiber, 42 grams usable carb
Fun
Submitted by Dana on Tue, 2008-02-26 12:58About a million years ago, I wrote a Lowcarbezine! article about the concept of "fun." I had been to visit a friend whose husband bought up overruns and closeouts, and sold them to places like Big Lots and the dollar stores. He had offered me a big tub of cookies he'd gotten a good deal on. I had said thanks but no thanks, I didn't eat sugar. His response was, "What, you never have any fun?"