Birthday Plans with Psyllium

It’s my birthday today, and I’m determined to not blow myself out of the water completely – so to speak. So far so good, with the support of my husband and my adopted sisters – yes, you know who you are – I haven’t stuffed my face yet with the chocolate cake that I made yesterday for the Cafe, and this despite every opportunity presenting itself. Nor have I eaten a single piece of the amazing rocky road I made – stuffed full of dates, prunes, walnuts, and yes, marshmallows – so, in other words, I believe I’m doing pretty darned good. But it’s only 11:30 in the morning and it’s going to be a long day. In an effort to be mostly good, I’ve just made myself eat psyllium porridge, which tends to keep my hunger and cravings at bay.

2 Tbsp Psyllium Husks
2 Tbsp Thick Cream (make sure it’s not wheat thickened, people!)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract (I always use the organic pure, real stuff, not the fake stuff!)
2 tablets of Stevia (or whatever sweetener you’re comfortable with)
Add hot water to your taste, mix, and endure – I mean, enjoy.

If I’d had a little more headspace and foresight, I’d have made Chocolate Psyllium Puddings instead, but silly me didn’t, so porridge it was. The Chocolate Psyllium Puddings – I think I mentioned them in the previous post – are a tasty treat, completely sugar-free and fill you up while satisfying your brain with the idea that you’ve just had something bad, especially if you add whipped cream to your treat.

2 Tbs Psyllium
1 Tbs Thick Cream
1 Tbs Cocoa Powder (I use Cadbury’s Bourneville)
2 tablets of Stevia
~ 200ml boiling water

That should make around two serves – I split them across two little ramekins so I can fridge them and eat them individually. They do need a little while to set, unless you like them runny, but they are well worth the sit! If you’re throwing a party, they’ll make for tasty desserts that you can enjoy right alongside your guests without feeling guilty!

Psyllium also regularly makes it into my eggs – scrambled, omletted, or otherwise – and after a while you get so used to them you don’t even remember that they’re there. Much awesomeness. Just always remember to drink enough water or you’ll give yourself a stomache-ache from hell, if not worse.

Clear skies,
Vee

A Word About: The Dangers of Boredom and Cookies

So I’ve noticed that I have a tendency to get bored. Not just with what I can eat but just in general: I get bored. The boredom really hits home when there’s nothing going on at the Cafe and I’m surrounded by food that I shouldn’t be eating. No fun really. The troubling thing is, the boredom tries to translate itself into eating. This might also be because I tend to start baking when I get bored and there’s nothing going on. For example, the other day the Cafe was dead and I really do mean ‘dead’; a handful of customers, nothing to do, all the cleaning done, nothing to tidy up…so. bored. So, to alleviate said boredom, I decided to bake cookies. In this case, Chocolate-Marbled Shortbread. I can’t eat it on my current carb count, but they sell quite well and I was out so hey, what the hell.

Hurdle 1: do not eat the cookie dough. Easy enough with a little bit of stubborness. Hurdle 2: do not ‘accidentally’ make a tiny cookie that you can’t sell so you need to eat it. Also done. Hurdle 3: don’t eat the batter while you’re making the cookies! Harder, but done. Into the oven they went. Awesome, twenty whole minutes of not being able to eat a cookie even if I could! I busied myself tidying up the mess I’d made while getting the cookies together; boredom alleviated for ten minutes.

Made some Cocoa-Pysllium Pudding for tomorrow – that’s another five minutes gone, and at least I’ll have a guilt-free treat for tomorrow if I feel the need for something sweet (yay for stevia!). And then the oven timer goes off, and the cookies are ready.

Nothing in the world is harder to resist than freshly baked, straight out of the oven, shortbread chocolate cookies. At least for me. They are my nemesis right alongside cranberry-chocolate scones. That nemesis-status gets amplified tenfold when I’ve got nothing to keep myself occupied: boredom is evil! So they were sitting their cooling on the rack while I wrote a little bit, mulled over the wording of a poem, got bored with that and scrubbed some dishes instead. They’re still cooling in the background, spreading their delicious, decadent perfume through the Cafe – hopefully inducing customers to come in, but no such luck. Just me, the husband, and these damned cookies.

Hurdle 4: do not eat the cookies. 

That’s it. Just don’t. Don’t let the boredom win. Find something else to do, even if you’ve already done it: polish a window, scrub the floor, take out the trash, go for a run, make up a game using chopsticks and a hairdryer (safely!) but whatever you do: do not let the boredom make you eat those cookies!

Clear skies,

Vee

Weigh Day Blues

Yesterday morning after celebrating a family birthday the night before, the scales showed that I’d ‘gained’ half a kilo again. I know that it’s probably just water weight and it’ll disappear quickly enough, but there’s still that psychological blow that you get dealt when you see the scales going in the ‘wrong’ direction. That psychological affect can be just as detrimental to your health as obesity, so today I want to talk about weighing in, guilt, and the stress that can come along with the battle against obesity.

I used to weigh myself every Monday morning after my shower, before breakfast. I felt like this week-by-week weigh in gave me good oversight of how much weight I was losing. It did. In the beginning I was losing between 1.5kg and 2kg a week, perfectly healthy; but then my husband and I moved homes, and the stress of the move, combined with the new routines and cooking patterns put my weight loss in a stall. It was incredibly frustrating, and in a desperate attempt to keep myself motivated and accountable, I started weighing myself every morning.

Let me say right off the bat that weighing yourself every morning isn’t going to give you the best picture of your weight loss journey; we gain and lose entire kilos day in and out while on this LC thing, and trust me when I say it can get incredibly frustrating and depressing to watch yourself go up and down like that despite your best efforts. Now, knowing that – and having told myself that countless times – I’m still stuck in the habit of weighing in every morning. It’s a habit I’m going to have to break, so, I’m going to take a page out of I’m Done Being a Fat Girl and, just like her, make a Weigh-in-Wednesday aside post. I like the way it rolls off your tongue and with any luck it’ll stop me from obsessing over my day-to-day weight and keep me on the straight and narrow during the week!

Which brings me to the guilt and stress I mentioned earlier: no matter how strong we are, no matter how high our self esteem, we all have our pressure points. If we’re trying to get to a target weight, repetitive setbacks and stalling is going to be one of those pressure points. We’re all going to have a month or so where nothing’s changing, hell you might even have a week where you’re putting on  a kilo instead of losing any.

“I know exactly what you mean. It’s frustrating, it’s annoying, and it can be downright depressing! I hate it!”

I know. It’s almost painful, especially when we’ve been so good and then bang! No loss anywhere to be seen, not even in measurements! ‘Frustrating’ doesn’t really cut it. I had a morning last week where I was literally ready to throw the towel in and have that damned piece of toast because nothing had budged for a whole week. Luckily my husband just mentioned off hand that I looked amazing, and that lifted my spirits to the point where I found my willpower again.

The point I’m trying to make is that yes, it can get hard but don’t ever let your new lifestyle get into the way of your happiness. You’re not only taking care of your body here, remember? You’ve got to look after your mental health as well. I’m certainly not saying that you should give up when you have a bad day, instead, I suggest you dig deep and hang in there: you’re a beautiful human being, you’ve put in so much effort already, why waste it? You’ll get there! Find something positive to think about and focus on that, you’re in control here not the diet. We don’t do this to torture ourselves. We’re doing this to become the person we want to be, inside and out. That goes for all genders, male, female, and all other varieties: you’re your own person, don’t let the down and outs of the day depress you, be positive.

“That’s well enough for you to say, Vee, but some of us can’t seem to do that!”

I get it, and I know that I’m stubborn and some of you might find this whole thing a lot harder than I’ve found it. In that case, remember that it’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up if you’re not losing weight as fast as someone else –no one’s the same. Don’t drown yourself in guilt if you just can’t stay away from those pastries: work on it, one day at a time, cut back one muffin at a time, it doesn’t all have to happen at once. Build your diet the way you think you can handle it and if that means having a cheat day a month, that’s fine. Most of all, and this one is vital to remember: don’t ever let someone else make you feel guilty for eating or not eating, they’re not you, you know yourself best.

Clear Skies,

Vee

Vitamins & Supplements

Today, I want to take a look at vitamins and supplements. I take a lot of vitamins and supplements because of my PCOS, the lack of a gallbladder, and now because of LC. So, just off the bat here’s what I’m taking – I’m not sure about the doses:

• Women’s Multivitamin
• Magnesium
• CoQ10
• Vitamin D
• Zinc + Vitamin C (I usually only take this one when I’m feeling extra run down)
• Dairy-Free Probiotic
• Vitamin B complex
• Iron + Potassium (only every other day during my period)
• Fish Oil Capsules (or Krill, depending on what’s on the shelf at the moment)

 “Hang on a sec, Vee,” you must be thinking, “you’re doubling up on a few things there aren’t you?”

Yes, I guess I am. Obviously a multivitamin has most of those things in it already, but along with all the other things you get in it – ginseng, green tea extract, or whatnot – you don’t really get enough of any of the things you need, possibly with the exception of folic acid – which you’d be taking in larger amounts if you were trying to conceive!

Most of these things we should be getting from our food, but sometimes, especially when we’ve cut out certain things to attain a healthier weight, that’s just not possible. Before I go any further I’d like to suggest that you all go and see your GP and ask about getting yourself testing for any vitamin/mineral deficiencies, that way you know what you should be targeting!

I haven’t taken my own advice here yet, but the next time I visit with my GP I will definitely ask her for a test! Things I think I should probably be taking but aren’t sure about:

• Chromium (again, only when I’m feeling like I really need an extra push)
• Calcium

Let’s break it down so it doesn’t get all muddled:

Magnesium

We need magnesium for more than 300 different bodily functions. A lot of us don’t get enough magnesium through our diet, and that’s not our fault, we just don’t eat enough of the right foods to get the requisite amount. On top of that soil – especially in Australia – is low in magnesium so plants that normally have perfectly adequate amounts of magnesium, don’t. So if you’ve ever suffered from cramps – either stomach cramps, leg cramps, or what I used to call ‘growing pains’ even as an adult – you might want to look into magnesium. Ladies, lots of studies show that women with PCOS tend to be low in magnesium so it’s a definite go for us!

Vitamin D

The sun’s gift to all of us! Except that for one reason or another, most of us don’t get enough. By most of us, I’m primarily referring to those of us who work indoors for most of the day or live in places around the world where we don’t get a lot of direct sunlight. There have been direct links shown between depression and lack of Vitamin D! Not to mention the fact that D helps us absorb and regulate a whole heap of other vital minerals such as calcium and iron. So, the easy way to get your dosage, is to spend some time in the sun – I think the approved time is somewhere around half and hour with your legs and skin bared, but be mindful of any UV issues you might have! Too much sun is dangerous! The other way you can do it is to hop over to your local pharmacy and buy Vitamin D3, make sure it’s D3 and not D2. D2 is not the same as D3. When we absorb Vitamin D from the sun it’s D3, not D2; in high concentrations D2 can be toxic.

Vitamin C

Also known as ascorbic acid, we rely on C to boost our immune system, keep our skin healthy, and a whole bunch of bodily functions most of us aren’t even aware of. It also helps us absorb things more easily, like iron and potassium. Most of us make sufficient amounts ourselves, but sometimes, like when we’re sick, not eating well, or stressed, a little boost can help us out of a rut.

Vitamin Bs

Here’s one you really should be taking, especially if you’re on an LC diet and/or have PCOS.  Vitamin Bs help maintain and control blood sugar levels and are vital in ketosis; if you don’t have enough B in you, your body won’t be able to efficiently render energy from non-carb sources.

Iron

This comes in two forms: heme and noneheme, both of which are found in animal and plant matter. Most of us will get our iron in it’s heme form, usually through the vegetables and meat we eat. Iron helps keep the immune system running as well as being a vital component of our circulatory (blood) system. Those who don’t have enough iron in their system become anaemic, and often experience dizziness, nausea and lack of energy. This is especially true for those of us with PCOS! If we aren’t regulating our periods, we might experience heavy ongoing bleeding: that’s blood loss, girls, and iron loss to boot. Try and take a supplement of iron, Vitamin B and magnesium and see if you don’t feel better!

Probiotics

Sometimes you’ve eaten or drunk something that hasn’t done you any good – say you’ve had just a few too many red wines on a cheat day or something – and you feel awful, and I don’t just mean hungover! Your digestive system has a whole heap of helpful bacteria helping you digest whatever you’ve consumed. These little guys are awesome, but sometimes you need to send in some reinforcements. This is especially the case if, like me, you have no gallbladder and really need all the help you can get to digest whatever it is I’ve eaten this time. If you take nothing else I highly recommend taking at least a probiotic a day along with a multivitamin. Not only will your digestive system run better, but you’ll notice that your skin starts looking just that much more awesome. I specifically take a dairy-free one because I find that sometimes the dairy ones just don’t sit right with the phantom gallbladder attacks, but that’s just me.

CoQ10 – Co-Enzyme Q10

You’ve probably never heard of this, right? That’s okay. The thing is, I hadn’t heard of it until I’d started doing some research into PCOS and then into insulin resistance. Turns out, CoQ10 is a vital enzyme needed to ensure that body cells function properly. There are current studies showing hopeful results in using it to help deal with the symptoms of heart conditions, PCOS, cancer, diabetes, and a whole host of other diseases. The older you are, the more you’ll likely need to take a supplement. I would advise that you ask your GP about this before you start taking it, however, seeing as how some people can suffer from side effects like heart palpitations and the like. SO CHECK FIRST.

Omega 3 Fatty Acids  

Found in abundance in fish or krill oils, these little puppies not only help with your digestive system but are also an immune booster and it helps maintain healthy internal organs. The body cannot make this stuff itself so it’s essential that it comes from your diet or a supplement.

Zinc

Like iron, we need zinc to fight off viruses and bacteria. Children and infants need zinc to develop their bone structure and brains so it’s likely to be included in any pre/post/pregnancy multivitamins for those of you who are headed that way. Most of us get our zinc through the foods we eat: red meat, poultry, crustacean seafood, beans, and nuts. Some of us might be low in zinc due to geographical reason – like magnesium, the soils growing your foods might be low in zinc. In addition, you could be low in zinc if you’ve had a loss of gastrointestinal surgery, digestive issues, or Chron’s disease. Just something to keep in mind.

 

I’ll leave the list at that, we’ll probably end up revisiting this since I’m constantly finding out new things!

Keep in mind that we should be getting enough of all of these things through our diet, but most of us won’t be. In addition, those of us on an LC diet will be losing more amounts of minerals and vitamins more rapidly because we’re losing fat and water: two things which vitamins and minerals need to be absorbed correctly into the body! So make an effort to check out what you’re low in and either build those things into your diet or take some appropriate supplements.

Clear Skies,
Vee

Recommended reading:

National Institutes of Health: Office of Dietary Supplements    

Low-Carb ‘Morning Sickness’

A couple of days ago I rolled out of bed, went through my morning routine and headed off to the Cafe. Nothing new, nothing different, except that about half way there a wave of unbelievable nausea hit me. No, I’m not pregnant; though, ironically, diet-change nausea is remarkably similar to morning sickness!

I’m sure some of you have experienced the nausea, the headaches, the dizziness – and not necessarily during the first weeks of carb flu hell. Don’t worry, this is a normal thing, though, if you’re doing things right you shouldn’t be experiencing it more than once in a while. If you’re experiencing constant or regular dizziness, nausea, or other symptoms you find worrying, see your GP. The reason why we experience these symptoms is – sardonic drum-roll, please – because of our blood sugar. So say you’ve had a great LC day, you’ve been exceptionally good and you’ve even managed to squeeze in some exercise time! Awesome. Now, make sure you have a snack before you go to bed, preferably something protein or slow-burning carby – like, say a bit of cheese, or some nuts.

“Why?” you ask.

Remember, you’ve been eating regularly ever two-three hours while you’re awake – theoretically, anyways – to keep your energy levels up and your blood sugar steady; you’re not doing that while you’re asleep. So say you sleep for 8-10 hours, that’s a long time for your newly programmed body to go without fuel, and sure, you’re not using as much fuel as you would when you’re awake, but still… What I’m getting at is that by the time you wake up your body’s out of fuel to burn up so you’re running on left over energy. This means your blood sugar’s going to drop drastically, so until eat you’re going to feel off. Sometimes it can just be that feeling you have normally when you first get out of bed – especially if you’re not a morning person! – but other times, if you’ve had a particularly low carb day the day before, you’ll feel the heavier symptoms of nausea and dizziness etc. This is exactly what women go through with morning sickness as their body’s adjust to their new physical needs. It’s normal, and it’s easy to fix.

“Okay, that’s interesting enough…but how do you fix it?”

Easy: eat something! Just don’t go nuts – er, crazy – eat something simple that your body’s not going to throw right back up. For me that usually means avoiding my usual breakfast foods of eggs and ham and avocado, so I’ll have half a tomato with some salt on it. I’ll wait half an hour after that, then have some more – the other half of the tomato with salt – and if that settles it I’ll try a proper breakfast. Due  to the fact that I no longer have a gallbladder I have to be extra careful, so you might find you can eat heavier foods to fix your ‘morning sickness’, it’s really a matter of trial and error. The things I would definitely avoid however are dairy products, they are just too fatty + carby for an instant fix. It you’re really not getting anywhere with light foods, try getting a whole-grain cracker – like 9 grain Vitawheats, for example – and munching on one of them. Check the box and count the carbs to see how many you can have to stay within your limit, for me that’s usually around 2-3, but I only ever eat them if I’m desperate for something that feels like a cookie.

The other thing I can advise is peppermint or spearmint tea. I use it pretty much as a cure all for headaches and nausea but not everyone likes the taste – especially not without honey or sugar. So if you’re really stuck, say you’ve got a meeting and you really need to be able to concentrate, get some sugar-free spearmint chewing gum and chew on two of those for a while; the menthol and spearmint flavouring should fix your nausea, but keep in mind that it does contain sorbitol – which is a sugar alcohol, something I’ll discuss in greater detail later.

Clear Skies,

Vee

The Problem with Pancakes

This morning it’s dark, rainy, generally miserable and wet: yes, winter’s finally here. For me, this means making sure I don’t dive head first into sweet custards, tarts and cakes. I don’t do well in the cold, and my cravings for comfort foods go through the roof. I particularly crave pancakes, a left over from my dad making pancakes for us when we were little and surrounded by the snows of Europe. Of course, I can’t have my dad’s pancakes right this moment for various reasons; firstly because he’s not even in the same country as me at the moment, and secondly because of the flour.

Sometimes the things I can’t have get depressing and I go through a longwinded conversation with myself about why I’m putting myself through this and whether or not it’s okay to have just one more cheat day this week. 9 times out of 10 my common sense wins out: I want to lose this weight so I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and find alternatives. Luckily for me, there’s a variety of ways to make LC pancakes – none of them come close to the actual thing, in my opinion anyway, but they fulfil my needs adequately enough for it not to be a complete disaster.

My particularly favourite thing to do is to make Peanut-butter  & Cream Cheese Pancakes. Yes, they’re as insane as they sound. The basic recipe goes like this:

1 egg
1-2 tablespoons of cream cheese – I like Philadelphia, but use whatever you feel like.
1 tablespoon of good peanut-butter – and by ‘good’ I mean the lowest carb count you can find.
Throw together in a blender and mix until light and fluffy. Have a hot fryingpan with melted butter ready. Pour in mixture in thin layer(s). Seal both sides and voila! LC pancake.

I usually just have one, mainly because the peanut-butter is a little higher in carbs than I’m allowing at the moment, and because they’re incredibly filling. I also prefer them plain so the PB can shine through, but if you leave it out you can have it with other LC things – you could go bacon, for example, or, if your carb limit will allow it, a tiny bit of thinly sliced apple in the mix as you cook it.

The other comforting thing I can make to fix my pancake craving is a really quick pan-quiche, for lack of a better name. It’s kind of like a fluffy omelette I guess.

2 eggs
Fillings – I usually pick spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes in the right amounts
1 cup Ricotta or 2 tablespoons cream cheese
Put your eggs and cheese into a blender with the spinach. Blend until mostly smooth pour into a hot frying pan and top with your other fillings. Pop a lid on once the base is set and let it go. It should rise up and become firmish. If you’re stuck, put the whole thing into the oven or under the grill.

The great thing about quiches is that you can make them in varying sizes, fill them with just about anything, and they make great party food.

The important thing is to make sure you don’t get bored with what you’re eating, so mix it up, try something new, do something you’ve never thought of trying before! If you get bored, hop online and search the wealth of recipes that are out there – some of which I’ll share on here – but there really is a lot of LC stuff out there and it’s just waiting for you to give it a shot, who knows, you might find something awesome!

Do you have any favourite recipes? Please feel free to share! I’m always looking out for new things!

Clear Skies,
Vee

Have a look at this blog for more inspiration!

The Comfort of Cooking » Creamy Lemon Zucchini Noodles with Tomatoes

I came across this recipe that I’m definitely going to try out. If you’re stuck for LC ideas, Low Carb is Not Boring is a great way to have a look: not only does she post awesome recipes, but she’s got great ideas too. It’s important to look at a wide range of sources! The best way to lose weight is to find what works for you, and that won’t happen if you only look at a small silce of the wealth of information that’s out there!

Clear Skies,
Vee

PattyOpinion

I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but it looks absolutely fresh and delicious!

Creamy Lemon Zucchini Noodles with Tomatoes

YIELD: Makes 2 large servings / 4 side dish servings

INGREDIENTS:

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 oz. reduced-fat (Neufchatel) or regular cream cheese

1 lemon, juiced

Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

4 medium zucchini, ends trimmed and peeled with a julienne peeler into “noodles”

1 heaping cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional

DIRECTIONS:

In a large nonstick skillet set to medium heat, add olive oil. Once hot, add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add cream cheese and lemon juice, stirring until cream cheese has melted into a thick sauce. Season with salt and pepper.

Add zucchini noodles, tossing to coat in sauce, and cook for 4-5 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the zucchini noodles – They…

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Carb Paranoia

One of the things you often find suggested when you start any kind of new diet is to go to your pantry, fridge and other places you keep food and meticulously go through everything and get rid of anything that isn’t in line with what you’re about to do. That’s all well and good if you live alone or if the whole family is joining your mad schemes. It doesn’t work out so well if you try to do that when the rest of the household really would like to have those potato chips in the cupboard in case they feel peckish. This is where you have to take a firm hold of yourself and develop an iron will power. Learn to say ‘no’ to yourself and to the tasty goodies in the fridge/pantry/wherever. Forget any other advice you read or hear: you are your own most powerful weapon in this battle for weight loss.

When I first started this diet I explained it briefly to my husband, who, as the primary cook in the house, was more than happy to oblige my craziness, especially when we both started noticing results. At the beginning, whatever meals we were going to have that day would usually come with a ‘can you have…?’ and either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ from me. We worked around the things I was avoiding, like if we have a roast for dinner we’d make sure there was pumpkin and carrot on the go so I could have those while he had some potatoes, or if we were having pasta we’d just cook enough pasta for him while I just had the sauce. Now because we did the majority of our own cooking, this was fairly easy, when you or your partner takes charge of your own cooking you know exactly what goes into your meals, so you don’t have to worry about hidden carbs and mysterious numbers. This also means that you’re going to have to take charge of your own shopping and buy whole foods, avoid processed, prepackaged stuff at all costs!

‘Awww, but Veeeee,’ you grumble, ‘I work five days a week, when I get home all I want to do is shove something in the oven or microwave and just flop. I don’t have the energy to cook!’

‘I hear ya! I work six days a week and most nights my husband and I are so beat we don’t know what to do with ourselves, but trust me: you’re better off with starting from scratch than relying on convenience foods to get you through. Do you want to lose the weight or don’t you?’

Most convenience, prepacked, processed foods contain all sorts of things, from hidden carbs to artificial flavourings, not to mention the amount of preservatives they put into those things to keep them safe to eat for months. I promise that if you severely limit the amount of processed convenience food you consume, you’ll start feeling better regardless of what other dietary limitations you implement.

To keep myself in the low carb lifestyle, I’ve developed what I jokingly refer to as a ‘carb paranoia’ – I know, it sounds like a psychological disease or something. What I mean with this is that I’m constantly on the lookout for what’s in what I’m eating; I look at labels, I read ingredients, I check to see that I understand most of what’s written on a packet.

‘That sounds…um…slightly crazy.’

‘And I know it does. No one really wants to make eye contact with the lady in the supermarket who not only has purple hair but reads the nutrition label on everything she pulls off the shelf and sometimes checks it against the MyFitnessPal database in her phone! That’s just crazy talk!’

The thing is, if you don’t know what you’re eating, how can you even begin to control your diet? And I’m not even talking about a weight loss diet here, I’m talking about healthy eating, an art we are losing.

Look at the label here. I’ve pulled it off Google images, I’ve got no idea what it’s from but that doesn’t really matter. I’m sure we’ve all seen these things plastered on the side of a carton of milk or a box of cereal, I’m not sure how many of us have paid attention to them before we started a particular diet.

Our primary focus here is the carb number. So it says ‘Total Carbs – 31g, Dietary Fibre -3g, Sugars -5g’ and we need to know what the net carb count is so we can figure out whether we should be having it or not. Well, easy enough: 31g total minus 3g fibre = 28g of Net Carbs. A little too high for my count at this point in my diet, but it might suit someone else’s plan, great. Now, have a closer look at some of the other numbers. The sodium’s a little high at 28% of the recommended daily intake don’t you think? And uhoh, there’s some transfats in there too! Maybe we should keep looking along the shelf for something that’s a little cleaner.

See? Not that hard! Like I said, it’s important to know what you’re putting into your body. Now, let’s have a quick lookee at ingredients:

This is the label off of a can of a popular brand of soup. If we look at the label closely we can see there’s a whole variety of not-so-hidden carbs in there: bread crumbs, all that flour, at least two types of sugar, juice concentrates, milks, pasta, and a few weird science words we don’t even know the meaning of that could contain who knows what.

 Now, I’m not saying look up every ingredient on a can of soup before you eat it, that’s going a little overboard: this lifestyle isn’t suppose to drive you to the brink of suicide, it’s meant to be helping you achieve your goals. What I am saying is BE AWARE OF WHAT YOU’RE EATING (and drinking!), become a conscious consumer: check the labels of what you’re buying, hop online and research the fruit or veggie you’re about to consume – nowadays that takes seconds  so don’t pretend like you’re going to starve if you take that extra minute.  The sooner you take charge of what you’re putting into you, the sooner you can take charge of your weight loss.

 And that’s enough preaching from me for the day.

 Clear skies,

Vee

“Remember to look at yourself and notice your progress, not your failings. Remember to smile!”