Jumping on the Low-Carb Wagon

As I have mentioned previously, I successfully lost 43 pounds last year, with a combination of the Whole Food Farmacy products (which I highly recommend, and now sell) and a healthy vegetarian/pseudo vegetarian diet. Unfortunatley, by going hog-wild during the two month holiday period last winter, I gained eight of those pounds back. I then got back on track in January, and have lost 6-7 more pounds — but then I seemed to hit a plateau.

I am quite pleased with the diet I have been on, eating lots of fruits and veggies, and the occasional lean meat, while supplementing with the Whole Food Farmacy products — and only occasionally splurging on the pasta dish and chocolate dessert. But, as happy as I am with my diet, I am certainly not ready for a plateau. This is a good way of eating for maintenance, but I still have at least 20 pounds to go! So…my hubby and I began a low-carb diet (Atkins) last Monday. (Yes, I know that being in ketosis isn’t healthy — and I don’t plan to stay on this diet longterm. My goal is to lose the last 20 pounds that I need to lose on Atkins, then use my regular diet, described above, to maintain).

So far, I have lost 3 pounds! But boy, is it a struggle! I figured since I’d already cut out most “sweets” I wouldn’t have a difficult time. Wrong! The last two days I have been grumpy and irritable, shaky, tired, lacking in motivation and energy — just awful feeling! Today I woke up with a headache, and the cravings have been *intense*! I want chocolate and I want fruit! Rob (hubby) thinks these symptoms are a result of yeast die-off. How long will they last?!

I did find a source for some yummy recipes, which I will include here, in case any of the rest of you are low-carbing. All of these recipes were found on a message board called Active Low-Carbers Forums.

Garlic Lime Chicken

Quick and easy to make, and only about 2 carbs per serving.

Seasoning:
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1/8 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. dried parsley

Just a quick tip: once I tried it, I knew I’d do it again–a bunch of times. So I mixed about 5 or 6 times the spices in a little spice jar, so I can just shake it on to the chicken when I need to. Besides, if you dredge the chicken in the spices like the recipe suggests, you run out of seasoning.

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. garlic powder
3 tbsp. lime juice

Directions: Mix spices, dredge chicken in mixture to coat. Heat butter and oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute chicken until golden brown (it gets pretty dark brown if you use chicken with skin on), about 6 minutes each side. Sprinkle with remaining garlic powder and lime juice (it’ll get pretty pungent and then thicken up nicely), cook 5 minutes more, stirring frequently to coat evenly with sauce. Serve.

Counts for the recipe as it’s given (boneless, skinless chicken, etc.), divided into 6 servings:
320 cal, 9g fat, 55g protein, 2g carbohydrate, 460mg sodium

Creamed Spinach

This creamed spinach recipe is made with heavy cream, a dash of nutmeg, a little finely grated onion, and butter, topped with sliced hard cooked egg.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups chopped, cooked spinach
2 teaspoons finely minced onion
1 teaspoon salt
dash nutmeg
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon butter
1 hard-cooked egg, sliced

PREPARATION:

Heat spinach in saucepan; add onion, salt, nutmeg, cream, and butter. Mix well and heat through. Spoon onto serving dish and top with hard-cooked egg slices.

Creamed spinach recipe serves 4.

*Note from Janne – we omitted the hard-boiled egg

Bronzed Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt (I probably used about 1/4)
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup melted butter

Mix all spices.
Dip chicken in butter then in mixed spices and fry in butter or olive oil.
Chicken should have bronzed appearance.