7 Days to Renew your Enthusiam for BSD 11th July 2017

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  • posted by Verano
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    Found it!!!!!

    Salmon recipe
    http://bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2292/hot-salmon-parcel
    I don’t use the prawns but I add a finely sliced red and green pepper and some sliced button mushrooms to the other stuffing ingredients. I skin the salmon. It’s equally good without the extra dressing.
    The cooking times are wrong. I loosely cover the salmon with foil and cook for 50 to 60 mins on fan 180. I think the cooking time in the recipe is per pound or kilo?? You just have to keep an eye on it.

  • posted by sunshine-girl
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    Taking yesterdays weight of 75.5kg I hope to get down to 74kg by next Thursday morning. Loving reading all the great recipes. Today I had scrambled egg with cheese and chilli for breakfast, tuna and cream cheese mash on endive boats with tomatoes and cucumber and tonight I am having the bean and chickpea chilli maybe with cauli rice. That make it a meat free day for me and tonights snack will be tuna (left from lunch so dont need to count the calories) on a couple of endive leaves.

  • posted by Verano
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    I think one of the great things about this thread is that it makes you think. I would never think of putting chilli with scrambled eggs but why not?

    S-g I know you can do it if you put your mind to it. I know you don’t like fish but you decided to go ‘meatless’ for the day. That post made me think that maybe we should all pick a day when we eat ‘differently’ to normal. I would probably choose a veggie day as I don’t really eat much meat but I do eat fish and chicken. I don’t think it does us any harm to shake up our eating now and again.

    Food for thought??

  • posted by Esnecca
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    I love the look of that salmon recipe, Verano. Thanks so much for digging it up. It has motivated me to take the plunge and put the giant salmon in the fridge to thaw. This weekend I will finally face that intimidating hunk of fish and bend it to my will. The OH is keen to grill it because he wants to try for a crispy skin, but I have my doubts that he can keep the charcoal fire even and controlled enough to get the job done. I haven’t articulated my concerns yet. One must approach these things delicately. In my experience, men can be a tad defensive about their ability to cook on open flames. I think it activates some sort of latent caveman setting.

    Cool idea about the doing an Opposite Day. The BSD has broadened my food horizons so much already. I look forward to broadening them even further.

  • posted by Verano
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    Esnecca maybe the answer is to cut him off a portion or two to ‘cremate’ anyway he fancies and you concentrate on the main event!!!

  • posted by SunnyB
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    Here is a tahini sauce, which can be used with poultry or fish:

    Equal quantities for tahini and yogurt or kefir, lemons or lime juice (or a little of each), salt and a couple of cloves of garlic. Whizz this all to a smooth consistency with a blender. Adjust acidity and seasoning as necessary. To this, you can also add ground cumin or coriander, or a chopped herb, if you want to give it another dimension. Works well with roasted or grilled chicken or fish, but can also be used to dress warm cauliflower.

  • posted by sunshine-girl
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    Definitely going for it full pelt, not weighing as I dont want to think I can have a weekend treat if I have lost something so going in on the assumption I have to lose weight (not fanny around). Swimming 30 mins yesterday and already had 35 in the pool this morning, lovely weather is back. Very bearable (yesterday was muggy) around 28 degrees. Funnily enough Daughter is in Alicante on business and posted ‘hot, hot, hot, mum I want to live here’ with a picture of a giant gin and tonic. Posted yesterday ‘mum 39 degrees, I want to come home’. LOL, being hot all the time is not always fun.

    I have been picking strawberries in my garden but, because they have been moved, they are only ripening one or two at a time so I put them in a little dish in the fridge. This morning I had enough to have strawberries and Greek yoghurt with a sprinkle of flaked almonds. Lunch will be pho chicken soup as I have a handful of spinach that needs finishing and tonight we are having harrisa pork steaks – was going to be chicken but I found a bargain in the supermarket – short shelf life 2 steaks for €1.25. That’s logical to me.

    Enjoy your weekend everyone and dont do anything I wouldn’t do and I promise I wont either.

  • posted by SunnyB
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    Last few days I have been feeling bloated and have been much ‘gassier’ than usual – weight has remained pretty much constant. The main change I have made to my diet recently, is making and consuming kefir daily, which I have been doing for just over a week now and I am wondering if this might be the cause. Is this something anyone else has noticed? Have upped my charcoal intake, but have yet to see any real improvement.

  • posted by sunshine-girl
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    Had another good day, like my mum used to say ‘there was a little girl with a little curl….. when she was good she was very, very good but when she was bad…. Now my words, ‘she drank too much’. Swam 55 minutes yesterday but it is cooler and drizzle today – maybe…. Enjoy the weekend everyone.

  • posted by SunnyB
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    Have decide to experiment and suspend kefir production and consumption for a couple of days and see how I feel. Monday I will reintroduce and see what happens. Have to say so far, I am feeling much more comfortable today than I have for the last few – could be coincidental, but we’ll see what happens over the coming days.

    Have made cottage pies for this evening, for my OH I have topped his with bubble and squeak and mine is topped with caulimash mixed with some chopped cold veggies, left over from a previous meal. We are going to have roasted beets and onions to accompany – I shall only be having a very modest spoonful of that. Tomorrow will probably be shawara lamb, but not decided yet.

    Quiet w/e this week, looking after grandson’s bunny while they are away – he’s a house rabbit and is currently in residence in our dining room. Have been out this morning, scouting for tasty treats for him to munch on – good excuse to walk a few hedgerows and get a little exercise (only a little mind!).

    Hope everyone is having a pleasant w/e.

  • posted by sunshine-girl
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    Hi everyone, SunnyB I feel a bit like your grandson’s bunny, hopping all around the place. Hope some of my enthusiasm rubs off on some of you. I have been so strict with my food and no alcohol just like I was at the start a year ago. Oh if I could be like this all the time because I feel sooooo good, not just physically but mentally. Sausage, beans, mushrooms and egg for brunch (11 am) then chicken dinner tonight. Have a great rest of your weekend everyone.

  • posted by sunshine-girl
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    Am I the only one getting enthusiastic on here. Had a fantastic weekend and looking forward to good results for Thursday. Keep on keeping on…

  • posted by Verano
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    No I’m here but with not very much enthusiasm. At the moment I feel like I’m sitting in a dentist’s waiting room! But well done you for keeping on keeping on….

    Today I found a lovely recipe for a cold cucumber soup. I though I would roughly work out the carbs and calories. Sounded really healthy with cucumber, Greek yogurt and avocado. That worked out at 15g carbs and 200 calories a portion and that was without the 25ml of olive oil per portion! Amazing how deceptive some recipes can be.

  • posted by SunnyB
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    Yep. I’m with you Verano. Think I need to go over this thread and reread some of the excellent ideas and get myself motivated again. I have had yet another nothing week, where I haven’t been focused enough and haven’t really achieved anything positive with the pounds. Have been coasting and sticking to the BSD principles, rather than really doing the BSD.

    It is amazing where those carbs hide isn’t it? I was looking at what appeared to be a healthy recipe the other day and was stunned by the carb content. Even recipes that look like they should be healthy can be amazingly high. I guess the trick is to try to adapt them to make them BSD friendly, if we can.

    Okay, well I’m going to try to do a reset tomorrow and see if I can’t A) get some real enthusiasm going, B) get back to basics and C) get the scales moving in the right again. Wish me luck.

  • posted by Esnecca
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    I’m here with my usual foodie enthusiasm, more than enough to spread around to y’all. 🙂

    So this weekend’s salmon adventure had an excellent outcome. Rain made the charcoal grill option impossible, much to my relief and OH’s chagrin. He was so keen on the crispy skin that I decided to find a way to do it indoors. The solution, as it so often is, was lovely fat.

    I cut the giant salmon into 4 oz portions, salted and peppered them, then put 3 of them on a baking sheet skin side up. I coated the skin with a tablespoon of butter and popped them in the fridge for half an hour to harden the butter a little. I put them under the broiler (I believe that’s what you call a grill in the UK) about 5 inches from the heat for about 8 minutes.

    While the salmon was cooking, I melted 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and whisked in a grating of lemon zest, the juice of half a lemon (about a tablespoon), a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and about a teaspoon of crumbled dried tarragon. When it was all combined, I added a pinch of salt to taste.

    I divided the sauce into three parts, put one part on my plate and two on the OH’s. When the salmon was done — cooked through and the skin crispy and curled up at the edges — I put it skin side up on top of the bed of sauce. The boy got two filets, I took one. For sides I did a sautee of spinach with half a clove fresh garlic and a salad of arugula, homegrown tomatoes a friend gave me and a simple mustard vinaigrette (6 ml olive oil, 3 ml red wine vinegar, 2 tsp Dijon mustard, tiny splash of chicken broth, s&p).

    It was successful beyond my wildest dreams. The salmon skin was like a chip, I swear to you. It was like the fish version of a pork rind. I could gladly have eaten it alone and in fact might very well experiment with doing just that. The total for my portion — one 4 oz filet, a third of the sauce, 3 oz spinach, 2 oz arugula, 20 grams tomato — was 366 calories, 2 grams carbs (1 sugar), 25 grams fat and 22 protein.

  • posted by Californiagirl
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    Yum!! That truly sounds fantastic! I am sorry I can’t post something tasty but I was making up for yesterday (just too much food albeit healthy food) by fasting today and for the very first time, I made 24 hours of fasting — best I ever did before was 18 hours — so either I am getting better at it or yesterday I ate even more food than I thought!
    I’m going to get salmon on the way home tomorrow and try your recipe Esnecca!

  • posted by Esnecca
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    Congratulations on your first 24-hour fast, Californiagirl. How do you feel? I find extended fasts surprisingly enjoyable. It’s probably more psychological than physiological, but I always feel lighter on my feet when I’m on a fast.

    When you get the salmon filets, buy center cuts about an inch thick. The skinny ends of my whole salmon weren’t as close to the element so the skin didn’t blister and brown as quickly as the center did. Enjoy!

  • posted by Verano
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    Thank you Esnecca for just being there still trying to inject some enthusiasm into all of us.

    SunnyB I’m sorry to hear that you have also lost your focus as well.

    Well I think I may have found mine again this morning in a BS reading of 8.2 ! I am absolutely shocked. I don’t test everyday in fact my testing is really random. I looked back and have had some high morning readings but never that high. Now is the time to stop this nonsense and take myself in hand. It may be too late for my HbA1c test next week and my metformin may have to be increased but I will get myself of it one way or the other.

    Before my BS test this morning I had decided to sort out my diet and try to have more protein for breakfast and just generally change my diet around hoping to renew my enthusiasm. Now I know exactly what I have to do and re-reading this thread and the 101 ways with cauliflower thread are first on my list. So that’s my day sorted reading and writing down the recipes!
    Hope everyone else is still ‘enthused’!

  • posted by SunnyB
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    I’m with you Verano, I am in review mode too and have decided it’s time for a complete refocus, so this is my plan:

    1) Get back to basics and return to weighing, measuring and recorded EVERYTHING I consume at home and be more stringent when eating out. Firmly back to the 800/20g regime.
    2) Continue to overnight fast by at least 16hrs and wherever possible longer.
    3) Set myself a firm mini-goal with a target weight and a time frame. (Think being woolly about it, has been one of the reasons I haven’t pushed hard enough to succeed.)
    4) To move around more and do some sort of exercise EVERYDAY, no matter how little.

    I also intend to reread this thread and maybe the 101 cauliflower one too. Shaking up the menu can only be a good thing.

    Please wish me luck! I have 7wks to our next big holiday (with a three night camping trip next week and a birthday party in early Sept), so I have to really take control and put the effort in starting NOW.

  • posted by bigeater
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    Hi Sunny B,
    I have gone strict too. Good luck with it. We can compare notes soon

  • posted by Verano
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    Hi SunnyB and bigeater and everyone else too. Whilst we all seem to be in a positive mood I’m going to start another 7 day thread to review, renew and regroup if you fancy coming along for the rude.

  • posted by Esnecca
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    Good idea, Verano. That BS figure must have been a terrible shock. I’m hoping it’s a fluke and your HbA1C results will be an improvement, however small, over last time. See you on the new thread.

  • posted by Verano
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    Ok so have done another BS test and down to a more resoectable 5.8 so much happier now.

    Sorry about the mistake above it should have been ‘ride’ not ‘rude’ !!!! See you over there.

  • posted by Verano
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    I just wanted to revive this thread because it has some really good foodie ideas in it and at the time of writing we were all fired up with enthusiasm for BSD. Maybe we can revive some enthusiasm again!

    Anyway, I wanted to share my dinner from last night. I love Thai chicken curry and made one on Tuesday. I left it to ‘mature’ in the fridge overnight and had it for dinner last night. My dilemma …. I hate cauliflower rice so what to eat with the curry? I didn’t have any pea aubergines to put in the curry when I made it so I added some garden peas. I was going to finely slice some white cabbage and steam it to serve with the curry but I came across some forgotten asparagus in the fridge. I sliced it into 1″ slices, steamed it lightly and served the curry on top …… it was divine!! The asparagus had a pleasant crunch and it just mixed so well with the peas and the chicken and the sauce. Definitely one I will make again.

    I am now off to make Esnecca’s shakshuka for breakfast using frozen spinach as a base. Yummy! Have a good day!

  • posted by Esnecca
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    What a great improvised solution, Verano. I would have been stuck thinking of something that would absorb the yummy curry flavors and so would have rejected the asparagus as being too crunchy/fibrous for the task. But you went for it and it turned out to be a texture and flavor win. Well done!

    I continue to be on a crazed fermentation kick. I have now added beet kvass (a fermented beverage that basically tastes like salted beet juice), ginger carrot kraut and a horseradish leek kraut that is so incredibly delicious it puts me in a mind-altered state. I barely ever eat beets, carrots or leeks anymore because of their high sugar content, so getting to enjoy their flavors thanks to the sugar-eating powers of lacto-bacilli has been bliss. I made a salad with arugula, pea shoots, sunflower sprouts, broccoli sprouts, dressed in a mixture of brown miso, fermented pickle juice, kimchi juice, beet kvass, fish sauce and a couple of ml of toasted sesame oil. That I topped with four krauts: garlic and green cabbage, red cabbage, ginger carrot, horseradish leek. It was an absolute riot of color. One of the prettiest things I’ve ever made and I didn’t have to do a thing to make it that way other than spoon stuff on top of other stuff. The flavor was even more riotous than the look.

  • posted by Californiagirl
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    Esnecca, I want to come to your house for lunch — your cuisine is so adventurous — it sounds incredible!

  • posted by alliecat
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    Ten thumbs up in agreement, Californiagirl, re Esnecca’s culinary
    talents. They’re inspired, and I have an ongoing fantasy that she
    might do a Mosley sponsored you tube series, or at least a BSD
    cookbook complete with color plates. I’ll continue to dream…
    Think about it, Esnecca. I’ll be the first in line for that purchase!

  • posted by Esnecca
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    Wow, thank you, ladies. I have actually thought about compiling a BSD/very low carb recipe book. Two, actually, or at least one book in two parts, because I started out using a fair amount of bread substitutes and modified versions of old carby favorites before widening my scope to try things I avoided in my pre-BSD palate days. I’m envisioning a sort of evolution of low carbetarian from entry level to advanced, that way people who don’t love to cook or don’t have the time for it and don’t have access to or can’t afford arcane items can dip a toe in just like I did with commercially available low carb products.

    I checked my log for my first day on the BSD, and it was chicken salad in a low carb flax pita. Very, very easy to make and something most people would be comfortable with, I suspect. It was just good ol’ Hellman’s mayo too. I didn’t start making my tofu mayo until months had passed. That’s been the general trajectory all along. The longer I was on the BSD, the more adventurous and fearless my cooking became. It’s the opposite of what most people think of as dieting. The restrictions are in the calories and carb counts, not in the food itself. The food is a wonderland playground.

  • posted by Joes Nonna
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    Esnecca, you could do an ebook….I would buy it. I am not adventurous unless I have a recipe. The only problem would be what you can buy in the states and what we have available in the UK. Otherwise, it is a great idea and may finance your old age!

    Nonna Mary
    xxx

  • posted by alliecat
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    Californiagirl, I forgot to mention the devastating fires going on
    in Napa Sonoma. I hope you are safe from that disaster. It’s hard
    to quite believe that all of them have occurred spontaneously.
    It’s been a real year for natural disasters here, hasn’t it? I hear
    that soot and ash is falling as far south as S.F! Take care,

    Allie

  • posted by Verano
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    Esnecca your ingenuity with food never fails to amaze me! I must admit I have only tried ‘live’ sauerkraut once and it just wasn’t to my taste but I’m sure your homemade kimchi and sauerkraut are wonderful. I have found some pickled hot peppers and some sliced jalepeños with just 14 calories and 2g carbs per 100g drained weight. So I’m going to have fun this weekend with some Greek salads!

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