Thank you for your concern articfox. There has been formally run research into coconut feed with animals and the benefits with regard to gut ph. There has also been formal research into the changes of the gut bacteria following sugar in the diet for animals. As I am not a vet it wasn’t possible for me to test the blood sugar level changes which were occurring when coconut was added to diet of horses struggling with blood sugar levels, I could see the changes which occurred in the rate of growth of their hooves and the strength of the connection. Obviously its a bit difficult to work out from the amount which you feed a horse or a sheep, how much coconut a human would benefit from. to have the same effect, and what format, but I will be searching for formal research rather than depending on the word of people selling coconut products.

Esnecca, I’m sure you’re right. It is frustrating, which comes across in your eloquent comment. This confusing pro-carb propaganda has kept me in a state of uncertainty, frightened to take the low-carb leap in case I would be doing myself damage. When will it stop?

Porridge is fashionable amongst the young apparently, making lots of money for coffee shops etc. So that’s ok then.🙄

Hi Julia, I hear you too about the tedium and mental energy of entering food into a tracker. I am really not the personality that enjoys taking time out of my day to track and record everything. I use myfooddiary.com. It is a paid service (I use it because my sister does as well and we can trade recipes and their nutritional profiles back and forth and also because I’ve been using it from before MFP became a really functional and useful), but it has some features that I like. One is the ‘fridge’ function where you store all the foods you eat most frequently. There is a recipe function where you can enter in typical meals as well as recipes, and the best feature from my perspective is the ‘copy date’ function. If you have the same things to eat 2 days in a row, on the 2nd day you can just copy the day before. You can also copy individual meals. I for instance have the same breakfast most days (chia flax museli with berries and a bit of greek yogurt) so I never have to enter it in, I just copy it from the last day I had it. I can’t speak to whether or not MFP or FS have these features because I don’t use them, but many others on here use them and could likely tell you.

Judy, my dear, we do Know You! If you hitch your wagon to our star,
it’s only a matter of time before you no longer think of this marvelous
forum as one of virtual friendship, but will feel like you’ve known us
all for a lifetime 🙂 What we may not have been able to do individually,
we have accomplished together, and you certainly have friends here
who are “all in” to help you achieve your goals. We have a lot of fun
in the process, no matter where we are in this journey called “life”!
Full speed ahead…

xoxo
Allie

Thanks again to you, too Esnecca! It’s funny how being given validity of my trauma from people who don’t really “know” me is so powerful and helpful! I have only a few cousins as “family” and they live several hours away. I have some great friends who were with me through the daily traumas (and couldn’t believe I stayed with him through it all), so they rarely are supportive of what I went through in general. I feel like I was intertwined and connected to my late husband and the trauma – like it was who I was. Now, as I try to pry myself alway from that identity it helps to hear a kind word, even if it’s virtual..

Thanks to everyone and ((hugs))!

Judy

Hi Dipgal,

Good luck with the BSD! I’m not in the U.S. but I am in this thing with you and wishing you well. It seems as though planning in advance what you’ll eat is a big help for a lot of people – it’s something I’ve not done before, but I’m starting to get the hang of it.

Thank you for the kind words and pep-talk California Girl! Yes, I read Gary Taubes’ book about 5 years ago.. Hopefully, it’s on my kindle so that I can read it again.. Keto/very low carb makes me a bit nervous because I’ve read that it messes with our metabolism if done for a long time… I am going to stay LC (<50), but not VLC – with the hopes the addition of fasting will keep my metabolism working.

Congrats on your weight loss and happiness! You’re a role model indeed!

Judy

Dipgal, I think you’re going to find the BSD dovetails perfectly with your goal of renewal and rebuilding of your physical and emotional well-being. You have been through the kind of wringer that saps the will and whittles away at your self-esteem until it feels that there is no way forward, only a yawning chasm in front of you as far as the eye can see. I’m so glad you posted here and told us a bit about yourself. It’s an important step in breaking with such a long period of trauma and ugliness so that you can focus on you and your goals.

I hope as you go through the process you’ll find things easier than you expected them to be, and maybe even inspire a revival of your culinary gifts, be it with dips or anything else. Then you can post your new recipes in the Low Carb Cooking thread so we can all steal from you shamelessly. 😀

Hi Allie! Happy New Year!! Christmas family ski trip was a success and very good snow in Montana — only downside was we were expecting the boyfriend to ask the daughter to marry and that did not happen, which left daughter very upset.
These kinds of things make me tired!!
I’m planting some new fruit trees today to lift my spirits — a new cultivar called a Plucherry which is a Zeiger development of a plum/cherry cross. Will be fun to try!

I’ve been posting over the last couple of days in the BSD800 area.. I think this is where I should be instead. At this point, I don’t see myself being able to do 800c every single day. I am trying for 3 – 4 times a week, and LC Med all days. I’m on my third day.. yesterday was a low calorie day – and it was just fine. Maybe in future weeks I can give extended 800c days a go once I feel a bit better with hunger levels.

I tried the original 5:2 when it was new a few years ago. The 500c days made me miserable. I couldn’t get myself to “enjoy” the fasting days like others said they could. Like the MANY other diets I’ve tried, I considered myself a failure. The increase to 800 calories makes it so much more doable for someone like me.. and shouldn’t be a problem as far as rate of weight loss goes – at least for me, because I have LOTS to lose!

Now – all the options with combining the programs and mixing it up, so as not to feel totally deprived, is a brilliant idea! I feel there’s hope! And, I do desperately need to drop a significant amount of weight. I don’t really have blood sugar issues YET, but I certainly have all the other nasties that come with being 100+ overweight at the age of 61.

I would be rather wary of the ‘research’ on health benefits of coconut and really check into who funded the study. My understanding is that most of it has been funded by the coconut industry as a marketing ploy. I worked for a while with a group that was trying to increase consumption of domestically grown agricultural products, and coconut was held up as an example of “this is how we can get people to buy more of our products through clever marketing without having to do any credible research to back up our claims”. Not saying it doesn’t have health benefits, but just that there likely hasn’t been much credible research done on it yet and we need to keep a critical mind.

Evening All. Well done Chewsnoo, I have clocked in at a 7lbs weight loss for week one as well. Managed a 2.6 mile walk today in the bitter wind. I too need to up my step count too, going to fall short of 10k today by 900.
You will be well toned Squidge and the weight will come off.
I hope to settle back into my walking routine when it dries up a bit. I am walking every day but it’s so wet and muddy we are just doing short walks where we know it’s dry.
Here’s to week 2.

Hi, Julia! (Californiagirl) I knew you’d be along eventually 🙂 How was the
family ski trip?

Welcome to the forums Judy, aka Dipgal. I’m the other US based BSD’r — I’m in California (thus the call-sign!) and I’m also 61. I’m in maintenance since summer of 2016 — I lost just under 50 pounds.
I struggled and struggled with weight gain through my fifties — no matter what I did I just kept gaining weight, but I have struggled since I was a child — I used hours of exercise (luckily I’m sporty) to “sort of” keep it at bay but when I hit menopause, even exercise couldn’t control the weight gain.
The BSD has changed my life and my entire outlook and relationship to food. Now food is my friend and my body is my friend — I don’t hate myself any more. It has been a revelation for me. It has changed my life.
I’m going to strongly suggest you get a copy of a book called “Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It” by U.S. author Gary Taubes. I think of it as my perfect companion book to the original BSD book and I STILL read both of them regularly to just keep my mind-set fresh.
The Taubes book will explain the carbohydrate/insulin connection which made all the difference for me (and many others here). Once I started to understand how insulin keeps us fat, I was able to embrace the low carbohydrate life style that finally got this whole thing under control.
You’ve had a rough year — I am so sorry for your loss — I am sure it will take a bit of time to heal — don’t stress if it takes some time to get this BSD-thing going — I had to LEARN how to do it (apparently I was a slow learner LOL) — just keep at it and it will get easier and easier until it becomes second nature.
Best wishes for your journey in 2018.

My maiden voyage posting a recipe on this wonderful thread! This fish
stew is very versatile, substitute the species of fish/shellfish of your
choice. It also successfully can be halved. It’s been in my repertoire
since the ’90’s, so I can’t recall where it originally came from, but I’m
sure I’ve adapted it to our tastes anyway! Enjoy!

SICILIAN FISH STEW

Olive oil, for sauteing
1 sm onion, chopped
1 leek, chopped
2 celery ribs, finely diced
2 carrots, finely diced
2 lge garlic cloves, minced
4 minced rinsed anchovies
Qt. frozen fish broth OR
2 bottles clam juice + 2 c. low sodium organic chicken broth
1 orange, juiced
strips orange zest, cut with wide blade peeler
1 1/2 c dry white wine
35 oz san marzano tomatoes with juice, pureed
1+ tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp saffron threads, steeped in broth
1 1/2 lbs firm fleshed fish, cut in 1 1/2″ cubes, i.e., tuna, sea bass,
cod, halibut, swordfish
1/2 lb. shrimp or sea scallops
3tbs chopped parsley
juice, 1/2 lemon

Preparation:

Saute onion, leek, carrot, celery and anchovies in olive oil til soft.
Add garlic and saute til fragrant.

Add broth (or clam juice + chicken broth), pureed tomatoes, wine,
orange juice, orange peel, thyme, saffron, red pepper flakes, salt
and pepper to taste (remember there are anchovies!). Simmer @
30 min. to develop flavor and til slightly thickened.

Poach fish in liquid 5-7 min, adding shellfish 1/2 way thru. Remove
from heat and add parsley and lemon juice. Serve!

Hmmmm, I’m with Esnecca — and I’m going to also ask to see the research AND find out who did the research and who paid for the research and how long it lasted and who they used for their study and how much porridge was consumed.
Did they use obese subjects with high background insulin levels?
Did they use Type 2 diabetics?
And how long did the study go for? Because you cannot tell if it “helps prevent diabetes” unless you follow people for years and years.
I actually doubt they can make such sweeping claims for oatmeal unless we want to limit it to a general statement such as “porridge is a better breakfast for you than pop tarts”.

Losing 9lb over Christmas is brilliant! Well done.

Sorry, I can’t help with the sugar levels – I’m lucky enough not to be diabetic.

I’ve got some exercise DVDs with half an hour of aerobis and half an hour of toning/strength exercises. I’m planning to do those around three times a week (or roughly equivalent other exercise) and one really long walk a week, and reach 10,000 steps every day (which will include the steps taken when doing the DVDs). So far I’ve managed it every week this year 😉

We are to make of it that people don’t know what they’re talking about, or, if I’m in an especially generous mood, that they don’t seem willing to acknowledge that one size most definitely will not fit all. This kind of advice from medical professionals is the reason I gained 20 pounds a year steadily for two decades until I was morbidly obese and sick as a dog despite eating homemade, organic, vegetables, fruits, lean meats, fish and whole grains. The much-vaunted health wonders of oatmeal, lentils, complex carbs in general do not apply to me. They screw my insulin over just as decidedly as the simple carbs. Judging how well other BSDers have responded to strict daily carb limits, I know I am not alone.

Great to see some good results being posted. I’m determined not to ‘count my chickens’ and post any results before the weekly weigh-in, but so far, things seem to be going okay and in the right direction. Unless I majorly screw up between now and Tuesday morning, I should be able to report a loss though.

WilLuck – don’t panic about being over on cals, as long as it doesn’t become a habit. We’re in this for the long haul, so there will be days when you go over – especially in the early days – and these will be balanced by the days when you are under. It may not seem likely that you will ever have any of those, but they are likely to happen as you progress. I wonder if you perhaps need to include a bit more fat in your meals, so that you feel full quicker and stay feeling that way longer. I don’t know whethr you have previously been a low fat eater, but if so, it can be really hard to get into the new mindset that fat is no longer the enemy and actually, can really help in making you feel sated when eating this way. Obviously, you need to be cautious as fats are high in cals, but they are low to zero on carbs, so in that respect can be a bonus.

LTC – great results so far, keep on keeping on!

Will look forward to reading everyone’s weekly weigh-in results – sure they will be good ones.

Yep, now one of the cheerleaders preaching to the choir. I have seen the promised land and will not stop until I get there. Hallelujah

CURRIED CABBAGE “NOODLES” WITH SAUTÉED BEEF AND PEPPERS

This looks wonderful…..will be making this week for sure.

https://www.ricardocuisine.com/en/recipes/7022-curried-cabbage-noodles-with-sauteed-beef

INGREDIENTS

Cabbage Noodles
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
• 8 cups (680 g) green cabbage thinly sliced into long strips
• 2 tsp curry powder

Beef
• 2 tsp cornstarch…skip or use 1/2 tsp gluccommanen
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) water
• 2 tbsp (30 ml) low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tbsp (30 ml) honey…skip or sub 1/2 tsp of sugar substitute such as Truvia, Monkfruit powder, or a few drops of
liquid stevia
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 lb (450 g) ground beef
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
• 2 bell peppers of various colours, seeded and diced
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill

PREPARATION

Cabbage Noodles

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, sauce the garlic in the oi until fragrantl. Add the cabbage and curry powder. Cook for 8 minutes, stirring constantly, or until the cabbage is al dente. Turn off heat and cover to keep warm.

Beef

In a bowl, whisk together the glucomannan and water. Stir in the soy sauce, honey substitute and curry powder.

In another large skillet over medium-high heat, brown the meat and onion in the oil. Add the bell peppers and continue cooking until tender. Add the soy sauce mixture and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

Serve the cabbage noodles topped with the beef and garnish with the dill.

Lots of great positives being posted today, full of joy and energy – it does one good just reading them!

My positives are very modest:
1) Had a lovely chat with my son on the phone last night.
2) Also has a long call with an old friend and got some dates in the diary to catch up in person in Feb and March.
3) The sun is shining, which always lifts my mood.
4) Busy morning around the house, now it’s time to kick back and relax.

Oh! And if it’s not too greedy:
5) OH has set up the rowing machine in the spare bedroom again, so I can row whilst watching my soaps!

Luvtcook – you KNOW you put a face splitting smile on MY face with your
<20 gm carb advice! Yes, yes, yes! It’s all smooth sailing after accepting
that some of us have to do this. Success? Guaranteed! I’m sure that
you know grehlin is the hunger hormone, but for newcomer’s, here is a
brief article that will increase your knowledge:

https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/your-hunger-hormones#1

luvtcook’s excellent thread “Good Eats” is full of inspired recipes. Have
a look!

Big cheers from me, Luv. You’ve got this! 🙂

Allie

Hi smith. Firstly you dont say what your fasting BG was before or when you were diagnosed. I assume you mean first thing in the morning before food. Has it gone down at all. Are you following the full 800 Fast with no bad carbs. Assuming you are doing everything right you might want to consider the Dawn Phenomenon which means that, because you are ‘fasting’ or not eating very much your body thinks it is being starved and during the sleeping hours the liver pumps some glucose into your blood stream so you dont wake up dead (my little joke). Anyway, to combat this you can tell your body you are not starving by having a small BDS friendly snack before you go to be – around 10pm is good. This can be a piece of cheese, a slice of chicken or ham or a small natural yoghurt with a few berries.

Let us know what your level were and are and how you get on. How did your doctor respond to your request. Good luck.

Well done on the 44.5lbs luvtocook, I had another good day with no weekend disasters. My weight is the same as yesterday but there always comes a point when the scales dont move, will do tomorrow as my calories for the day are coming in at 750 including all snacks. BG is still a bit high at 6.0 but, hey ho that is still within normal but a little too high for me as I have had to increases my insulin. Slowly, slowly over the holiday period I have gone from 24 units to 29 last night. I want that back down to 24 by the end of the 8 weeks.

I know I can do this as I love the way I am feeling about myself and keep thinking about that evening dress for our 25th anniversary the first full night on the cruise.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone.

The Diet Doctor is very compatible with BSD as it advocated intermittant fasting however ever short of long you need to do it to meet your goals. They even advocate total fasts (water or bone broth) for those with huge amounts of weight to lose or those “stuck” but recommend it be done under MD supervision if currently on medication. Dr. Jason Fung from Diet Doctor has a lot of terrific videos of conference lectures on the web that give you a lot of insight as to how control of insulin levels are the objective. And how fasts or near fasts help correct years of damage and insulin resistance.

Julia I sympathize with you about the tedium of using the web tools to count calories and carbs. But your instincts are on point to use them to find totals for frequently eated foods/ dishes/meals…..and then repeat those. Just keep adding to your repertoire and you will find that you have to look up less and less. Just keep reading labels and looking up new and unfamiliar things because something will always surprise you (for good and for bad).

If you use some of the low carb websites for meals, most have the calories and carbs already worked out for you…and they are free and offer almost endless variety when you get bored with too many repeats.

Good luck.

Morning all. To those frustrated by fickle scales….hang in there. Last week I lost 2 lbs…this week 4.5 EATING NEARLY THE SAME THING with the same calories and same carbs.

Its nuts how the pounds drop off…nothing logical or mathmatical about it. Just be patient and have confidence that if you are eating right and keeping carb low (under 50 carbs may do it for those new to low carb…under 20 may be needed for those that have yo yo dieted a lot in the past with damaged metabolisms like me). I have even had overdue weight loss ( or gains from overeating) show up 2 wks after I expected it.

Congratulations to all of you rebooting and those just starting for committing to the diet. It does work. I am now down 44.5 lbs overall and can hardly believe it after years and years of stalled and plateaued diets.

Today the Food Programme on Radio 4 was all about the wonders of porridge & its health benefits. Also featured a report on scientific research proving that oats and other whole grains prevent type 2 diabetes! What are we to make of this?

Thanks for your advice. I have not eaten rice or pasta for a while & that’s fine. I’ve fallen in love with cauliflower in a big way, so am happy to sub that for rice, mashed potato etc. Bread is something I miss a lot, because it’s convenient and a cheese sandwich has always been a favourite snack. I already use non-dairy milk as I loathe the real stuff and don’t tolerate it. I don’t think I drink enough though – often don’t realise I’m thirsty until I’m really dehydrated. Trying to drink more water as my mouth is very dry.

As far as calculating and recording, I have tried MFP and FS but find it very laborious. I won’t discount them though. I did go through my carb and calorie calculator book yesterday, which was very enlightening. At the moment I’m considering formulating a written list of suitable foods that I already eat frequently with their carb values and keeping a paper food diary. That way I’m hoping to get to know what’s what. I think I will also monitor my fasting blood glucose so I can see the trend. I was advised not to test as I’m not on medication for diabetes, but I was frustrated by working blind. I want to achieve a sense of control over my diet and blood sugar, rather than feeeling food controls me. I do sgruggle with details though, as I get overwhelmed & easily defeated. I’m not a systems person at all.

I have been looking at the Diet Doctor website. It’s very interesting & seems to be a useful resource. Does it fit in with the BSD ok? Is it more extreme? I find the variety of info confusing. I suppose the basics are the same in all the low carb advice and as long as I’m not eating the obvious stuff that will be a huge improvement. I need to get a repertoire of suitable meals & use my slow cooker, as suggested.

Michele62 and Traveling Rose: I was in the same spot as you….post menopausal and losing weight oh so very very slowly (.5 lb a week with long plateaus). Very disheartening.

What made all the difference in the world for me was doing the 800 cal WITH staying under 20 carbs a day. Keeping under 20 takes a bit of planning and cheching labels or nutrition count websites….but it is all worth it. I have lost 31 lb since mid Oct (with 2 weeks off for Xmas…maintained, no gain).

And oddly, you will be less hungry at 20 gm carb than at 50 gm carb. You will have less insulin response and less hunger hormone released.

This is the most restrictive diet I have ever been on….and yet the easiest. Yes I get a urge to eat now and then but it is more of a head thing than a hunger thing and a cup of black coffee or even just hot water quells it.

So good luck to you. I urge you to give the under 20gm net carbs model with the BSD a try for just 2 weeks and see if it makes a difference. It is changing my world.

Inka: I agree with you. I started low carb eating feeling like I was just handed a death sentance. Was determined to lose the weight and had resigned myself to a life of grilled meat , bacon and eggs, and veg.

Then lo and behold…..I found all these wonderful low carb websites that so many creative people have invested so much time into finding ways to duplicate just about anything you want to eat. The only one that still has not gotten a fully satisfacory replacement is pasta. And sometimes I just throw in a little high fiber/ reduced carb real pasta (about 1 ounce per person) into a bowl with pasta alternatives and that way I get some pasta chew in with the benefits of lower carb alternatives (zoodles etc).

Glad you are going to try to flax seed. Just be sure to get the golden….the brown is too strong tasting.

In addition to Buttoni, check out these 3 web sites….between the 4 of them they have amost anything you are looking for:

https://www.lowcarbmaven.com/recipes/
https://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/recipes/?fwp_seasons=winter
https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/?s=cake

articfox: sounds like karma to me….you were meant to do baking to today! Good luck. Please let me know how things turned out and if you need to tweek a bit to get exactly what you are looking for.

I had a long post in the making, but it’s disappeared . . .
To cut a long story short, I have suffered from extreme levels of fatigue for years, but my psych just didn’t ‘get’ how tired I was. . . I’ll leave that at that . . .

Until about a year ago I rarely had enough energy to do any cooking, even when son was willing to help. I practically lived on cheese and biscuits and oranges. When I realised, thanks to US recommendations, and a dx of ADHD, that I should be eating a lot more protein than I had been, I trawled the supermarket shelves for all the highest protein foods that didn’t need cooking, and could be eaten with zero prep. I couldn’t eat more cheese tbh, but home cooking clearly hadn’t provided enough, and ready meals were even worse. So, after a few days of lots of eggs, nuts, smoked mackerel, tins of tuna and pilchards, as well as actually feeling better, I noticed I was putting on weight. . . Clearly I had to cut down on the calories, but no way could I cut out fruit and veg, I needed the roughage, as well as the vitamins, so I completely dropped cakes, biscuits, bread and breakfast cereals, and anything with pastry, as the foods with the least nutritional value for the amount of calories, due to the grain content. That stabilised my weight, but when I totted up the calories, I was astonished to see that I was only eating 2/3 of what I’d been eating before, only just over half of the classic recommendation in fact . . . and I still wasn’t losing weight.

Surely it wasn’t normal to eat only 1200 cals a day and not lose weight? And how come increasing my protein intake reduced my total caloric need? That’s When I found the BSD 800. Phew, I’m not going crazy, or about to drop dead from eating too little! And then finding these forums, I realised that I am far from alone in needing to eat less that 1k cals to lose weight. I haven’t found the answer to the second question yet, but it might account for why lots of people ‘who have lost a lot of weight’, ‘have to’ eat fewer calories to maintain the loss. Maybe it’s just that the WOE that they have settled on and that they should have been on all along just happens to mean they need fewer calories.

So yeah this post has turned into a lot of waffle too. I could actually write a lot more. Last year was an incredible year of discovery, learning and surprisingly easy weight loss. I’ll try and be more succinct from here on!

I’m pretty sure I’m not gluten intolerant, but by keeping away from all grain based foods, I have actually effectively gone gluten free. I’m pretty sure I’m not lactose intolerant, but recent changes have highlighted that I do have issues with cows’ milk casein. (Another long story there: I kind of knew I didn’t digest it well from an incident around 30 years ago, but ignored it, as I thought it was normal, and back then, no-one even knew about the problems that are now associated with it. )

Argh waffling again.

List of recommended food for anyone too tired to cook.

Tinned fish
Ham,
Corned beef
Smoked mackerel
Eggs, not hard to fry or boil, but actually I have them raw in whey shake ( I have my own hens though) They actually make the shake creamier! Whey, or other protein shake is not a substitute for proper food, as it doesn’t have much else at all than the protein, but whey is good protein, and only very rarely indeed does it cause any issues. I find it is a brilliant pick me up as it is so easy to use.
Nuts: Brazils, walnuts, cashews and almonds are the best for various reasons. High in calories though, so don’t over do them.
Fruit, in normal quantities. I actually ate loads (3 full sized portions every day) while I was away for three weeks with no calorie counting possible, and still lost 3lbs sticking to BSD otherwise.
I also ate cheese, but I’m now reconsidering the wisdom of that, and would not recommend it to anyone with any kind of autoimmune problems.
Also, yogurt with frozen berries was a favourite, but again . . . ^
I’m sure I’ve forgotten something . . .
Dark chocolate! Again don’t over do it, savour small pieces. (I still think I’ve forgotten something . . .)

When you have enough energy to do a bit of cooking, dried precooked onion from Home Bargains, is a great time and energy saver, and also saves you from finding that you have no edible onions because it was so long since you last used any that they’ve all gone soggy or grown.
Whenever possible add turmeric and black pepper, and/or lots of herbs and spinach. e.g. Mince and lentils; add T and BP to the mince. Ratatouille, add loads of herbs and spinach, as well as T and BP.
T and BP is good on fried eggs too, and don’t forget salt. Salt is incredibly important, and if you can get the stuff that has trace minerals, that’s even better. (If you have high BP, get your GP to check your salt level first.)
For years, I hadn’t cooked/ate a proper meal more than once a day, (and not always that often either!) but as my energy levels improved, I started having three proper meals a day, but I have such a massive back log of housework that I resented the amount of time I was spending cooking and washing up, so I have gone back to one of my more successful dieting strategies, and now only cook once a day again.
Now I usually just cook a vegetable dish, enough for two days, and have it with tinned or smoked fish, ham or corned beef one night and have the rest with eggs or burgers or something similar the next. Sometimes when I feel really energetic though, I’ll actually do bacon in the microwave, and fry eggs AND mushrooms, while son does the veg and baked beans. That’s ME doing THREE separate lots of cooking for one meal! :O
Dessert is either a portion of fruit, berries with yogurt (see above) or half a tin of fruit in juice, maybe with cream if I’m still hungry after eating most of the whole day’s worth of food in one sitting! Most cooked deserts aren’t BSD friendly AFAICT, but that reminds me I have some cooking apples that need finishing off!

I don’t know about quantity of coconut. When I worked with horses I could use their rate of growth of their hooves as a clear signal of when we had got the levels right. I thought I would look in more detail into the research being done by the people in Israel first and then try to gather more information on what ‘normal’ blood sugar levels should be in response to specific foods, and test where I am. Its also a few years since I researched reports on coconut and diabetes, so I will look into the current research and then make a decision.

In some respects I wish I had got hold of one of the blood sugar home testing kits before starting on the diet, so I could compare what changes had occurred as a result of going low carb, but it didn’t occur to me.

First thing to do is ask for the advice of those on the list who use a home blood testing kit on which one to purchase.

Just missed your post VictoriaM. Total respect for chorus, as I said above it’s the hardest thing to do!

Alliecat – I am recovering from my cold and you are right I do feel like I am vibrating with potential! I even managed to do some tidying without feeling like it was a massive burden.

Natalie – am following you around the threads today – what a great story, we have lots of couples in the main group I am in. I am one of the non-singing ones (well, just because I can’t sing doesn’t mean I won’t!) and the hardest thing I ever did was the chorus in the panto, singing in harmony whilst dancing and not near the other people singing my part. I basically smiled a lot! My main group is mostly musical theatre so great to find one that isn’t

This will Be Macbeth, only a small role but enough for me whilst I find my feet with them. It’s an amalgamation of two Lords. My biggest part since I restarted after a 25 hiatus after Uni. was Clairee in Steel Magnolias. What a great play/film! I expect the US BSDers would have found my acccent fairly deplorable though!

My husband doesn’t even like going to the theatre. Luckily he likes running a lot, so can see it’s fair I get to go out to do drama. My ideal would be a theatre group that rehearsed whilst the kids were at school, but mine are old enough to leave For a bit if OH still on train. Mostly the challenge is getting them back from all their clubs before I go out.

Hi JackieM and Natalie, my hobby is musical theatre as well. I’m about to perform (strictly back row of the chorus) in Spamalot (Monty Python). In fact that is going to be my next BSD challenge, a dressing room full of carbs and sweets!

But positives are lots of movement, and great fun and silliness!.

Hi, I’m not an expert, there are people on here with a lot more experience than me. I’ve been Type 2 diagnosed for 3 years but I’ve only been doing BSD since the beginning of December, and then restarted after a Christmas blip.

Both times it took several (3 to 6) days of 20 carbs to get my fasting blood sugar down under 6. You mentioned that you did 800 but not whether you were doing very low carbs.

Stick to it, it will work and is great when it does.

Natalie – me too, I liked all the raw ingredients but not the end result. Am over needing the bread texture now (watching everyone tuck into crusty white toast here and feeling unmoved even though I haven’t yet eaten today). And I was a loaf a Day woman in my prime!

Happy Sunday Everyone! 1 week down!

Keep at it Squidge, sure the scales will back up your efforts soon! Another Lb for me today that’s 7 officially (but 11 based on a sneaky just on the scales I did after Xmas!). With being back at work and settling into diet that’s with no exercise! Not even hitting my 10000 steps a day so that’s the goal for this week – inspired by your sore muscles Squidge!

TARGET THIS WEEK: Aerobics on Mon and Thurs and on 3 other days must hit my 12500 target on steps! – there I’ve said it now so gonna stick to it!

Good morning all
Recent diagnosis 20th December- Christmas was a challenge but I have managed to loose 9lbs – wasn’t the perfect 800 diet but did well ! Have only just started testing blood sugars (today) and would have expected a lower reading that 7.5 by now but I don’t know anything at the mo ! Would really appreciate advice and hear other people’s experiences !
Thank you xxx

JackieM I didn’t bother. I’ve also, in the past, tried to make broccoli pizza dough. It was completely inedible. And I really like broccoli! I think I’ll give up trying to turn it into some kind of faux bread.

JackieM my husband and I met through amateur theatre. I did musicals and he did … what do you call not-musicals? Plays lol. Shakespeare and stuff. But we had friends who did both so we went to the same parties. Once we started going out we did shows together (musicals, but he took non-singing roles, there is usually one or two, luckily he can dance). We stopped when we had children but we both love theatre so I imagine we’ll get back to it when they’re older.

Good morning, everyone! The sun isn’t even up here, so no positives to
report…but I’ve just read Jackie’s post. You are positively vibrating
with energy, my girl! I’m sure we would all love to hear about the
new theatrical production you’re involved in, and the role you will
be playing! I envy you a day in the garden…We’re doing apartment
living at present, so the only opportunity that I have to get my fingers
in the soil is by way of containers. It’s never too early to begin planning
however!

This is a wonderful thread! Have a great day, all 🙂

Allie

JGwen and JackieM, I agree, and after I read your post, I went and opened my bag of shredded coconut and waded in! I’d also be interested on how you’ll approach it, in the meantime it’s a great reminder to add some to my meals, so thank you!

Just a quick thanks to Jules and to all the support on here.

The weekends are always the toughest for me, so much time just me and the family and always so close to the fridge… Workdays are easy by comparison as the days fly by with meetings and what not.

Went slightly over calories yesterday at about 1000 but the chicken my other half cooked was so nice.

I find some of the meals in the cookbook are much more ‘kinder’ when you have another portion – like the kedgeree and the stir frys, in terms of calories and carb intake. So in a week day if I’ve had nothing all day I can have a larger portion for dinner. Anyone else have some go to dishes that are good when you want to have a full plate but not blow out the carb or calorie intake?

Not sure if that’s made sense, but hopefully you can get the gist.

I agree about well fitting clothes. Even after losing more than 3 stone (and I am short so it really shows) no one really noticed until I bought smaller, properly fitting clothes. And I have also been known to check myself out in shop windows etc, just for the incredulous pleasure of it.

Allie, I have drunk the dam dry today, 3L water before lunch and another litre this afternoon- but without the expected visits to the loo. Either the heat is dehydrating me more than I thought or I am indeed retaining fluid. It was 44deg (110+F) today where I live and even with all the air con going the house felt uncomfortably warm. I think I’ll forgo weighing until after this heat wave is over, save myself the angst 🙂 I honestly cannot imagine the cold you’re experiencing, winter mornings here might get to -1C a couple of times a year and I whinge about that.

My daughter’s wedding in is June; she is 28 and they seem to be doing all the arrangements themselves so I think all I have to do is show up and utter encouraging comments as appropriate. It is exciting though!

Verano – we love a jigsaw here, can totally see how that’s on your positive thoughts list.
Mine are:

1) my obsession for gardening, which like everything else disappeared last summer into a cloud of apathy, is back and I’m really excited about getting the garden into shape

2) it’s Sunday, husband on run and children asleep so I can sit and read the paper with a coffee, and a sneaky cuddle with the dog (if he ever comes in from garden!)

3) starting rehearsals with a new (not professional) theatre group this afternoon. Acting absolutely the thing I love to do the most, so a new group and fresh opportunity very exciting.

4) lots of positives and it’s not even breakfast time yet!

Good morning or evening all

I’m down 3lbs from my start weight last week. Very excited about that. I stood on the scales 3 times to make sure that was real. Then I moved the scales to see if that made a difference. It didn’t! 4 more to go to get to the 10’s which is my first goal.

These forums help me so much.

I’ve never logged on MFP or Fatsecret ever as I follow med principles. Just wondering what people would recommend? I’m based in Ireland so what normally works for UK the best would probably be good for me! Your help would be appreciated.

Allie – my daughter is very happy with her iPhone 7, though she does mutter about glitches. I’ve got an iPhone 6.s that is fine. I think her camera is better. My daughter (13) has a lot of thoughts on this subject and the latest one (iPhone X?) seems a bit gimmicky, with face recognition – not necessarily worth the money.

We are an Apple family because the family sharing option works for us, but if you aren’t going to use that function might be worth looking at other brands, which I understand are better but without the marketing.

My friend has a Samsung which seems amazing, and less likely to fall over. She works on a nature reserve and takes fab pictures with it.