Hi Verano,

Thanks for the suggestion on posting on the take a look at this, but it wasn’t an inspirational book relating to diet. Its the story of a lady who was diagnosed in her late 40’s as being high end functioning autistic (Asperger) and her working through the process from thinking about how to ‘fix’ herself to appear ‘normal’ before deciding to come out as being on the autism spectrum and celebrating the positives of the difference in the wiring of her brain. I realised that I am an Aspie a couple of years ago.

LTC – Hi, just a quick note here this morning. I know that you have access
to great ingredients where you live, but your comments about dehydrated
fruit made me think to pass along this website, “nuts.com” to you.
I use it for too many things to mention them all, but definitely my source
for organic chia, organic unsweetened cacao nibs, and raw nuts. They
also have a large baking section. The customer service is flawless, and
the turn a round time is 24 hrs! Shipping charges are very reasonable
also, if you hit the minimum for an order. Also a ton of “superfoods” to
check out! 🙂 Will be leaving a message for you later on “after reaching
target…” when I get caught up on today’s posts!

xoxo
Allie

Well, the last day of our first week rebooting. Looks like everyone is having some sort of success even it is just recognising the situations to avoid and the triggers to overeating! This is all important stuff and is so valuable when it comes to the maintenance stage of this plan.

I SOOOO need to practice what I preach (not that I’m preaching – far from it). Yesterday I had to drive 120 miles to attend a ‘tea party’ for my cousin’s 60th birthday. I knew it would be a cream tea so I said to myself ‘just have a cup of tea’. So I prepared, I had a late, large-ish brunch, got all dolled up and off I went with my OH. Hmm – best laid plans and all that – the sandwiches came out, then the cakes, then the scones and jam, sitting…right in front of me…with all my family watching. THE PRESSURE!!!! I caved. I won’t tell you what I ate, but I did learn two things. 1) it really doesn’t taste as good as you think it will and 2) never underestimate the power of peer pressure. I’m a wimp – I know it – but the good thing is that I ate a very light supper, went to bed and refuse to feel guilty. Back on it 100% with effect from the last naughty morsel at 4pm yesterday.

So weigh in tomorrow everyone – well done to Natalie who has already had that pleasure – let’s hope it’s a pleasure for us all. See you all then!

TC x

Esnescca, doing the dehydrator sounds like fun but I have come to a point where I have zero room in my apartment kitchen for one more gadget. I actually seleted this apt based on the kitchen size. It is supposed to have an eat in kitchen nook but I have line it with bookcase/shelving and a bakers rack FILLED with locking glass jars filled with various dried ingredients, cans of food and spices spices spices. Stuff hanging from hooks on the wall, stuff on top of the kitchen cupboards (mine don’t go to the ceiling). Suff and more stuff.

Maybe something to look forward to for the next kitchen. In the meantime, have been buying dehdrated raspberries from Trader Joe…they are fun popped into the middle of homemade sugar free chocolates.

The faux mein recipe looks wonderful and that is a dish I used to get a lot and really miss.

By the way….after my oat fiber konjac noodle debacle (Amazon is refunding the cost and not even requiring that I send the remaining bags back as proof….thank heavens) spend part of the day trying a bloggers recipe for homemade oat glucommanan noodles. She touted them as great for noodles and noodle dumplings. To me they were too puffy and fragile.

Going to try a second batch today leaving out her recommended baking powder and cutting down the amount of water she recommended putting in and see where that gets me. Will report back if it works.

Recipe below:

1 whole large egg
2 Tbs glucomannan powder
1/4 cup oat fiber
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon coconut flour
3/4 cups fat free chicken broth or warm water

This is my second round, first time was entirely successful – lost 15kg in six weeks and blood sugar went from pre-diabetic to middle of normal range. So some reassurance to newbies

1. Hunger pangs tend to fade after the first week or two
2. Don’t beat yourself up too much over cheating – I tended to get quite slack over the weekend, particularly with wine, but didn’t have too big an impact overall.
3. 800 calories can only ever be a guide, it cannot be the same for large active men as small non-active women for example. I found 800 calories pretty much undoable but 1000 was fine.

Still seemed to work.

Mokovex, like you, I’ve felt full at times too! That really hadn’t happened in years! Also an Apple family!
Hi Everyone, my routine has also gone to pot, with a second admission through the ED last night. It’s been a struggle to get food in hospital that works, and the place is full of chronically ill.
Luckily I had the forethought to grab a bag of cherries, a sml spc fruit pot and almonds on the way out the door to emergency . I was offered white bread sandwiches last night. I ate a few almonds and 1/2 my cherries and the protein fillings of the sandwich . A full on carb Brekkie arrived with more white bread, marg, jam, weetbix and juice . I asked for egg , none available, so they brought me another sandwich, so again I ate the protein filling and a few cherries. Lunch came late as I was to move to the ward so the same type of sandwich appeared. Again I ate the filling, this time it was accompanied by a sugary cordial and sugar jelly. Which I threw out. The lady in the bed opposite heard me going on and next thing her daughter had bought me a vege quiche and tea. She wouldn’t let me pay and I thoroughly enjoyed it minus the pastry. Wonderful people!
The evening meal came … 1/2 the bowl/ plate was a huge amount of white rice, with sml mixed veges and some sort of pork in an attempt at sweet n sour type gravy. Btw the meat was 1/2 fat! Accompanied by juice and icecream! I showed the nurse and said it was basically inedible and that I needed high protein and no sugar. Eventually another meal came , of which I ate the beans and tinned peaches. The pork was cut into 1 cm cubes of the same fatty pork. Drowned in a salty brown gravy. Something essentially poisonous to renal patients! You guessed it, icecream and cordial as well. I gave it to visiting children again .
After that one of my dialysis nurses came in to visit another patient and saw me. I told her what I’d been offered. She said the other renal patients just have the ‘dialysis sandwich’ rather than the hot meals. It’s a mixed 6 pc sandwich with 2x the filling and I usually have 2 but discard the bread . So off she went to the dialysis ward and found me one! Lovely nurses doing their best to look after me. I know most of the dialysis nurses so she said in future when I am well enough to walk to their ward they’ll be happy to supply me. I have no idea what calories I’ve had but I’ve managed to stick to the principles against the odds in hospital. Again, I’ve raved on, but I think how in the past I’d have just given in because I was hungry and bored and eaten all that crap. In my mind I see that white bread as poison now. I asked the nurses if it was at least the high fibre wonder white type and they said no. Tonight I’ve ordered omelette for breakfast, the nurse was not sure if it would come. I did get it earlier in the week, but I have a backup plan tomorrow as my daughter is driving up from Canberra tonight and will visit me with berries, Greek yoghurt and almonds so I’m really looking forward to seeing her and getting the goodies. Any wonder sick people get sicker!
I know the health department is on a budget for meals but in the long term a lot of sickerpeople will be a bigger burden on the health $. Ok my rant is over for now.

Hi Flick – no not upset at all – i’m always pressing the wrong buttons!
SSB

Inka, you may way to try the flax seed bread as rolls or mini loaves….they will rise more and be less dense. The full loaf is a VERY dense loaf but thin slices make great toast. Good luck.

Hi V – I too have just started the Science of Nutrition and agree that so far it’s a bit dry, haven’t actually learned anything new yet. But early days. Can you enlighten me though – when you are “following” someone, is there a facility to see what they have to say, without trawling through everything? Otherwise, can’t see much point in following, so hopefully I am being dense and have missed this function?

A lot of us weight ourselves everyday to keep us on track but it can be a double edged sword. Sometimes I would weigh in with a 3lb loss by Friday, relax over the weekend and blow it by Tuesday which is my official weekly weigh in. It is really up to you. Measurements should be taken at the beginning and then I re-measure every half stone lost. Another time to measure is when the scales are standing still, you can still have inch loss without losing weight.

Im with you on the hibernation, shopping this morning, chiropodist tomorrow and then the rest of the week to myself (retired live is great).

So today is my start day. I am planning on hibernating this week and doing as little as possible so I don’t crash energy wise.

When my daughter gets back from school we will get on the soup making process together.

So I have begun….

How often should I weigh myself & check measurements?

Pretty much going into hibernation this week.

Hi everyone, hope you are all feeling as good as I am. Another small loss this morning, just 100g (better than saying 1 10th of a kilo but a loss all the same). Planned a menu for the week again which I find keeps me well on track and I know accurately how many calories I have had and have left, I always plan for around 650 to 700 and then I can throw in some extra veg and have a small, 50g snack in the evening without even having to think about it. Not much exercise over the weekend as we have had gales and flooding but managed a 35 min brisk walk to look at the river yesterday. BG is still a little high for my liking around 6.0 but I know that will come down soon, early days yet.

Have a good week everyone and see you at the weigh in tomorrow.

Hi …. well I have started both of my courses. The Science and Nutrition course is slightly ‘dry’ at the moment but interesting nonetheless. I am as far as the protein section but I started this course last year so maybe repeating it is making it not quite as enjoyable for me.

The Liver Disease course is fascinating. Quite technical but I’m only a short way in and have already learnt new things. Maybe I’m dim but I had no idea the liver regulates cholesterol in the bloodstream. For anybody interested in how the body functions this course could be good. They are already talking about diabetes, and obesity and fatty liver. May not be to everyone’s taste but I’m loving it!

Hello
I am 50 years old. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2016 and finished treatment in April 2017. I am now on tamoxifen and will stay on it for the next 4 years. I’ve been a yo-yo dieter with weight going up and down between 11st and 13st over the past 10 years, however, I am now over 14stone (I gained a lot of weight whilst on treatment) and am in medical menopause, none of which helps when trying to lose weight. I have lots of joint pain, back pain, foot pain and have not really done any exercise since diagnosis. All this needs to change…I need to lose this weight and start exercising properly again. I really want to believe this will work but I feel I have tried everything at this stage and have been unsuccessful. I started the Ketogenic Diet in July and in the first 3 weeks I lost about a stone and was delighted, however, despite sticking to it rigidly, I did not lose another pound over the following 4 months. I kind of gave up in mid November and have pretty much put it back on again. Looking back I wonder now about the amount of calories I was consuming…this is not something I thought about at the time.. but thinking about it now, I imagine I was probably consuming around 1200-1500 and this is why I am hoping that dropping to 800 and following this plan will achieve the results I need. I would love to get to 70kg…it’s a weight I am very comfortable at so that would mean I need to lose 24kg…arrghhhhh! I wonder if there is anyone else on here who is struggling with menopause, or who is post treatment for breast cancer? Even if not, I am so hopeful that this will be the lifeline I need right now 🙂

I’m 5lb down too, HappyHostie. Well done us and everyone else who is losing or maintaining their weight.

No doubt it’s better to calculate everything and stick completely to the diet, but clearly slipping up once is no reason to think we’ve failed and quit. If we quickly get back on track then we can still lose weight.

Esnecca 😂😂 I’ll be taking precautions forthwith! Maybe train the puppy to sniff out stylish American boots? He’s certainly fond of British ones (chewing a speciality)..

maybe I’ll send you some once they’ve been dehydrated – imagine what customs would make of that?! 😂 great info, thanks, I could leave them overnight by the sound of it. Maybe just raspberries – we can get them dehydrated in supermarket here (daughter uses in baking). but this would be better and so much cheaper.

I had romantic dreams of kids plucking raspberries from bush but in real life they are scared of bugs and the great outdoors (at least when it’s our back garden they are).

Thanks for your positive and supportive messages about my carb binge. I’ve just weighed in after my first week. A whopping 5lb down!! I’m so pleased. I’ve not really been calorie counting, so am going to get this cracked this week.
Also, I’m the queen of 5lb weight loss. Achieving more than 7lb is harder. Good luck everyone on week 2!
How are you all doing?

Excellent results!! Well done you.

That’s an excellent idea. We have a local food bank in the village.

Yikes, SaltySeaBird, I was scrolling up the page and accidently pressed the report post button on your perfectly lovely and interesting ‘goodmorningeveryone’ post just above. I’ve ‘unpressed’ it and sent an email explaining my clumsiness to the admin. Sincere apologies, hope you don’t get bothered by it. 😳

And thanks for posting the video.

Nice raspberry bushes you’ve got there, Jackie. It’d be a shame if something were to happen to them, like if they were to get stolen in the night by some deranged American lady in oddly stylish boots. 😀

It really is pretty much that easy to dehydrate a raspberry. Much to my amazement, I discovered that they remain intact, standing on their broad side and look only slightly smaller and darker than when they were fresh. Because they have that central hole, they’re already reliant on their chambered walls for structure. Those all remain in place while the water is sucked out of them. They became brittle and dry because they’re spread so thin. That’s why they crunch HARD. Like you can hear them across the room.

Temp on my dehydrator for berries is 135F. I’ve also done blueberries and blackberries at the same temp. Blueberries are more like tart raisins, wrinkly and chewy. Blackberries were too plump to get that raspberry powder effect, so they are crumbly on the outside, chewy in the middle. They also took the longest.

You can check them to figure out when they’re done, but we’re talking hooooours here, just to give you an idea. I think the raspberries were 12, blueberries 16 and blackberries I don’t even remember because it was some madness that I won’t be repeating.

Okay, I just looked it up, V, and proofing temps are usually around 80F/27C, so it looks like you can get dehydrating at any time, yippee! As a general rule, I keep the dehydrating temps on the low end of the range. I’d rather it take forever than that I overdry. I haven’t made jerkies or meat/fish things, though. If I did, I would go for the higher temp range because of the pathogens that need cooking off. A good herb to start off with, if you happen to have any handy, is oregano. It’s startling how different hand-dried is from store-bought. Have fun!

It was cold yesterday, WotW. The icy wind on the seafront was too much for us and we took a more sheltered route.

Another day with no change in my weight, but I’m still 5 lb down in the first week, so that’s not too bad. My husband has lost 2 lb (he’s been snacking a bit). We’ve both avoided alcohol all week. I can’t say we haven’t missed it, but it’s not been the struggle I thought it might be. Overall, we’ve both eaten a more healthy diet, lost some weight, done more exercise and feel fine. I call that a win.

Hi there, am fascinated by this, so literally raspberries on a tray in as low an oven as possible for a long time?

We have home grown raspberries (not til August though), so anything that gets a longer shelf life out of them I am up for, and also in my mission to get the kids into enjoying non-refined food in different ways (raspberry chocolate nut spread sounds divine!)

WOW! That sounds like magic!

…you could also take a look at Mark’s book – The Keto Reset – it’s low-carb but going into ketosis, which may not be where you want to be at the moment, however, Mark never separates diet from life-style so, again, some great advice about exercise.
Please believe me, I’m not promoting Mark – I just find his approach very sensible and I originally came across him through one of MM’s books.
SSB

Oh, I have no particular love for macadamias. I have a particular love for low carb foods, though, and macadamias and pecans are as good as nuts get. Pecans don’t pair intuitively with raspberries, but macadamias are very buttery and white chocolatey so they seemed a perfect fit. Suddenly macadamias tasted like raspberry cocoa butter, which, by the way I’m going to make on purpose next. I have some unsweetened pure cacao butter on order. If I throw some macadamias and salt in a food processor and let it go for 10-15 minutes, they’ll turn to butter too. Then I can add the cacao butter and some dehydrated and powdered vanilla beans and process together. Then the crumbled up raspberries/raspberry powder. End result: sugar free, low carb, all natural and handmade to the fullest insane extent Raspberry Macadamia Nutella. I bet it would sell.

I love, love, love this thread. Such diversity and never fails to lift my spirits. Here are mine fir today –

1. a cool change – they area wonderful thing
2. my fabulous daughters – they are always fabulous but when I’m feeling worried or vulnerable, they are magnificent
3. coming home to my beautiful dog, you’d think I was a walking miracle. He is the miracle.

And

4. Let’s hear it for our bones!

Luvtocook. Please, please, please seriously consider publishing your advice and recipes. Your depth of knowledge about food is amazing and the recipes are so tasty and we’ll thought out. Thank you so much! Keep going x

Hi Ian – that’s amazing! 😊. Fab news.
SSB

Thank you SSB. That sounds interesting. I’ll do that. The good news is that I’ve lost 3kg in the 1st week 😊
Best wishes, Ian

Hi Ian, I’m no expert but if you take a look at Mark Sisson on Mark’s Daily Apple, he talks a lot about ‘chronic cardio’. As I understand it, after a certain level of exercise/heart rate, you no longer burn fat so he suggests moderating exercise levels. Mark was a marathon runner and iron-man competitor and his Primal way of living sits very well with the BSD.
Good luck with everything.
SSB

LOL. Those raspberries sound fabulous but I’m not a lover of macadamias but hey who knows. I’m not sure how low my oven goes because I’m away just now but there is a dough proving setting which I’m guessing is pretty low. Maybe we could have this conversation again when I’m back because I’d love to try the raspberries.

Good morning everybody’s enthusiasm is really rubbing off on me too. JackieM you sound as though you are in a really good place! JGwen do you want to share your inspirational book on the ‘Take a look at this thread ‘?

Yesterday my first positive…..
1. Sitting by the ocean breathing in the ‘smell’ of the sea.
2. Having some girlfriends here for cocktails and I had only a very small one. Mainly Cava with just a smidgeon of orange liqueur and a splash of mandarin juice. I know very sugary and to be honest one was more than enough!
3. Scales dropped slightly so after a week away I have put on less than half a pound. I don’t think it’s realistic for me to try and lose weight on holiday but remaining static is a bonus.

It’s been interesting to hear lots of people who are suffering extreme heat at the moment say they are gaining. It makes so much sense that heat would make us more dehydrated and I wonder if that’s why I always gain a few pounds on holiday but they disappear with 48 hours when I get back home. Anyway, hope everyone has another positive day.

Here’s some more evidence. I’ve posted it on another thread but this seems a good place too

SSB

https://youtu.be/Sgeh2w0j51w

It depends on what you’re dehydrating, V, but for herbs it’s below 100F. I have a dial so I turn it up just past 95F. Google tells me that’s 35C. Does your oven go that low? I dehydrated some blueberries and raspberries a couple of weeks ago and they were at 135F, which is a more manageable 57C. They both came out great, but the rapsberries were a revelation. Dry as a bone, crunch like chips, tart blast followed by intense concentrated raspberry flavor. Then it occurred to me to eat one dried raspberry with one dry-roasted macadamia nut and I can’t even describe the combination. Perfection in a bite. I went to some friends’ house for dinner that night and I actually a carried a baggie of the raspberries and macadamias with me and forced everyone to have one of each, popping both in their mouth at the same time. They’re used to my rapturous enthusiasms so they went along with it. They also recognized the greatness of the pairing. Or so they assured me while hustling me out the door. 😀

There have been various questions on these forums about IF. I found this video on a Keto site but it’s really good, short explanation of the benefits of IF.
SSB

https://youtu.be/Sgeh2w0j51w

Well here’s the short back story – no permanent damage and nothing that time, physio and exercising won’t sort out. 😁😁🎉🎉🌟🌟

And, while my spine shows signs of wear and tear consistent with my age, and sadly some otherwise unknown arthritis, no sign of osteoporosis. In fact, my GP, who is very thorough, didn’t think there was any real point in a bone density scan.

Yipee, because this also means she, and I, see no reason not to continue on with another round of Fast 800 to shoot for my healthy weight! The fat around my middle was a much bigger concern. And of course, the enormous challenge of keeping it off.

So i’ve just finished my last meal of Round 1 and tomorrow marks the final weigh-in and Day 1 of Round 2. I wonder what it will bring. 🤪

Esnecca we have ‘spoken’ about dehydrating food before and I wonder if you could just remind me of the temperature you use. My fan oven goes to a very low temperature and I could use that.

LTC rosemary is great frozen and thyme just falls of the stem so none of that tedious ‘picking’ , I have experimented with ‘soft’ herbs like mint and basil and they do keep their flavour but not their texture. I wash the herbs and dry very well with paper towel before freezing. Try it you have nothing to loose!

Morning all,

Not posted for a while as routine went to pot over the school holidays. Kids all back today so I’m back on it. Remarkably, only put on a couple of pounds over the holidays! Thrilled as was by no means a saint. I skipped breakfast each day which I assume helped. Hubby remarked that he saw me not totally clear my plate on a few occasions and even chose not to have pudding a couple of times as I was full. I WAS FULL! Before this WOE I never felt full. I was so metabolically broken that I always felt empty.

It is good to be back even if a little late.

Allie- I have just switched from Samsung to iPhone, have got hubby’s old iPhone 6s. I love it and don’t think I could go back. This is mainly because I have an iPad and a Mac and the integration is good, also the family sharing of apps works for us.

The Sixers are playing tonight too, Marsie, but in a different game thank goodness. Maybe we have a chance against the Hurricanes!

Mariet a daughter’s wedding would be a very exciting event. My daughter is only 13 atm so that won’t be for a while, but when it does happen I plan to play every tearjerker “daddy’s little girl getting married” song I can find to make my husband weep. Butterfly Kisses is a good one.

I breakfasted on overnight oats made with porridge oats or steel cut oats for about 15 years. Although it probably beat eating sugary cereals or stopping on my way to work for a doughnut or pastry, it did not prevent me from gaining weight and heading down the path toward diabetes. I had always heard growing up that oats were good for you, and when I started eating them they certainly did keep me full longer than the toast and jam I had been eating in the mornings. My diabetic grandmother was told to eat them to manage her diabetes. She did live to 92 but that was actually a bit young for the women in her family who routinely lived well into their 100’s and she was a bit out of it in her later years whereas I remember visting her mother in hospital before she died and she was still as sharp as a tack.
I stay fuller longer now by having a ‘porridge’ or ‘overnight oats’ made of chia and flax with full fat greek yogurt on top. If you think about it, it is the soluble fibre in oats that is the healthy part, and I now get that from chia and flax and forgo the extra carbs that come with oats. After eating oats as a staple for so long, I thought I would really miss them, but I don’t.

I didn’t step foot on a scale until week 4. I had dedicated too many years to avoiding all attempts at weighing myself to turn on a dime and start. I wish I’d just bit the bullet so I’d have accurate total loss figures instead of an estimate, but we have to do what we have to do in the moment to propel us forward.

Family support is an important element in success. Any chance you get the teens to go snack somewhere where you aren’t? My OH took his Friday night burgers and fries to the porch and ate outside, the dear. I’m sure they don’t mean anything by it, but it would be good for them to pay a little attention to your needs. It’s basic politeness, really, as well as showing a modicum of respect for a loving parent trying to reclaim her health.

Good luck!

LTC, you might consider investing in a really good dehydrator. With the amount and variety of cooking you do, I bet you’d get tons of use out of it. You will be amazed at the difference between freshly dehydrated herbs/spices and store-bought. The two bear no relation to each other whatsoever.

Inka, I’m so happy you’ve signed on for the great kelp noodle experiment too! I think it’s time for me repost my Shrimp Faux Mein recipe. When you’re in the mood for Chinese takeout, this guy will blow your mind. Phenomenal leftover too. Better the next day. It does cook in the dressing and get too soft by day 3, though, so you can’t make too gigantic a batch.

Shrimp Faux Mein

The all important softening trick: kelp noodles come out of the bag tangled up in a crunchy skein. Dump them out of the bag into a collander, rinse them and run you fingers through the clump to untangle it. Fill a large mixing bowl with warm water and add a tablespoon of baking soda. Swirl it with your hand until the baking soda is dissolved. Add the noodles and let them soak for 2 minutes until they relax. You can easily feel and see the difference. Dump them back in the colander and rinse again. Let them sit, draining until you’re ready for them.

4 oz shiitake or portobello mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
2 oz snow peas, sliced thinly lengthwise
2 oz broccoli, clover or alfalfa sprouts
2 oz pea shoots or sunflower shoots
1 cup of baby bok choy, julienned or sliced to your liking
2 cloves garlic (5 grams), minced
1 medium green onion (16 grams), white part minced and green tops chopped
1/2 lb medium or large cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined, then cut in half lengthwise
1 package (12 oz) kelp noodles
3 tsp toasted sesame oil
3 tblsp soy sauce
1 tblsp hot chili garlic sauce (I use Huy Fong brand which has no sugar, be sure to check the ingredients and nutrition panel before you buy any prepared sauces)
1 tsp dried ginger or 2 tsps fresh ginger, finely minced
1 tsp ginger juice (grate the ginger and squeeze it through a cheesecloth or paper towel into the dressing)
10 drops fish sauce (Red Boat is the only one I know of that is made properly without added sugars)
1/2 tsp brown miso

Combine soy sauce, two teaspoons of the toasted sesame oil, the chili garlic sauce, the ginger, the minced white part of the scallion, one of the minced cloves of garlic, the fish sauce and the miso in a small bowl. Whisk vigorously. Set aside. If you have a low carb thickener (I use a combination of guar and xantham gum which is instantly effective and has no taste whatsoever) add a half teaspoon of it and whisk. Let it sit for five minutes to thicken. This step is optional. I like it because the thicker sauce sticks well to the noodles and is more reminiscent of the texture of dressings you get in restaurants, but it tastes wonderful even without the thickening step.

Put the last teaspoon of sesame oil in a large pan, heat on medium and sautee the mushrooms. Lightly salt and pepper to help them release their juices. Once they’ve softened a little, add the snow peas and sautee for a couple of minutes. I like them still crunchy with a bit of that delicious raw peapod taste. If you prefer them softer, cook an extra minute or two. Add the garlic and sautee for a minute until fragrant. Add the bok choy and sautee until they begin to wilt but the ribs are still firm.

Add the shrimp. I often get them already boiled, but I’ve also used raw. You just have to cook them first and readd once you’ve sauteed the veggies. You only sautee them with the veg for a minute or so to heat them up.

Add the kelp noodles. Add the dressing. Add the sprouts and shoots. Mix everything together in the pan, being sure to distribute the dressing well throughout the noodles. I use one of those spaghetti claw things.The noodles will change color to the brownish red of the dressing wherever it’s mixed in thoroughly, it’s easy to tell when the sauce is well-distributed.

Serve topped with chopped green parts of the scallion.

This recipe works with any protein you’d like in place of the shrimp. I’ve made versions with chicken, thinly sliced flank steak, tempeh and crispy marinated tofu chunks.

Hello all, didnt manage to get online at all yesterday, so lots of catching up to do. Looks like some ups and downs but overall, positive. I’m feeling lethargic and bloated both yesterday and today, scales reflecting that. Thought i was doing OK with liquids but am consciously upping that today. Better hope we find a seat on an aisle when we go in to cricket this evening😉 (BBL, Natalie. The Scorchers are our team).

Another weigh-in tomorrow, another week gone, hope some weight goes with it. MFODAAT

So I have just returned victorious from the health food store with my first packet of kelp noodles!
LTC I’m also now stocked up with golden flaxseed and other mysterious and exciting ingedients…am also going to try and bake the psyllium and flaxseed bread just to see what happens..!

Verano, thanks for the tip. A bunch of fresh herbs now cost about what you spend on one serving of protien these days (unless you are getting lovely fish of course). I will be freezing my herbs going forward….no more hesitation about buying them only to use 1 tsp worth with no immediate plans for the rest. I bet that works great with rosemary as well. And the parsely and cilantro….those get used up anyway ( I add them to tossed salads if I have no other use for them before they go bad).

Thanks Michael! Isn’t it amazing when you check the original research and it says the opposite to what the reviewer claims! I’ve found that phenomenon before. Whatever sells papers.

1. My husband gave me an unsolicited compliment today as he watched me dressing, saying that the thin-ness was just radiating off me!
2. I did the grocery shopping and the checkout I chose happened to be opposite the chips aisle. All I saw was rows of brightly coloured plastic. Nothing that looked edible or appealing. (It was only yesterday that I ate some chips from a bowl, but at least I don’t find the packaging enticing now!)
3. Husband would normally be returning to work today after the Christmas close-down, but he’s taken extra holidays so he’s still home.