Jackie, dried fruits are so ridiculously overpriced I get a nosebleed just thinking about it. They often have added sugars as well, blueberries and raspberries included. Even the bulk bins at the organic coop and full of sugared fruits. The ones that are already enormously sweet like cherries and figs still have added cane sugar or fruit juice. People want everything to taste like a raisin, even fruits that aren’t the sugar bombs that grapes are. Bluberries are actually tarter dried than they are fresh. I think it improves them dramatically. The sugar-addicted market apparently disagrees.

My bestie in California has a golden raspberry bush in her back yard that her toddler son denudes like a swarm of locusts, bless his heart. I told her if she should ever have a bumper crop, I’ll take in all the surplus, turn it to crunchy sweet-tart magic and send them back to her. Well, some of them. Naturally there would be a percentage taken out for administrative costs and consulting fees. 😀

This year I intend to strip local farms bare of all raspberries when they’re in season, inexpensive and at peak freshness. A few days of dehydrating and I’ll have a stock of raspberries to keep OH and me stocked through the winter. I’ll powder some of them up to add to OH’s seed and nut not-oatmeal (almond meal, hemp hearts, whey protein powder, shredded coconut, oat fiber, sunflower seeds, chia seeds). When he adds almond or hemp milk and microwaves it, the raspberry should flavor the whole thing. It’ll be like those packets of quick-cook flavor oats onlyactually good for you instead of being a fake health food. Virtually carbless and high in protein, fiber and omega 3s, it’s far more filling than the gobs and gobs of steel-cut oats he used to eat.

Aha!! Found what I was looking for re followers. Simple really – at the start of the comments, there is a filter button which can be set to show all comments, bookmarked comments, your own comments, or comments by people you are following! So problem solved – obvious really, think I was just being a bit dense!!

Hi Californiagirl…thanks so much for your reply and your very kind and encouraging words! I am really looking forward to starting and I have actually signed up to the Online Program which starts next week so that should be nice for a bit of “hand holding” too! Again, thanks for your reply 🙂

10 thumbs up, tillybud!

Hi all you wonderful positive people! First day on a new week and it’s good to see no-one seems to be suffering from the Monday Blues.

I’m feeling really tired today, having slept very badly last night, but I intend to get an early night tonight and hopefully feel better for it. Still managing to find some positives though:

1) Scales still showing a loss at the moment. (Just hoping they still will when I do my weekly weigh-in tomorrow!)
2) Made some more yummy almond crackers today.
3) Bought a lovely big silvery framed mirror today. Been looking for one for a while, to hopefully brighten up our dingy upstairs corridor – hoping the mirror will bounce some light around up there.

Keep posting everyone, ‘cos I love to read all the positives people are finding in the little day to day things of life.

Welcome to the posts Sixer — I’m sorry to read of your troubles right now but you’ve come to the right place for support and insight — I hope we can help make it easier for you.
This way of eating will have a lot of benefits for the menopausal symptoms — mine eased considerably within just a few weeks. I also read that low-carbohydrate/sugar diets are being prescribed for cancer patients — so hopefully it helps you there too.
This diet has worked for so many of us where all other diets have failed. Just step on in and don’t give up — you’ll get better and better at it (I had to LEARN how to do it) — it is a wonderful thing to make friends with your body again.
Keep us posted.

Thanks V and s-g. I’ve done that – ie gone to notifications etc – but it only shows when someone has replied to a comment I have made. So far I am “following” 4 people and 3 people are following me. But I thought the whole point of “following” someone was so that you could see the comments THEY had made? Otherwise I can’t see much point in following them!

Just wondered if I was missing something?

Theo, Flick, LTC, and Julia (californiagirl), I almost missed your thoughtful
and kind words because it is the start of a new page. I’m very humbled
by your concern, and plan to take your advice to heart. I scheduled a
check up for the end of the month, and have begun to weigh and measure
everything, as well as step up my weigh-ins to more than 1 x wk. I really
thought I was coming in daily at close to my TDEE of 1429, but there is
no way to be sure of that unless I keep close track of it. I had been
holding steady at 138lbs. for 4 weeks, so I thought this was all behind me,
but apparantly not. It’s an unusual problem to have on a diet forum, and
not easy for me to talk about. I knew Theo would understand my stress
about it, but I’m a bit overwhelmed by the compassion from everyone
else. What an outstanding, powerful gang of friends you are 🙂
Theo, there is much that resonates in your post about the possibility of
a “new normal”, and it IS possible that’s unconsciously what’s been
going on with me. I kind of “lost it” yesterday, and thus my “Whine-Out”
to you!
You all are the best!!!

XOXO
Allie

Good to read that everyone seems to be sticking with it and making progress. I confess I haven’t counted cals/carbs over the w/e, but the scales haven’t shown any ill effect of that. Did have a cocktail on Saturday night and a very tiny piece of cake my Mum brought us back from Madeira. Other than that, I have been low carb for sure, but the cals have probably been more like 1000 that 800.

Back with it today and hoping to be able to report an overall loss tomorrow at the first weekly weigh-in. Generally feeling good, apart from being tired from sleeping badly last night, but I’m quite comfortable with how things are going.

Really looking forward to reading everyone’s results tomorrow.

It was the muffins that did it for me. People need to learn that if they want to loose weight they should stop eating what is essentially cake for breakfast. Giving those muffins to someone who has an over eating problem is like giving light beer to an alcoholic.

I survived the weekend!!! No alcohol and low carb and a parkrun. A little over my 800 calories (just under 1000) on Saturday but I’m counting it as a win. 🙂

Dont worry V, I will hunt you down!!!!!!

Hi S-g great to hear you are in such a good place. I’m only dipping in and out of the threads at the moment but trying to keep in touch, sorry if I miss your posts.

Victoria, I think the problem with the Kerridge programme starts when he says his diet is too difficult to follow and he is using an NHS approved dietary format. It is like he is saying Hey folks I lost loads of weight by doing this but dont think you lot are capable so here is another s—t diet plan like all the others. What a cop out – although he is probably right, there are not many people who could do what we do so just be heartily proud of ourselves.

Thanks Essie I will be asking again when I actually come to dehydrate!

Also if you read someone and you either know them or are interested in what they are saying you can tick a follow button.

Victoria I don’t have a liver problem either but I thought that the liver is one of the most important organs in our body and it really seems that it is! The liver course just started today and is just three weeks so still plenty time to join.

Theo look at the top right hand side of your home page and next to the little bell you will see a number, for messages, if anybody has responded to your posts etc. I think!

hi sprite, it is possible that what you are suffering is carb flu and loss. When you completely changed something in your life, especially if you give something up, there is a period which is similar to mourning a loss. This can cause both the anxiety and sleeplessness. Carb flu is withdrawal from carbs which makes you feel like poo and you just want to wrap up warm and snuggle down somewhere quiet. These thing pass so, unless you have a history of depression and anxiety, dont give up the diet just yet. Or keep on but with a less rigid regime like the 5:2 or the Med diet. I guess I am lucky because I have not suffered from any effects from the diet except elation at the weight loss and better BG results. I did go through a period when I panicked that this diet affects the BG so quickly that I thought it might be dangerous but I got over that and have been following this way of eating for nearly 20 months, sometime on the 800 and sometime of the Med style when I want to have more calories – like holiday.

Dont fret, it will be okay. (Except for the bit about suffering from depression).

Hi JGwen positive thoughts and take a look at this cover all aspects of our lives. That’s why I think this way of eating is so successful for many because we don’t think of this as just a ‘diet’ but a whole new way of thinking and living. So yes post anything you feel is inspirational, we get inspiration in our lives from all sorts of sources.

Yes, I’ve Just started Science of Nutrition as well and haven’t learnt anything yet, but they will have to assume a low starting level, and we will have probably thought more carefully than some about why and how we eat. I’m not sure about comments from people you are following, I haven’t had any notifications about others I’ve followed yet, only notifications of people following me.

Sound like I might do the liver one next. I don’t have a direct liver problem at the moment, but it’s very caught up with diabetes and obesity.

Hi all, I finally got around to watching the Tom Kerridge programme on catch up. At least I started, was put off by him saying that low carb diets weren’t for everyone, and not giving the people on his programme a chance to see if that WOE worked for them. Then I gave up completely at the point that he stared making breakfast with honey and banana.

Such a shame, presumably he couldn’t make a low carb programme because of money and sponsors, so made a general diet one instead.

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!