Hi V, the cauliflower bhajee is not deep fried, it’s just cooked in a light curry sauce, so more like the saag, which is why I choose that, saag, mushroom or aubergine. I occasionally have a small onion bhajee, but avoid rice, breads and other high carb items. As long as I’m steering clear of those, as an Indian meal is only occasional, I don’t panic too much about the calories.

I agree, the posts from Eliza and Jackie were really uplifting and like you V, I often struggle to come up with more than one or two positives to post.

I suppose I’ve had a successful week or two weeks on this challenge. My weight is almost the same as it was when I came away three weeks ago. Unheard of! I usually put on maybe four pounds which I lose quickly when I go home but this time I’ve probably lost a smidgen. So all positive at this end.

S-g nothing is static. Readings do go up and down but as long as you are still doing all you can you can’t ask for more. Wait until tomorrow and see what your doctor, or should that be ‘dishy doctor ‘ has to say! At least you are down 50% on your insulin …. very, very positive so keep that in the forefront of your mind. Good luck tomorrow. Let us know how you get on.

Allie, it’s not total carbs minus fiber for her. It’s just total carbs period, assuming she’s using Fat Secret’s UK database which I believe is the default. Only in the US and US-based apps like MyFitnessPal do we have to do that manual subtraction.

Eliza what a wonderfully ‘positive’ post. I think you get the prize for the most upbeat post of the day. But JackieM 5 positive things to post is really good, I struggled to get to three today.

SunnyB I’ve never tried cauliflower bhaji is that deep fried like onion bhaji or more like saag? And yes this ‘positive’ thread really helps me too.

Kazz the kebab is just like home made meat balls but on a stick! I really dont think there is anything ‘unfriendly’ or processed in them but they just may be a bit heavy on the calories. It’s not food we eat everyday so, in my mind, as long as it’s BSD friendly the extra calories occasionally can be built into the plan. I think that once you start having simple carbs again it’s far harder to contain and that it’s the beginning of the slippery slope back to high carb eating/weight gain/ yo-yo dieting/diabetes. Not a route I plan on taking again.

JGwen, Esnecca is entirely correct that you have all the information you need to
calculate staying <20 net carbs per day. Counting sugars is not necessary. It’s
total carbs less fiber = net carbs. On the 20 g thread, there are posts of some of
our menus to help you envision what that might look like for you. Both Esnecca
and I have loss extreme amounts of weight by choosing to keep our carbs under
20. Others do very well on 30-40. If the scale isn’t moving, you always have
the option to lower your totals. My losses averaged .5lbs/day at the lower rate.
However, I was willing to do whatever it took. I think it depends greatly on your
personality type and emotional make-up. You will find what works best for you!

They don’t add up because fiber is not considered a subset of carbs according to UK labelling regulations so there’s nothing to add. It’s just a separate category of nutrient like protein or fat. Sugar is a subset of carbs, but it is already counted in your total carb grams, so you don’t add it or subtract it. I like to ensure I get at least 25 grams of fiber a day and I watch sugar like a hawk, so that information is valuable, but on the question of ensuring you stay under the limit, you have all the information you need in the total carb count. So in the breakfast example, you’ve eaten approximately 3 grams of carbs from your 20 gram daily allowance.

Thanks for the message, yes I am in the UK.

The fatsecret app displays in the standard report just a total for carbs, but I have found that there is an option for an extended report which lists a total carb, dietary fibre and sugars values for the day. What confuses me is that the values for carbs, fiber and sugars don’t add up. For example, after breakfast the figures were total carb 2.84, fibre 0, sugars 0.7

So how do I work out the 20g level for the diet, is it just the sugars figure?

Hi Guys, I would like to join this challenge. I seem to be going through a phase where the scales are not moving but I am still loosing inches. So my aim by Christmas is another inch to off my waist, so I am down a another dress size.

Good for you, lauraknits. Your husband needs an injection of your attitude and focus. He must be a bit of a tough nut to crack, carb addiction-wise, for him to be so phlegmatic about a decade of diabetes and the introduction of insulin. Shove that man full of fermented foods! 🙂

Good luck and welcome.

Positives:

1) lovely morning flower arranging for school – such a restful, frivolous thing to do. An annual treat!

2) daughter and I get on so much better now she’s 13. Maybe I’ve accepted she’s growing up a bit. And she actually is growing up a bit so is more tolerant of other people’s POV

3) great dog training session, we learnt ‘heel’ from a front sit. OMG, I will definitely be practicing that one! He’s such a beast already

4) buttered cauliflower, heavily seasoned and chicken for lunch. Buttery cauliflower my absolute favourite thing to eat

5) every day I am so grateful for my warm, dry, well lit and beautiful home. We are all only a few steps away from not being any of those things, and every day I feel a deep peace that I feel safe in this world.

If you’re losing weight it’s not a plateau. It’s probably the “odd treat” (that phrase is such a delicately British a way to tip-toe around a harsh truth) slowing you down, but you’re very close to your healthy BMI so that could be a factor as well. My reliably steady losses slowed down dramatically as I approached the magic number. Get back to counting and measuring, caronl. No oddness. Precision. You’ve got the greatest start to your New Year in sight!

What a great BSD story Linda.

Best of luck to you and sunshine girl on the husband project. The story about the honey made me laugh, mine it’s maple syrup on his – but he’s an ultra runner so his body burns fat like noone’s business. I’d rather do the BSD personally!😂

Hi all. I’m still plugging on – just not very good at joining in the discussions this week! Though I have found the discussions really interesting.

I have lost 0.7 kilos (1.5lbs) this week. Better than the week before (0.25k), but still comparatively slow – some of the results here are very impressive! I am not sure if this is just a plateau, having lost 7.5 kilos (16.5 lbs) since mid October, or whether the odd treat for St Nicholas on 5 December has played a part. So I shall keep better track this week and continue my drive to d r i n k m o r e w a t e r! 3 more kilos to get to my BMI range. That would be a really lovely way to see in 2018!

Judging from your spelling of fiber you’re in the UK. As Allie alluded to in the other thread, any British entries that you utilize from the Fat Secret database put fiber and carbs in separate categories so you do not subtract the former from the latter. Only in the US labelling system is fiber included under carbs along with sugar. So your total carbs are likely whatever Fat Secret says they are. No subtracting necessary. The sugar is a subset of the total carbs. Most days that column total for me is no more than 2 grams, mainly from yogurt, nuts and veg.

Thanks sunshine-girl, they sound very similar. I’m looking forward to the challenge, just hope he catches my enthusiasm.

Hi Marsie, I only ever eat this way, no carbs but I must have done something wrong. That square of dark chocolate a couple of times a week is maybe every night. But there is no good beating myself up as I have done my best. When I look at my blood readings for each day I am at a loss how to get them lower. I am reading at under 100 in the mornings (5.5) and usually around 70 in the early evening (3.8) – how can I go lower than that. Looking back over the last 3 months I have had about 4 occasion when I have gone up to 120 (6.6) and my doctor tells me to be between 80 and 120. We will have a chat tomorrow but I cannot cut out anything else.

That’s an amazing gift to give your daughter, Eliaza52! You must be so excited about seeing her again and introducing her to the new you.

My Indian meal was half portion each of Rasmi Chicken (chicken in a tomato based sauce) and a cauliflower bhajee. Had the second half last night. This is a formula I usually use – something in a tomato based sauce and a veggie bhajee, often sag, but sometimes mushroom or aubergine.

Lots of lovely positives being posted, don’t know about the rest of you, but it helps to keep me upbeat, especially if things are getting a we bit stress.

My positives for today are:

1) Catching up on laundry today, while we are generating a good level of electricity (we have solar panels on the roof). It’s been cold but really sunny here this morning.
2) Christmas prep is progressing well, managing to do a little bit everyday. Hoping to have the Aga running properly again tomorrow and then I can do some cooking!

Keep posting those positives folks.

Oops, Sunshine-girl, you posted while I was typing. A blip, I’m sure, as you are very clever at working with your diabetes and this WOE.

Cheers, Marilyn x

Hello to all the busy, busy challengers,

Up by 200gm from last Tuesday, but 500gm from last Friday. Today = 62.2kg.

My weekend blew out a little: dinner on the balcony by the canal was ok food-wise, but added a couple of glasses of sparkling shiraz, an old Christmas favourite of ours. The little tonk-tonk tour around the canals to view all the decorated houses was wonderful, people work for weeks on end to put up all those lights, carol singers outside one house on their boat jetty adding to the atmosphere. People pay close to $40 to do this tour, weren’t we lucky to have a friend with a boat? Sunday lunch became Sunday long lunch became Sunday early dinner (no alcohol) before our couple of hours drive home. It was the long lunch early dinner where I just lost track of what I was doing. Oh well, I love my friends’ company, so am not complaining. Strictly, strictly for the next few days as we have another long lunch at Sandalford Winery, very special, on Sunday. We will be with 3 other couples. We all first met at a local squash club when #1 son was in his 5yo kindy year and we celebrated his 50th birthday 3 weeks ago. Long time friends, a lot of history between us.

Seeing good results above, so well done everybody. Butterlover, we’ve already spoken. JackieM, you are doing so well, aren’t you……really got it sorted 🙂 S-g, fingers crossed for good results. Such an active thread, it’s quite thrilling to be part of it. Hope everyone can keep it going as we get nearer to Christmas.

One Day at a Time………..xx

Well my results are in and not too bad but not good either. HbA1c of 6.1 or 43.2 mmol/mol. That is up from 5.7 in September. Okay, Christmas is coming up so not much I can do right now. I have to remember that I am on nearly half the amount of insulin I was on before. There is a little red asterisk next to the result and in brackets (normal reading 4.0 – 6.0) so I am just over but I am diabetic.

Will see the doctor tomorrow.

JGwen, I’m in the States, but the way our nutritional labels read, they list total carbs,
then fiber, then sugar. The calculation is total carbs less fiber = net carbs. I’ve never
used sugar calc. in the equation. I think UK nutritional labels already have the fiber
subtracted.

Can any one give me some advice on how to calculate the amount of net carbs? The app I have been using to measure food intake does provide the option of seeing g of fibre, and g of sugar and g of carbs. Is net carbs = g of carbs – g of fibre or just g of sugar.

Eliaza52: I think you have just given your daughter a wonderful Xmas present….many more years to enjoy the company of her mother. But first you may have to tell her who you are….she may not recognize you!

Hi JGwen and welcome! If you will type the name of this thread into the search box
at the top right of the page “20 g Carbs anyone?” it will take you to a recent discussion
of this topic. Come on back if it doesn’t answer your questions though, and someone
will be along to help 🙂
Best of luck to you!

Allie

I think part of the problem may be understanding fiber v sugar carbs. The app I have been using to record food only reports on the total carbs, not the two types so I have been counting the 20g of carbs as all carbs, not making a distinction between fibre based carbs and sugar based carbs. I have only just realised that if I go back over recent days when I was coming in at an average of 50gm of carbs according to the app and break that down into fibre and sugar carbs I would be around the 25g figure of sugar carbs. So I think I was being too hard on myself when I was in the 20g total carb period.

Hi everyone.Im pleased to report a loss of 0.4kg which is not much but Im pleased because I have been completely off plan this week. I have been so busy with our house .The Ceiling in the living room dropped and we had urgent repairs done.before it completely collapsed, since the furniture was removed we painted the walls.so I washed the curtains which fell apart .then went shoping for a new rug curtains etc.With no time to plan my meals and the weather at 36 plus I grabbed whatever. Salads and cold meats also some bread and even icecream.I will probably gain as I am probanly a bit low on fluids. But Im happy its not a big blow up KOKO

Has anyone got any advice on how to work out the carbs relative to the 20g target. I have been using the FatSecret app on my phone to enter everything I eat and drink and aiming for being under 20g in carbs in the daily summary. I understand that there are other ways of working out carbs, so for example carbs in fiber don’t count in the 20g limit. Is there an app which makes it easy to work this out, or some other formula that people use? The FatSecret app does’t include the break between carbs from fibre and sugar in the reports. It does show a figure for fibre and sugar carbs when you enter each food, but, there is no way with the menu system to select the reports show only suger based carbs. The total of the two figures for carb type is greater than the figure for overall carbs on some food items. So I am getting very confused.

Eliza52, that is FANTASTIC news! I am very very pleased for you about your results! Very impressed how you are spreading the word! Your daughter will be overjoyed and very proud of you! What a wonderful Xmas present!

Kazzee

Hi JGwen.

I will also be interested to hear what others say regarding this. I wake 3 to 4 times per night. Every 1.5 to 2 hours. I have no problems going to sleep and when I wake, I usually can turn over and go back to sleep unless I have something on my mind. On those occasions I do yoga breathing which does help. I’ve not noticed any difference at all with my sleep pattern when on low carbs. Having such little sleep yourself must be exhausting for you. Hopefully some of our friends here can help you.

Kazzee

Following blood test results last week (Bb1ac 32, Fasting glucose 4.1, Cholsesterol 3.3 and triglycerides 1.6) just seen GP, and I’m coming off the cholesterol meds, and statins, and providing my blood pressure stays stable (it’s come down quite a lot) over the next three months, I’ll be off the blood pressure meds too! She’s also happy to repeat full tests in 3 months, and if levels as they are now, will write “Diabetes resolved” in my notes! So no need to declare it on insurance forms – great for the foreign trips I’m hoping to take in a year or so when I’ve retired!

Also spoke with her about the hostile reception I got from the practice diabetes nurse, and suggested that she really should be informed about the BSD, and that they should be suggesting it to all their Type 2’s. At least giving them the option – if they then don’t want to/can’t follow it, fine…but at least they will have made a properly informed choice. GP promised to speak to both the diabetes nurses, AND her fellow GP who is the diabetes coordinator for the practice. Like others on here, I try to promote the BSD whenever I can!

On a more personal note, my daughter, who’s studying in the US, will be home a week today for Christmas – and I haven’t told her about my weight loss, so I’m looking forward to her reaction (I’ve lost 3 stone and 2 dress sizes!).

Hello lauraknits and welcome. Good luck with your plan and hope hubby can do it too. My husband is not diabetic and has been sort of following this plan but recently diagnosed with a combination of high triglycerides and high fasting sugars – altert, heading for pre-diabetes. Why would he still get that when he is on this diet. Easy, he has croissants or toast and marmalade every morning, always has bread at lunch and just cuts out the carbs at dinner then has cheese and biscuits. So I am going to have the same struggle with him as you are likely to have. He has been eating porridge for the last 2 weeks and as he is usually up before me I dont see it. This morning I was up very early to go have my blood test done and there he is liberally squirting his porridge with honey.

Hope we both have some success with our mens diets.

Thanks Verano. Saag bhaji wasn’t something I was aware of so I’ll add that to my list. Last month I went out for an Indian meal and had skewers with tandoori fish and prawns which I thought/hoped was a good choice. I also had a starter of sheikh kebabs but not entirely sure what that is made up of, minced lamb and spices I guess. Would that be considered processed I wonder?

Kazz when I eat Indian out I tend to have chicken tandoori or tikka either just with salad or with saag bhaji. Unlike onion bhaji the spinach is cooked like a thick sauce. If I’m feeling really decadent I have chana marsala which is spicy chickpeas but it is very carby. The good thing is that we no longer have to fear the oil although we should be careful of the calories so Indian food out is a treat for me now!

I wonder if any of you who have been doing the 800 diet for some time have any advice on balancing carb intake to enable sleep while still loosing weight. I am at the end of the first round of 8 weeks of the 800 cal diet. I have managed to loose 15kg but still have at least another 20Kg to go. I found that at the start weight loss was easy when keeping down to 20g of carbs a day, but lack of sleep was a problem. I found it difficult to get to sleep and was only sleeping for 3 or 4 hours a night. I am fortunate in working from home and having the flexibility to set my own work hours. So when I started lying awake for hours at night I tried different options, like staying up until I felt sleepy (which was working out to be about 4.30am but I still woke up at 7 or 8 am and couldn’t get back to sleep.) I was feeling groggy and spaced out due to lack of sleep and reached the point where I decided not to go to a meeting because I did not feel safe to drive. Having read about the need for carbs to produce the chemicals to help you go to sleep I started having a small portion of fruit and yoghurt in an evening which means I am sleeping normally again. – but while my shape is continuing to change the weight loss has stopped.

I have been using fatsecret app on my phone to log everything eaten, and it seems that my carb intake is about 50g a day.

Has anyone else found other changes which make it easier to sleep while staying on 20g of carbs. Or have people who have successfully lost weight long term been able to do this while having more than 20g of carbs?

Has anyone else who has had a similar experience got any advice or suggestions please?

I just thought I would introduce myself as I have been hanging around in the background for a few months and feel I should now join in. My story so far :
I have been overweight for most of my adult life (now 49 !) and 3 years ago managed to lose about 36lb just by calorie counting. I kept this off until last year when a few lbs started to creep back on.
My OH is type 2 and has been diagnosed for 10 years and started on insulin at the start of this year. He is just in the obese range but not inclined to do anything about it despite warnings from everyone.
I occasionally test my fasting bloods and was shocked to find them nearly at 6 earlier this year so I decide to try the BSD and lost 20lb in 8 weeks and fasting bloods were down to just over 5 which was great. I wasn’t overly strict as I am not diabetic however I cut out all refined carbs and most sweet things and have definitely lost the taste for them and feel so much better.
I have lost a further 4lb since then without really trying and have decided that I need to lose another 16lb to get me well into the healthy weight range and I don’t want to wait until after Christmas so I have started today. I’m actually looking forward to doing this again as I didn’t find it a chore the first time and I know it will work.
My husband has said that he will eat the same as me this time so hopefully this may also help him a bit.
I’m off to set up my spreadsheets and weight charts :o)
Laura

Well done, Verano! KOKO ……

Good morning friends.

Well my plans disappeared for yesterday on my day’s leave all because of the snow! Sunday evening I ended up with a full house of 6 friends who got stranded here due to the snow and last minute train cancellations. Fortunately they’d eaten well before arriving! As a single person and doing BSD, I just don’t have loads of food hanging around any more. Plenty in the freezer. And no bread of course, which would have been a godsend for them! Fortunately, I’d made a load of seed crackers and had got some cheeses in and pickles for Xmas. Went down a storm, the crackers, and they left yesterday afternoon with the recipe. I promoted the bsd WOL! We ended up having one of the most enjoyable evenings in a long time. Isn’t that often the way? unplanned and impromptu!

SunnyB – I’d be interested to know what you selected as your bsd friendly Indian meal? Always looking for ideas.

Marie, that’s so lovely about your ring! I have a couple more NSVs…..

1- bath sheet size towel now meets when wrapped around and doesn’t gape at the front!
2- have had to move my car seat forward a notch so I can reach the pedals! Hurrah!

Allie – I’ll respond to your email shortly.
LTC – thanks for the link. I agree with all you and SunnyB say and of course JF. I have to be careful not to become a bore though when talking about it to anyone that asks!

Kazzeexx

Hi Milalin, you probably used the back button to go back to the forum (top left hand arrow) you should click on the word Forums at the top of the page then go to All Recent Topics on the drop down.

Hi all, managed to lose half a pound so big cheers all round. I put it down to fasting from 8pm so I didn’t have my usual bedtime snack, maybe I can live without it, at least now and then although I went to bed hungry. So 11st 13 1/2 lbs. Had my blood taken this morning so will let you know my results later.

No loss to report here, again!
I have seen the 10’s and 11’s on in between days but for some reason on Tuesdays the scales are sticking to 8.12!
Still I’m hoping to get to 8.10 by the end of the challenge so will try to stay focussed.
At this time of year I traditionally associate wrapping presents with scoffing chocolates. Think I’ll make do pretty well with cups of tea this time. Am enjoying a satsuma or two also in the evenings.

Morning all challenge buddies.

Allie, I have spent a lot of time in the US so have managed to chuck off some of the British reserve but it still hangs around like a bad smell sometimes. I’m definitely getting better though!

I can’t honestly remember what I weighed in at last week but looking at the weight I logged on the day before this challenge, and what I weighed this morning, I’ve lost 5.5 lbs. In 15 days ( I actually think it’s 2.75lbs per week). I am very chuffed!! However, the amount of will power that this has taken has been ridiculous. Yesterday I tried an experiment. Every time I walked past a sweet, or biscuit, or chocolate in my offices (and there are LOADS around) I picked one up and put it in an (empty) chocolate tin that I have in my office. At the end of the day I looked at what I probably would have eaten (because I literally can’t walk past it usually without wanting something) and then put it all back on the pile and went home. It was a lot of stuff – all bad, all refined sugars and trans fats. Felt proud. Going to do the same today.

I’ve set my goal over the next two weeks just to maintain as I don’t think anything else is realistic.

Well done to anyone losing at this time of year – it’s a massive achievement. Keep your shields up and your heads down until 2 January – we can get through this lol!!

Good morning fellow Elves.
I am 0.5 lb up on my birthday weight last Thursday but have lost 1.5 lbs over the week. I am not too concerned as it usually takes a few days/weeks for my body to accept a new low. Although we have a busy social weekend coming up, I will try to reach the magic 13.s again before we leave next Tuesdsy.
KOKOODAAT.
X B

Adding to that SunnyB … it’s never too late to be what you want to be!

I’m finding it a bit of a struggle to find three positives but…
1. My weight has stayed stable for the three weeks I’ve been away, never managed that before.
2. I have almost finished my present buying.
3. I have finished The Clever Guts book and would definitely recommend it as a good read but not necessarily as a diet unless you have an issue.

Weigh in today and I am up 3.5 pounds but it is TOTM and I can actually see some of the water bloat so not worrying. This week is our wellbeing week at work so today at work and Thursday I am introducing people to the delights of strawberries and Greek yoghurt on healthy breakfast days along with a selection of other fruit 😀 still outnumbered by the free bacon butty and pastries days but at least it is something.

I don’t usually eat breakfast but that Indianish recipe has made my mouth water! I will definitely try it. It’s funny that you should mention becoming a salt freak because I now use far more than I ever did before BSD. I wonder why that is?

60.2kg – new personal low after a week of up and down the 60kg and 61kg scale. I ate a lot yesterday but I did have big gaps and I was done by 7pm. Also Day before I ate a lot of veg, and I think that makes me go up until it’s time for it to – ahem – come back down.

I think if I bought a pair of UK size 8 jeans that would not be ridiculous. When you think in August I bought some size 16 pants (underwear) and had more or less given up that is remRkable. I wish getting my BMI down (4kg to a BMI of 22) went a bit quicker, but other than that WAYHAY!

I’ve always had a bit of a mental block on being ‘small’ but I am not Small, or at least I am strong so don’t feel small even though I guess objectively I probably am Small (5’3” and 9st 4llbs, I think, I’ve used kg til now as it sounds less, but now the stones sound less too!)

Good luck with everyone else’s journey, it is definitely very doable, even if you don’t cook!

Esnecca the boots are gorgeous! And no at 45 you are not too old to wear them! I’m 52 and I would!
I used to work with a lady who was well into her 60s and she wore the most funky shoes 👠 stilettos in all sorts of colours and patterns – ones with decorated skulls on them for example, or intricate spider web designs (complete with spiders!) and she always colour coordinated them with her clothes. Unfortunately I’m stuck with wearing fairly boring orthopaedic flat shoes (because of 1) Arthritis and 2) big feet – so much harder to find decent shoes!)
But back to your boots – they’d look great 👍

What a fantastic shop! I’ve gotten things from Etsy before. There are some very talented artists on there and I love that they can make a successful business selling the fruits of their creative labors. Otro is officially bookmarked and faved. Thank you!

Remember how were talking in the maintenance thread about buying clothes that were almost certainly too young for us? Well, I’m finding myself uncontrollably drawn to this cuteness: https://www.modcloth.com/shop/hidden/banned-mod-than-meets-the-eye-bootie/100000265165.html . Does it look too girlish for a 45-year-old woman going reliving her 20s in a whole different body? It’s clearly Mod-inspired, after all, so if anybody has the right to wear those darling boots, it’s we vintage ladies. 😀

Inspired by an abysmal, tasteless, offensively bland meal at a so-called Indian restaurant last week, I made a highly idiosyncratic dinner tonight using Indian spices. My idea was to combine elements of chicken korma, tikka masala and saag paneer into a weirdo hybrid that would give me the lovely hit of spice that was so tragically missing at that dreadful restaurant. Since I don’t use tomatoes except in miniscule amounts, the tomato base was out. I pulled out my old shakshuka trick to solve that problem: greens. I used my slow cooker and the result was almost like a stew and reminscent of saag because the greens cooked for so long that they broke down and softened beautifully. The flavor was complex, layered, smokey, hot, zesty, exactly what I had been so cruelly denied. OH loved it too. He made a number of obscene noises as he inhaled it.

Indianish Chicken and Greens

1 tblsp cumin, ground
1 tsp sichuan or tellicherry peppercorns, ground
1 tsp sea salt, smoked salt, lava salt, flaked salt, whatever you’ve got that’s interesting. I used like 4 different kinds because the BSD has made me an insane salt freak.
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried ginger, ground
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp curry powder
2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp cayenne (mine is 150,000 scoville units, so adjust according to how hot you like it)
1 lb skinless chicken thighs
1 bunch (about 1 lb) turnip greens or any other sturdy cooking green like mustard, kale, chard, collards.
1 cup chicken stock
4 cloves fresh garlic
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
2 oz creme fraiche (or Greek yogurt or cream cheese)

Mix the dry spices together in a small bowl. Pat the chicken thighs dry and rub the spice mixture into the flesh. I used about 3 tsp total for this stage. My slow cooker has the option of being used stovetop, so I sprayed olive oil on the bottom, heated it up on medium and added the spiced chicken. Flip it once to get a sear on both sides. You can do this in a separate sautee pan if your slow cooker can’t be used on the range and just transfer them to the cooker when they’re nice and browned on the outside, but still very pink inside.

Chop the greens crosswise, stems and all. Add them to the chicken in the slow cooker. Add the chicken stock and the rest of the dry spice mixture. Add the fresh ginger and garlic. Stir it all up, cover and cook on low for 5 hours. Taste and adjust for spices. I ended up adding more garam masala, turmeric and a touch of ghost pepper salt for intensity. Add the creme fraiche and stir to distribute. The chicken will be falling apart as you stir and the cooked down greens will have produced a lot of delicious pot likker, as they call the cook-off fluid from greens down South. I wanted to thicken it a bit to make it fork-ready, so I added a tsp of guar gum. Alternatively, you could just turn the cooker up to high, take the lid off and let some of the liquid evaporate. It’s delicious, though, so don’t lose to much of it.

That’s it. A lot of payoff for very little effort, and one of those dishes that is great to make for guests because you don’t have to be fussing over it while you’re entertaining. The work is done long before people darken your door. I’m looking forward to having it tomorrow to see if it makes an even better leftover. Spices can do wonderful things overnight.

Hi Lucia, I just wrote a huge reply to you and it seems I somehow deleted it! Very frustrating! I’ll start again but this will be short for now. I’ve known about my illness for almost 30 years. Knowing it made me never take a day for granted. Whilst the battle has got harder over the last 5 years. I appreciate everything I’m able to do. Plus I’m the example for my daughter who has to face this illness too. My hope is a successful transplant and to be able to travel again in the future. Meanwhile I’m getting a real kick out of seeing my results. My first target is to come off insulin! X