Hi Jane
Welcome to the veterans club!
Fantastic results!
Penny

Hi Dearbecks
Welcome!
I’m sure the vanilla essence is ok but it’s really important to eat enough fat, so full fat yogurt (esp Greek yogurt), full fat milk, butter, cream, fat on meat, etc is much better. If you’re cutting carbs you have to have the fat. Then you don’t get hungry.
We ve all had the anti fat propaganda for decades but it hasn’t helped us! We were told it was the fat would make us fat so we didn’t eat it- and we got fat. It’s so hard to let go of but eventually we all do once we realise that Fat is Our Friend!
Best of luck
Penny

Judith, my breakfast would be a bacon sandwich, lunch a sandwich, tea – guess what? Another sandwich. For variety I might put beetroot on my bacon sandwich instead of ketchup! For breakfast, tried Oats so Simple – not a great idea, I was nearly running round the walls as they spiked my blood sugar. I also tried Weetabix but, to put it politely, I needed the toilet nearby😱

Looking back, I did realise some foods were affecting me, but I just didn’t join up all the dots. I made the mistake of looking at each thing in isolation, rather than seeing the whole picture as its unfolding now.

Yes Eureka, it seems like lots of us are realising how we’ve been misled over the years and becoming activists. I wonder if Michael and the Prof realised what they would unleash? As has been said before – Up the revolution!

The USDA database says 31 calories per 100 grams (so 93 grams for your 300 gram bulb, per the USDA database; the last bulb I used must have been a hair above 300 grams). The USDA determines the calories scientifically – eons ago my brother worked in that division. I’ve lost the details of the process, but it pretty reliable. 27 calories is accurate for a cup (per the USDA database), but a cup is only 87 grams. I always put USDA in front of my mfp search term if it is a raw ingredient. Or you can just go here: https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods?qlookup=&new=1

Glad it was delicious! I’m being fastidious about calories as well (which is how I know how many calories fennel has – I’d just used it in the equally yummy spicy chicken with lentils recipe).

Way hey, eureka, I’m all for bigging up the petition! 🙂

Lynne, spooky timing of article considering our very recent discussion re the link between Fibromyalgia and gluten! I printed it off to show my friend – the one I suspect has gluten intolerance and does have Fibromyalgia 🙂

Thanks, Kags, the pics, recipes and reviews on this site are totally beguiling. Can’t wait to try it. What an amazing coincidence, I borrowed a Paleo diet book from the public library just this afternoon. Glad to know I was on the right track.

Hi Cherrianne, Stuffing the zucchini is exactly what I did. Before BSD I always added brown rice when stuffing vegetables, but now it’s lentils/chick peas depending on the size of the vegetable. A lot of the dietary changes are ‘tweaks’ to existing recipes.
I must tell you I spotted your recipe using zucchini strips for lasagne – haven’t had a chance to try it yet – it looks delicious!
I’ve noticed there are never many posts in the Mindfulness section. If you (or any other BSDers) have a chance can you have a look and maybe help get the conversation going?

Hi captainlynne

It’s always only about the money! But they are going to be in big trouble as more of us wake up to the facts. I vote with my purse

Have you noticed that creeping mindfulness is a direct consequence of the 8 week BSD? Shedding scales from our eyes. I’ve never tweeted or Facebooked or forumed before BSD. Think it’s waking up my brain. About time!

Love Churchill. Went to a school called Blenheim.
Re: Diabetes & Low Carbs
Never, in the field of human conflict, will so much be owed by so many to so few.
Big up the petition
Eureka

I read that on line aswell lynne. At last! Some medical person who believes what patients struggling with gluten say. I firmly believe my rather severe diverticulitis was caused by persistent inflammation due to gluten intolerance. I made thatconnection when I wasn’t in severe pain after eating gluten when i was on large doses of oral steroids. What do steroids do? Reduce inflammation!

My packed lunches used to be sandwiches, lynne. My breakfast?weetabix with fruit. So healthy! Not! Despite the sarnies packed with salad and the cereal topped with fruit – it wasn’t just causing severe pain it is wasmaking me ill 🙁

Gruezi AliceinSwitzerland,
Welcome to the BSD way of life.
The sort of lunch meals that came to mind are hearty soups for cooler weather and salads as you head towards summer. The addition of legumes/pulses/meat to mainly vegetable soups/salads give them ‘staying power’ and should be manageable within your 800 calories. Remember small amounts of any of the beautiful Swiss cheeses adds variety.
As Bill1954 wrote about the food processor, if your children don’t like chunky soups, whiz them up – it’s amazing what you can hide in the soup! You should have access to some rye and other dense breads to add to the children’s lunch.
Peruse the recipes on this site, there are some great ideas.

Spiced apple crisps
kcal90 fat0.3g saturates0g carbs22g sugars22g fibre3.3g protein0.8g salt0g

Ingredients:
2 Granny Smith
Cinnamon , for sprinkling

Method:

Heat the oven to 160C/ 140C fan/ gas mark 3. Core the apple and slice through the equator into very thin slices 1 – 2mm thick. Dust with cinnamon and lay flat on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Cook for 45 mins – 1 hour, turning halfway through and removing any crisps that have turned brown. Continue cooking until the apples have dried out and are light golden. Cool, store in an airtight container and enjoy as a snack.

OMG lucia, that made me laugh, you are unique!!!! 🙂 xxxx

I counted and weighed everything. Even if I’d used all 300g of the fennel bulb it was only 36 cals according to nutracheck app. But I only used a 3rd as I was unsure if I would like the flavour. Even mfp said 1 cup of fennel was 27 cals. I certainly used less than that. I counted the amount of oil rather than drizzle which is extremely open to miscalculation. I was just curious because I am fastidious when it comes to counting the calories on this 8 week plan and I checked this numerous times. It was delicious anyway!

Hi Eureka

I like that one from Spike too 😃. And the one from Churchill😃

Even though I came to realise bread was making me ill, I kept going back to it. Before I started the BSD I think it was sandwiches for nearly every meal. I’d be too tired to cook so had a sandwich, which made me tired so ….. You get the picture!

It’s really only since I started this that I realised just how badly the bread etc was affecting me.

The above article was one of the first things I read this morning, and there seemed so many parallels with what we’re finding. Do these manufacturers not realise what they are doing, or do they have no conscience? I wonder what it will take to make them change their recipes?

thankyou, mainly don’t want to wait to start but too busy to sort (or eat) lunches at work at the mo. will try to go with real food for dinners though:)

The calorie count for any recipe that does not specify quantities should be taken with a grain of salt, especially when the missing quantities are for high calorie items like oil and vermouth! Even the lowly fennel bulb can add up. The last fennel bulb I used was 99 calories (not 12) – so you might want to weigh and check every ingredient – if calories are important to you!

When the quantities are missing (actually even when they’re not – since I’m obsessive ), I play with a recipe in myfitnesspal.com before I make it, in order to reach approximately the number of calories the recipe says. (Or, in some instances, to adjust the carbs downward.)

Day 45 weight 10st 4lbs (12 lbs lost)
Blood sugar 8.4 so still going down 👍😀

B – Yoghurt with 2 pears

L – Warm red pepper salad

D – Chicken chasseur, carrots and purple sprouting broccoli (My husband also had potato wedges and I was very tempted to have a couple but resisted)

Drinks – water, tea with milk. small glass red wine (oops!)

Hi captainlynne

My quote for the day is on Spike Milligan’s tombstone , ” I told you I was ill “.

Just read your post & the article. Several years ago I read Ian Marber’s book, The Food Dr Diet. I realised that bread just made me feel ill & stopped eating so much of it. Pity I didn’t just stop
He said wheat, rye, barley & oats are known as Gluten grains & contain Gliadin. Gliadin can irritate the lining of the intestinal tract. Grains have been cross bred to increase Gluten content. Gluten gives bread it’s airy expanded feel

I just knew bread was no longer my friend. Now I wonder if it helped me to become diabetic. Yet more metabolic / digestive problems created by the men who need Big Bucks!

Good job you brought this article to our attention , thanks

You are roaring ahead with the BSD & it is good to hear from you. Keep on keeping on. Knowledge IS power
Eureka

I think we should have a minutes silence for Fred.
Or even better let’s offer up a reduction in our carbs in his memory.

Gone but not forgotten.

Gone to the great pustule in the sky.

My own little carbuncle.

Love Lucia
Xxx😥😥😥😥😥😥😥😥

Here you go

http://www.theironyou.com/2014/05/cauliflower-crust-grilled-cheese.html?m=1 (hope this is not in breach of posting guidelines)

I’ve just stumbled across a load of links for cauliflower recipes. Will have to check them out!

Hi christine i have read it and replied! Takez a while for posts to show sometimes. It made my day. You are doing really well 🙂

Hi hashimoto
Thanks will try later looking for purple then!

Thank you AllyChat : )

Consuming legumes, chickpeas, lentils, chilli, the lot, desperate not to get a log-jam!!

B – full fat yogurt & frozen berries

L – lentil & pancetta soup

D – Italian ham, pastrami, cheddar cheese, onion hummus & asparagus tips

Ooh, yes please, Kags. Big fan of cauliflower especially with cheese.

Hi hashimoto
Thanks I feel a lot better today, I have put a post on ‘my eight weeks’ I don’t suppose it matters where you post however I had an interesting conversation with my daughter today when she called in, you must try and read it if you can find it, I’m still no good on these computer contraptions, you wouldn’t believe I used to work with them years ago when they were as big as a room!

Oh christine, how wonderful! I bet it’s the first time it was good to have your clothes laughed at!

Ketostix – at the least rosy pink! Hoping for deep pink. Ecstatic at purple!!!! 🙂

Janet, you are so like me, you are sure every problem has a solution, if we can just think inventively enough. I have tried them all because Son & Heir drinks them as well. I really like the milk alternatives on cereal, but not in tea/coffee. Rather have them black than have the wrong milk! And there are loads of baristas in Edinburgh who bear the scars I gave them last summer, for confusing semi with skimmed. “We call 2% skimmed!” Then you will have to make me another coffee!
Thanks for all your efforts, much appreciated,
Venus

Hi, I recently read the BS diet and felt that it was the right approach for me. However I’ve just had news that I will likely need shoulder surgery in the coming months and now my main motivation is to be healthier for that.

There is such a wealth of experience here and am enjoying reading so many different viewpoints. I’m looking forward to my journey and feeling really positive but I’m realistic and there may be rocky days ahead. But I know where to come 🙂

Hi All,
I thought I’d give you a quick update. I’ve just completed DAY 5 and results are good so far! Weight down 4KG and fasting morning glucose down to 5.8 (from start 7.3). Blood Pressure from 140/79 to todays 133/80 (mornings).

QUESTION – Should I stop my 2 tablets of 500mg Metformin tablets per day after food? I have not taken them for 2 days so far!
Same with my BP tablet once a day. I assume I should continue this and monitor daily?

I’m not getting hungry like I used to pre BSD plan. I’m walking daily 5-6000 steps and starting jogging soon.

I think it will get harder but heading in right direction… all the best, Nalin

Unfortunately for a bread lover like me, here in Romania we can’t get low carb bread yet, so I’ve been looking online for alternatives. While making a cauliflower pizza base (which is delicious, by the way!), I did a bit of hunting around and I found a recipe for a toasted cheese sandwich made from cauliflower “bread” slices. If anyone is interested, I can dig it out and link to it. I’m definitely going to try it.

Hi Janet 1973
Got some ketostix today at morrisons, thanks for the heads up x

Hi hashimoto
Read the above, what colour am I looking at to see if I’m fat burning? Cheers

Hi Lucia
See above, I just have to figure out how to ‘read’ them now, oohs and I love NCIS and especially Gibbs, he has something about him doesn’t he?

Hi catgirl
See above, thanks

Last night my carbs were well down so I thought I would experiment, I had the tiniest sliver of chocolate cake that I had made for the visitors over the weekend, this morning I had put a pound on why I have no idea, was it the chocolate cake that raised my carbs by enough to make me put a pound on?
So today I decided to not have breakfast! I could not have done that before this diet! So effectively I fasted from 9pm last night until 1pm today, I had omelette with cheese for lunch, then lamb meatball for this evenings meal with a tiny bit of broccoli, green beans and Spring greens, I will have a coffee later then see how my weight is in the morning.
On a lighter note my daughter called in today after a day out with her three girls, she took one look at me and laughed, I was a bit taken aback until she said, and I quote, oh mum you have to dump those trousers and that jumper, they are way too big on you now, they are hanging on you. Well you can imagine how I reacted, I laughed back and said I would give them to charity as soon as I had washed them!
I might even try a few more trousers on in the morning now.

Hello everyone, I’m on day 3 of BSD. Previously I was a great snacker, not snacking whilst on the diet but the family are missing out on my baking.

I’ll be making the books brownies tomorrow. Can anyone suggest some tried and tested recipes to satisfy my family’s need for baked/snack goods and me to not feel guilty having a nibble.

Thank you x

P.S I have a 2 year old obsessed with cake

Ahh, 17 syllables! 🙂

I had headache for about 3 days that I couldn’t shift with any amount of water – think it really just is withdrawal symptoms from our carb addiction! It is definitely a temporary thing though so stick with it and you’ll soon be over the worst of it 🙂

Thank you. Probably not the best time. To be honest l don’t know why l need to take that test so soon.

Hi Lucia

I remember Fred
Demise immortality
Just a shoe away

Eureka

Hello, have you tried chia seeds? They are fab in a smoothie (if you have a device like a bullet thingy to smash them to bits – otherwise it’s not a very smooth smoothie!) or sprinkled on a salad. They are very filling because they swell up inside plus they are extremely nutritious, low carb and high in fibre! Here’s a link which gives more info. Hope it helps. https://authoritynutrition.com/11-proven-health-benefits-of-chia-seeds/

Very poetic punning lucia.
Alliteration!

Since fred has died invisibly I guess there will be no funeral?

Xxx

“There is one sentence I have heard many times over when listening to doctors: ‘I don’t believe in…’.
But medicine is not theology: it is not for us to believe or not believe. We simply need to study the evidence – and when it comes to gluten, the evidence suggests it’s a lot more complicated than we know.”

Read this in a Daily Mail online article this morning. Talking about a new book in gluten sensitivity, and there are a lot of similarities between what we are saying and what the article says. Anyone interested, the book is: Gluten Attack: Why Gluten Is Waging War On Our Health And What To Do About It? by Professor David Sanders. Sounds like Prof Sanders is to gluten what Prof Taylor and Dr Mosley are to low-carb!
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3523461/Is-proof-avoiding-wheat-not-pointless-fad-new-book-leading-doctor-reveals-gluten-making-people-ill-thought.html#ixzz44ymqlgD3

Yes it would be good if we all did that. I am retired but I’m going to be selling it to some ex colleagues tomorrow and some other friends on saturday. One friend has my book at the mo so I’m hoping she and her daughter will sign up 🙂

I use the Turkish style yogurt from Lidl, which is 10% fat, so a little goes a long way. In the early days of the BSD, when I too had between meal pangs, I used to have about 30g of this yogurt and a few sultanas, which I kept in the pot in the fridge, pre-soaked in a ginger or rose tea – because they are all plump-shush you only need a half dozen or so to give a sweet treat.

I’ve just scanned the first page of replies to this thread- ‘ How will my GP react?’.
Firstly, I feel saddened by the nervous tone in the question, which reflects the old fashioned, patriarchal service that a lot of people are still clearly receiving from our so called ‘modern NHS’. I too am a nurse, and expect more from my GP. Any government paper will always wax lyrical about care being ‘patient focused’ and patients being ’empowered’, but sadly, reading this thread, it seems not. There are glimpses of good practice tho; in the BSD book, a reference was made to one of the guys in the case studies being an ‘expert patient’.
Sadly, our GPs have been tied to ‘targets’ for BP, cholesterol and Blood sugar levels for years, and a lot of them seem to have lost sight of the notion of patient empowerment at all!
Saying this, any GOOD GP would applaud their patient for taking responsibility for their health and well being and would support them. Same for practice nurses. I know a few practice nurses they get allocated a mere 7 minutes per patient, often with no lunch break!
My take on it all is this; This is YOUR life, your body and don’t worry about what your GP may or may not think. Go right in there, tell them what you’re doing, that it’s fully evidence based and that you want their support (and monitoring) to safely wean from whatever medication you are on. If they don’t want to do this, change your GP- I did, and get a great service now. It’s so worth it. Good luck!

hi cherrianne
Thank you for sharing the website address, I had a look at my ideal weight and it was exactly the weight I was aming for, brilliant.
Christine

Still struggling with constipation. I’m taking psyllium twice a day, plenty of fluids and still it persists. I have seeds and veg (though perhaps not as much as I should) and have taken senna three days running and …. nothing! I’m sure it’s stalling weight lose and it’s very frustrating.

I have a question. I have made the fish stew tonight and it says it’s 390 calories for 1 serving and it serves 2. I have been through all the ingredients and I can only get the calories to add up to more or less 390 for the whole pan of stew. There’s no way there’s nearly 800 calls in the pan?? I’m using Spanish stock cube which is only 20 cals, tomatoes are only 65 cals, seafood was 200 cals, 80 cals for the olive oil and I’m overestimating, fennel was 12 cals, spinach was 10 cals, the rest of the few cals are for the garlic and little bit of onion. Am I making a mistake coz I’m about to eat the whole pan?

What about your families and your friends and work colleagues?
Email the link to them.
I am sure we can get a lot more.

I am hoping for one more later this evening.

Love Lucia
Xxxx

Hi Lostgirl

Hooray for the lovely couple! Why not give them a bowl of delicious homemade soup or a really tempting salad to say thankyou.

Ditching cake is hard – not that I eat – ATE – it a lot. I have a savoury tooth. However, I make Very Special birthday & wedding cakes. You can’t buy them, I give them as presents. But , I’ve just had to explain to my soon to be 40 yr old son why he won’t be getting one! He is very supportive & is paying for the family to go on holiday & be together for his special day. It’s a big year for us, 70 ,2 x 40, 18 & me 65yrs old. I was going to make a very BIG cake!! We don’t get together often. I’m disappointed & probably everyone will be. BUT , it’s more important for me to stay on the rails than to make & eat CAKE!

I will make him jam tarts though. And then I’ll move away from them very quickly!!

Did you know Pepsi coke is excellent for cleaning toilets? Chuck it in & try it. 😘
Eureka

Ah, Fred, Fred,
Sorely loved
Now just dead.

A haku’ poem.

Do you like the sorely because he was a blister?

Three lines.
To the point.

Love Lucia
Xxx