Well I am happy to say grocery shopping is done and out of the way and the Low Carb way of eating has begun. So here's today's menu My hubby is also joining me on the change in our eating habits. He could use to lose some weight and we all need to be healthy. So a lot more veggies coming and a lot less junk food.
Breakfast: Keto London Fog Tea, 3 dollar size Sour Cream Coconut pancakes, 3 Lilydale chicken breakfast sausge.
Lunch: 2 thin sliced pieces of Deli Rosenary Ham, small side salad with grated cheese, cucumber, tomato, radishes and 2 Tablespoons of Italian Dressing.
Dinner: 3oz of chicken done on the rotisserie, 1 cup of faux "potato" salad, 1 cup of Keto coleslaw.
Afternoon snack (if I choose to have one) : 1 sugar free cherry jello cup with 2 T real whipped Cream.
Evening Snack (while watching tv with hubby): 1 serving pepperoni chips & 1 serving of smoked cheddar chips with 2 tablespoons of spinach dip..
I had my tea first thing this morning when I got up and didn't end up eating my breakfast until 11:00 am. I will say that I wasn't impressed with the Sour Cream Coconut flour pancake recipe I tried. It didn't taste horrible but it didn't taste good either. The texture left a lot to be desired - I won't share the recipe because it was really not worth the effort. I did try an experiment to make a quick syrup topping for the pancakes though and it worked pretty well.
Warm pancake topping
2 T butter
2 T cream
1 T monkfruit blend sweetener
1/2 t vanilla extract (I would have used maple extrac if I had some)
1/2 t cinnamon
Mix all together. Heat in microwave 1 minute. Stir. Heat again for 1 minute. Stir & heat one more time. if it's not thickened enough for you at this point just do 30 seconds at a time until it reaches your desired thickness.
I have to say it was pretty darn good. You could use different extracts, leave out the cinnamon, what ever you choose do . Adapt to what you like. You can see it in the picture below.
I sipped on water all day and threw an A&W diet soda in with my lunch, which we ended up eating later in the afternoon because that's when we started to get hungry.
Today wasn't really a typical day. We eat much earlier during the week days because we get up early to look after the grandkids. We are on a regular time schedule most of the time but this weekend we had a ton of stuff to do and just ate when we were hungry.but generally speaking we stick to a pretty strict time schedule because of the kids and our schedules. So today has went well and I'm not thinking of this way of eating as a diet it's just a healthier way of eating for me. I'm also not telling myself I can't have something, because when I do that's when the feelings of deprivation set in and that's when I really want it. I think planning really helps because I know the next meal or snack is coming up soon and if I really want to eat I have a host of items to get me through that I can just go grab. By keeping myself organized, planning, and only buying stuff I can have and no stuff I can't have in the house it may just help me get through the crunch of starting. We shall see. Today I made it through. I'll try again tomorrow!
So I'm busy prepping for my May 1st start. I've set up the app I will be using to help keep me on track for the first while. I normally wouldn't track but until I get into the groove of things I plan to use it to kind of keep me on target. So I've downloaded and set up the "Carb Manager App". I find it very easy to use. Just a few simple questions and it will help you in deciding how many calories, carbs, fat & protein you should be trying to get in a day. I adjust it to fit my own personal prefrences. I use the free version but there is a premium version as well which will help you even further. Since, I've done this before and kind of know my way around with fairly good success I'm just going to use it to get my self started. I'll include the link for anyone reading this that would like the assistance of an app to help keep track.
I really need to work on portion size. I feel that is probably one of my biggest problems. A lot of times what looks like one cup is actually way more or 1 Tablespoon is actually 2, etc. So for the first month I am going to weigh and measure what I'm eating so I can get back in to the feel of what a portion size really is. Adding "just a little bit more" is my downfall. It's not just what I'm eating but how much. So my mentality of "just a little more won't hurt me" actually does. It means going over the amounts that are laid out so I can atually eat healthy and loose weigth. I don't plan on doing this once I get rolling becuase it eventually gets set in your head so that you can tell just by looking. it's just about forming a habit and it really does help.
We are also going through our freezers today, rearranging and getting rid of the items we know we won't be eating. It's time for a clean out. We have our garden started and plan on growing a fair bit so it's out with the old to make room for the new. I will admit there are some things in there that I don't even know what they are any mor. It was food at one time but is now freezer burnt or just been in there a litle too long and taste and texture are comprimised. I think the cupboards will be next. We've been working on using up and making meals with what we've had instead of buying more so we don't have a lot left - maybe a few part bags of pasta and some rice and cereal. The cereal we will keep for the grandkids, they will eat it up for us. Most of the items that are left are usuable on our new lifestyle adventure. The fridge however is full of stuff we probably can't have. Jams, sauces, condiments all loaded with sugar. You'd really be surprised at how fast the calories and carbs add up when you start using that stuff. So most of it has to go. If theres only a little left I'll just throw it out. If there's a lot I will pass it on to my daughter just becasue I won't be eaiting it doesn't mean someone else can't.
I'm actually really looking forward to doing this. I've done it before and was having amazing success. I stopped when my son passed away and never, ever started back up. In fact I think I totally went the other way. Food was my way of coping and soothing my heartbreak. Not one of my smartest choices. Then it went as feeling like I deserved to eat all the yummy foods. Low income, horrible health, constant pain. Couldn't afford to go anywhere or do anything. No extra spending money the only thing I really could do was eat and it became my entertainment, my reward and my fun. I mean after all I can't do anything else enjoy, can't take my joy of eating away too. That thinking needs to come to an end. I just need to rewire my brain into realizing that I deserve to be healthy and in less pain and then maybe I'll be able to enjoy doing the things I once did. Food won't be my only source of enjoyment and entertainmnet if I don't let it. Not sure how I'm going to accomplish it becasue those are deep embedded thoughts. Maybe I'll have to try subliminal messaging or something. I don't know but that's another reason I'm starting up the blog again. If am writing here and expressing my thoughts, plans and struggles maybe it will help me talk myself into sticking to it.
