Week 3 Low Carb Bootcamp - Where we stand at the crossroads ...

[BIWI]

Morning everyone.

So, we enter the fabled week 3.

This week you have a choice. You can either continue with Bootcamp or you can move on to Bootcamp Light:

Rules of Bootcamp Light

Or you can do a hybrid - Bootcamp during the week and Bootcamp Light at the weekend. Totally up to you and what you find is working for you the most.

Don't forget to enter your weight on the weight tracker - today you should see your graph appear! Or if you prefer, here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

And now - a word of warning!

It is very, very, very common for weight loss to slow down/stop altogether in weeks 3, 4 and/or 5. This seems to be entirely normal. It's probably to do with your body adjusting to low carbing. You will have junked the glycogen stores and a load of water, and will now be burning fat. From here on, weight loss will - and should be - around 1-2lbs a week

Good luck everyone!

Chester that's such a positive way of looking at it. My attitude to food is so different to a month ago. And this is just the start!

I have just made almond puff pancakes from the Low Carb Gourmet book. It did have one teaspoon of sweetener in, and I had them with cinnamon and butter, and they were absolutely delicious. I enjoyed every mouthful. Now to see if that bit of sweetener causes sugar craving... having not had any, they tasted sweet and fluffy and buttery and wonderful. They surpassed expectations.

I haven't read the most recent posts so I apologise if I repeat something but......

If you eat vegetables and lots of em.... you ARE eating carbs!!!!!!!! You are just choosing to actively eat healthy foods which are LOWER in carbs along with a healthy protein and healthy fat. This diet isn't about no carbs which from what I've gathered, the horizon programme showed, it's about reducing the carbs that cause weight gain, bloating, etc etc and eating a healthy diet of natural foods which allow you to a) reduce and then maintain a healthy weight b) reduce dependence on sugars and processed foods.

A lot of American low carb'ers do use artificial sweeteners in their low carb diet and my personal opinion is that is not good BUT BIWI's bootcamp is all about good healthy food so how can it not be healthy?

I also remember my grandparents and similarly aged relatives telling me that if they needed to loose weight then they were told to cut out bread, cakes etc so it's not a new diet by any means - this is the diet from what 1940's and earlier? It's really only after the 1950's introduction of processed foods that weight gain really became a problem in the UK and we are repeatedly told how healthy people were in the 1940's (well..
. mostly )

Off my soapbox now(!)

Afternoon, I have been doing a massive amount of batch cooking. I find it so much easier to stick to this woe if there isn't the standing in front of the fridge scratching my head moment.

Tonight I shall have a glass of wine, and chicken with stir fry veg for dinner, and maybe a gin and slim whilst watching the France England game.

Sal - how about a chicken and vegetables stir fry or some dry spare ribs?

Ok Sal I'm thinking thin soups e.g. hot and sour, stir fry prawns, chook, etc. Mine does a lamb thing similar to crispy duck but you have it wrapped in lettuce, tis very nice. Maybe a chicken and mushroom dish or duck with ginger which is lower carb than lots.

Instead of rice type things have stir fried veggies - mushrooms, beansprouts, bamboo shoots, broccoli or Pak choi.

How lovely though. My family all wanted pizza tonight so not sure what I'll be having! Maybe Chinese

supersalstrawberry, I would get:
Spareribs to start
Beef or chicken in black bean sauce, with a side order of beansprouts and bamboo shoots (whicg are 5g/100 but you won't have that many).

Sal.....eat a big bowl of yoghurt before you go......

Pistey - make yourself a cauliflower pizza

Just coming on to report my sugarless custard.

It was quite good I thought but had a bit of an aftertaste, I think that was because I had no vanilla pods left so used extract instead. My OH even said it tasted fine then he asked if i would add sugar to his

Having a backwards dinner tonight, just had custard and having braised ox cheeks with celeriac mash once its ready.

Cauliflower pizza:

That pizza is shown on a pizza stone, by the way - it's not a thick, doughy crust!

I had a real urge, for some reason, for corned beef hash. So I made some today, using celeriac instead of potato and it was absolutely brilliant. Will post the recipe on the recipe thread. I reckon it came to about 16g carbs for the whole lot, and I probably about a third of it.

Wow! How did you do that?

MrsJoeHart there are some good links upthread somewhere which do a really good job of explaining the reason why Mr No-Carb had a less-than-good insulin test. I think the gist was, on low-carb, the muscles have to hand different enzymes which use fat as fuel, rather than glucose as fuel. So if lots of sugar is suddenly eaten (I think that was part of the test) the body isn't immediately able to react in the usual way and the blood sugar is a bit high. Apparently this is an entirely reversible situation, it takes about 3 days of eating carbs for the muscles to get their glucose-using enzymes back again.

Apparently the test on the programme is known not to work for people on low-carb diets and people are asked to ensure they've been eating some carbs for 3 days beforehand. Otherwise the results are basically rubbish. (and apparently doctors should know this.) They do NOT show that he is pre-diabetic. They just show that currently his muscles are geared up to burn fat as fuel.

Its the high-carb twin on course for worse insulin situations!

daisy indeed! If you're aiming to eat eg. 20g carbs a day, you can fit a lot of green veggies (and even a decent amount of other colours, if you want) into that amount.

BIWI yum that pizza looks so good. I can't wait to move so we'll actually have a working kitchen! (our current oven is awful and mostly just blows the fuse)

Well, I'm in a much better mood. Sorry about the selfish rant in the morning. Shopping's done and I ended up buying some Bombay Sapphire, and the two G&Ts (actually no tonic water, just mineral water) are probably why I'm feeling so chilled and happy now...

As you were. :)

Cauliflower pizza:

Blitzed a small cauliflower in the processor, until really small crumbs.

Cook on high in the microwave for around 6 minutes, till cooked/soft. (Some recipes then tell you to put this on to a clean tea towel and squeeze out as much moisture as you can - I think this is probably a good idea because I didn't do this, and it was still a bit soggy in the middle

Allow to cool and then mix in a grated ball of mozzarella and about 2 oz grated Parmesan

Add an egg to bind it all and season with black pepper, then press onto a baking sheet or (as you can see) a pizza stone.

Bake it for 10-15 minutes in a medium oven, until it is browned.

At this stage I put the toppings on and cooked them for another 10 minutes or so - but one recipe I've just found recommends turning the base over and cooking it a bit more - that might be a good idea as well, as it will help you produce a more rigid base that you can actually hold in your hands, like a normal pizza

Wow BIWI, that pizza looks fantastic. I was going to get some milled flaxseed next weekend and have a go at making a base from that.

Pizza is one of the things I'm missing most, that and haribo!

Really want to eat a pizza. A proper one.

Have loads of LC stuff in, but I want to order takeaway.

I'm eating by myself too so a takeaway will be an expensive waste of carbs.

Please help me list reasons why I don't want a takeaway really!

Just made the Parmesan shortbread up thread. Bloody marvellous and all gone.

I'm not even hungry, my lovely lunch has kept me full - I just want it.

Found a recipe in the Daily Mail of all places! It sounds low carb... what do you think...

smoked haddock and celariac gratin

Its basically sliced celariac and spinach, baked with double cream and nutmeg. When soft, after about an hour, you lay smoked haddock fillets on top and season with snipped chives and bake for another 20 mins.

I have just made something absolutely gorgeous and only slightly naughty!

Was really peckish and the only nuts in the cupboard were some pecans which had gone a bit soggy as Lidl are incapable of making good resealable packs. I had bought some xylitol before Xmas for a recipe someone posted on here so melted a knob of butter in a pan, tossed the nuts in it then sprinkled them with salt, xylitol and cinnamon, mixed until all melted and combined. Allowed them to cool and YUM!
I know sweeteners are not ideal but it was truly gorgeous. Might even add a tad of chilli or black pepper for warmth next time too

I would like the cauliflower pizza. Rest of my family would kick up merry hell. I just know it. Sadly don't really even have support of DH on this at the mo.

So they are having Pizza Express American Hots etc and I'm having some stir fry prawns and salad.

Am working on the whole family eating the same thing. Slow progress!

Like the smoked haddock dish. Sounds lovely.