Week 7 - Low Carb Bootcamp - four weeks left!

[BIWI]

Morning all

Spreadsheet is here

No time to post - busy, busy, busy this week and have to get off to work now.

Good luck all

for Guy - hoping for the best outcome for you all x

I'm not doing great - but I'm KOKO. It's all I can do at the moment.

Regarding fat cells losing fat but plumping up with water this article suggests there has only been one recent study which supports the theory (but a lot of anecdotal evidence).

This I found very interesting, looking at Ancel Keys World War II experiment. It also linked high cortisol levels to water retention and the resulting 'whoosh' after a cortisol reducing celebratory feast.

It also suggests that sodium brings water into cells and potassium has the opposite effect. Earlier in this thread Gcalgske was talking about lower insulin in the body from this diet causing the kidneys to expel sodium, so I wonder if we should not be supplementing sodium levels so much, but rather potassium?

for guy

I have had a lovely morning cooking my menu for the next little while. I did:
LC Brownies
Blackberry fat bombs
Chicken pizza base
Cauli cheese soup
Roast belly pork
Breakfast muffins (egg, cheese and bacon)
LC Granola
Coconut bread
Pork ribs in slow cooker

I absolutely love cooking so it was a wonderful morning!
This also means that I can serve up quick dinners to DH, who despite being LC supportive and extremely intelligent, is still wont to Serve me pasta or chips if left to his own devices. And then look surprised when I explain that they are not particularly low carb options really...

I eat quite a lot of spinach, yoghurt, avocados, mushrooms which are high potassium. I also cook with cream of tartar where I can and use lo salt (If need be in my smoothie usually) and also take a magnesium supplement.

Keepon I use a spiraliser or a julienne grater and do long strands. If you don have either you can use a veg peeler, do ribbons then slice the ribbons. I normally use them raw and stir in a hot sauce. Softens them enough but keeps the bite. Some people cook them but I find they get too soft.

I weighed, i'm 208lbs (if someone could add for me?) which is up, but only 1lb so i'm happy :)

Have had three coffees with cream today - this is why i stopped buying cream! luckily its all gone now

Betsy when you start eating low carb you initially lose a lot of water as your glycogen stores are used up PLUS your kidneys start to work more efficiently so you lose water that way as well. The water takes sodium with it which is why you need to add extra salt at first. Once you've adapted you shouldn't need to keep adding extra salt. Some people get muscle cramps and benefit from supplementing with magnesium.

I'm really struggling to get back on track, I did a very good LC food shop but couldn't be arsed with cooking and ended up going on a snack run/ ordering a take away so I've eaten nothing but shite this week. woe is me!

Is is the point in the last BC that I more or less gave up and I'm getting so cross with myself for the constant sabotage. AF is very very late too which is causing me no end of stress.

Dinner tonight will hopefully be creamy leeks and chicken with swede and turnip mash and kale.

Food today
Coffee with cream
Chicken drumstick + 1 wing left over from southern fried
Green smoothie
Coffee with cream
3 pork belly strips, roast with star anise salt, cauliflower roasted with lemon, butter and chilli

B: strawberries and cream
L: pork belly, and cabbage sautéed in duck fat
S: blackberry fat bomb
D: pork ribs and celeriac gratin

guy hope it goes ok

nigella how did you cook the red cabbage steak?

Thank you to whoever told me how to roast swede - I did it for dinner tonight with gammon, cauli cheese, cabbage and leek and it was gorgeous! I'm a bit obsessed with the cheese sauce made with cream, soft cheese and grated cheddar... I only have it a couple of times a week but it goes really well with cauli, cabbage, leek etc. I don't even bother stirring it in I just pour some on top!

I think I'm doing really well not to give in to crap food atm considering AF has properly arrived with a vengeance after 2 weeks of light bleeding goodness knows what's going on with my body but hopefully it means I'm losing weight! I should probably take a trip to the doctor at some point to check on my high blood pressure and stuff

Thanks BIWI, Nigella and StuntNun, and Betsy for the links. The article I read was Betsy's first one. I hope I'm due a whoosh because I was absolutely starving yesterday - it was difficult to eat enough, even though I topped with huge amounts of butter and oil. Plus I was peeing a lot today.

But the cortisol effect is interesting. I'm working hard on being less stressed at work (no irony intended).

I was going to do a big Bikram yoga month in February as a kickstart to my new exercise life so I can actually move a little bit, but found my body was too hot and it was unbearable. Forgot to cancel the DD though so I've paid for unlimited yoga in March now as well .

So maybe I'll try and do hot yoga in March then.

Guy hope you get the perfect results.

Ancel Keys he is the bloke who came up with the flawed theory that eating fat makes you fat, that guy has a lot to answer for!

Got some greek yog in M&S today 4g per 100g, 10% fat - sounds similar or better than total? I don't have it very often anyway but sounded good

1st day off Uber, back on BC Lite , am going to try to keep dairy low most days

B - mushrooms and eggs in butter
L - leftover pork, hm mayo, lettuce to wrap, dill pickle, olives, crackling
D - last of the pork in a cauli fried rice with egg, shallot, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, hm truffle and a strawberry!

How do you stop leftover crackling going soggy?

AuntMaggie I never have any

shouldI - I got the roasted cabbage recipe from Gcal who posted it on an earlier thread. Basically you carve a slice or two, rub them with olive oil and crushed garlic, salt & Pepper, and roast in the oven. the first time I did it I left them in the oven too long so it's trial and error, probably depending on how thick the slices are. Probably about 20 mins or so at 180 degrees.

Nigella

Lunch: 2 scrambled eggs in butter and finished up some leftover homemade green vegetable soup. Then a ramekin of chia pudding made with almond milk, vanilla essence, double cream, and 5 raspberries.
Snack- Coconut oil fat bomb containing grated 90% choc and desiccated no sugar coconut
Dinner - roasted red cabbage steak with feta cheese
Then another ramekin sized chia pudding.
Lots of water.

I don't know enough about chia seeds, but would ask you if you know how carby your pudding is?

And, it doesn't seem like there's much protein going on in your day. Potentially quite carby as a consequence.

shouldI happily for me, DH doesn't care for it and the DCs don't know we have any left so it is all mine, mine mine! Last night was the first time I have made it successfully and once it had cooled I put it in a glass dish with a lid, perhaps that works better than an all plastic Tupperware auntmaggie?

Morning all. Does anyone know what I can use as a sauce thickener instead of flour? I am trying hairy bikers leek lasagne (with cream cheese instead of cheese sauce). But against my better judgment I followed the liquid amount in the recipe and it's v soupy. I can only get to a rural londis so won't be able to use any gums etc.

Have u had babies wand? The only reason I ask is I have seperated stomach muscles from my pregnancies (last baby 2yrs ago) and have a hernia coming thru the gap. To the outside world it just appears as bloated tummy. Gets worse thru the day as I eat as it pushes everything out!!

thanks BIWI - I think chia seeds are actually low carb and contain protein but have curbed my consumption. Protein: have now added a meat meal to my day. Tricky as DH has decided to go veggie! it won't last

thanks for the critique.

blacktea did you get the sauce sorted? Grated mozzarella might help, not sure boiling would if creamy sauce.

B - bacon, eggs, avocado
L - lc crackers, one butter one pate, crackling (still crispy on top and squidgy underneath yum), olives, cucumber, lettuce, hm mayo
D - will have to be something quick as dropping DS off at his Cubs camp (sob, my baby is growing up too fast), expect it will be cold sausages and umm what goes with them that we can have? salad doesn't seem right, maybe an avocado or a dill pickle - not much veg tdday and too much processed meat

I also had a dark choc covered brazil whilst in the throes of decorating his campfire themed cake as even though I am now horrified at the wheat and the sugar it still looks and smells absolutely delicious

I did Lex thanks. Simmered for hours then threw in some ground almonds at the end. It's still a bit watery but will be fine I am sure.

Normally I would add oats or lentils but these aren't B.C. friendly.