Spicy Quiche

Spicy Quiche (my variation on a sausage quiche recipe)
 
1 pound beef, browned
8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded (I used a spicy cheese blend with jalapenos)
6 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash pepper
1 cup heavy cream 

Put the beef in the bottom of a large pie plate, needs to be a nice deep pie plate. Top with the cheese, I only used about 6 oz as my pie plate is shallow (jalapenos if you want them). Beat the eggs, salt and pepper, then beat in the cream. Slowly pour the egg mixture evenly over the beef  and cheese. 

Bake at 350º for 35-45 minutes until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Let stand about 10 minutes before cutting. 

6-8 servings:
Per 1/6 Recipe: 607 Calories; 52g Fat; 31g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 3g Net Carbs
Per 1/8 Recipe: 455 Calories; 39g Fat; 23g Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 2g Net Carbs.

I served myself my 6th of the quiche with a spinach/herb salad, a dollop of sour cream and a dash of wonderful Tabasco sauce.  It was totally wonderful. Leftovers in the fridge for lunch with salad Thursday and Friday at work and one half frozen for later in the week or beginning of next week. 

Learning and doing

So I spent a couple of weeks reading all and learning what I could about low-carb diets. How to do it right without damaging yourself. The reasons for and those reasons why people dislike it. I came to the conclusion that I have to try. I have to see as it pretty much mimics what my nutritionist, last year after the strokes, asked me to do and what I lost that first 75 lbs with. This allows dairy and more protein in my diet than the nutritionist had and that was one thing that I did miss.

First I purge the apartment of everything that I needed to eat and consume that would not work with this. I still have a few things and I kept sugar here for those visitors who prefer that in their tea or coffee. I still have not made it through one of those 5 lb bricks of sugar in what ... 4 years here. Amazing.

But last week was the first week and tomorrow will be my first week weigh in. I will see.
I have noticed that by looking at everything from bacon to salad dressings to marinara sauce it is hard to find something that does not have sugar in it. Sugar is, or should I say has become, a staple of this culture we live in. You have to look to find the things without it and of course, without and ingredient they cost more ... go figure.

But it is true, I feel, to say that we are addicted to this granular substance. I did well on meeting the goals this first week. I have the issues that many many people have when switching from a diet with carbs to a diet that has only 20 net carbs a day in it ... and I expected them. I was prepared for lack of energy as the body shifts from burning primarily carbohydrates (in the form of glucose) to burning fat (including the fat that is stored in your body) for energy. You are retraining a living organism and it will fight what it has become accustomed to over the years. But if this is the process that is finally forcing me to get between 8-9 hours of sleep a night I will take it.

Back to my thoughts on sugar ... I was tempted with piles of candy on Sunday night (Halloween) with all the little trick or treaters that showed up on the front porch, with costumes and amazingly polite happy attitudes. So I had a single ... little tootsie roll. Oh my goodness. Just 6 days without that sugar made me drool and the urge for more kicked in. It was both scary from a psychological and physiological point of view as it was amazing to realize that there was truth behind what I had been reading.

So I tested that hypothesis with the single tootsie roll at work today ... of course all the left overs were brought in. Once again I had been doing great all day long. Low carb bar for breakfast,  beef and broccoli for lunch, whey protein shake for snack, chicken with veggies for dinner and then the test. Wham ... one tootsie roll set the craving really high for all those candies all over the place. Thankfully I did this test late in the evening so the shift was almost over and I could flee to my resting place, 32 oz of water and healthy stuff.

So I am sure I will have more thoughts on this to share in the future. I have a coach who lost over 100 lbs herself and her husband lost 130 lbs so we shall see where this goes. Yes the doctor is aware ... remember always make sure your doctor is aware and agrees with your choice of action before starting it if you have conditions that have to be monitored.

But for now ... I keep watching my carbs and staying away from sugar.

Shuffling the deck

Momentary panic today. I found a couple of times where I could not say the correct word....or was it that I could not find the correct word in my memory bank so the mouth just started to say the next closest thing that it could.

Stop ... am I having another stroke. Everything else is working as it should an this too shall pass. What do I do? Do I rush in for an emergency room visit or have I learned enough that I start to do a mental checklist and if I get to two failures then I get moving. I have to do the second or I would be in a constant state of panic.

But it has been a few days since a serious post about health and all that.

Last week we went to schedule a follow up MRI. Two reasons - the contrast part did not work as it was supposed to and they want to see if there is progression or regression of the damaged areas. Plus I guess we should be honest and say "looking to see if there is anything new".

But they needed some blood work done and that was taken care of the next day. 24 hours later and I get the results:

The results of your recent tests are explained below:

Kidney Tests: Good -- no changes needed
Electrolytes: Good -- no changes needed

Comments: Blood sugars are continuing to get lower when labs are drawn.

Wow....I got a comment in that report. But that is good as I was on the borderline of diabetes so to have the glucose dropping is a good thing. Lets see...alot of raw veggies, protein and very limited wheat products, carbs and pretty much no dairy. I better see that damn number going down.

Plus I have been consistently getting 4 days at the gym and I would say 3 out of 5 weeks getting 5 days at the gym. That is good progress from a guy that went for a while and then NEVER for a few years. Consistency is good.

Weight goes up and down but mostly down and that is why I do not worry about it. Now at the 365 mark from 425. So I am not unhappy with that progress. I have gone from the last hole on the belt to the point of needing a new bigger belt to the 4th hole and sometimes that is a little bit loose. One day it will be the 5th hole and the 6th hole....and you know what that is a good guage for me.

I am not counting anything just trying to make mostly right decisions. I cannot do that yet. I would have mental break downs over that and I am not going to get frustrated with myself for not meeting a certain point. I have a simple plan: get my veggies, get my fruit and get my protein and I am OK.

I don't allow myself to feel guilty when something changes...that is life. I had pizza yesterday at work as we just wanted to get things done and I have not been to a grocery store since I got back from vacation. Thus the fridge is bare and I had no groceries but money was bare too. The same for all of us so we scrapped together some change and got the Dominos ultimately cheap pizza deal.

I need to write a list....sorry I have to put these thoughts down less I forget.....and go to the store.

So now I wait for Horizons MRI to call me. Then the haggling over time will start as I need a Friday or Saturday schedule because I have to take medicine to be able to do this. Yep shove a severely claustrophobic person in even an open MRI and guess what .... anxiety skyrockets, blood vessels explode as the heart goes into overdrive palpatations. It ain't a pretty sight.

So I shuffle my deck of cards waiting by the phone for the man to call.

See ya

Yummy grinds

Breakfast - chicken biscuit. (tomorrow omelet with mushrooms)
Lunch - chicken satay with dark leaf salad, sunflower kernels and walnuts, cherries and pomegranate/cherry probiotics



Dinner - peppers, onions and beef kabob, steak fries and young green peas plus a beer for good looks.

Even if you do not have access to an outdoor grill you can still grill in the oven....just need to know how to do it :). I was not going to miss out of the first big grilling day of the summer. I may have had to work and no one was around when I got off of work but I was still going to enjoy myself. Saved a kabob for tomorrow. Now the fries are a no no but I just needed something like that to round off the meal.

Going to have a mini cream puff for dessert with my strawberries if the are defrosted. If not well then I guess I will have them later.

Meal time

Gotta start posting again. The last two weeks I have been less than healthy in my eating. I have not been bad...don't think that. I have just had breads and grains, a little bit of sugar and well I have noticed.

I have been sluggish. I have not felt as clean inside....does that sound strange? But it makes sense to me. I feel less than right in my stomach and belly. I noticed that energy has decreased and then I gained a sinus infection from the underside of the earth just from mowing. I had to get back on track. I had to start letting ya know again what I was up to. Because what I had slipped into was not working.

So once again the meals start coming back. But I bought smart this week. I ate well yesterday and today...just skipped breakfast. I had a steak halved and two chicken breasts cooked. Have my salad, my broccoli, my eggs, my strawberries and raspberries (1.99 at target this week) and I am ready to keep this moving in the right direction.

But I am glad that I noticed the change when I started eating the stuff I am supposed to be avoiding....lets me know I am on the right track.

See ya.

The wonderful world of walking...

I did my trek this morning through the climbing humidity. I started losing water the moment I stepped out of the house. Never understood that with humidity. It is the amount of water content in the air ... I think. So why do I tend to give more away when the humidity is over 900%. It also does strange things with the temp. Temp says 90 but because the humidity is so thick you can cut it with a knife it feels like 96. OK I am ready for the rain to run its course this month and then we can dry out and have a lot less humidity for June.

But I walked for an hour and 15 minutes...I think I twisted an ankle slightly so I actually road the train from the very back to the front. I cannot wait for MOLA to open...it is the whole new section of the Zoo.

I noticed that I am sore in the legs this afternoon but that is OK. Last day of eating stir fry today and that is probably a good thing. 4 days of the same food is really getting old.

I have to chase down the article on preventing strokes I found and share.

See ya.

Good eats

BR -- egg and fruit (strawberries and blackberries)
LU -- brisket and beans
SN -- carrots and guacamole
DN -- stir fry and broccoli, strawberries and blackberries for dessert

I am cooking again....

...and I love it.

Stir fry with strip steak, onion, mushrooms, water chestnuts, snow peas and sugar snap peas...plus a whole heap of garlic for good luck.

4 dinners in one wok!

:)

Salad

Dark organic greens, blackberries, walnuts and a little bit of shaved roast beef.

Good eats?

have you ever lost part of a day. I did. this morning.

Breakfast -- I have no clue. I think it was omelet but I am not sure.
Snack -- walnuts
Lunch -- salad with cucumber, tomato and onions. Black bean soup.
Snack -- oops
Dinner -- beef and broccoli and vegetable stir fry. Mushrooms, zucchini, celery, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, mushrooms....yeah there were a lot of mushrooms in it.

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Eating choices

Breakfast -- yoplait +
Snack -- none
Lunch -- (pic) turkey and lean brisket, broccoli salad (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots), pickles and onions.
Snack - walnuts
Dinner -- no idea yet - need my dark greens for the day but am out of salad.

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As you can see I had to send by the phone. I am having internet problems and it is the weekend so I have no idea when I will be able to get back on. :)

Dinner

Salmon with soy, ground ginger and pepper. Organic dark leaf herb salad with about 1 oz walnuts and broccoli. Good Belly.

Next time I do salmon I am going to kind of do a recipe I found online for snow peas and salmon.

Teriyaki Salmon in Foil

Nutrition Information

240 calories; 7g fat (1g saturated; 1.6g omega-3); 450mg sodium; 12g carbohydrate; 2g fiber; 33g protein; 110% vitamin A; 25% vitamin C

Ingredients & Instructions

1/4 cup lite teriyaki sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger *

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 ½ cups snow pea pods (about 4 ounces), trimmed

1 large carrot, cut into 2-inch long very thin "matchstick" strips (about 1 cup)

Four 5-ounce salmon fillets, skin removed

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, optional

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut four 12-inch square pieces of aluminum foil. In a bowl, whisk together the teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, ginger, and cornstarch until well blended. Divide the snow peas and carrots evenly and place in the center of each piece of foil. Lay the salmon on top of the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the teriyaki mixture evenly over each piece of salmon. Seal each packet by bringing up the sides and folding the top edge over twice. Seal the edges in the same way. Place the packets on a baking sheet and bake until the fish is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, about 18 minutes. Open the packets (be careful of the steam!), place the salmon on individual plates, top with the vegetables and sauce, and serve. Top with toasted sesame seeds as desired.

Today's Eats

Breakfast -- green machine, lemon with water, Chi Tonic, and minerals.
Snack -- couple of pieces of broccoli, slice of roast beef, 1 oz walnuts
Lunch -- chicken spring rolls, SuperShot, pears in blackberry and acai berry juice.
Snack -- walnuts.
Dinner -- dark leaf organic herb salad, cucumbers, broccoli, chicken breast, raspberries and oil/apple cider vinegar dressing.
Snack --

I am trying to figure out as I started eating lunch at 12:45 and finished at 2:45 between outages and all if I should have an afternoon snack. Dinner is going to be at 5:30 and it is 4:00 already....but I am supposed to have protein every 2-3 hours.

Todays eats

Breakfast --
Snack -- nuts (not the right kind but it is a step in the right direction)
Lunch -- catfish (baked), long thin green beans and mushrooms and onions. Naked Fruit drink (strawberry/banana)
Note -- I have had 80 ozs of water today. This is going to take some getting used to of 100 ozs +
Dinner -- hummus, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, organic eggs.

What I gotta do

Eat every three (3) hours.
Type O blood so I need protein (2-3 ounces) every three hours.
100 ounces of water a day at a minimum.
NO SUGAR. (plus no artificial sweeteners as they intensify sugar cravings)
NO DIARY. (sob, sob, sob)
NO WHITE flour, sugar, bread, rice etc.
Right now no grains of any kind.
Must have one large dark leafy green herb organic salad a day.
Use EVOO and Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar for the dressing.
Boards head is the best kind of meat to buy.
Every morning - 4 oz heated water with 1/2 a lemon in it. (for the liver)
Choose only real fats - evoo, butter, coconut oil, nut oil. Fats are good and they will help lower the glycemic index of the food being absorbed.
Walnuts, nut butter with no sugar.
That protein can be nuts or nut butter on celery that is needed every 3 hours.
Exercise...up to 30 minutes every day once the doctor gives me the ok.
1 tbsp of extra virgin coconut oil everyday. I did not know they had that. I have a feeling that will be expensive.

That is just the basics...there is more to come. Trying to find references to link to from this site. OH boy.


****************CLARIFICATION******************

This is my notes from the meeting. I have pages and pages and now a book about the actual plan and these are highlights that are not in that plan. There is so much information it is kind of overwhelming. But I am making it through. All of the plans I can find have some type of cereal for breakfast. I can have none of that. NONE. No grains, rice, wheat, etc etc. So I have been trying to figure out what I am supposed to have with no cereal and no milk. Well I called my nutritionist and asked her. She promptly said whatever you eat the rest of the day. SHE IS RIGHT! Why is there a mold that says for breakfast we have to have this. Dinner the night before becomes breakfast. Of course and omelet with tomatoes and peppers, mushrooms and onions, turkey bacon (no pork) can always be a great start or a hard boiled egg and a piece of fruit. I like the way this lady thinks.

No mother I do not have to do all these at once. These are changes and she knows I am on a budget. :)

Today's eats

Breakfast -- diet coke and sausage biscuit (last one ever) :(
Lunch -- lean pocket (gotta eat through them but they are going bye bye).
Dinner -- salad, dark greens, mushrooms, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, chicken and water.

Eats

Breakfast -- diet coke and sausage biscuit.
Lunch -- piece of Macaroni grills garlic and spinach thin crust, lean pocket, yogurt +probiotics and a SuperShot. 32 oz H2O.
Dinner -- lean pocket (twice in one day ouch), broccoli and cauliflower (other had gotten wet and gone bad :( ), black beans, cucumber, water.

Meals in motion

Breakfast -- had to fast before my appt at the heart center
Lunch - mesquite chicken, with the works and provolone cheese, honey mustard - hey that is what they had at the heart center. Water
Snack -- my treat -- strawberry shake (sm) from Jack in Box. Water
Dinner -- Salad with walnuts and raising, chicken and goat cheese, 100 cal ranch and a SuperShot. Green tea.

Green tea did not sit well in stomach today so I stayed away from it.

Food stuff

Breakfast -- make your own fruit and yogurt. (raspberries, peach, yogurt)
Snack - granola bar
Lunch -- ham sandwich with whole wheat bread, spinach and cucumber, carrots, strawberries and orange.
Snack - handful of raw walnuts
Dinner -- piece of ham, lean pockets calzone, broccoli, cauliflower, yogurt+ and 100 cal dip.

Eating right?

Breakfast -- two wheatabix and milk.
Snack -- organic green tea.
Lunch -- sardine in tomato sauce, wheat roll, couple of maui onion chips and a couple of baked chip.
Dinner -- salmon, sweet potatoes, carrots, sugar snap peas and broccoli, raspberry, strawberry and hot cross bun.