Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks, Dinner and Dessert on a Low Carb Way of Eating

The great thing about my Low Carb/High Fat (LCHF) way of eating (WOE) is that you don't ever have to be hungry. 

With LCHF I try to stick to 10 to 24 carbs per day. Once I get to 24 carbs, I can still eat, as long as I eat foods that have zero carbs. There are several things I can eat that have zero carbs, see a list of those things here. 

My usual routine in the morning is to prepare and drink my morning coffee at my desk at work. To my brewed black coffee I add 2 tablespoons of half and half creamer, 1 teaspoon of Splenda and 2 tablespoons of Coconut Oil. Coconut Oil helps me to get healthy fats into my diet and it also makes my coffee taste delicious and it fills me up until around 10am when I have my morning break and when I eat my breakfast. 

On days when I'm feeling lazy or I just didn't have time to prepare breakfast I drive through Mcdonalds and buy an Egg McMuffin with the Canadian Bacon. The McMuffin as is with the english muffin is 27 net carbs. I throw away the muffin and just eat the egg, canadian bacon and cheese. That drops the carb count to 4 net carbs. 

But most of the time I fry myself two eggs each morning and put them in a plastic container and I heat them up at work at 10 am and eat them with some bacon, or slices of ham. Sometimes my coworker and I share food and she made some egg salad last week which I ate alongside with my bacon.

Along with the coffee with coconut oil and these yummy breakfasts I don't even feel hungry in the morning. I also drink at least 44 ounces of water which helps to curb hunger as well.

Lunch is my favorite time of the day because I can eat so many different things.

I don't always have time to prepare lunch, but that's ok because you can create a super easy lunch. Go to your local grocery store and buy a package of ready made salad mix and buy a roasted chicken breast at the deli and you have a yummy Chicken Salad.

Another easy lunch and/or dinner is a Quarter Pounder with Cheese from McDonalds, just ask them to leave the bun off. With the bun and ketchup this sandwich has 39 carbs. Without the bun and ketchup (ketchup has sugar so I avoid it) it drops down to 4 carbs!!! Amazing right? We never realize how many carbs we eat per day.

During my afternoon break we sometimes get coffee from Starbucks. My coffee of choice at Starbucks is a Venti Breve Latte with One Splenda. I recently found out that it contains 25 carbs, so I'm having to switch and it's not easy because I really loved that coffee. I've been having a Grande Iced Sugar Free Vanilla coffee made with HWC (heavy whipping cream) which brings the carb count to 3 net carbs. But I do miss my latte!

When I don't have the coffee I sometimes eat a string cheese or some luncheon meat. 

Dinner can vary depending on whether I go out to dinner or my mom cooks or I cook. But either way I have a great dinner and I am never hungry!

I've also had to eat out a few times in the past few weeks. Sometimes I will just order a salad, but you don't have to just settle for salads.

This week I celebrated my son's birthday and we went out to dinner at a new restaurant in Bakersfield, Johnny Garlic's and then I went out to dinner with my sister on Friday and we ended up at Chili's.

I'm not a big fan of sweet, so when I do get a sweet tooth I usually have some strawberries.

I'm really looking forward to Fall getting here so that I can start trying out some of the low-carb recipes that I have been saving on my Pinterest Low Carb Thrills Board!

But so far, so good. I've lost a total of 10 pounds but the most important thing is that I can tell that I'm healthier, I feel lighter and thanks to the on-going walking exercises I feel stronger.

The weekends are hard for me, but so far I haven't strayed and that just gives me the incentive to keep on going.

                     

When It Rains It Pours

When it rains it pours This week definitely started out with a bang…and some smoke! 

Sunday afternoon our house suddenly filled with smoke. I was in my bedroom watching TV and blogging when my daughter came running in and said, “The roof is on fire!” I quickly ran out while she was on the phone calling the fire department. I got outside and into the backyard and my son was on the roof already with a water hose hosing down our swamp cooler. The motor had caught on fire! Thank goodness the smoke alerted us. 

By the time I got to the backyard I could already hear the fire truck sirens. I believe one of our neighbors must have seen the fire and called them because they were on their way before my daughter called them. 

Shafter PD was the first to arrive and the two officers quickly ran inside to make sure no one was inside. I thought it was weird that they opened the doors to all the rooms and I didn’t understand until later that they were making sure no one was inside in case the fire was worse. 

Then the fire department arrived and they quickly got on the roof and told my son to get down in case the roof collapsed or worse, yet they stayed up there. They were up there in full gear, boots and jackets and hats with tanks hanging on their backs in 105 degree heat! I wish I could have thought to take a picture but I had left my phone inside and they wouldn’t let us go back into the house until they were sure it was safe. 

SWAMP COOLER

So yes, our swamp cooler motor caught fire and I don’t know if you know anything about swamp coolers, but they cool using these pads that surround the fan and there’s something to do with water and evaporation and lots of other technical things that provide cooling into your house. I have no idea how it actually works all I know is that ours is kaput and went out in a blaze of glory! 

And…as if that was not enough, Sunday was the beginning of a heat wave in our neck of the woods! Seriously it’s been over 100 degrees every single day and Monday was 109! So here we are, with no type of cooling system and a heat wave on the way! 

I have a small window air conditioning unit in my bedroom, so I was ok, but the rest of my family had to scatter to the winds. My mom went to stay with her sister and my daughter went to stay with my brother’s family, along with our sweet little puppy Chorizo. My son chose to stay and tough it out at home. 

Monday morning it was time to start shopping around for a new swamp cooler. Swamp coolers work very well in the dry heat that we have. There are maybe 3 or 4 really humid days per year where it is useless so I opt for a cooler rather than an AC unit because of the savings. My cooling bill is around $130 a month whereas a friend of mine pays $400 to $600 a month since she has an AC unit. I think we can suffer through 3 or 4 humid days and just be comfortable instead of cold the rest of the time. 

The biggest problem is that no one is buying swamp coolers much anymore so they are not as readily available. There are just two companies in my area that everyone referred me too. One was Econo Air and the other was Floyds Stores. Mom and dad had always bought their cooler at Floyds but I figured that since Floyds is a small town hardware store they would be much more expensive than a big company like Econo Air. Wrong! Econo Air was $2,020 more than Floyds for the exact same unit! That is just crazy. 

Then this morning I set up the appointment for Floyds to come out on Friday morning and do the install and I asked the billing lady if she wanted my bank info or a credit card and she said, “no, it’s ok, just give the installer a check when he comes out or if you want you can pay by the invoice I am sending you in the mail.” Who does that anymore? Who doesn’t worry about collecting money first? I didn’t need to give them 1001 personal and financial details; they just took my word for it that I would pay the bill! Floyds is my new go-to store for anything from now on! 

Because of all the stress my Sciatica kicked in this morning with a huge painful twinge to my left “ahem” buttock. That’s why I say, "when it rains it pours"! But I made it to work and I’ve still been doing my exercises at work during break and lunch, just not pushing myself. So my little family will have to stay scattered to the winds until Friday when we can all be reunited. 

The Shafter Police Department and the Kern County Fire Department have my eternal gratitude for being so quick and helpful and patient. My thanks also to Floyds Stores for continuing to be the home town hardware store they claim to be on their advertisement…bigger isn’t always better.





 

How We Celebrate A Birthday!

Today is my son James birthday, Happy Birthday Son!

Since his birthday fell on a Wednesday we decided to celebrate a little early and he and I took a day trip to Santa Barbara, California on Saturday, to try to escape the heat of the valley. It was supposed to be over 100 degrees! Santa Barbara was around 83 but I still managed to get sunburned!

Santa Barbara is very close to us, only around 2 1/2 to 3 hours away. The drive is very pretty and traffic was minimal this time around but sometimes it does get a little bumper to bumper in spots. 

Our destination was Stearns Wharf. There's great parking there at $2 an hour and it's centrally located. The best part about walking around in a beach town like this is watching the people, that's always entertaining. I forgot to take pictures of this one man that has claimed his little spot on the beach and he does sand art for donations. 

We walked on the pier and I was able to talk him into taking a selfie with me. He is so much taller than I am! It's hard to believe that I made that human being! Last year I wrote about how he tried to come into the world butt first so I had to have a C-Section, you can read that post here. 

By the time we finished looking around the pier and people watching it was time to head to find someplace to eat. My favorite place in Santa Barbara is State Street. There are tons of shops and little bars and coffee houses and restaurants. I love to go to the Sandbar Restaurant and have a margarita and some chips and salsa, but since it was the birthday boys choice he wanted to go to Joe's!

Joe's Cafe is a very popular restaurant and bar in Santa Barbara since 1928. I had never been there but enjoyed my visit very much. It was very clean and the food and service was great!

I was also able to stick with my LCHF (low carb, high fat) WOE (way of eating). Instead of having a sugary margarita, I had a glass of Ruffino Prosecco which was only 3 carbs! Oh and not to take away from this being my son's day but I am now 10 pounds lighter!!

There were so many great choices. I decided to have the BLTA, which is a Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Avocado salad, with ranch dressing. It was delicious and plenty of bacon! I estimated my whole lunch with my drink was about 13 carbs. It was a bit of a splurge but it was a special day and a special meal.

James had their BBQ Pulled Pork topped with Cole Slaw on a fresh baked roll. I admit here and now that I took a bite of the BBQ pork, just the pork, not the bread! I couldn't resist, but I didn't touch the fries! It was so delicious. I'm sure the BBQ was carby because of the molasses or honey or sugar they use. It could have used more coleslaw but that would be my only suggestion.

After that great meal we walked around looking in the little shops along the way. We didn't buy much, to me Santa Barbara is a little pricey but it was fun to wander and watch the people.

We finally headed back to the car and I had promised my sister I would find the Ablitt House and take some pictures, so Lisa...this is for you, we will have to go on a day when they do the tours.

We had a very nice day and it had been a long time since my son and I had taken a car trip together. So Happy Birthday son and I love you to the Moon and back!

 

Kitchen Organization - Just Start Small

Last week Lynn of Traveling Low Carb invited us on Facebook to a kitchen organization party. I obligated myself to join in. Then life happened. I forgot it was my son's birthday weekend and I had promised him a day trip to Santa Barbara on Saturday. 

But it's never too late and I was feeling really guilty about letting Lynn down and even though today is going to be 106 degrees outside, I was feeling energetic and decided to clean and organize my little bakers rack that my son gave me for Mother's Day one year. It's sort of a catch-all.

As you can see the drawers are just stuffed with junk and bills and little bits of paper. I store all my bowls here and because they are so close to the floor they tend to get really dusty. We all know that when we use one of them we have to wash it before we use it, but if a visiting friend or family goes to get one they probably think I'm a slob! 

Close-up of the drawers. I found cookbooks, warranties for appliances I don't even have anymore, photos, garden gloves, picture hanging materials, screwdrivers...all kinds of random items. And see, someone thought this would be a perfect place to store hamburger buns! I tell you...a catchall!

Here's some of the stuff I pulled out. I used to be addicted to buying those little recipe books that are at the checkout area. My little impulse buys. But I don't think I've ever actually made anything from any of these books and now that I'm low carb I know I never will so it was time to clean house and I put about 50 of them in a bag to go to Goodwill.

Here's the bakers rack all cleaned out. I went after all that wrought iron with soapy water. It was super dusty. Sorry it's sort of leaning, I must have been tired already! Oh and FYI, while I was doing all of this I wore my iPhone because it tracks my steps. While doing this I logged in 1,027 steps!

And pictures during...

The kitchen table covered in bowls, books, mom's radio and little odds and ends...

The dish drainer with some of the bowls I've washed and set aside to dry...

And the other side of the sink with more bowls washed and ready to be dried and put away again...

Here's a picture of all the items that I'm taking to Goodwill tomorrow. I am so my mother's daughter. She just walked by and said "You're going to throw all this away!", and then she started going through everything!

Here are the finished drawers, quite a bit different right?

Drawer one. I only kept the cook books for low carb and that little broken key chain of my son sitting on Santa's lap years ago :)

Drawer two. I organized my mom's Cd's as she likes to listen to music while she putters around in the kitchen in the morning. 

And here is the completed bakers rack. Organized and dust free! I put the bowls my mom uses on the very top so she can reach them easier without bending down. I had to leave her radio there, that was non-negotiable! She also had a beautiful set of cornflower blue Corningware, so now I'm displaying it next to my pink KitchenAid mixer that my daughter bought me several years ago for being a Cancer Survivor!

Here are the before and after. Doesn't seem like much difference until you see it side by side. I even cleaned all that clutter that was next to the rack on the right side.

Mission accomplished! I'm going to go and post this on Lynn's Facebook page and now I think I've earned a nap!

Happy cleaning everyone!


 

Frazier Park Fiesta Days - Small town fun!

We decided this weekend to get out of the valley heat and head up to the mountains. Frazier Park was celebrating their 48th annual Fiesta Days and we thought we would head up the mountain and check it out. 

Picked up my sister and noticed how beautiful her Arizona Plant is this year. It's huge and just gorgeous and I am so jealous!

Her plant gets sun constantly and these types of plants love the sun. My plant is next to a huge tree and it doesn't get but a few hours sun a day so it's no where near as pretty as hers. I'm going to have to move it next year.

So we left Lisa's house and headed to pick up our friend Connie who went with us and headed towards Frazier Park which is about 45 minutes south of Bakersfield.

We found the park and we were surprised how nice an event it was. The weather was great, about 77 degrees with a nice breeze. It wasn't too crowded and they had lots of great vendors.

One vendor had what she called "hand made sandals" for $20 and we all bought a pair. I really don't think they were hand made but they were adorable! I bought a red pair even though they weren't practical and I can't wear them with everything, but I just loved the way they look and red is my mom's favorite color.

There were also lots of food vendors. I was a bit worried about going because I wasn't sure what I was going to eat. They had Kettle Korn which is something that I always buy, but I didn't. They had regular yellow corn on the cob with lots of different toppings, but it is filled with carbs and something that is not on my list of foods I can eat.

Finally I decided on a Bacon Wrapped Hot Dog. I requested it without the bun and they were nice enough to put it in a little cardboard tray and then they added onions and bell peppers. It was delicious and minimal on carbs. Where there's a will, there's a way!

We walked around the whole event twice to make sure we didn't miss anything. I also purchased some green olives stuffed with jalapenos and they are delicious. I'm sure I will be eating them often throughout the next few weeks when I am craving salty chips!

My gorgeous sister Lisa bought a flower garland. I should have taken a picture from the back as it had long curling ribbon trailing all the way down her back. She looked so cute!

She also took this great picture in a real race car. Those things are hard to get in and out of!

After a great time we decided to drive around the small town and see what it was like. Lisa made me pull over because she wanted to get a picture of a "tin man". It was kind of cute that most of the houses had home made decor like this. It was a very quaint little city.

So all in all we had a fun time, we all now have cute shoes and great memories and then today I got to see Baby J and I had bought her a Little Nemo Bubble Gun and she loved it and me for buying it for her :)

A Letter to Lynn at Traveling Low Carb

A Letter to Lynn at Traveling Low Carb

Hi Lynn,

I read your post today and I smiled, laughed and shouted (quietly in my head) “I get ya my low carb sista!” 

See today I feel “blah”. Everything is great in my life, eating well, exercising regularly, clothes fitting better and better each day! Yet I’m feeling “blah” and feeling heavy. The joints in my legs feel sore, my legs and arms feel like I’m wearing 10 pound weights on them. 

For the past 4 weeks, I’ve been getting to the office early each morning and doing a 1 mile walking video by Leslie Sansone. It’s getting easier and easier every day, but today I felt like I was back at square one! I felt clumsy and heavy and unorganized and finally gave up at only half a mile. Poor Leslie tried to motivate me but it just didn’t work! 

So I sat down at my desk to drink my coffee and get ready for my day and I started thinking about why I feel this way physically and mentally. I went over in my head wondering what I did differently yesterday that might have caused this and guess what I think it was? National Root Beer Float Day! Yep, National Root Beer Float Day was yesterday and I found this great little recipe on making a low carb root beer float using diet root beer and heavy whipping cream. 

It was a super easy recipe and I really enjoyed the float and did a blog post on it right away to make other low-carbers aware of how you can make simple adjustments in your life to still have some of the goodies regular folks enjoy. 

 I don’t know if it was the chemicals in the diet root beer, or the fat in the heavy whipping cream but it made me super sluggish today. Ha! Never thought about the word sluggish, but that’s exactly how I felt this morning, like a slow moving, heavy slug! 

 Once I realized that, I told myself “Self, no more low carb root beer floats!” And then I figured the best way to start feeling better was to start drinking water like crazy to flush all the toxins out of my body, so that’s what I did and by 10am this morning, after about 44 ounces of water, I was able to do my 5 minute walking video by Leslie Sansone without quitting early and I actually felt better, lighter, more energetic. Is it all in my mind? Maybe, but sometimes the mind has to be mightier than the body! 

Then reading your post I realized that you might be feeling the way you mention you are feeling because of the “crutch foods”. You’ve been doing this such a long time that you realize that it is the “crutch food”, but a lot of people that are newbie’s to this way of eating use those “crutch foods” and they never learn to lose the cravings for sweets or carbs and therefore give up. 

Will I never have another low-carb root beer float? Of course I will, but they will be a special treat, once in a blue moon. I won’t train my body to start craving sweets again! 

So Lynn, in closing I just want to say that you have made a big difference in the way I do low carb. You make it so much easier by posting your food because I see ideas that I never would have thought of before. I’ve done low carb on and off for the past 10 years, but this time I feel so much more motivated and I understand that this is not a diet, it’s not a short term thing, this is the way I want and need to eat for the rest of my life. So thank you for making it easier, for motivating me, for sharing not only your high points, but also the low points…like you did today! 


 

National Root Beer Float Day - Low Carb Root Beer Float

I love Root Beer Floats! Who doesn't right? 

But the ice cream, the root beer...those carbs add up! Here's the nutrition info on a real root beer float made with vanilla ice cream and regular A & W Root Beer.

See the carbs? 77.6!! You then subtract the fiber to end up with net carbs of 76.6! Yikes...that is almost 4 days worth of carbs when you are trying to limit yourself to only 20.

But I have to celebrate National Root Beer Day, after all I celebrated National Tequila Day and National Margarita Day! I can't discriminate! We live in the age of political correctness.

I remembered seeing a recipe for a low carb Root Beer so I googled and I found it on Low Carb Slow Carbs website. And I had all the ingredients so I was good to go!

First I whipped up 1 cup of Heavy Whipping Cream using my electric hand mixer. After about 30 seconds I added 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract and 1 tablespoon of granulated Splenda. Then I continued whipping/beating until it was set.

See how thick and creamy it is? All ready for some ice cold A & W Diet Root Beer!

I don't really have any clear see-thru glass glasses. My mom is on blood thinners so rather than have her cut her hand on broken glasses we only have plastic glasses, but my friend Lupe gave me this beautiful glass mug on a girls camping trip a few months ago, and it was perfect for a root beer float.

I added about a cup of the heavy whipped cream which you can see in the cup.

Then I slowly added the diet root beer. Check that out! Doesn't it look exactly like a root beer float? It actually tasted delicious too!

When I make this again I will add crushed ice!

And here is the carb count for my low carb root beer float. 4 Carbs....FOUR! What a difference right?

So I'm going to go and enjoy my float and read my book. Happy National Root Beer Float Day!


 

Foods I Eat on Low Carb Way of Eating - No Starvation Diet Here!

Been doing the LCHF diet for almost a month now and I'm doing great. I haven't lost as much weight as I would like but I can definitely feel it in the way my body feels and in the way my clothes fit.

The great thing is that I haven't had cravings for Cheetos or chips and salsa. You do lose the cravings to carbs eventually. 

I know when I explain this way of eating (WOE) to people the first thing they say is "Oh no, I could never give up pasta/tortillas/pie/ice cream, etc (insert carb of choice)". We all feel that way in the beginning, but it is worth it, and you can...if you really want to.

Eating this way and exercising in 5 minute increments throughout the day makes me feel awesome. Those normal aches and pains that I had in my knees and shoulders are gone. I can get up out of a chair or my car after a long drive without limping. I sleep great and I feel like even my disposition is better. I'm more focused at work and life just seems a little brighter each day.

And look at the great foods I get to eat. Ground turkey cheeseburger without the bun. Flax seed muffin in a mug with butter and sugar free strawberry preserves, Taco Salad, Pork Carnitas with Scrambled Egg, Strawberry and Pecans as a  snack.

I like to take random pictures of my food. Some of the LCHF foods I've eaten I didn't get a chance to photograph and the pictures aren't Foodie Blog worthy because they're just iPhone shots, but gives you an idea of the variety of foods you can eat.

Chicken with broccoli slaw, Chile macho and sliced avocado; chicken drenched in vegetarian Chile Verde with queso fresco, Cucumber-Tomato and Bacon Salad with Mayo, Blackberry Yogurt Popsicle (home-made) and Chicken with the same cucumber-tomato and bacon salad.

You would think that celebrating a special occasion would be a good reason to go off this WOE, but actually no. See that yummy strawberry topped cheesecake? That's low carb. See the slice with the chocolate crust? Also low carb. And it's so much fun trying to make new varieties of salads. Salads are my go-to food, I love them and I find eating a huge salad fills me up and satisfies me. Chicken and Bacon on Romaine, Chicken Salad on Romaine and I even went to a favorite Mexican restaurant and had the Chicken Avocado Salad which was delicious! Sure...I had to bypass the Chips and Salsa, but looking good in my clothes sure makes it worth while!

No time to make big elaborate meals or plan and organize menus for the week? No problem, most restaurants will lettuce wrap a burger for you. Or you can just buy a regular burger, like the Quarter Pounder with Cheese pictured below, and throw away the bread. The funny thing is I don't even miss the bread and in fact I can taste the meat and fixings much better without the bread over powering everything and filling me up. Couple of snacks are pictured, crushed fresh strawberries with cottage cheese, slices of avocado wrapped in oven roasted deli turkey slices (this was yummy by the way) and more cottage cheese made like a parfait with crushed berries and a few cashews for crunch. Plus my old stand by- chicken on romaine lettuce with ranch dressing!

I even took a trip to the coast and kept it low carb by ordering bacon wrapped shrimp, they were fabulous. I dipped a fork in that sauce but you could tell right away that it was packed with sugar so I didn't touch it. Shrimp didn't even need it! On National Tequila Day I made myself a low carb margarita using a sparkling lemonade water and tequila, zero carbs! I also bought a little kitchen gadget that makes zucchini noodles. I made some and microwaved them and tossed them with some cooked ground turkey and added 2 tablespoons of cream cheese and they were creamy and delicious and felt like comfort food. Some days you want something warm and not just a salad.

I've also been enjoying a new brand of deli meats called Healthy Ones. the Oven Roasted Turkey Breast is lower in carbs and sodium that the regular brand I used to buy.

One day I was really wanting a scrambled egg sandwich with mayonnaise, cheese and lettuce, so I just made one without the bread. It was super good. You can LC most foods and I'm learning new ways to do so all the time.

So that's a quick wrap up of what I've been eating. As you can see I definitely have not been starving myself. I'm feeling really good about this new WOE. I'm not worried about what the scale says as long as I feel good and my body feels good.