Apologies

I've been remiss in keeping up with my blog of late. For those of you who look forward to recipes and reading what I'm up to, I must apologize. I've been feeling unwell due to female cycles (blech!) and just not up to even typing. The cycles are *extrodinarily* hard for me when doing hcg.

I hope it's not for you!

Questions from a fellow hCGer (and my answers)

NOTE: I researched Walden Farms products and found some disturbing things about Splenda, which is in the Walden Farms products. See the research here:http://lessofmehcg.blogspot.com/2009/10/walden-farms-quick-study.html

Jan F wrote and asked:

Jayme, I noticed u use WaldenFarm dressing and you suggest baking in alum foil packets... No extra fat from baking in those packets? I mean from the meat?? Also where do I get these dressings? Girl you have great food ideas and I'm lookin for flavor so I don't get bored and cheat this time around... Also that jello looks so amazing... I'm making it for tomorrow.. I'm working on an east Indian dish... I'll let you know how it turns out... Also thanks for the info on mensing... That will really help my friends out!!! You rock!!!

My reply was a little long winded, but I think it'll be beneficial for everyone reading my blog, as it's got some great places to find some of the products I use:

Hi Jan,

I got the dressings and ketchup from Rosauers - it's a store in Hood River, OR. I checked with our local Safeway store, too, but they report they don't carry it. You can get it from http://waldenfarms.com, though! Their website, of course, has lots of things that you might drool over, but make sure that it's no calories, no fat, and no sugar of any kind before you buy... I suppose you could buy it and just use it for phase 3 or later. :)

If you're looking for flavor, my site is the place, for sure. That's the way to stay on any kind of diet. Flavor.

That jello was amazing, but it was soooo filling, too! I only ate half the portion I was allowed - so my portion was 8x5 And I ate 4x5. Hahahaha! I only got 21 calories out of it. ::grins:: The worst part of that was that I ate light the whole day so I could have the whole portion. I came in at only 438 calories that day. Oops. Heh heh heh.

As far as the foil goes, I don't get any extra fat from cooking in them - but it does seal the meat and spices in so it's tender when it's done and flavorful all the way through.

And you know what? You have GOT to get some of the dark chocolate stevia. I got mine at vitacost for $8+change a bottle here: http://www.vitacost.com/Wisdom-Natural-SweetLeaf-Liquid-Stevia-Chocolate When on menses, I CRAVE chocolate. This time, Tami, my nutritionalist at Daniel's Health Store said that if I took a magnesium pill, the craving would go away. That sort of worked. What really worked was taking the magnesium pill with the White Dark Cocoa I made up with that stevia. It answered the craving perfectly. The other trick I found, all on my own about 12 years ago, is for cramps. I get them to a dibilitating point and couldn't stand to take aspirin for it, so I started experimenting. It turns out that cranberry powder pills will get rid of cramps, generally inside of 20 minutes, and it helps with the bloating, too! As soon as I feel cramps coming on, I take 2 cranberry pills. If it's not completely gone in 20 minutes, I take 2 more. Once or twice, I've had to wait another 20 minutes and take 2 more cranberry - but that was when I didn't take them right away after getting the sensation that I was cramping. I tell all the women I can, because they don't need to take drugs - just cranberry.

I can't wait to try out your East Indian dish - I love spicy food. In fact, I just bought about 12 jalapaneos!

Then I started doing some more research and found something new, so had to reply again!

I also just discovered (thank you products.google.com!) that AllStarHealth.com has Walden Farms products at about a dollar cheaper per product than Walden's website does... http://www.allstarhealth.com/li_b/WALDEN_FARMS.htm

End of Cycle Apple Day

Today, I got on the scale and guess what. :( I'm the same as yesterday! So, here's the plan. Today is the last day of my cycle so I'm going to do an apple day today and break this dang plateau. After losing 22 pounds the first week, I'm so disgusted with the last 10 days of flat line. I can't even begin to tell you how disgusted I am.

If following the protocol weren't so easy, I'd have given up by now. I feel like I got a bite of the carrot that's being dangled in front of my nose right now and it's soooo frustrating! I completely admit that I cheated *one time* while on my cycle. I had an extra Grissini stick. Big cheat, huh? But even when I did that, I stayed within the 500 calories I'm alotted.

Luckily for me, Gala apples are just ripening on the trees around my area NOW! I can't even begin to tell you how absolutely delicious they are - juicy but crunchy with a definate sweetness followed by a bit of a tang... I think I could eat these apples all the time.

But. I'll tell you a secret. You know what I miss about going through the fall and all these apples being ripe? Caramel. Hahahahahaha!!

In the mean time, I'm going to work on creating a few more recipes. I have Mom & the kids to test the taste out for me. The kids should never even know that it's "diet food," if I make them up right. :) They're already begging me for more of my Baked Cinnamon Apples, Up Town Chicken Soup, & Garlic Basil Roast Beef. And Mom already has eaten several of the other recipes, even though she's no longer following the Protocol (doctor's orders for now). Partly, I think she's into helping with the recipes so that when she gets the green light to return to the Protocol, she's already got LOTS of recipes to choose from.

So, even though I'm doing the Apple Day today, all my readers aren't left in the cold! We'll have something new to try out (and already taste tested) later today, so keep checking. Or, you could just subscribe and/or become my Friend... :)

Not a happy camper

This week, I've not lost a single pound - all week! I thought I did one day, but it turned out that it was just that I weighed in my jammies instead of my clothes. I've never experienced a whole week of feeling like I was going to start *any time now* and then just not.

So, my cycle (grrrrr) has cost me about 14 pounds of weight loss, near as I can calculate.

Today, I experienced my first bad effect of this protocol. Of course, it is during my cycle, so I'm not sure how much I can count it as part of the protocol. I was working working working (we're moving tools from the storage center to the shop so we can get it all set up) and suddenly, without warning, my blood sugar just dropped out the bottom. When that happens, you feel all shakey and like you're going to sick up. However, I didn't have anything in my stomach, so was reasonably sure I wasn't going to do that. I didn't have any meat cooked up yet, so had to wait the 10 minutes it took to cook up some shrimp from frozen. I napped while it was cooking, then crawled over to get the protein. I did NOT CHEAT! It was definitely hard not to, considering I still have cheese (parmesean and dubliner's) and some sliced ham for the kids' lunch in the frig and that would normally be what I'd grab first. I'm always careful to keep protein in my system, as I discovered that it's the true key to holding off low blood sugar.

For the record, I'm not diabetic - I've just always been susceptable to low blood sugar when there's not enough protein in my system.

My Mom says I should just push through it, but with the after headache of the low blood sugar and the awful cramps I've had since 2AM, I am not a happy camper.

Ugh. Enough of my whining. I've got a new recipe to share with you for a desert next. Stay tuned.