Fat2Fit Chronicles

In the last couple of years, I started to love pancakes. Rich, buttery, slightly crispy at the edges, pancakes. My absolute favorite Sunday brunch is at the Ritz-Carlton for a stack of buttermilk pancakes served with caramelized apples, maple syrup and powdered sugar and a side of applewood bacon. I splurged on this treat every Sunday or every other during a six month stretch in 2009 and part of 2010. Unfortunately, I labelled pancakes as off my plan for a little while — or so I thought until I came across a long-forgotten box of Carbquik and decided to test out the pancake recipe.

Yummy Carbquik Pancakes

Ingredients

Carbquik Baking Mix (about 5-6 tbsp)
Half & Half (2 tbsp)
Melted Butter (1 tbsp)
Water (1-2 tbsp)
Davinci Syrup French Vanilla (1tbsp)
Cooking Spray + Butter

Unfortunately, I didn’t measure; the measures above are guesstimates. I added ingredients until the batter seemed right for cooking. It wasn’t pourable just spoonable with a puffy texture. I spooned into a medium-hot pan coated with cooking spray. Added a little butter to the pan and flipped when the pancake edges started to brown. Served hot with butter and low-carb pancake syrup. Yummy — the pancakes were light and fluffy with crispy and buttery edges.

Posted on June 13th, 2010 by fat2fit
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Serves 6

1/2 pound of bacon, crisply fried and crumbled
1 cup shreaded natural Swiss cheese
1/3 cup minced red onion
4 eggs
2 cups of whipping cream
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Splenda
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 425°F. Sprinkle bacon, cheese and onion in the bottom of a 9″ pie pan. Beat eggs lightly and beat in remaining ingrediants. Pour cream mixture into pie pan. Bake in oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 300°F and bake 30 minites or longer or until knife inserted 1″ from the edge comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting. Serve in wedges. For firmer texture, cook additional 10 minutes. 4.3 carbs per serve.

Source: http://www.cookingcache.com/lowcarb/lowcarbquichelorraine.shtml?rdid=rc1

Posted on June 11th, 2010 by fat2fit
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I’ve started seeing an Acupuncturist. She’s prescribed Rehmannia root. I boil the root in 3 cups water, strain and drink the tea throughout the day. Today was my first day taking it. The tea isn’t bad, it’s dark colored with a woodsy, slightly sweet, almost mushroomy flavor. Seems like it would go well in a savory broth or soup.

From Wikipedia

“Rehmannia (地黄) is a root where the dark, moist part of the herb is used to nourish the blood and the hormonal system. It is usually used in the treatment problems of aging because the herbs ability to restore the levels of several declining hormones. There are two forms of the herb that are currently used. One is designated sheng dihuang or raw rehmannia is given to reduce inflammation. The other designated shou dihuang or cooked rehmannia is used as a nourishing tonic. Often the two forms are combined together in equal proportions to address inflammatory problems. This herb is mostly used in making decoctions or dried decoctions”. This herb is in a famous formula called Liu Wei Di Huang Wan (6 Ingredient Rhemannia) which treats yin deficiency.

Therapeutic Uses and Benefits of Rehmannia

• Rehmannia is the most important Chinese herb for disorders of the kidneys and adrenal glands. Rehmannia also appears to combat adrenal suppression caused by steroid hormones and has a similar tonic effect on the adrenal cortex as licorice. A feature of rehmannia is that it is in a small group of herbs that are used to autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia and Multiplesclerosis. Used to combat the symptoms and progression of these illnesses, anti-inflammatory herbs used include rehmannia, shemidesmus and bupleurum. Rehmannia also hinders the breakdown of cortisone products in the body, which lengthens this drugs effect. In one study, patients with rheumatoid arthritis were treated with rehmannia and experienced good results, including a reduction of joint pain, swelling, and increased joint movement. Rehmannia also improved the general symptoms of asthma and urticaria. Mild oedema developed in a small percentage of patients which is a similar reaction to that induced by adrenocortical hormones.
The Rehmannia Root
(Rehmannia glutinosa)
• In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) the unprocessed rehmannia root is used to reduce heat in the blood, to nourish yin and promote the production of body fluid. Indications for TCM use include febrile diseases, skin eruptions and nosebleeds. In Western herbal medicine, rehmannia is looked upon as an adrenal tonic; and is believed to support the cells of the adrenal cortex and pituitary during times of prolonged stress. Oral doses (10-500 mg/kg) of rehmannia fluid extract had an immune modulating effect in an experimental model. Rehmannia could therefore be helpful in addressing autoimmune conditions of the adrenals and thyroid. Unlike liquorice (also an adrenal tonic), rehmannia is suitable for use in patients with hypertension (high blood pressure).
• Rehmannia’s main active principles are iridoid glycosides. Catalpol was the first of these isolated from rehmannia, and it appears its main function is to stimulate production of adrenal cortical hormones. These hormones are anti-inflammatory and explain the use of rehamannia in treating asthma, skin diseases, and arthritis. Catapol is also used to increase the production of sex hormones and in TCM; Rehmannia is prescribed to treat menopause, impotence, hair loss (alopecia) and other hormone deficiencies.

Posted on June 6th, 2010 by fat2fit
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I’m getting back on track in June. My plan is to get back to what worked so well for me in the past — like fasted cardio and morning protein shakes.

• Am Fasted Cardio, 20-30 minutes
• Green tea
• Protein shakes with greens + ground flax
• Cottage cheese, yogurt
• Lean protein salads
• Vegetables & lower-gi fruit (cherries, apples, blueberries, grapefruits, plums)
• Nuts
• Water

Tips & Techniques:
- Eat carbs? Add fats to reduce insulin release. Ex. apple/banana + peanut butter, oatmeal + almonds. Fats will bind with carbohydrates in the stomach and release smaller amounts into the intestine. This smaller (bolus) amount of digested good carbs will indicate a smaller need for insulin. Therefore, reducing chances of excess fat storage.
- Get in the greens. Ex. spinach in the morning protein shake, chopped broccoli in soup

Good choices I actually like:

• Chia Seeds
• Ground Flax
• Spinach
• Avocado
• ON Whey Gold Standard
• Slow Cooker Collard Greens and Smoked Turkey Wings
• Vine Tomatoes sliced with light creamy dressing
• Goji Berries
• Peanut Butter
• Apples
• Blueberries

Posted on June 6th, 2010 by fat2fit
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Found an interesting Q&A with Dan Duchaine – gives credence to the idea that not only is what you eat throughout the day important but so is when you eat it.

Source: http://www.trulyhuge.com/dan_duchaine.htm

GURU: I want to carb up for about the usual three days for an upcoming contest. Shuld I eat at night? I heard I shouldn’t eat carbs after six pm.

A: When you carb deplete, your insulin sensitivity is greater. And you’re probably going to use chromium, vanadyl sulfate, and magnesium to improve insulin sensitivity. But it’s true that insulin sensitivity is lowest at night. Let’s discuss what is happening in your body that makes it dislike carbs at night. Cortisol, a catabolic hormone, is highest at night. When cortisol is elevated, your muscle cell insulin sensitivity is lowered. And I have no idea if using all these various insulin agonists will guard against the bad effects of the cortisol. Probably not. The other avenue would be to reduce the cortisol at night, so you could eat the carbs without worrying about the blood glucose going into fat cells instead of muscle cells. I wondered about this same area in the Recomposition (carbing-up) phase of the BODYOPUS diet, when after the 5 no-carb days, you only have 48 hours to carb up before resuming another 5 days of no carbs. In Recomposition, I! do recommend eating carbs throughout the night, waking up every two hours or so, to take in a specific carb meal. For most people, the best they can do is use chromium, magnesium, and vanadyl with each meal. A final note: if you can’t eat throughout the night, the last carb meal before bed should have some kind of delayed absorption. You should include some vegetable oil (about 1 tablespoon) and guar gum (about 10 grams) with the carb meal. Glucophage (metformin), is ideal for slowing carb absorption, as the chief mechanism of metformin is to slow glucose uptake from the small intestine.

GURU: I’m following that new anabolic diet by mauro dipasquale. I check for ketones in my urine with ketosticks. It shows a slight purple color when I get up in the morning. But I check later on, and I show no ketones. What gives? What am I doing wrong? Should I use a glucometer instead?

 

A: … In BODYOPUS, I go into great detail on how the system works, but I will highlight some key points now. The five (or more) no-carb eating days force the usual dietary and stored fats into something else called ketones. Ketones are fractured fats that can be used in the place of glucose. Ketones are a faster energy source than regular fats. They don’t yield the expected nine calories a gram; instead, they yield somewhat less, around seven calories a gram. Ketosis doesn’t normally happen–only when insulin is low and the other hormone in the pancreas, glucagon, is high. Your blood glucose level has to be around 50 mg/dl for ketone production to happen in significant amounts. To drop your blood sugar so low (regular blood glucose is between 80-120), you can’t eat carbs for a few days.

Getting into a short-term ketogenic state does a number of positive things. You train your metabolism to enhance its fat-burning ability, which gets lazy with a high-carb diet. Also, as previously mentioned, ketone burning is inefficient, so more grams are burned as compared to non-ketogenic fat burning. The really interesting thing about short-term ketogenic diets is the set up for an anabolic rebound growth spurt after the two-day carb-up. We don’t know all the mechanisms for this growth spurt. However, starving the body of carbs instills a temporary rise in muscle insulin acceptance. The extra glycogen, fluids, and electrolytes will make the muscle cell bigger, and the increased mechanical leverage will make you stronger. When you ramjet the muscle cells with more volume, you get an anabolic stimulus from the stretching of the cell.

About your particular problems: once fats are converted into ketones, they have to be used as fuel or eliminated. You can’t store ketones. Your body can’t reconvert ketones back into fats. The route for elimination is through the kidneys and into the urine. Remember, ketones in the urine are whole, unburned ketones. Ketosticks are small plastic and paper testing strips, about the length of a Q-tip. You allow your urine stream to wash over the paper end of the strip, and if there are ketones in the urine, the paper will turn from the normal tan color into a purplish color. The deeper the purple color, the more ketones in the urine. Your problem is that during the day, you don’t get a purple reading on the ketosticks. Does this mean you’re eating too many carbs and not getting into ketosis?

During the time you’re sleeping, the liver is still converting fats into ketones. But since you have little energy requirements during sleep, these ketones are not needed for fuel. They have to be eliminated. When you wake up in the morning, your first urination will have unused ketones, and you will get a light purple color, assuming you haven’t been eating any carbs for about 48 hours. When you become active, the ketones will be used as fuel. Between usual activities and exercise, most people in a ketogenic state won’t show purple on the ketosticks, especially when on a low-calorie diet. Most of the ketones will be used as fuel, with hardly any unused ketones left for excretion. If you’re eating a lot of calories, above maintenance, then you might get a purple reading during the day. But BODYOPUS is a weight-loss diet, so calories are at maintenance or below. If you’re trying the Anabolic Diet or BODYOPUS for fat loss and get a purple reading during the! day, you should either reduce calories or increase activity, so you won’t have extra unused ketones. Final advice on ketosticks: after 48 hours (in BODYOPUS, I give you tricks to lessen the time needed to start ketosis), you should be getting a light purple color on the ketosticks on the first morning urination only. During the day, the ketosticks will show tan because most of the ketones are being used as fuel.

Posted on May 23rd, 2009 by fat2fit
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Stats Update: 
Weight 162.8
Waist 32.0

I’ve lost an inch and a half off my waist which is great. I’m getting all kinds of compliments so I guess that something is working. I’ve been on a steady downswing with my weight for a couple of weeks and have almost gotten fully back on track after a disappointing 8 pound gain/plateau.

Best of this losing phase — My (almost) daily diet:

• Apples — an apple a day keeps the pounds away! I carry an apple with me to work and it’s a great handy snack when I can’t eat on schedule.
• Avocados — avocado on my salads, in my morning protein shakes (can’t really taste it).
• Fruit + plain yogurt — my other work snack that helps me to keep on losing.
• Green tea — as soon as I get to work, I grab a cup of hot water and make green tea. Nice and calming.
• R-ALA, Chromium Picolinate — 1 each in the morning and right before bed seems to be helping to cut cravings and bloating.
• Reduced diet soda & using Truvia — seems to be helping.
• Salmon — perhaps it’s the good fats or the lower calories from salmon vs. beef/pork but I’ve been eating salmon almost daily and it’s great.
• Brown rice — I can eat this carb without a slow down in weight loss.
• Wendy’s — definitely not a daily thing but on a couple of days when I wasn’t prepared with a healthy lunch, a Wendy’s Mandarin Chicken Salad, side order of Mandarin oranges and order of chicken nuggets were a perfect compromise.
• Water — to make protein shakes instead of milk. I’m noticing that it seems like not using milk is better for weight loss for me — seems to be true whether I’m using low-fat cow’s milk, Hood milk, almond milk or soy milk.
• Travel flax — Hodgson Mill’s makes pre-packaged, single-serve ground flax. These are easy to use and carry around and very convenient.

Posted on March 27th, 2009 by fat2fit
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Today was a good start to my challenge — even though I started the challenge over a week ago, I am really just starting to focus on better eating today. The unexpected death of a work friend threw me into a tailspin and I found comfort in my old standbies — sweets, treats and over-the-top self-indulgence. I continued exercising but was dissatisfied when I didn’t “feel” the soreness. Doesn’t take Freud to figure out that the feeling of being overstuffed or the feeling of being overworked is preferable to feeling otherwise. Ah well, psychoanalysis later. Right now I’m focused on clean eating — and today’s very successful day of clean eating.

I had:

• Meal 1: Medifast Dark Chocolate + Ultra Peptide Whey Shake with flax & chia seeds, tsp goji berries
• Meal 2: Ground Beef Burger cooked in olive oil with sliced tomatoes and 1/2 avocado, light salad dressing
• Meal 3; Ground Beef Burger cooked in olive oil with American cheese, sauteed onions & low-sugar ketchup
• Snack: peanut butter & cashews
• Meal 3: Baked chicken breast, sliced steak, spinach & light salad dressing
• Snack: 1/2 apple

Supplements:

• Lipoflush, 4 in am, 4 in pm
• Vitabese, 2 before meal 2 and 2 before meal 3
• Super Omega-3+DHA
• MegaT+Extend+Momentum Lemondade drink
• BSN cheaters after last meal
• Super Lipotropics B12
• HC1

Hopefully, the scale will show some progress tomorrow as well.

Posted on March 8th, 2009 by fat2fit
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I’m still a work in progress and so is my plan for getting ready for summer. I think I’ve come up with a winning combo — at least for the next few weeks. Here it is:

S4S Eating, Fitness and Supplements Plan

• Workout with weights 3 times per week and do cardio 4 times per week
• Drink 10 cups spring water a day
• Have fruit, veggies and EFAs every day
• Eat 1gram of protein for every pound of lean body mass
• Sleep 7-8 hours a day
• Keep carbs, sugar etc low and stay away from high fructose corn syrup, trans fats
• Try to eat natural and organic food, especially when choosing fish and meats

The above may seem like a lot but I already do cardio 3-4 times a week and already started working out with weights about two times per week. I take EFAs (fish, flax and chia) daily and have lots of CLA around. I also have been staying away from high fructose corn syrup and trans fats for almost a year. I buy natural/grass-fed beef, butter and cream cheese when it’s available and try to get Omega-3/DHA milk and eggs – ”when it’s available” is the biggest problem as my closest Harris Teeter has the best variety of stuff but unfortunately runs out of natural grass-fed foods too often.

Getting enough water, eating vegetables and having a steady pattern for sleep are long-standing issues that I intend to overcome. I am close on the sleep thing, only missing the required 7-8 hours about 1-2 times a week now. Before last year, I would only get an average 4-4.5 hours on weekdays and that went on for years.

For supplements, I’d like to use up the many things I have.  Over the next few weeks, I’ll use:

• Fatburner - Lipoflush then switch to BSN Thermonex then maybe San Tight plus San ThyroCuts
• Appetite Suppression - Vitabese then switch to Hoodia, Cell Press
• EFAs - Met-rx CLA, Life Extension Super Omega-3 EPA/DHA, Sesamin
• Pre-Workout - Nutrex Ignite plus Controlled Labs Yellow nEuphoria
• Whenever necessary - BSN Cheaters

What will my grocery list look like for this plan? Below is what I bought today:

• Harris Teeters Naturals New York Strip
• HT Naturals Ground Beef
• Organic Salmon Fillets
• Ground Flax Seed
• Baby Spinach
• Bag of Apples
• Bag of Lemons
• Strawberries
• Collard Greens
• Vine Tomatoes
• Avocados
• Smoked Turkey Wings
• BirdsEye SteamFresh Brown Rice
• BirdsEye SteamFresh Green Beans
• Baked Chicken Breast
• Breyers CarbSmart Butter Pecan Ice Cream
• Breyers CarbSmart Chocolate Ice Cream (it was two-for-one!)
• Deer Park Water
• Frozen Butterflied Shrimp
• Frozen BBQ Salmon
• Almond Milk
• Quaker Weight Control Oatmeal
• Natural Peanut Butter
• Smuckers Sugar Free Grape Jelly
• Smuckers Sugar Free Strawberry Jam (also on sale for two-for-one)
• Truvia

I already have:

• Greek Yogurt
• Hood Low Carb Light Milk
• Medifast Powdered Protein Shakes (various flavors — Dark Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla, Blueberry)
• Syntrax Nectar Whey (Roadside Lemonade, Fuzzy Navel)
• Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard Chocolate
• Ezekiel Bread
• Special K Protein Cereal
• Various light and organic salad dressings
• Light Mayo
• Various organic sliced cheeses (swiss, cheddar, havarti)
• Edy’s Sugar Free Frozen Fruit Bars
• Pumpkin & sunflower seeds, other kinds of nuts
• Dehydrated kiwi, strawberries
• Chia Seeds (white)
• Goji Berries
• 1/2 an onion, some frozen blueberries, a sweet potato
• Various spices and condiments

I should be able to eat clean convenienty. Onward and downward!

Posted on March 8th, 2009 by fat2fit
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Just came in from a couple days out of town. I took my Saturday pic late this evening. While out of town, I stayed at a hotel that had a great gym — filled with a brand new Precor equipment. There were “cardio-theater” machines with personal viewing tvs attached and a rack of Precor dumbbells that looked totally unused. I did 15 hard minutes on the cross-trainer elliptical one night and 20 minutes on a recumbent bike plus upper body strength training the next morning. Despite the personal challenge I’ve set to get Slimmer 4 Summer, my eating has been a little whack. I always start off okay eating for the early part of the day, dissolving into garbage in the afternoons/evenings.

Anyway… exercise is now my best fitness friend, since I’m not yet back to being on a good eating plan. I had such a feeling of accomplishment getting up to 15 minutes on the elliptical. I’ve always hated it as it is so hard for me. I looked at the time display obsessively, counting up every single torturous second. I thought I’d only go five minutes and then switch to the treadmill or just pack it in for the night. But once I made it to five, I then made 7, then ten, and finally 15 minutes. Not a huge accomplishment for others but a mega-accomplishment for me since I’ve never made more than 5. I felt a nice full body intensity and even broke a good sweat.

I’m off to bed. Tomorrow (later today really), I’ll check back in with my plan for the next few weeks. My short-term goal will be regaining control of my eating as I continue to incorporate daily exercise.

Posted on March 8th, 2009 by fat2fit
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I had a good start today even though I slept in a little later than expected. I did 25.5 minutes on the treadmill at a moderate pace. Had my morning protein shake and a few supplements. Took Day 3 pictures. I am completely hating the whole picture thing but I am hoping that I will start to see results in 20-30 days and that seeing the results will keep me going.

Posted on March 4th, 2009 by fat2fit
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