My computer has been acting funky, didn't get to post my menus from Saturday and Sunday, though I tried. Here they are:

Saturday-

Breakfast/lunch-

Indian buffet- about 4 grams of fiber

Dinner-
high fiber bar- 10 grams
turkey wrap with spring mix, cucumber, mayo, and American cheese- 9 grams
popcorn- 6 grams
Kashi BBQ chips- 4 grams

total for dinner- 29 grams


total for the day- 33 grams




Sunday-

Breakfast/lunch-
roasted chicken with a little bit of gravy
stuffing- 2 grams
small sweet potato with skin- 4 grams
corn- 6 grams
cranberry sauce
baked apples with skin, raisins, cranberries and pecans- 3.2 grams

total for breakfast/lunch- 15.2 grams

Dinner-

chicken sandwich with mayo and mustard- 12 grams
Snyder's Eat Smart Whole grain tortilla chips with quinoa, sesame, and chia seeds- 6 grams
okra- 6 grams

total for dinner- 24 grams

total for the day- 39.2 grams

Lady...Great job!! Glad that you are still tracking!! Your weekend was awesome,,Keep it up and hoping your computer gets fix soon. Have a great week...

Lilliann You eat a lot of fiber. If you don't mind me asking, do you know how many calories that is? Congratulations on you weight loss. You are doing great.

I ended the day with around 1900 calories today and got 44 grams of fiber. I'm concerned with my calories being so high to get the fiber up sometime. Some of the days that I've pushed it, but today I was really hungry. I prefer eating more Intuitive Eating because you only eat when hungry and eat to satisfy the hunger.

Steelslady Do you have a fiber goal each day or do you eat more Intuitively? I thought I read that you said you eat when hungry. So I was just wondering if you count fiber when you eat and it just goes higher or do you plan it?

aleka Hi glad you checked in.

Headed to bed. Catch y'all tomorrow.

Trish...I am not worried about calories...I am assuming I am eating roughly about 3000 calories...I am just focusing on the fiber.and how active I am each day. You are doing wonderful,.great work!!

Have a great day all...

Total Fiber...64

Fiber count for today is 44 grams. Weight was down .2 lb and fast blood sugar was the same as yesterday which is a +.

Lilliann I've been nervous about going up on calories. I'm over 300 calories more today to get to the 44 grams. However, you are doing great with high calories. We'll see how things go with my higher calories. I had to do the extra calories today because we went out to eat so I had to make up my fiber when I got home.

Trish...Glad that your scale move alittle and also great on the sugar and fiber!! You holding up very well...Keep on,keeping on!! Have a great Wednesday!!

So sorry I am behind these past couple of days- just been so busy, plus my computer is acting up. I will answer and reply to others after this post, which is my menu from yesterday and today. I still haven't eaten dinner yet- been so full from my breakfast/lunch, so I will edit it later to add it, if I have anything at all. I add these menus only to try and help others get some ideas on how to do this, especially if someone new to fiber counting comes along and joins us at a later time. Hopefully, it helps!

Yesterday's (Monday's) menu-

Breakfast/lunch-

1 cup of orange juice- .05 grams
2 high fiber English muffins- 16 grams
peanut butter- half regular, half no calorie Walden Farms- 4 grams
1 and 1/2 tablespoons Polaner High Fiber Grape- 4.5
scrambled eggs
5 turkey sausage links (20 calories each)

total for breakfast/lunch- 25 grams

Dinner-

salad- 2 grams
lightly salted peanuts/raisin mix- 3 grams
pot roast sandwich on Arnold's Double Fiber bread with light mayo- 12 grams
Snyder's Eat Smart tortillas made with chia, flax, quinoa, and sesame seeds- 6 grams

total for dinner- 23 grams

snack-

okra chips- half a serving- 3 grams

total for the day- 51 grams



Today's menu-

Breakfast/Lunch

1 small can LeSeur baby peas- 6 grams
1/2 large can of Garbanzo (chick peas)- 8.7 grams
spaghetti pie with high fiber spaghetti- 12.25
high fiber chewy chocolate granola bar- 10 grams

total for breakfast/lunch- 36.95 grams

Dinner-

half of a pot roast sandwich with mayo and mustard-
6 grams
half of a chicken sandwich with mayo- 6 grams
Snyder's healthy tortilla chips- 6
okra- 6

total for dinner- 24 grams

total for the day- 60.95 grams

I just wanted to take the time to explain something, why I may or may not be on some days as much in the future.

My youngest daughter has cancer. We were misled into thinking she was cancer free last year after she had surgery to remove several tumors that were malignant. Thank God I insisted on this surgery, and thank God for my diligent Nurse Practitioner who found us a great doctor in Boston for a second opinion, as I had concerns about what her first doctor did and how he treated it. Turns out, he handled her cancer wrong right from the start. Things he should have done- things I questioned him on because I did research on my own and knew of things that were supposed to be followed up two months later, he shrugged off, basically wanting us to be happy she was "cancer free" and to let her get on with her life.

Thank God I was persistent, for her sake. Now, she has to have radiation therapy, but the doctor said we can wait until after she graduates and is letting her enjoy the rest of her senior year, however, there may be another malignant tumor growing and one of her lymph nodes is causing her some alarm. Her blood tests came back "very good"- with this doctor, that means, we have some time, but..........need to get things taken care of.

It's a long process for her to have this radiation treatment. She has to go off her meds for three weeks, ten days before her radiation therapy, she has to go on a low iodine diet and stay on it until after the second scan is done, which is a total of two weeks. The week of the scan, we have to go to Boston four times in five days- if her blood test comes out good on than Monday, then we proceed with the other three days treatment, the last to which she will have the radioactive iodine radiation as well as a "pre-scan". She will have to go home for four days and stay away from kids, elderly, pregnant women, all of our pets (we have nine of them.......oy!), then go back the following Wednesday for a post scan. If anything lights up during that scan- if the cancer traveled anywhere, it will light up on the scan. She's hoping that it will clean up any cancer cells in her body. Praying nothing lights up that day. :(

She also has to have another scan nine months after that- to see if it got rid of all the cancer cells and to make sure it's out of her system. She was told at this time she can not get pregnant- it would harm the baby. She even has to have a pregnancy test the morning of radiation treatment- this doctor is just wonderful and on the ball- we love her. We know our daughter is in great hands. Hopefully, the radiation will clean out that lymph node and get rid of that piece of whatever it is that is growing- she's not sure if it is a tiny piece of thyroid left over from her surgery, or if it is another malignant tumor growing, but it is small enough and her blood tests were good enough that we can wait until summer to do this.

Just keeping fingers crossed that it isn't too late. We are remaining positive and keeping her in a positive mood- we don't want the poor kid to keep worrying again like she has been since this all start three years ago. She's such a sweetheart, so lovable and full of love, laughter, and life. My husband as well as my oldest daughter and son just love her so much, it's breaking us all up inside to see her go through this. She's my warrior, my hero.

Oh, and the reason why I will be not posting some days- I have to make some gluten free recipes that are low in iodine to have her test them out before she has to do this diet. She has a gluten allergy, so it is a bit more challenging dietary wise, but I will find a way. :) She's on a high protein diet now for Track and Field. She throws discus and shot put, and may dabble in javelin this year (she was afraid to throw it before, thinking she would injure herself, lol!). May she have a great last year in Fielding. If you can't tell already, I am a proud Momma of three kids- my world, my life. They are all very special to hubby and I. ;)

Now, to finally say a howdy do to you all and reply to your awesome comments-

Liliann- great job, girl friend! You are doing fantastic- keep up the great work! You are making such great progress, and you must be feeling wonderful. think of it this way, you've lost two and half bags of potatoes, or the equivalent of a toddler- way to go! :carrot:

aleka- just post! We love to hear from you! You don't need to post any menus or food choices, just let us know how you're doing, ask any questions, share some fun stuff like you and hubby walked the mall or went hiking or something, etc- posting daily will help keep us all accountable, even if it's just checking in to say hello and encouraging one another. Glad you are doing well and I wish you continued success!

Trish- So glad your weight is coming down again- it could have been fluid retention, which happens alot on most diets. With high fiber, we do have to make sure we're getting plenty of water to keep the fiber flowing through our system. Also, a high sodium day can cause a weight gain and stay on for a few days- just went through this this week myself with the Indian food- so good, but you know how those buffets are- loaded with sodium. I am sodium sensitive and can put on up to five pounds of water weight over night, to which in two to three days time, it does come back off. I can even feel it in my extremities when I have had too much sodium that day- my feet, calves, and hands swell and sometimes, my skin gets red.

Now, as far as my calorie consumption goes- while I am not counting calories, I am diligent in keeping them from not going too high. I probably average around 1600-1800 per day most days. I eat light mayonaise, light margarine with low or no sodium versions, rinse off sodium from vegetables that I can't buy the low sodium/no sodium added versions because they don't either sell them or the company doesn't make them that way. I try to eat fresh or frozen veggies, but most of the high fiber foods are fresh or canned for me.

As far as do I plan my menus- well, yes and no. The night before, I do have a plan as to my protein for the next day. From there, I add my high fiber choices to accompany my meals, from bread to pasta, or veggies/fruits and snacks. I try to stay around 20 grams per meal, sometimes I am over, sometimes, under. No pressure, but I do aim to have at least 35 grams a day, the lowest.

For instance, yesterday, we had pot roast- my family got a bit of a different dinner than myself- I made it with oven roasted potatoes/sweet potatoes/green beans in olive oil and Lipton Onion Soup mix for them with gravy- I can't have that too much anymore, it's too high in sodium for me, all soups/mixes are unfortunately.

However, I had the pot roast along with them, but I had mine in a sandwich with high fiber bread, high fiber tortilla chips, some salad, and peanuts and raisins. I was low on potassium yesterday- I can always tell when I am, because I crave either oranges or orange juice when I am low, so I had some orange juice with my high protein/high fiber breakfast and the peanut/raisin combination (think protein/sugar combo). I wish I had had some oranges in the house, as those are higher in fiber (2 grams) compared to the juice itself, but it was the potassium I needed, not the fiber at that point. Whenever I do an intense work out, I have to watch my potassium levels- I know the signs and symptoms by now, craving oranges is my cue- raisins are a good source of potassium, too, but I have to pair them up with peanuts to balance out the sugars. Again, I always pair my sugars/carbs with a good amount of protein, to stay on the safe side.

Some staples in my pantry that I keep that is a must on my high protein/high fiber diet:

LeSeur's very young small sweet peas- 1 cup serving has 6 grams of fiber, 8 grams of protein, 8 grams of sugars- the protein knocks out the sugar, especially if you have a meat source with these peas.

Nature's Harvest Okra Chips=- 6 pods (30 grams total), has 6 grams of dietary fiber, 2 grams of protein, no sugars. This is a newer staple to my diet, I love them. Other grocery stores may have them- I have seen them before under different brand names, so check them out, if you like okra. You can also make them, found a recipe online for them, but it takes too long, just easier for me to buy them.

Butter beans- 1/2 cup serving has 5 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, and 1 gram of sugar, knocked out by the protein in these delicious gems

Lima beans- 1/2 cup serving has 8 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, 1 gram of sugar, knocked out by the protein

Garbanzo (chick peas) beans- 1/2 cup serving has 5 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, no sugars


Vegetarian beans in tomato sauce- 1/2 cup has 6 grams of fiber, 7 grams of protein, and 6 grams of sugar, knocked out by the protein if you pair it with a meat source as well, like hot dogs.

I play around with recipes. For instance, some nights the peas go in a Shrimp with Lobster sauce (high in protein) with some bean sprouts and some rice. Or a chicken pot pie, beef stew, etc.

I take a jar of any alfredo sauce, put in a large can of lima beans, add some cooked chicken or shrimp, and serve it over high fiber pasta. My hubby's, my son's, and my favorite is the Sun Dried tomato alfredo sauce with lima beans and shrimp. So yummy!

Spaghetti pie is a fun recipe that balances out tomato sauce, which has some sugar in it, with lots of protein from the eggs/egg whites (I use half eggs, half egg whites to watch the cholesterol), turkey sausage, hamburger or chicken burger, and parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, to which I use high fiber spaghetti with my recipe, gluten free for my daughter, and regular spaghetti for the rest of the family.

Cooking is a challenge in my house, but one good thing- my youngest daughter, though gluten free, is on a high protein diet- so we both eat a lot of legumes and peas for veggies, and I just substitute the gluten free pasta in recipes when needed. My oldest daughter is calorie counting, so I have to help her with portion control and calorie counting when I can. Seeing that I am on a high fiber diet, I eat high fiber pasta- so today, I cooked three different pastas and made three different versions of spaghetti pie for six people. My sister lives with us, so there is six of us in all I try to keep healthy and full. Son, hubby, and youngest daughter are easy to please and cook for, while my oldest daughter and sister are a challenge- oldest daughter has a very acidic and sensitive stomach, so her food has to be for the most part very plain, not high in spice or acid. My sister has dementia and one day she loves a food, while the next day she'll tell everyone she hates it and/or never ate it before. Good times at my house, let me tell you!

I hope this helps, Trish, and anyone else that might need or want this information.

I am on a high fiber/high protein diet, watching my sugars as well, always always pairing protein with any carbs/sugars. I also love to eat asparagus and green beans, and lots of other fresh veggies roasted like eggplant, asparagus, summer squash, red peppers, and zucchini. So good! Can't wait til hubby gets paid Friday so I can get some of those veggies and roast them- been craving them the last couple of days, but got to wait until Friday to buy them. I hope I can wait that long, lol!

Have a great day, all! I hope you all wake up with nice losses and Trish, I hope that your sugar keeps improving. Hang in there, my friend- we'll get this worked out for you one way or the other, in a healthy manner, of course. ;)

Hello Ladies, i have just quickly read through the whole thread. I am not counting fibre but i do tend to eat a high fibre way anyway.

Sorry to hear about your daughter's troubles Steelslady.

I wanted to share my lunch recipe with you because its very high in fibre, high in protein, vegetarian and pretty damn tasty and nutritious. I turned it into a formula so that it can be adapted with all different sorts of ingredients. I'll give you the formula first then tell you how i made it today.

Because i do need to watch my calorie intake, i keep some ingredients in check and don't just chuck in more and more of the yummier parts (cheese and nuts). But i have found these yummier bits are not required in high doses anyway. I try to put just enough in to give me enough flavour.

so this is a bean and vegetable salad with cheese and nuts and dressing. I try to use quality ingredients. Although i am using canned beans, i know it would be better and a lot cheaper using dried beans, soaking overnight then cooking, but at the moment i need things to be as easy as possible.

The formula - it makes 2-3 cups of filling salad

1 cup of canned or soaked and cooked beans/lentils/chickpeas or any combination of same.
2 or 3 vegetables, usually salad types, but cooked ones are also fine.
up to about 70grams strong flavoured crumbly cheese
5 walnut halves, broken
just enough salad dressing to coat everything. I usually use 1-2 tsp of extra virgin olive oil and 1-2 tsp of balsamic vinegar.
pinch salt if desired
fresh ground black pepper if desired

Today i had
cannelini beans, 1 stick of celery sliced, 1 corn cob with corns sliced off, 1 3 inch chunk of cucumber, diced
5 walnuts halves
30g of crumbled goats fetta cheese
2tsp each of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I use less if using less vegies.

You could do
brown lentils + diced tomato + finely grated carrot + 1 finely grated beetroot
walnuts - you could use 5 almonds, or 1level tbsp of sesame seeds, sunflower seeds or other seeds or nuts. I like the walnuts a lot though.
fetta - i nearly always use the goats fetta and it should be a good quality product. As far as i'm concerned the best ones i know of are greek or bulgarian. The worst ones here are Australian and dutch. But you could also use hard parmesan or romano cheese also finely grated.

There are a few little extras i sometimes add such as:
1 tbsp finely chopped onion
1 clove of garlic in the dressing
fresh herbs finely chopped

instead of balsamic you could use red wine vinegar but never use just brown vinegar or white vinegar. Those are not really very yummy vinegars. You could also try lemon juice. Balsamic is nice because its a little bit sweet.

Sometimes i use 1/2 cup salad greens. In my supermarket there is also packet coleslaw vegetables which if i use i just put in 1 whole cup. It makes it very quick to prepare.

You can swap a vegetable for a piece of fruit sometimes. Apple and pear go well.

I hope you'll give it a go. Its my main salad and eat at least about four times a week.

Lady....Awww.sorry to hear about your daughter ordeal...Wishing you and her the best healing process. Stay strong and you holding up very well.:hug:

I don't cook and that is why I choose fiber counting, its helping and am basically eating the same foods every single day...I live with my mom and 2 sisters, so they eat thier own meals and I make my simple,high fiber meal and snacks. I do not mind eating the same foods everyday, as long my weight goes down, I am one happy Fiber chick a dee!! :)

My morning fiber...30

Have a great day all..

Steelslady, I am so sorry about your daughter. Glad you were persistent and got a 2nd opinion. Your NP sounds great. I wish your daughter the best and hope she's well soon. Thank you for your kind words.

Trish, glad that your weight was down and your bs stayed the same.

Lilliann, you're doing great with the fiber. Keep it up.

Pattience, Welcome! Your menus sound good and have given me some good ideas.

I had a slice of high fiber bread for breakfast this morning, it had 4g. of fiber, peanut butter, & a banana. I'm having lentil soup w/Andouille sausage for lunch and high fiber pasta for supper.

I also have to watch my calories because of years of yo-yo dieting and being menopausal, I can't eat that many calories.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Pattience....Welcome....You are doing great and good job with your 21 Lbs loss so far!! Keep it up!!

Eleka...Good on hearing and posting...You are doing good with your fiberous foods..Keep it going!!

Today is a calm day for me...which my fiber is high...Will post my overall total tonight.

Have a great one!! :)

Steelslady I am so sorry to hear about your precious daughter. She sounds like such a wonderful special young lady. Please know that she, you and your family will be in my prayers as you walk through this ordeal. I pray things will be corrected quickly and this will be just a memory so that she will live a long, happy and wonderful life.

Thank you so very much for your help. I printed the post you wrote me for reference. I haven't seen the okra chips, but I will keep looking and if I can't find them, I just might learn how to make them.

I actually took what you shared and I think that things finally came together for me today. I realized that all I have to do is take the low carb diet that I like to do and just add the fiber to it. I did that this morning and at lunch. Then when talking about this to my best cheerleader, my oldest son, he suggested that I eat a veggie burger made on my double fiber bread. That's what I'm doing for dinner to night. I've got my plan made for today and without a snack I've got 1,381 calories and 45 grams of fiber. A little over on the sodium, but my mild fluid pill will take care of that. I'll start watching the sodium more in the product I purchase from now on. I can add a snack if I need it that will bring the calories to 1,421 and fiber to 52. But I don't think I will.

My weight was up 1.6 lbs and fasting blood sugar was up 12 pts, but none of that bothers me because I'm sure it is because we ate out at Popeye's yesterday. First and last time we will eat there. Strange that DH can eat hot wings, but he couldn't eat all of his food because it was too spicy hot.

I have heard that although the claim the don't that restaurants do us MSG. I actually think that they do or they use something that gets to me. The last 3 or 4 times that we ate out, I came home and just feel wiped out. Of course, it could be just the fact that we don't eat out as much as we used too.

Pattience Hello and thanks so much for sharing the recipe/formula. I copied it as I think I could do that one. I love salads and this will give me a change so they don't get boring.

Aleka I am post-menopausal and I think that is why I have to work harder to lose weight. I can't do high calorie and lose weight either. You are doing great.

Lilliann I used to love to cook when my second hubby was living because he would eat almost anything. Present DH is difficult to please as he is a picky eater. His Mother used to tell me that when he was little that she would cry because he would not eat what she fixed. Now, I'm one of those people that if it takes more than 30 minutes to prepare and cook, I don't usually want to make it. It has to be really special or a holiday with company before I spend hours in the kitchen these days. DH and I only eat one meal together so once a day I try to cook what we both like and then I make the side dishes the way he likes them and my sides like I like. It isn't too bad cooking for just the two of us. Next week will tricky as DGS will be here for a week during spring break from college.