[nikkic]

Morning everyone,
DH and I will have to go to southern Missiouri (7 hour drive one way) on Friday. One of his favorite cousins passed away, she was only 2 days older than he is. She had a brain anurisym. It was a big shock. We have no idea how much time we have and it isn't always as long as we think.
I may not go if his father goes with him. We will see this morning.

It got into the 20's last night here. It is getting colder and darker all the time. I threw out my tomato plants yesterday. They just weren't getting enough light. I bought more lights, wrapped aluminum foil around their cages to reflect more light and still, they weren't doing well. Oh well, it was something I"ve always wanted to try. Wish I had a green house, but that would cost a fortune to maintain in the winter.

I made some sugarfree fudge last night. While it was good, the recipe needs some tweaking. It didn't set up very well. If I ever get it right, I'll post the recipe.

Better get going, have lots to do, Nikki

[aleka]

I send my deepest sympathy to you and your DH. What an awful thing to happen especially now when the holiday season is getting close. I'm sure it must be hard on your DH where they are the same age. My thoughts and prayers will be with you. If you do go with your DH have a safe trip. If not, a safe trip to your DH.

Take care.
Aleka

[StarPrincess]

Nikki - so sorry to hear about your DH's cousin. Be safe on your trip.

Aleka - I've tried a few kinds of low carb pasta and think it's disgusting. The texture makes me think of dried worms. I don't know about the low carb store near-ish to you, but the low carb stores in my area always have samples of different products available. It's great because it helps prevent me from wasting tons of money on things I won't like.

As for atkins, I love it. The weight is coming off pretty quickly and I feel really good - lots of positive energy. I recognize that it's not for everyone, but for the people that do follow it as it was intended, it's been a great gift.

As for breakfast, I hate eggs - always have. So I have things like string cheese, bacon, sausage, low carb french-toast or pancakes, or whatever else sounds good that morning. I spend a decent amount of time collecting low carb recipes and as a result, have never enjoyed such a variety of good food in my life.

[nikkic]

HI,
Thanks for the kind thoughts. I didn't know her well, we met a few times at other funerals. Seems that is the only time the family gets together anymore. It sure made DH think about his own mortality and that he needs to take better care of himself.
It will be a long trip. His father is going and so am I. While I like his dad, he is difficult to get along with, and that's putting it mildly. DH wants me to go, so I will go for him.

StarPrincess, you are so lucky that they provide samples. I tried the Darielle low carb pasta and your right, it is aweful. Even when it's covered with spicey sauce, it still tastes bad. I'd rather have sauce over zucchini noodles or french cut green beans.
I think I'll get the new Atkins book to take along on the trip and brush up on the diet. I need to follow some plan to get to where I want to be and it may as well be something I like.
Take care, Nikki

[aleka]

StarPrincess, can you eat the low carb pancakes and french toast on induction too? If you can, that would be ideal! Thanks for the info on the low carb pasta. I think I'll pass on it. I would prefer zucchini noodles.

nikki, I'm going to Walmart tomorrow, so I'll pick up the Atkins book too. Again, have a safe trip. "See" ya when you get back.

Aleka

[StarPrincess]

I wouldn't recommend eating the pancakes on the first two weeks of induction, and I'd also stay away from the atkins brand pancakes. There are better versions out there.

As for the french toast, there's a recipe that uses crushed pork rinds, cream, eggs, and cinnamon, that I'm told is to die for. Again, not good for those first 2 weeks, but for later on.

Please, explain zucchini noodles to me!

[nikkic]

Star (is it ok to call you Star for short?) Suzanne Somers has a recipe for "Zucchini Noodles" which are basically zucchini cut into long thin strips like noodles and stirfried in oil. You use this in place of noodles. It isn't that bad, zucchini is so bland.
Where is the recipe for the french toast? I'd like to try it someday.
I spent a lot of time at Suzannes website last night, copying off recipes. If you've never been there, it's www.suzannesomers.com first page click on community, second page click on discussion. This will take you to the forum, scroll down to somersize recipes, there are several forums for a variety of recipes from the members. Some are not appropriate for Atkins, but most are.

I'm not leaving until Friday morning at 330am, so I'll probably be back here before I leave. Thanks for the safe wishes, Aleka--- Nikki

[StarPrincess]

Thanks for the tip, Nikki! And of course, you can call me star. If you want to know about the name, we have bit about why we chose our names over on the Atkins thread.

Here's the recipe for the "french toast" after looking at it, I realized that it should be just fine for induction.

http://www.lowcarbluxury.com/recipes...e-bread13.html

[aleka]

StarPrincess, I have a julienne vegetable peeler to make long thin strips that look like spaghetti. I peel down to the seeds. I also use yellow squash, we call it summer squash, just to add some color. Add your own pasta sauce and it really is delicious. Thanks for the recipe for french toast.

nikki, I hate leaving that early in the morning. We've left that hour of the morning on a few occasions. Whenever we leave that early I can't sleep the night before.

Have a good evening.
Aleka

[nikkic]

Thanks for the link, Star. I will definately try them.
Aleka, I'm fairly sure I won't sleep. I don't know if I'll sleep tonight, there's so much to do and I'm not looking forward to this at all.
I went to Walmart and bought the Atkins for Life book. It looked like it had some recipes in it that I don't have. It will give me something to plan on when I get back.

[aleka]

nikki, did you get much sleep? I would be running around in a tizzy trying to get things done before leaving. The Atkins for Life is the book I have. It doesn't explain induction in detail. It does have a lot of recipes and what I like, it gives you different meal plans for different levels of carbs.

Hi ANNE and Star Princess hope you both are doing ok.

Have a good day!
Aleka

[ANNE D]

Good Morning Ladies:
Sorry I couldn't post yesterday, but between creeping
around at work and my university aged son Danny working
on the PC at home I couldn't get near a computer

Nikkic, I am so sorry to learn of your loss. Such a tragic thing.
One never knows.....I often think of my cousin David who died
this summer sometimes life does not seem fair

I gave in and got the flu shot. I didn't feel it though, I told the
nurse thats the advantage of having fat arms

Aleka the rain finally stopped but its a tad nippy outside. I too
have Atkins for life, its a good book. I love all the PP tapes I
have too, always listen to them, very supportive.

I'm going to be tired today. Mr. David has had me up
since 1:30 am. I hope stays away today .

Talk to you later.
Anne.

[nikkic]

HI,
Don't read the first paragraph if your squeemish.

I've been up all night, but it was because of TOM and excessive bleeding. I feel like I've given a few pints of blood to the Red Cross. I've had to wash rugs and floors all night because of it. I don't know how I'm going to go down there like this. I will try to explain it to DH, but he's already in a whirlwind of panic and emotion as it is. I know it's probably because of menopause, wonderful thing that it is.

I have Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution and his New Diet Cookbook. They are from last year, so probably not so new now. The Diet Revolution gives a better explaination of induction.

Anne, good luck today, sorry to hear about your lack of sleep. I always think about you. Where did you get the Protein Power tapes? What is on them, inspiration or what?

Here's something kind of funny that I read this morning, thought you might enjoy it-

Age 8: A young girl looks at herself and sees a lovely Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty.

Age 15: A young woman looks at herself and sees Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, or mabe a Cheerleader. But if she is PMS-ing she sees a fat pimpled, UGLY person and yells, "Mom, I can't go to school looking like this!"

Age 20: A young woman looks at herself and sees a person who is too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly, but decides she's going anyway.

Age 30: She looks at herself and sees a person who is too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly, but decides she doesn't have time to fix it, so she's going anyway.

Age 40: She looks at herself and sees a person who is too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly, but says, "At least, I'm clean" and goes anyway.

Age 50: She looks at herself and says "I am" and goes wherever she wants to.

Age 60: She looks at herself and reminds herself of all the people who can't even see themselves in the mirror anymore. Goes out and conquers the world.

Age 70: She looks at herself and sees wisdom, laughter, and ability, goes out and enjoys life.

Age 80: She doesn't bother looking in the mirror. Just puts on a red hat and goes out to participate in the world.

Thought that was kind of cute, think I'll go look for a red hat so I'll be ready when the time comes Take care, Nikki

[StarPrincess]

Good morning!

Nikki - you poor thing! Now you have me scared of menopause! Great little timeline, though - thanks

Aleka - you'll definately want Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution if you're wanting to try it. If you don't want to spend the money (it's about $7) you can go to www.atkins.com - it has everything you'll want to know.

Anne - I got the flu shot a week ago and got sick on Sunday Blech! On the good side, I was out of commission for only one day while dh, who didn't get a shot, has been out of commission since Saturday.

I'm starting a new supplement today called L-carnatine in the hopes that it will get me past my current stall. I'm not a patient person, so I get discouraged easily. My saving grace at the moment is that my size 7 jeans - which were very tight 2 weeks ago - are only a little too tight now. At least progress is happening somewhere!

[nikkic]

Star, I don't think this is what everone goes through with menopause. I think my hormones are pretty screwed up. I've been having a time of it this past year with this change of life thing. I've always looked forward to this time in my life, thought it would be great. Maybe it will be eventually. I made a Drs appointment, just to make sure everything is ok. Can't get in til Dec 5th though.
What size do you want to be when you have reached your goal? I would love to be a 7. Actually, it would be too small for me. I have pictures of myself when I was an 8 and I looked too thin. But I'm around 5'9" or so on a good day.
I tried carnitine awhile back and I couldn't tell if it did anything. I was taking a lot of other supplements at the time too, so who knows. I've read it does help some people. Like most things, people have different reactions to things.
Nikki