Good morning!

Glad to hear everyone's doing good.

Nikki - happy induction-ing! I had a cream issue, too. I finally realized that I could just not add it to my decaf and still be fine. Now I'm off decaf even. I found some sugarfree chocolate soy milk that's only got 1 gram of carbs per 8 ounces, so I've been heating it up and having hot cocolate

Aleka! That's some weather you're having! Yikes!

My blood pressure has dropped significantly, too. I was at 142/93 when I started this woe. Now it's 114/68. I'd definitely call that an improvement.

I tried out the hour long accelerated body sculpting video in my winsor pilates series. OMG - that was hard! It still feels great and I'm looking forward to being able to do all the moves without modifying them. How wierd is this - I had to keep stopping because point my toes was causing my arches to cramp. Why on earth would that be happening?

Star, I don't know if this would be related to your arches cramping, but do you take supplements as Dr. Atkins suggests? I take potassium daily as I was having a lot of leg cramps at night when I was going to sleep. Like I said, it might not be related to that, it could just be that your stretching a muscle more than you've stretched it before.
I like Pilates too. I was using an old Pilates tape and gave it to my DD. Then I got the Winsor tapes and they are pretty much the same, so I sent them back and will just get my old tape back (she's not using it anyway). I do know that the hour long tape is real hard. I tried it and could only do about 20 min then just laid back and watched the rest, in awe.
I will have to either stop using cream, or just drink a few cups of coffee a day for a dessert like treat. I'll give it til I run out, then decide.
Nikki

Yes, I take a daily multi-vitamin, but I think I should look around for a different one. Based on what I read, cramps can be a result from deficiencies in calcium, potassium, magnesium, or sodium. I know I get plenty of potassium and sodium, so I'll look for a multi with more of the other two. It could also just be that I generally wear shoes with heels 2-4 inches high (I'm in denial about my real height) and going from that to pointed toes may be just really difficult for my underdeveloped arch muscles.

Thanks for the advice

Hi,
Star, I figured you were following his advice, you do such a good job with your weight loss and taking care of yourself. I take a seperate calcium and magnesium supplement because I don't think I get enough with just a multi, but I need to find a better multi myself. Mine is slow release and from what I've read, you should take one that dissolves in 20 or 30 min.

Aleka and Anne, I made the cheeseburger pie tonight and I changed the recipe a lot. It turned out really good and not at all greasy. It was a little watery, I wonder if that was from the mushrooms and maybe if they were cooked first and their water disgarded that it might not be watery. Anyway, here's the ingredients I used-2 lbs hamburger, 8 oz fresh mushrooms chopped, 1 small onion chopped, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 4 eggs beaten, 1/2 cup cream, 1/2 cup sour cream, salt and pepper to taste. Browned the hamburger, onion and drained. Saute the mushrooms in a seperate pan and drain any excess liquid. Add the rest of the ingredients to the hamburger with the mushrooms, stir and bake in a 13x9 pan for 40 min. Top with 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese the last 15 min.
Even DH thought it had a good taste.
Guess I'll go finish up the dishes, Nikki

We are having some heavy rain..for the moment anyway. It's supposed to get a lot colder and we're supposed to get some accumulating snow overnight tonight. They haven't given any totals yet. We also have a wind advisory with 60 mph wind gusts at times. All in all a nasty day.

StarPrincess, congratulations on lowering your blood pressure. Your numbers are fantastic. You really are an inspiration! Mine runs between 112/70 - 115/72. It usually runs high in the Dr. office, but one time the reading was 115/70 and her eyes widened, and felt for a pulse! I must've been calm that day at the Dr. Along with multi-vitamins I also take supplements like Vitamin E, Fish Oil (I can't stand fish ), Calcium, etc.

nikki, your blood pressure numbers are great! Your cheeseburger pie sounds delicious. I never thought to put in sour cream. HMMMM! Do onions have a lot of moisture? I'm not familiar with cooking them. Maybe it could be the combination of both musrooms & onion. I copied the recipe and will print it out. I drink my coffee black..no sugar. I've been drinking it like this for about 20+ years and can't drink it any other way. It took me almost a year to switch from coffee creamer and sugar to drinking it black. I am still drinking regular coffee in the morning. But, if I have coffee during the day it's decaf. Regular coffee makes me feel full and not at all hungry.
Suzanne will be on HSN starting this afternoon. I got a newsletter in my e mail this morning and she's got a lot of neat stuff. Chocolate chip cookie mix w/chocolate chips. She's also got her version of M & M's which sound interesting. She has a rotisserie (sp?) oven, and seasonings for your Thanksgiving dinner. I wish her stuff was not so expensive and with the S & H!! If our power holds out with all the wind I'll be watching her.

ANNE, I guess the 4 of us have about the same numbers for blood pressure. It must be something to do with low carb eating.
Your numbers are great! On Atkins you have to count carbs, so I was wondering if you have to count anything on PP? That's what I like about SSizing, you don't have to count anything. I think I got burned out by counting WW points last year.

Have a great day!
Aleka

Good morning,
I'm taking a little break in my exercise to have a cup of decaf with a little cream, then off to the gazelle for a quick 25 min.
Aleka, your weather sounds aweful. We had winds up to 55 mph yesterday and we were so glad we didn't have snow, that will be a blizzard! Hope you don't lose your power. Your B/P is looking good too. I'm going to have to pass, if I can on watching SS. I don't want to buy anything more and lord knows, she can talk me into it. I want to get the Thanksgiving stuff and don't even know what the heck it is yet. I will look it up on the web and the s&h will be enough to turn me off. HSN charges too much for that anyway and with SS's stuff, it seems like it is doubled.
With the pie, I don't think the onions add too much moisture. But, using dehydrated onions may be helpful to absorb some more moisture. I'm pretty sure it's the mushrooms and maybe I should have drained the hamburger better. I used 92%. I used the sour cream because I was almost out of cream and also, I figured it wouldn't be as greasy with the sour cream. It did give it a great taste. This made a lot and we will have it again for supper tonight.
Aleka, haven't you ever made SS fried onions? The recipe is Fried eggs in Onion nests in the Get Skinny book. I make the fried onions with breakfast and sometimes with a steak. It is really good and you wouldn't think they are onions. They don't have a strong onion taste (depending on the variety), very sweet really from the carmelization. They replace fried potatoes for me. You have to cook them for a long time, but it's worth it.
Guess I'll get going, take care, Nikki

nikki, I haven't tried the onion & eggs from SS cookbook. It does sound good. DH doesn't care for the taste of onions, he will eat some Vadalia Onions occasionally. I think I will try that, he might not mind them if they're fried like that. It's funny, I'm not a mushroom person, and he's not an onion person, but we both agreed to eat them in SS stuffing. I went into HSN, but none of her new food items were on there yet, except for the Pumpkin Creme Brulee. I have mixed feelings about buying the Thanksgiving pkg. She has mixed Somersweet & orange flavoring, to put in homemade cranberry sauce. I made cranberry sauce last year using Somersweet and it was awful. It didn't mix very well, some of the sauce was overly sweet and some was so tart it made your eyes water. This year I'm going to make it with Splenda. I will watch her because it's entertaining for me. Another thing she is offering is a new recipe contest cookbook. I may buy that if it's not too expensive and the S&H is reasonable. I know what you mean about her being able to talk you into buying anything!

Take care,
Aleka

Aleka, I don't really like somersweet. I think it has a bitter aftertaste and if you don't use it up within a certain time, it sets up like cement. Did you find the new things on her website? I will definately buy the new cookbook. I was just looking at the 1st contest book and picking out new recipes to try. It is probably my favorite cookbook as the recipes are so downhome, easy and they're all good. Plus, the ingredients are not hard to find (for most of them anyway).
I think putting splenda in the cranberries will work out better. I tend to use more splenda than they say you need. I don't think it is equal to sugar in the sweetening, but it is better than anything else I've tried.
Nikki

Hi Everyone:
Boy, what a day!!! Wind, snow blow you name it We also
had a huge thunder storm last night and our you might of
guessed our basement flooded again

Nikki, I can't believe it about Greer! I love body flex and poor
Sherry, I was reading her posts. That was so cruel!!! She has
done done magnificent. I though I was good losing 106 pounds
she has lost over 200!!!

Aleka you count protein grams and carbos on PP. I eat 34 grams
minimum protein per meal along with up to 15 carbos per meal.
Its pretty darn easy to follow.

I miss the fruit you can have on Suzannes though. I still credit
Somercizing with the majority of my weight loss.

Gee, I must be doing good keeps asking me are you losing
more weight? Gotta love it.

Have a great day.
Anne.

So on the subject of cranberry sauce.....

Be careful with the splenda. 1 packet = 1 gram of carbs. The carb comes from whatever they use to put the sweetener into powder form. That's why sugarfree syrups that use splenda have no carbs.

There's a recipe on the Atkins site for cranberry sauce. I can't get into the site right now, but if I remember correctly, you cook fresh/frozen cranberries in a combination of Steel's sugar-free raspberry jam and wanter. It looks pretty good

You could also use SF Vanilla Syrup from DaVinci's in the cranberries and that would give you the sweetness without any carbs at all.... Or, substitute whatever flavor.. spice, gingerbread, orange, etc....

Hmmmmmmmmmm.....good point! I may have to test that this weekend.

Thanks Star, for the reminder. I have pretty much cut out my use of splenda, except for making salad dressing and I don't need much for that. I have been counting each packet as one carb. I wrote down and am following all of Dr. Atkins rules this time (except that pesky cream rule. I have to start paying attention to that better).
Storybookmama, that is an excellent idea. Star, if you try it, please let us know how it turns out. I may make it later, maybe for Christmas.

Anne, I am not sure what to think about this whole BF thing. I know it works and I'm glad we got the product before they decided to pull it. I hope Greer wins, you never know anymore. It seems like the world is upside down now days. I feel really bad for Sherry too.

Aleka, I heard on the HSN BB that the TS for SS on Sat night will be her new convection oven. I was really hoping it would be some kind of food product.

Also, I was looking around Walmart and the low carb bar that I tried that was so good is called Ross. It is better than a Hersey and would be great for cooking. They have it in plain, almond, white chocolate and something else. I would like to try them for cooking. They are small and expensive, but nothing like SS stuff. Better tasting I think too.

We're still getting those high gusty winds and they are to last all of today into tomorrow morning. Thankfully we didn't get any snow, just a few spits. It's snowing further north, but not too..too far from us. They are getting a lot of it too. It has gotten colder, it's about 27 deg. now.

nikki & ANNE, after reading your posts about BF I went into the BF support site. Oh, poor Sherry. How awful for her that someone did that to her. I do hope that she does sue. As with eating plans, there will be people who have great success with BF, like you ANNE, and there will be people that it doesn't work for.

nikki, I went into the HSN site and finally found Suzanne's new recipe contest cookbook. I too was planning on buying it. You get the cookbook w/a bookstand, which is $24.95, and the S & H is $9.95. Needless to say I will not be buying the book. I don't mind paying that for the book, but I refuse to pay almost $10.00 for S & H. I have had those Ross Chocolates before and love them. I bought them over the internet and got the variety pack. Off hand, I don't remember the name of the site. Maybe you could try www.rosschocolates.com

ANNE, sorry that your basement flooded again. It's an awful lot of work getting the water out. What if you put a sump pump in your basement to pump out the water? That same thing happened to my cousin and she put in a sump pump and she didn't have that problem anymore.

StorybookMama, thank you for your suggestion of putting Davinci syrup in for sweetener in making cranberry sauce. That's a fantastic idea, I never would have thought of it!

StarPrincess, the recipe I have for homemade cranberry sauce you make in a slow cooker. Were you able to get into Atkins site to find the recipe?

Take care and have a great weekend everyone.
Aleka