Yes, it does. WHen I read up on the glycemic index (I particularly liked Idiot's Guide to the Glycemic Index), I learned there are certain foods that "neutralize" the blood sugar spikes that carbs cause. Vinegar, cinnamon, and tomatoes are some of those foods.

Thanks Teacherlady. Does white vinegar works just as well as cider?

I believe so. I think it's the wine vinegars that are less acidic, but I think white vinegar is just as (if not more) acidic as the cider vinegar. :)

Great. Thanks! I didn't really feel like going to the store tonight, so I did use the white. I will be glad to get to the green menu.

Today is the first day I've really had to deal with cravings since starting the program. Most of them are more habitual than actual cravings, though! I'm going to a BBQ tomorrow and worrying about all the temptations I'll face there. I'm hoping to get away with walking around with a cup of ice water and eating the kabobs we plan to take with us. And nothing else! Teacherlady, reading your experience with a similar situation will help keep me focused!

So, what do you do with the vinegar? Do you add it to, say, cottage cheese? Can you cook veggies in it? I know it can be mixed with oil to make salad dressing but I've never used vinegar for oral consumption. I've cleaned and done laundry with it, though!

On the first 4 days of my diet I have to eat a lot of salads and the only dressing they allow is oil and cider vinegar. I've read some people take a small amount of cider vinegar daily to lose weight, but I didn't read that from MRC and I'm not doing that.

Occasionally I will get them a pizza or some other off plan food (1-2 times a month) and I will get a "treat" for myself - I love Halibut and Walleye but they are too expensive to buy for the whole family so on pizza night I usually have one of those or a steak.

Otherwise we eat the same meals, but I will add another starch for them (corn, rice, pasta, etc) and occasionally I will add cheese to their meals . . . for example I browned gound turkey with italian seasonings, made a big salad, and black beans - measured out my portion and then added pasta sauce, elbow macaroni and cheese to theirs (basically goulash) and they had salad as well. Often we eat the same thing but I add fruit for them. So far this has worked well - and hubbie even had 3 servings of Quinoa snow peas and asparagus risotto last night!


I had a rough week - I was sick 2 days and basically managed to keep down my HNS, a few saltines and diet Sprite - I did not get in all my water. I was nervious weighing in today as I know my ankles are swollen and I am somewhat bloated but I maintained . . . I really expected a gain and was thrilled. The scale should be cooperative next week once I start getting my water again and get rid of this bloating. . .

Hi- to all the new members . . . and congrats to the losers!! If you are struggling, hang in there and "talk" to us - we might be able to help! The plan works and it is worth the effort. . . you can do this!


Mariah

I'm going off preconditioning on Wednesday, and my center gave me the choice to either go straight to the green menu or to do the yellow-blue-green. The first time I did the program, I was over 200 lbs., so it wasn't an issue, but this time I'm under. They gave me the choice since I'm a re-enroll.

Part of me wants to try the yellow-blue since it might help me lose more weight faster. However, it looks pretty painful. What would you guys do if you were me?

How do you prepare veggies?
 

Hello all,

I'm not a big vegetable lover and the ones that I do eat are not prepared in a healthy manner. I'm from the deep south and vegetables are typically prepared using oil or some type of pork meat for seasoning. I've eaten like this for 30+years, so old habits are hard to break, but I know that I must for the sake of my health. So, how do you prepare your vegetables.

For instance,

green beans
collard greens
squash

Thanks.

I'm not really sure what I would do. I suppose I would just tell myself that it's 10 days of sucky food and go with it in order to maximize my time on program. But I would probably whine and moan the whole time. ;)


I like green beans, zucchini, or summer squash lightly sprayed with olive oil or Pam and then grilled. Or, I also like them steamed and eaten with the spray butter on them. I also really like sauteed zucchini & summer squash--I just spray the pan with Pam, and lightly salt them (sea salt or kosher salt) just before they're done. Spaghetti squash is good baked with a little butter spray and parmesan on top.

I've also chopped and grated veggies (green onion, green pepper, zucchini & mushrooms) into meatloaf (made with bison or turkey) to "hide" them. ;)

Victorialynn2

Did MRC suggest you stay in ketosis? I have never had them bring up ketosis to me before as part of the diet. Also, just curious what plan you are on?
I am on maintenance now, but was on Meta -Slim , and Days 1-4 did say
apple cinder vinegar( optional). I used olive oil and white vinegar as that is all I had at home at the time.

For questions on veggies... I steam them, saute them with Pam , or do the waterless cooking, which is a small amount of water, herbs and just let veggies simmer in that. My favorite, but I only do in winter when it is colder weather is roasted veggies.Tonight I had collard greens, dash seasoning, diced carrots, and onions, and let simmer in water till soft. For some of you, carrots and onions are probably not on your menu. I believe I could have them when I hit stabilization.

I have been at the race track for the Nascar race for the past few days. Took my own food in cooler, but did eat early dinner out, and stayed on program, but when I got on scale this morning was 2 pounds over, so it must be the salt in the food, as I ordered grilled fish, no seasoning, no butter, steamed veggies, no butter and a salad and I had my own dressing and HNS.One night there was nothing I felt comfortable eating so ordered a shrimp coctail and a side salad, and put shrimp on salad, had my HNS with me and some melba toast.
Sometimes it does become frustrating. Let us see what scale says Tuesday morning.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday weekend.

Patzi

Patzi, yes, they said I will be getting tested with a ketosis strip. I'm on meta slim. I will re-read the menu, I didn't catch the "optional". Thanks for the heads up.
tkdtara84 It wouldn't hurt to try the yellow/blue. I'm on yellow now and basically it is just a lot of salad. Like teacherlady said, it's just for a few days.

I think I will try the yellow/blue. It's only two weeks, so I can take it. :) Also, it might force me to try some new things. I do like that you can have oil & vinegar on the salad. Are we allowed to do that regularly? Also, some of the recipes I've been reading allow for a tsp. of oil in cooking something. Is that okay? I was wondering what the difference between taking a couple of fish oil capsules an using a tsp. of olive oil in cooking. I assume the DHA thing is different.

I am going to a re-enroll class but not the food instruction. It's not until July 13th, though, so I have a while before I can get a refresher on some of this stuff. If I can have oil and vinegar dressing, that will make my life a whole lot easier. You could add herbs/spices to it, and it could end up tasting pretty good. The hardest thing for me is the no salad dressing thing. I love salads, but not plain. I've tried the wishbone spritzers, and they're tolerable for me but not somthething I look forward to.

The yellow is days 1-4, and then the blue is days 5-10. I agree with teacherlady it is only for a few days.. When I was on it, I tried to make salad interesting so I would not bore with it. I used as many of the items allowed to make a salad and then put the protein on top of it, and that is what I took to work each day.. On dressing, I would add oregano or basil to it, for a nice flavor.

This ketosis strip must be something new, or my center has not introduced it. I thought that was an Adkins thing. I am going to ask my center just out of curiosity.

Wishing you well on your challenge.

Patzi

This first time I was on the program back in 2005, the Ketone strips were a standard part of the weigh in process at my center. This time around, they've discontinued it. Not sure what the reasoning is.

Hope everyone has a great and on-plan 4th of July!!! :)