Carol Sue Saturday was our once a month ladies meeting and I ate more starchy carbs than usual. I'm sure that is why my fbs was higher Sunday morning. However, when I came home from church Sunday, I checked it again because I was still fasting. It was back down to 127 which was the same reading I had earlier in the day on Friday morning.

I too have been eating a little more bread as well as some other starchy carbs than usual. Just kind of testing the waters. Finally tried quinoa which is one of the grains The Daniel Plan says we can include in the plan. I made myself a beef stew for Saturday and Sunday. I had loads of veggies which no one but I would eat, but I think I haven't been eating enough good veggies because I originally made it for me to have for dinner all week, however, I ate it in 2 days. I seemed to be starving for the beef and the veggies.

BTW. We hear so much about how we shouldn't eat beef these days. However, I saw a website on FB and bookmarked the site about how after 50 we need more B 12 which we get in beef. I'll have to copy it so you can read it. I actually take B 12 supplement on my own, but I still crave beef sometime. I realize this place is selling B 12, but I am thinking maybe this is why we diabetics need a low carb diet because it says that Metformin causes us to lose B 12. And it names other meds that does to. So besides the fact that we don't make it as well after 50 as we did when younger, we also take meds that causes us problems with making it.

While I do like the overall help I get from The Daniel Plan, I do believe that I will probably eat more protein that it recommends. In fact, after reading that info on B 12, I am convinced that as a diabetic on Metformin that I need to eat more protein including more beef. I am really convinced DH needs more with all the meds he takes including the Metformin. I will get the website and post the link in an edit. I still remember seeing a poster at Weight Watchers years ago that said "Make today a low carb day". So I'm thinking that I can make most days "low carb days" and then once in a while throw in a "Make today a more carby day". I have noticed that when I have a more carby day that it seems to shake things up and as soon as I get right back to low carb that the weight seems to move down. So could be a good strategy for me. If I'm going to have what low carb calls and off day, why not learn how to make it work for me instead of against me.

I'm going to start back with my exercises today. Going to work up my own Kettle bell workout that I can do on my own and get back to using my recumbent bike again too. I've decided to use my stairs a few times a week as well hoping to strengthen my legs.

Well, I got up late so I better get busy around here.

Have a great day Chickies.

Edited to add link: http://www.stopagingnow.com/energy461/

You know, Trish, I don't pay much mind to what is said in the media about don't eat this and don't eat that. Although I prefer poultry and fish, I eat beef. I eat hamburgers, roast, steak, etc. I believe in eating a wide variety of foods, in order to get all forms of nutrition I can. My only exception is carbs, because of my diabetes. This is something I understand, why I should cut back on carbs. But I have not seen any solid proof why I should not eat beef for example, so I will continue to eat it if I want it.

I baked pumpkin cookies for DH today. He loves them. I ate 1 from each batch to be sure they were done in the middle. He doesn't like things over-baked so I take them out early, but don't want them to still be raw in the middle. They were done, and now I am done eating them. LOL

I love canned pumpkin. There is half a can left, and I might sprinkle some cinnamon on it later and eat it like it's mashed sweet potatoes.

I went to the library today and got The Daniel Diet, which I will probably start reading this evening. I also got a book called Flip the Switch. It's about how to increase your metabolism. I didn't look through it much so it might not really be something I'm interested in, but it's just a library book. No monetary investment. I also got Grain Brain by Dr Perlmutter. Same story. If it doesn't interest me, it's just a library book.

We were out running around today and we skipped lunch. It's weird because it didn't bother either of us not to eat, but if we had been home, we would have had something. I had chicken defrosting for supper, but we were out so long we decided to just eat out so the chicken will wait til tomorrow. We went to a restaurant we go to often. They had a special that I got. Cup of soup, tossed salad, and a slider sandwich. It was just enough. I ate the bun with the sandwich. It was just a little snack size...couple bites and it was gone. It was something different for a change. I didn't feel like eating a full meal, even though we hadn't had lunch.

We are officially under contract! If all goes well we will be done with the old house in 2 weeks! We took an offer that was not quite as high as we wanted but the short closing timeframe really benefits us so we felt it was the right move. We are fairly certain the buyer is buying our house to turn into a rental. We feel kind of bad about that but based on the history I found online it looks like she sells her investment properties after a few years so hopefully she will make sure it is taken care of.

We went by the mother in law's house today that is being renovated. It is getting much closer to completion. I picked out a lovely countertop but the contractor (a friend) strongly advocated for a different one in stock. It is so ugly. I saw it in the store and thought - eww! - but he was so insistent and the sales person said it was very popular so I tried to hold judgement til I saw it in person. Oh my...ugliest counters ever....in a beautifully renovated house. Very sad. Oh well.

Got back to wheat free sugar free living today, feeling better already! My weight today is 177.4. I have been working on a goal of 173 (prepreg weight) for several months now and the lowest I have gotten is 175 before I get sidetracked. Would love to get to 173 by end of Oct or sooner and keep trucking into the 160s by Thanksgiving. My niece will be born around then so there will be pictures to think of, lol!

I made a yummy grain free chicken pot pie tonight from my new cookbook. Hubby wasn't impressed but I thought it was really good. I ate way more than I usually eat at dinner. Tomorrow I want to make choc chip cookies from the cookbook and I think I'm making a beef stew for dinner from it as well. Trying to stop the eating out train!

Shannon Glad things are finally work out for you with the houses. I understand how you feel about the house you lived in. When DH and I went to see my youngest son after we married, he drove us by the house we lived in when he was young. I was so disappointed because all the trees we had planted and my rose bushes were gone. I wondered why in the world they would have gotten rid of my beautiful trees and roses. We put so much work in the places we live in and someone moves in who doesn't appreciate it.

I know you are glad to get back to eating the way you do so that you not only will lose weight, but you will feel better.

My weight is bouncing again, but that seems to be how my body works when my fbs is adjusting and coming back down. I had very little carbs yesterday and I am working at having more lowcarb days than not. I am allowing myself to have a little bit of starchy carbs, but at a minimum.

I don't think I'm going to use MFP for a while. I end up working toward a calorie count even when I'm not necessarily hungry. DH made a sheet for me a few yrs ago that shows the different foods you should eat through out the day fruits, non-starchy veggies, starchy, protein etc. I've decided to get that out and use it. I'm not going to use it to write down what I eat necessarily, but how much. I can decide how much I eat of each thing such as most diet plans say at least 5 veggies, 1 or 2 fruits, etc. I will mark off how many servings I have and be done with it. That way I at least know that I'm eating healthy, but not worry about the calories.

I know kind of using the Daniel Plan guidelines, I will be eating healthy and right now that is what I'm shooting for.

I'm up late so got to get busy. Trying to get a lot of reading done so I'll be ready when the workbook guide of The Daniel Plan gets here. The cookbook should be here today.

BBL

DH has been doing maintenance things with our PC and it logged me out of all my forums. Some of them I only go to occasionally and I would stay logged in, but now I don't remember some of the user names/passwords so I don't know if I will be able to get back into them. I should have written them all down. I am here most often so I know this one. Even logging into AOL I used to type an "s" and my screen name would pop up. Now it doesn't and I have to type it in.

Shannon, we ride by our old house once in a while. They don't maintain it the way DH used to, but they put on an addition. I think in the neighborhood you were in the rent would be high enough that the renters would be the type of people to take care of the property.

It seems that people who buy a house make cosmetic changes to suit their own likes and make it their own. What you thought was beautiful might not be their taste.

You always do well with your eating plan and I think because for you, it is really a "plan." You search out recipes and use them to your benefits. We always eat hit and miss and I have to adjust it to what I should be eating.

Trish, I started reading the Daniel Plan. He explains things the way DR Stork did in the Doctor's Diet. I will not be eating the 25% grains every day like he suggests but will have them occasionally like you do Trish. It's what works for me. I liked the prayer he had in the front section of the book and will type it out on my computer and read it each day when I log on. I wish my BIL would read this book, but he refuses to accept that food has anything to do with his big belly and his health. I always tell him to put Kool Aid in his truck and see how it runs. LOL His body hasn't had a vitamin or other nutrient since his mother passed away.

I agree that you should not use MFP if it is going to make you eat more. As we age, we need less food. Your body know when it's had enough. One size does not fit all.

Last night I was hungry for pop corn. We had a bag of kernels instead of microwave pop corn and I don't know how to make it. DH showed me, but he dumped in so many kernels it popped up so high the lid came off the pan. It filled 2 big mixing bowls! So I ate too much. I am afraid to check my blood sugar this morning, but I guess I have to face the music. Next time I will make it and only use about 1/4 cup of kernels so I only make a small serving. I did throw some of it down the garbage disposal. It doesn't bother DH to throw food away but I hate to make more than I need because I hate to see it wasted. When he was a kid growing up, his Dad had a very good job and food was plentiful. His Dad always told his Mother that she had to make enough food that there was food left over, because if there wasn't food leftover, then maybe someone was still hungry. Even up until she passed away, she always prepared way too much food then got mad it no one ate it all. We used to bring leftovers home just to make her happy then we threw it away. DH won't eat leftovers.

Update on the ugly countertops....DH called our contractor this morning and asked if it was possible to change them and he said they were not installed yet and could still be removed. We told him our thoughts and he has actually decided to upgrade them to granite instead of formica at no charge and we are going to pick out the color this afternoon - yay! I just felt like all the changes we made to her house were to make it seem bigger and lighter (got rid of all the old dark wood paneling and dark trims - painted everything white and a very light beige - same color we did in our old house) and that countertop just negated all that work because it was so dark.

I made a quiche for breakfast. I don't know if ya'll ever make quiche but wanted to share the recipe with you because it is so easy. It's one of my new favorite ways to eat my eggs. This is a high fat recipe though so adjust as needed.
Add 8 oz shredded cheese (I use cheddar) to bottom of a pie plate. Add 3-6 pieces of cooked bacon, chopped to top of cheese. Beat 6 eggs and add 1 cup cream, 1/2 tsp salt and sprinkling of pepper (and any other seasonings you prefer). Mix well and pour egg mixture over top of cheese/bacon. Bake at 350 for approx 35-40 min. Enjoy!

Tonight I am making spaghetti but will do what I did last time. I just eat the meat sauce (like chili) and add a salad and do not have the noodles. When I have eaten my spaghetti recipe in the past it has not raised my BS but I am more in the mindset now of cutting all grains and since I don't care for all the veggie noodle substitutes with spaghetti sauce, I'd rather not bother with that.

Choosing to stop Metformin for a while and see what happens. Am no willing to live with the loose bowels any more. One day back on low carb and I had the same reaction to the Metformin. I'll just try it with diet and exercise for a while and see what happens.

Shannon, that's good that you are able to change the countertops. No one should try to talk you into something you don't want. It's your money!

The quiche sounds good, but I would maybe use cubed ham instead of the bacon. Bacon is just too salty for my tastes.

I made chicken alfredo tonight. I buy this Alfredo Sauce from Walmart, their own brand. I have tried several and this one has the best flavor and is low carb. I simmered 2 large boneless chicken breasts to be sure they were cooked through. Then I cut them in smaller pieces and browned them in butter. I precooked some baby carrots and broccoli, and some noodles for DH. I added a can of sliced mushrooms, mixed all in a big frying pan and cooked it just to warm the sauce. I ate several chicken pieces with the vegetables and DH ate it with noodles. It was really good, and it looked like a picture out of a magazine with the colors from the carrots and broccoli. I impressed myself. LOL

Shannon, did Olivia ever have a toy called a Sing-a-ma-jig? DH bought two of them at Goodwill and they are just the cutest things ever. I can't quit playing with them. LOL They didn't have toys like that when I was a kid.

Trish I'm really puzzled that you would start having those problems with the Metformin after taking it all that time. I realize you have lost weight, but you weigh about the same as I do and I take a bigger dose of Metformin without any side effects. Makes you go hmmmm.

Shannon The quiche sound good I am going to try it this weekend. Also I'm glad to see that everything is working out with the houses.

Trish I use MFP and I find myself trying to eat more calories as well. I still make a shake from the dr oz 2week rapid weight loss diet for my breakfast. I like it because it's high in protein, 315 calories, and its a sure way of me getting breakfast. On my late nights (9pm) I just havs a green smoothie for dinner, because I thinks its too late for anything else. Although I am satisfied and most times full for breakfast and dinner my calories are low especially after entering calories burned during workout time.

Tomorrow is weigh in day, I'm not expecting to win this week, I had a very busy week last week and only went to the gym Monday and Tuesday. This has been a normal week so I have gone both days and I will go tomorrow and Thursday, then on Saturday I plan to do dance cardio and Zumba.

Caramel, it sounds like you are sticking with your plan very well. Shakes and smoothies are very convenient, but they just don't satisfy me. I'm talking phychologically. I don't get the satisfaction I get from eating food. I still want to chew something. Your exercise plan sounds good too.

Shannon, I also don't like the zucchini pasta with tomato sauce, but the last time I made Alfredo I was thinking that I should try the zucchini with the Alfredo sauce, then when I made Alfredo this time I forgot. I have zucchini on hand, too! I think I have a couple packets of alfredo sauce I could mix up and try with the zucchini.

Trish, I was also thinking about your bowel issues. The reason I think it's so weird is that most people who go on low carb complain of constipation. I can't wait to hear how things go once you are off the Metformin for a while. I think if you can keep your blood sugar low without it, there should be no problem stopping it, at least until you see how things go.

That book Flip the Switch did not interest me at all. I started reading Grain Brain this morning and so far I like it. My reason for limiting grain has more to do with diabetes rather than brain issues, but he touches on all the reasons to eliminate grain, not just brain issues. No one in my family or DH's family had any dementia, but according to Dr Perlmutter it isn't necessarily a hereditary thing but has more to do with how you eat. Like your doctor said, I have heard that you don't need to go gluten free unless you have celiac disease, but Dr Perlmutter disagrees. He not only has a degree in Neurology but also in Nutrition. I will keep reading.

checking in (seems like I only make it in here monthly these days) The kids are all using up the computer time so I'm limited quite a bit. That and I have to drive three of them over to the college 3 days a week. Still working on getting a driver's license for the boy. It is an hour away so most days I just stay and use the gym there.

I am stuck at the 177-179 range and have been for months. I need to shake things up again I think. I was doing the 16/8 fast and got out of it for a while- think I have to reinstitute it again. My blood sugar has been high normal for me, so I think getting back to the intermittent fasting will help.

I didn't stop the Metformin. I'm just not ready to chance it. I did take half... a 500 mg dose. I'm not sure it is the Metformin. I ate an extra meal and did use extra fat. I am thinking that just maybe I can't do a higher fat. Probably because I did lowfat for so many years. I think that I need to learn where my fat tolerance is. My fbs was high this morning 157, very rare these days. So I will go back to the 1000 mg even if I have to eat lower fat. I would rather do that than have the fbs go up again. I do remember in the new Atkins book that it said that some people do a lowfat/low carb eating plan. I may be one of those people. I won't cut the fat out completely, but won't work at eating high fat either.

Shannon I like the quiche recipe too. I like bacon, but I think I would use ham in it too.

Carol Sue I liked the way you did the Alfredo sauce and chicken. I'm always looking for new ways to cook chicken.

Caramel Good luck on the WI.

Lotsakids Good to hear from you. You are one busy lady these days with all that driving. Check in when you can.

Donna, that's good that you can use the gym at the college while you are there. Kids really keep you busy and you have lotsakids! LOL

I do better when I do the 16/8 also but have not been sticking to it as well lately. I'm up to 196 this morning. Gotta work on that.

Trish, I really loved the chicken alfredo and ate some leftover today. The way I did it was a lot of steps but it made it the way I wanted it and really didn't take long since the sauce was jarred. I was reading today that if you cook pasta al dente it does not have as much starch. DH likes it al dente so I have been cooking it that way for me and I'm getting used to it that way, too.

I don't buy low fat products, but I don't go out of my way to add addtl fat. When I log my food on Fitday my fat us usually in the 50% - 60% range. Today we drove down to the casino because they were having a give away and we were eligible to get 2 folding sports chairs. We did not gamble, but just went into the food court and bought breakfast with our food coupons. I got eggs and sausage. This sausage was strange and was exceptionally fatty and I ended up getting some reflux from it. So, too much of certain fats just don't sit well with me due to my hiatal hernia. I get a lot of fat from the eggs I eat and the avacados. Neither of them bother me. Also, I eat dark meat chicken and pork shoulder, both which are fattier than others. They don't bother me either. Just certain things.

I think it would have to be a few days without the Metformin for it to be out of your system. If I have to go for a stress test or heart catheterization I have to go without my Metformin for a couple days before and after, and I don't notice a big change in my BS. I would agree that maybe it was the extra fat that effected you. I hope you feel better. Do you eat yogurt? Maybe your gut bacteria is out of whack.

Carol Sue no, I have not seen sing-a-majigs! Sounds cute!

It rained all day today, very messy getting Olivia off to preschool, attending MOPS, running errands and picking Olivia up. We needed it though. Our backyard floods in one portion when it rains. It is underneath a huge tree so the grass doesn't grow. I guess the soil can't absorb it fast enough.

Tonight I made a pot roast recipe from the new cookbook. It said pot roast or stew beef. I bought stew beef since they were out of pot roast. The sauce was really good but I've not had great success with the stew beef "cut" in the crock. It never seems tender enough no matter how long I cook it. But, the sauce was great so it's a keeper!

My husband has to be out of town in our old city Friday through Sunday. I'm not really looking forward to it. Normally I don't mind but I'm feeling really tired and burnt out lately. With the (not so much a) vacation, still trying to sort our stuff out in this new house, being back on plan which means more cooking and Olivia waking 3 times a night lately, I just feel worn out. Plus, I've been working in the yard alot this past week and my legs are really sore. I need some rest. But, he has to take a certification exam for work on Friday and then a class (for hobby) Saturday and Sunday that we paid for already. It doesn't make sense for him to drive back and forth 6x when he can stay with his brother.