Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Low Carb & Gluten Free Pizza Crust (Recipe, No Yeast)



Low Carb Pizza Crust:

This recipe is simple and quick to make (no yeast involved)!
The longer it cooks, the more crisp the crust gets.
It's quite delicious and has recieved the "non" low carb dieters seal of approval.





½ cup almond flour
1/8 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. baking powder
1 egg white
1/16 tsp. Xanthan gum
1 packet Truvia
¼ cup Greek yogurt

Mix dry ingredients. Stir in Greek yogurt.
Rub butter onto parchment paper on a large flat pan.
With a spatula, spread the pizza dough into a thin round shape on the buttered paper.
Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.
-----------------------------
Top with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni.*
Bake for an additional 20 minutes.
*Or, top with any interesting toppings of your choice!




Sunday, February 26, 2012

Media Blaming Fat for Paula Deen’s Diabetes, But What About the Carbs?

I am very dismayed with the media coverage of Paula Deen’s type 2 diabetes. My main concern is with the assumption that the type 2 diabetes was caused by a high fat diet. This is perplexing because research has proven that fat consumption does not lead to diabetes. An eight year study [1] of 50,000 women, which cost $415 million, one of the most expensive and rigorously designed studies ever conducted, proved that there is no causal relationship between dietary fat intake and the development of type 2 diabetes.

And, if anyone were to examine the recipes in any of Paula Dean’s cookbooks, it would be clear that the culprit was not the fat, but the carbohydrates. I have always been a Paula Dean fan. I have loved watching her cooking shows, and I have looked through many of her cookbooks, wishing I could find something in them that I could eat. But, living a low-carb life for the past 11 years, I have noted that everything she makes is loaded with carbs, including sugar, flour, or pasta. So, to say that the fat is to blame seems odd.

It is quite well documented that our high carbohydrate Western diet is responsible for the surge in type 2 diabetes in this country. An interesting website, concerned with our food pyramid, called “My Life in a Pyramid” eloquently states the problem with the conventional wisdom. ”Instead of focusing on macro-nutrients like fat and dietary cholesterol – which have nothing to do with developing diabetes – they should have instead focused on the QUALITY of the foods, and reducing sugars and grains.” [2] It is too bad that this revelation of Paula Dean’s condition could not be used to increase awareness of the need to control carbs in our diet. Instead, it is erroneously being used to reinforce the myth of dietary fat leading to obesity and disease.
References:

1. Archives of Internal Medicine, July 28, 2008
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/168/14/1500

2. My Life in a Pyramid: Healthy Living With a Cosmopolitan
Twisthttp://mylifeinapyramid.com/2012/01/paula-deens-diabetes-a-result-of-unhealthy-
eating-but-dont-blame-the-butter/



Monday, February 6, 2012

Thin’s Average Daily Calories, Fats, Carbs, and Protein

Thin’s Average Daily Calories, Fats, Carbs, and Protein

I've been living low-carb for 11 years and counting. And, I have just figured out how many calories, fats, carbs, protein, and fiber that I am eating on a typical day (because I normally just track my carbohydrate intake). Here's the breakdown:

1,576 calories
110 g of fat
18 g net carbs
20 g of fiber
91 g of protein.

Here is what a typical day looks like:

Breakfast:
Yo’tmeal (2 scoops of Greens and Whey protein powder, ¼ cup of Anutra, 1 tbsp. olive oil, ¼ cup of Greek yogurt, and 1 tsp. cinnamon)
2 cups of coffee with ¼ cup of half and half
Lunch:
1 serving of almond crusted chicken (left over from previous night)
½ cup of roasted brussel sprouts
Dinner:
3 oz. filet mignon
1 cup roasted green beans
salad with Romaine lettucce, 1/8 plum tomato, 1 tbsp. chopped onion, and 2 tbsp. Good Seasons mild Italian dressing
Other:
2 cups of coffee with ¼ cup of half and half
1 piece of low-carb chocolate fudge (made with almond butter, 100 % Ghiradelli chocolate, and Truvia)

A few times per week, I'll have a few hundred more calories (e. g. 1/4 cup of nuts or 1 or 2 ounces of cheese). Then, occasionally I'll have a dessert of low carb ice cream or strawberries and whipped cream. So, all in all, I stay between 1600 and 1800 calories per day.

Interestingly, I have read that a 5'4" woman needs to consume between 1500 and 1800 calories per day. And, I've been doing it without even trying. That's the beauty of a low-carb diet! The body naturally adjusts to eating what it needs.

Low-carb, done right, is not a low calorie diet. It is filling, satisfying, and realistic. It truly is plan that can be enjoyed for life.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Why We Get Fat and Why Calories Aren't the Culprit



If you eat too much, and consequently you are overweight, don’t beat yourself up over it; it’s not your fault. If you eat too little, and you are overweight, don’t blame yourself either. There are so many conflicting reports as to dietary guidelines, and many allow for such high amounts of starches and sugars that cravings for more carbohydrates are biologically inevitable. We are told to limit our fat and eat plenty of whole grains and fruits which are loaded with starches and sugars. The conventional wisdom is that fat is high in calories, while whole grains and fruit are somewhat less on the caloric scale.
But, contrary to popular belief, our weight is not a simple matter of calories in versus calories out. If we are eating very little, then our bodies will conserve calories and expend less energy. If we increase our level of activity, we will work up an appetite and eat more to compensate. Gary Taubes explains this so well in his books, Good Calories, Bad Calories and Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It.
We store fat because of our hormones. There’s one hormone in particular that once activated stores carbohydrate calories as fat. That hormone is insulin. It is important to remember that it is not the number of calories we consume that determines our weight, but the quality of those calories. In the battle of the bulge, it is of utmost importance to determine the number of carbohydrate calories that can be consumed before waking the fat storing hormone--insulin).
Simply stated, carbohydrates cause fat accumulation. If we restrict carbohydrates, our bodies will no longer be in fat-storage mode. We will begin burning fat for fuel! If we restrict starchy carbohydrates and simple sugars, we will drop weight by burning fat in the most efficient way possible.
One of the quickest ways to turn off the fat storing hormone is to give your daily diet an immediate makeover. Here are some tips for tomorrow morning.
For breakfast:
Replace the sugar in your coffee or tea with Stevia, Truvia, or Splenda. (Honey is not low carb.)
Eliminate milk and replace with half n half, cream, or Almond milk.
Cut out orange juice and take a vitamin C supplement instead. If you can’t live without juice in the morning, Thinner recommends trying Diet Ocean Spray Cranberry or Blueberry Pomegranate Juice and dilute 50% with water. Add lemon for a twist. (Thin would tell you to forget any juices period.)
Ditch the muffins, bagels, cereals, pancakes, waffles, French toast, syrups, fruit flavored yogurt, oatmeal, bananas and any other sweet, sugary treat , and replace with Plain Greek yogurt, protein powder, Anutra, Flax Seed, Oat bran, Eggs, Cheese, nitrate free ham and bacon, low carb smoothies, or crustless quiche (a recipe in Thin and Thinner).