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!

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/

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.

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).

Low Carb Bread

Low Carb Bread

This bread can be used to make a delicious grilled cheese sandwich!
Ingredients:

1 tablespoon melted butter
1 egg
¼ cup almond flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon Splenda
a pinch of salt

Procedure:

This can be made in a glass bowl, large mug, or sandwich-sized square Pyrex container.
Melt the butter for 35 seconds in the microwave.
Whisk in the egg.
Add the remaining ingredients, blending well.
Cover with plastic wrap. Poke a hole in the top.
Then, microwave for 1 minute and 25 seconds.
Cool on a wire rack.

I cut it into 2 pieces.

½ of the recipe:

1.5 g net carbs (carbs minus fiber)
6.5 g protein
170 calories


Low-Carb Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Low-carb, high-fat diet could replace dialysis

Low-carb, high-fat diet could replace dialysis

We Need to Make Changes in order to Lose Weight

Thinner’s Blog: To See Results, We Need to Make Changes

Can everyone lose weight on a low-carb diet? Sadly, not all people can, only those who are willing to change in order to see results. Making the necessary life changes requires the knowledge of a basic scientific principle: the human body cannot burn fat until it has burned through its carbohydrate stores. With this realization, one will truly understand what he/she needs to do in order to lose weight. It’s that simple.

“But, I can’t give up my pasta!”

“I won’t give up my bread!”

Passionate cries, such as the ones above, are irrelevant for good reasons, especially when one considers the extent to which that endearing pasta and bread are responsible for the “adipose tissue” (more commonly referred to as fat) on your hips, thighs, and belly.

One of the most amazing things about a low-carb diet is that cravings for sugar and starches will eventually disappear if the carb count is kept low enough (20 to 30 grams per day). Once you get through the first few weeks, the cravings will go away, and losing and then maintaining your new thin figure will be even easier.

But, when just starting a low carbohydrate diet, some people continue, for a short time, to have cravings for sugar and starches. Fortunately, there are effective strategies for overcoming these cravings. For example, low-carb recipe substitutions for those longed-for foods, such as chocolate candy, French toast, pasta, and mac and cheese are presented in our book, Thin and Thinner. Other ideas are on this blog, and many variations of these recipes and more are located within the many fine blogs available. (Check out Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb which is becoming the Grand Central Station of low-carb bloggers.) One of our main reasons for offering the thinandthinner.net blog is to assist you in overcoming the obstacles to permanent weight loss, one being the separation anxiety associated with carbohydrates.

There are a tremendous number of foods to choose from on a low carbohydrate diet. But, when I first started the life-style in 2001, I was not prepared for the changes that needed to be made. I cut out the carbs, but, I was not replacing them with anything. I was not in the habit of eating green vegetables, so I was primarily eating protein. At the time, I felt the diet was boring, and I would surely not have lasted. I could not go on eating eggs every morning for breakfast! I needed to start thinking outside the box. My mom is a pro at that. She came up with yogurt/oatmeal (minus the oats) for breakfast. It consists of ¼ cup of plain yogurt, ¼ cup of ground Anutra, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and a scoop (serving) of vanilla protein powder. When mixed together, it makes a delicious breakfast cereal that is much more delicious and satisfying than anything I have ever tasted. We call it YO’tmeal. As random as the ingredients sound, they each have their purpose in keeping us full, providing lasting energy and the nutrients we need to aid in digestion. Not to mention it is delicious… We have scores of wonderful recipes to share in Thin and Thinner, as well as on this blog over the months ahead, and it is our earnest hope that these ideas will help you along your low-glycemic journey.

If there is a food that you are craving, or having a difficult time giving up, please let us know, and we will get back to you with several suggestions for lower carb substitutions. Send inquiries to
emfiorella@gmail.com

P.S. This diet does become easy and enjoyable, especially because you can see and feel the results!