More March Madness

Oh, Easter, how could you do this to me?

Wow. March turned out to be even harder than February. After a full 31-day month, I only lost an additional 5.6 lbs for a total loss of 26.8 lbs. I am grateful for the progress I've made, but it's been so much slower than I'd been hoping for. And this month I have no one to blame but myself. [My daughter Sarah has lost 33 lbs in just two months, though. You go, girl!]

In my last post I shared the issues I'd faced during the first half of the month, and I thought it would get a little easier after that but, alas, it was not meant to be. There were more challenges ahead. I had prepared myself to face them, but I hadn't counted on getting sick again or the way a lengthy illness weakens my resolve.

I actually started pretty strong. After accidentally ordering breaded wings at Chili's on our way home from our last trip to the Valley (March 2nd), I was pleased to find that my cravings were minimal and I easily got right back on track. However, I think my little cheats on the hors d'oeuvres served at parent-teacher conferences on March 10th were a bridge too far.

At the end of my school day six days later, I found myself having those vague feelings that I wanted something different than the usual low-carb fare. I wasn't sure what I was craving, but somehow Chinese food sounded like it might be satisfying...maybe because Mark had tried to talk me into going to China Wok Buffet a few days earlier.

It went like this: "Let's go to China Wok." Me: "They don't have anything I can eat." Mark: "They have chicken-on-a-stick." Me: "I don't know what they marinate that in. And why would I pay nine dollars to eat chicken-on-a-stick at a buffet?" Mark: "They have a salad bar." Me: "A nine dollar salad-bar salad?" End of discussion.

My plate at China Wok Buffet on Wednesday, March 16th.

Note the chicken-on-a-stick on top in the very center.

In the end, urged on by my vague cravings, we went to China Wok for dinner that night. I did make the very best choices I could, foregoing my favorites: chow mein noodles, fried rice, orange chicken, and crab rangoons. Instead, I ate the seafood bake (which tasted safe, just seafood, vegetables, and cheese), seasoned green beans, beef and broccoli, chicken and broccoli, pepper steak, and--of course--chicken-on-a-stick. For dessert I took a couple of pineapple chunks from the salad bar. Which, by the way, did not have any salad greens available. 

Usually, when you've been low-carbing for awhile, you can tell if there's any unwarranted sweetness in your food, and I didn't really detect any. Still, it's possible there were thickening agents in some of the sauces, so I won't do this on a regular basis. I can truthfully say it took away the cravings and I was able to quickly get back to eating right, but I did hit a plateau. The needle on the scale stayed stuck for the next nine days.

Then I caught another cold. That's right. Just 32 days after the little head cold I had in February, right before my sister's wedding, I was hit fast and hard by a horrible chest cold. And it hit exactly three days before our next trip to the Valley to attend a concert and spend a day at the Renaissance Festival. I was NOT happy about the timing. This one sapped my energy and made me short of breath, and it was accompanied by a deep cough, not to mention the really, really bad attitude I developed.

My Chicken Piccata plate at Olive Garden on Friday, March 25th..

Nonetheless, we made our trip (having already spent $80 per person for our tickets) and I made up my mind to have fun and stay with the eating plan I'd decided upon. My first challenge was dinner at an Italian restaurant when we got into town. My nephew and niece and their spouses were attending the same concert, so we all met to have dinner together at Olive Garden before the show.

Skimming past all the pasta selections on the menu, I found a yummy dish called Chicken Piccata (530 calories, and probably very low in carbs). The grilled chicken was covered with lemon-garlic-butter sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, and capers. On the side was Parmesan-crusted zucchini. And, of course, there was the unlimited salad bowl (I picked out the croutons and tried to ignore the delectable scent of the unlimited baskets of garlic bread sticks).

And then came the trial of the Renaissance Festival.

Lunch at the Renaissance Festival: roasted chicken and mashed potatoes.

For breakfast the next morning I had my usual pre-made deviled eggs, which had frozen in our hotel's refrigerator and were kind of nasty even after warming them in the microwave. Oh, well...

The Arizona Renaissance Festival goes from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. They don't allow you to bring food inside, so unless you're willing to go out to an ice chest of food in your car and miss out on maybe an hour of festival fun (I'm not), once you're inside the gates you're kind of dependent on the offerings of the festival's food vendors. 

I studied all the options online beforehand. There's the traditional giant turkey leg, of course, but I don't care for those. Too many small bones and ligaments. I love the cream of broccoli soup, but the bread bowl it's served in is out of the question, plus the soup is probably thickened with flour or cornstarch. So I settled on the little meal in the picture above. I figured it's better to cheat on a natural food like potato than on something with white flour. And I was glad to see that the mashed potatoes were made with the red skin still on, since the skin is where all the nutrition is located.

A look inside the case of The Chocolate Shoppe.

And, of course, there was a planned cheat. It is our time-honored tradition to end our day at the Renaissance Festival with a fat slice of chocolate-covered cheesecake on a stick. However, Sarah and I knew that would be way too many carbs and probably the death of our weight loss for the foreseeable future.

The shop offers nothing sugar-free, so I quizzed the shopkeepers regarding which of their chocolaty treats would contain the least amount of sugar. We considered the Strawberry Bowl, the Queensberries, and the Lusty Wench, and they agreed the Lusty Wench probably had the least chocolate and, therefore, the least sugar. It was $3.50 for a cluster of three strawberries, or three clusters for $10.00. So I took the nine-berry deal!

The Lusty Wench. Yes, I ate all nine of them and savored every bite!

On our way back to our mountain home, we stopped at the Carl's Jr. in Globe, where I got my usual lettuce-wrapped Super Star. I honestly prefer my burgers without the bun these days, and Carl's Jr's lettuce wraps are the best.

For dinner: my Super Star lettuce-wrap from Carl's Jr.

At this point, I was feeling pretty good about how I'd controlled my diet on this trip. However, fighting the cold and cough while pushing myself through a long day of walking in 80+ degree heat had really taken a toll on me. By the time we got back home around 10:00 that night, I had no energy left and fell right into bed. When I woke the next morning, I felt like I'd been run over by the proverbial train. And I'd totally forgotten that it was Easter.

My son, a high school senior and my last child still at home, reminded me that the Easter Bunny hadn't dropped off a basket yet, so I dredged up enough energy to assume the role of Easter Bunny, probably for the last time. Luckily, I had shopped for the guys' Easter baskets a week before I got sick. I wasn't too tempted by the chocolate bunnies and other goodies I was loading into the blue Easter grass until I divided the bag of chocolate malt eggs between the baskets. By the time I was done, I'd eaten four of those deliciously crunchy little eggs.

That evening we had the whole family over for Easter dinner. Sarah and I wanted to be good, so we didn't include corn or rolls in our meal, and I didn't glaze the ham (I don't like my ham sweetened anyway). However, Sarah's husband Chris did make us some mashed potatoes, using red potatoes with the skins left on, and I ate mine buttered instead of with gravy. Still, it was another cheat in a long line of cheats over consecutive days.

I continued to feel awful for the entire week following Easter, with no energy to cook or even plan meals. Each time I passed the Easter baskets on the kitchen table on Monday and Tuesday, I found myself snatching another malted egg from a basket (probably a dozen in all), until I finally banished the baskets to the guys' bedrooms. On Tuesday night I picked up a frozen pizza for Mark and a TV dinner for myself. I searched for the lowest carb count I could find, but it still had a small mound of mashed potatoes and gravy (with a texture like glue, so I didn't even enjoy it).

A low-carb dinner at Golden Corral Buffet, March 31st.

That's when I finally realized it was time to put the brakes on regarding my flirtation with high-carb foods and seriously get back to eating healthy. So that's what I did on Wednesday, March 30th. On Thursday we went back to the Valley yet again, for the third time in one month, but I stayed firm in my renewed commitment. We stopped at Carl's Jr. in Mesa for my lettuce wrap lunch, and for dinner before the long drive home, we ate at Golden Corral Buffet, where I had only non-breaded, non-starchy vegetables (drizzled with cheese) and a little meat, with strawberries, a chunk of pineapple, and sugar-free chocolate pudding for dessert. And now my cold has finally started to lighten up a bit. 

And a low-carb dessert from Golden Corral (with a bit of seafood salad).

I'm back in a good place now, at the start of a brand-new month and a brand-new opportunity to peel off a few more pounds. Here's hoping that I finally reach and pass the 30-lb milestone in April so we can get on to the before-and-after photos and seeing how many inches of myself I've lost!

The First Twenty-Five

This morning I finally hit the 25-lb mark. It took me 10 weeks to do it, but I'm now at a total loss of 25.2 lbs, to be exact!

When I reach 30 lbs, I'll post my first before and after pictures. It's been my experience that 30 lbs is when the weight loss really starts to show. For now, even I can see that my thighs and upper arms are starting to slim out and my stomach is a bit flatter (although there's still plenty of belly to lose). In fact, I have about half a dozen shirts hanging in my closet that I bought for "when I lose 20 lbs" that I've never worn, and yesterday I took one out and wore it to school for the first time. And it fit very comfortably. By the time I lose another 10 lbs, I'll have a whole new wardrobe waiting for me!

Health-wise, I'm still enjoying the benefits of weight loss. My blood glucose level this morning was only 91, which is perfect. My blood pressure still goes crazy in the doctor's office ("white coat syndrome"), but at home it's moving downward. I expect to see a dramatic difference by the time I lose 10 more pounds. Heartburn has become a thing of the past, regardless of how large  my meal may be or how late I eat. And not even a twinge of Plantar Fasciitis, that lovely condition in which you wake up to stabbing pain in your heels, like walking on slivers of broken glass. My knee is finally improving, too, 8 weeks after surgery, to the point that I can walk with barely a limp, as long as I don't walk too far for too long (like 2 hours of shopping in Walmart). I credit that to the fact that my knees have 25 fewer pounds to carry around. And, finally, one of the best gifts each day is bending over to tie my shoes and not feeling like I'm being cut in half by the waistband of my pants!

And another shout-out to my daughter, Sarah, who had lost 28 lbs as of last Sunday, in just 6 weeks of eating the low-carb way! I can't wait to hear this week's results tomorrow (she only weighs herself once a week). She is so awesome!

Like February, March has already held its share of challenges, but I'm hanging in there. I did ingest my first unhealthy carbs of the year, but I managed those situations the best I could and still came out all right...

MORE TRAVEL: Tuesday & Wednesday, March 1st & 2nd

We started the month right off with another trip to the Valley. We had several items of business to take care of, the first of which being to pick up the Chevy Traverse I'd purchased on February 4th that had then broken down on February 20th, forcing me to leave it behind at a valley dealership for repairs. Fortunately, my local dealership (from whom I had purchased the car) did take care of the situation and paid for the Valley dealership to repair my power steering system, so it was all ready for me when we returned to pick it up ten days later.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016: Reunited with my Traverse!

As soon as we picked up my car, we drove to Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix to pick up Jake's mom Rachel and little sister Jasmine, who flew all the way from their home in Pennsylvania to start a new life here in Arizona. We spent the rest of that day and the next morning helping them get settled into their new apartment.

And then on Wednesday afternoon, just before we embarked on the 3-hour drive home, Mark and I stopped in for an appointment with the lawyer who's managing some family business for Mark.

As always, travel is fraught with peril for those of us who are trying to eat healthy and lose weight. As usual, I made my deviled eggs to take along in the ice chest, so breakfast wasn't a concern. Our hotel offered a free continental breakfast--nothing low-carb there!--but they had hot water in which to mix packets of hot chocolate, and I'd brought along my own sugar-free hot chocolate packets. So my breakfast of deviled eggs and hot chocolate wasn't too shabby.

For lunch on Tuesday, right before we picked up Jake's mom and sister at the airport, we found the nearest Carl's Jr., where I enjoyed my beloved Super Star sandwich as a lettuce wrap. By the time we picked up Rachel and Jasmine around noon,  they too were ravenous for lunch, so we dropped them off at McDonalds with Jake and Dylan, while Mark and I went to get checked into our hotel. That way I wouldn't be tempted to eat a second lunch!

That evening it took us forever to decide upon a restaurant for dinner, but we finally settled on a Boston Market. I'd read about them and seen their commercials, but I'd never eaten at one before. Although many of their choices are not low-carb-friendly, I was able to order half of a rotisserie chicken with green beans and creamed spinach. And I checked to be sure the creamed spinach wasn't thickened with flour or anything unsuitable. They assured me it was creamed with nothing more than two types of cheeses. And it was delicious. (I gave my cornbread to Mark.)

My very satisfying dinner at Boston Market.

The next day, after getting checked out of our hotel and then picking up Rachel and Jasmine at their new apartment, we went looking for lunch around noon and ended up at a cute little diner called Chase's Diner. It was decorated in a fifties theme and played cool old music from the 1950s. And the food was great, too.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016: Chase's Diner in Chandler, Arizona.

I decided on a Cobb salad, one of my favorite types of salads. Dylan ordered a breakfast for himself, but he was trying to eat healthier, too, so he told them no bread. Instead, they brought him broccoli, which he hates, so he gave that to me. By the end of the meal, I was too stuffed to finish my salad. I asked for a box, and then it made a great after-school snack for me the following day, after we were back at home.

My Cobb salad and broccoli (with the dab of butter I'd requested).

After breakfast, we headed to Walmart so Rachel could purchase more things to stock their new apartment. They actually left everything behind except what they could fit into their two carry-on bags. When I say they were starting fresh here, I mean starting fresh. Not a stick of furniture. You have to admire that kind of courage. 

When it was time for our appointment with Mark's lawyer, we left them to their work and headed out to Apache Junction. That took an almost-3-hour chunk out of our afternoon. By the time we got back to the apartment, it was 4:15. Jake said his good-byes to his mom and sister, and fifteen minutes later we were on the road for home.

The Chili's in Payson, Arizona.

Due to major construction (blasting the rocky mountainsides to widen the highway) between Superior and Globe-Miami, our usual east-then-northeast route home, we chose instead to drive home via the north-then-east route through Payson. We used to go the Payson route often when our kids were small, but eventually we settled on the Globe-Miami route as our favorite path, so we didn't know what restaurants were available in Payson like we used to. After a short debate when we arrived in Payson around 6:45, Dylan suggested dinner at Chili's and that's where we ended up.

My first "bad" meal of 2016. But not on purpose, I promise!

I studied the menu carefully and finally narrowed it down to two options: a steak dinner with vegetables or a tray of chicken wings, which was actually on the appetizer page. Now, depending upon the coating used, chicken wings can be pretty low-carb. Barbecue sauce would, of course, be a no-no since it's loaded with sugar. However, garlic and butter or ranch or cheese are all perfectly fine toppings.

The menu described this platter of boneless wings as smothered in three types of cheese and diced green onions, and the picture looked delectable. What I couldn't see was that, under all that cheese, the wings were breaded. When my meal arrived, I was aghast. Since I rarely eat wings, I'd been unaware that while real wings are not breaded, the boneless kind almost always are. Jake explained that to me, but too late.

I suppose I should have sent it back, but it wasn't the restaurant's mistake. The error was mine. Next time I'll know to order the steak! For now, though, I ate the wings and prayed it wouldn't trigger the return of my carbohydrate-cravings. There were nine "wings" on my mini-skillet, but I only ate seven and gave the rest to Mark, who had ordered the same thing.

I got lucky. Despite my mistake, I gained very little bloat on this trip, which I lost in the first two days back home, and then I lost an additional two pounds, as well. And the cravings did not kick in, thank goodness!

On a humorous side note, whenever I commit to a low-carb lifestyle over a long period of time, I have this recurring nightmare in which I'm at a long buffet table covered with every tempting food imaginable. Then I'll pick up one item and take a bite of it. Suddenly, I'll realize that it's some kind of bread that I just swallowed, and I'm stricken with horror that I've ruined my perfect low-carb efforts. I've been having that dream off and on since 2000, and I always awaken from it upset, sometimes even crying.

When the waitress put that skillet of chicken wings in front of me, I stared at it in horror, feeling a little sick, and it seemed as if my dream had finally come to life!

Parent-Teacher Conferences: Thursday, March 10th

Twice a year, on a Thursday evening, we high school teachers stay late so parents can drop in to visit, open-house style. While I always welcome and enjoy visiting with my students' parents, what I really look forward to are the goodies that the culinary arts classes whip up and deliver to all the classrooms (for teachers, parents, and students) throughout the evening. None of the selections are low-carb, of course. Breads abound.

I'd actually forgotten about those treats until the night before conferences, when Kay (culinary arts teacher extraordinaire) emailed her menu to all school staff:

Savory Cucumber Cream Cheese on Toasted Rounds
Basil Pesto Cream Cheese Bruschetta
Sausage Mushroom Phyllo Triangles
Sausage Ranch Wonton Cups
Chicken Chutney Salad Sandwiches
Ham Salad Sandwiches
Mini Cheesecakes with Melba Sauce
Chocolate and Vanilla Cream Puffs

Do you see my problem here? I tried to be prepared by bringing dinner to school with me (leftover steak and broccoli) and eating it at 3:45, right before parents began to arrive at 4:00. It helped to already be full when the goodies were delivered, but let's face it: freshly-made culinary delights make you salivate no matter how full you are.

First to be delivered: Savory Cucumber Cream Cheese on Toasted Rounds

As the students arrived with their trays laden with their yummy goods, I asked them about the ingredients in the cream cheese mixtures and then decided there was no reason not to enjoy the parts I'm allowed to enjoy. So, by the end of the evening, my trash can became filled with little pieces of bread as I scraped the cucumber cream cheese and basil pesto cream cheese off the little bread rounds and savored them on my plastic fork.

Next up: Basil Pesto Cream Cheese Bruschetta

My classroom is, literally, located at the farthest point from anywhere else on campus. It's a little walk from my room to even those closest to mine. I have no next-door neighbors at my end of the East Campus. This has its advantages, but there is one major drawback. Often, on parent-teacher conference night, many of the trays of goodies never quite make it to my room before they are emptied. I almost hoped that would be the case this time, so I wouldn't be tempted to stray from the low-carb way.

I never did see the Sausage Ranch Wonton Cups, the Ham Salad Sandwiches, or the Chocolate and Vanilla Cream Puffs, thankfully. When the Chicken Chutney Salad Sandwiches came around, I took two triangles (totaling half a sandwich) and scraped off the chicken salad, tossed the bread, and ate it with the fork as I'd done with the others.

And then came my ultimate favorite culinary delight, the one I most anticipate at every conference: the Sausage Mushroom Phyllo Triangles. I really hoped they wouldn't make it to my room. They almost didn't. When the students paused at my door, there were only two left on the platter.

To die for: Sausage Mushroom Phyllo Triangles

I took them both. I stared at them for a while. (They aren't as big as they look in the photo; the napkin is one of those tiny cocktail napkins). I toyed with the notion of taking it apart and eating the insides, but I knew I wouldn't. The flaky phyllo is what makes it so delicious. And so I ate them. I ate them both.

So I confess to you now, this was my first deliberate cheat of 2016. And I pushed back the guilt and savored the flavor, chewing slowly and rolling my eyes in ecstasy. Thank goodness they only had two left when the tray got to me.

Mini Cheesecakes with Melba Sauce

As the evening drew to a close, I began to hope the dessert trays had indeed missed me but, alas, the mini cheesecakes found me at the end. Again, they were tiny (cocktail napkins, remember) but this time we were talking actual sugar. Hmmm. I tried to talk myself out of it, but the students urged me to take several so they could get rid of them and go home. In the past I'd have grabbed half a dozen, but this time I settled for three. I used my plastic fork to pry the cheesecake out of the thick graham cracker crust and discovered that there was actually very little cheesecake nestled into the depression of the cup-like crust. So I popped the three very small bites, minus the crust, into my mouth. I told myself it was no worse than taking three small bites of a slice of cheesecake and then pushing the rest away...

Two cheats in one night. Not a great idea and I'm not proud of it. Still, two mornings later (today) I was down another pound, so I guess I reigned it in well enough. And I'm safe from these temptations for six months, until the next round of conferences in September!

Chaperoning MORP tonight: Saturday, March 12th

One of the fun things about teaching high school is getting to chaperon the dances and seeing the kids having fun outside of the drudgery of the classroom. Tonight was MORP (that's Prom backwards, where girls ask guys--we used to call that the Sadie Hawkins dance when I was in high school) and I spent my evening from 8:00 to 11:00 watching the kids get crazy on the dance floor. it makes for a long night, but I do enjoy it.

Students move to the music at tonight's dance.

Tonight's refreshments included snow cones and cotton candy. Fortunately, neither of those items are a great temptation for me. I got through the final hour with a glass of shaved ice and water. Our principal was kind enough to watch over the flock while I visited the snow cone station and asked for plain ice.

I'm afraid it won't be so easy next month, when I chaperon Prom. The refreshments there are always elegant and chocolaty and downright decadent, as well as being so beautiful that I must take pictures of them. I'll have to make a plan to stay strong on Prom night. There are more challenges just over the horizon, including another trip to the Valley to attend a concert in less than two weeks, followed by a day at the Renaissance Festival. And Easter is the day after that!

Groan...It's clear that this is going to be an ongoing battle between me and the low-carb temptations of the world. But this time I will emerge as the victor! Just watch and see!

February Temptations

February turned out to be a very tough month for my diet. Don't get me wrong, I didn't cheat, not even once, but it was hard. Very hard. And I did lose a little bit of weight, but not even close to the 10 or 12 lbs I was hoping for. Still, a loss is a loss, so I'm grateful. And I'm not giving up!

After my first month of healthy eating in January, I'd lost 16.4 lbs. During the entire month of February, I only lost 4.8 lbs more, for a grand total of 21.2 lbs. It's disappointing but, on the other hand, would I want those 21 lbs back? Not only NO, but HECK NO!

So I'm trying to take the long view. Even if I only lost 5 lbs per month for the rest of the year, I would still have shed 56 lbs by the time we go on vacation to Southern California in October. I could live with that!

I'd also like to share that my daughter is rocking her diet! So far, Sarah has lost 24 lbs in just 5 weeks. That's an average of almost 5 lbs per week! She is kicking my butt. And I am thrilled for her!

My dietary path was strewn with temptations throughout the month of February, and some of those challenges did affect my weight loss negatively. February started right off with seductive enticements and continued in that vein all the way through the month...

1. School District Training Meeting on Friday, February 5th

The district provided this tempting display of decadent sweets.

I knew there would be junk food galore at this meeting. There always is. So I went prepared, with a couple of sugar-free Russell Stover dark-chocolate pecan delights in my purse. As it turned out, however, I didn't need them because, nestled amidst the cupcakes, I found these little gems. I enjoyed my fill of berries and even splurged on a few bites of sweet, fresh pineapple (which is pretty high in natural sugars but otherwise healthy).

Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and pineapple.

2. Lunch at the Hospital on Wednesday, February 10th

Grading papers while noshing on chicken salad with pickle and tomato slices.

During my second marriage, I spent a a lot of time waiting at the hospital for my husband to undergo various surgeries and procedures, and now history is repeating myself as I find myself waiting at the same hospital for my first ex-husband, who is now my, uh, my--friend, roommate, boyfriend, fiance, significant other?--to have his heart procedures done. Over the years, I have come to equate this hospital time with comfort food from the little hospital deli or the cafeteria: croissant sandwiches, French fries, popcorn, an ice cream cone, whatever.

This time, recognizing that I'd start craving those things the minute I walked in the hospital door, I steeled myself to face down the temptations. I admit, the scent of popcorn made my mouth water and I was sorely tempted to eat something I shouldn't, but I stayed strong. After questioning the lady who'd prepared the chicken salad that morning and learning that it contained only mayonnaise, diced vegetables, and bits of dried cranberries, I settled for a scoop of chicken salad on lettuce instead of bread. It was quite yummy, and I nibbled at it for about an hour while I focused on working through a tall stack of freshman English study guides that needed grading.

3. The Nasty Head Cold, February 6th to February 19th

I had to wear this while at the hospital with Mark because of my cold germs.

Late in the evening after the district training meeting, I developed a scratchy throat. By the next morning, my throat was hot and red. Sinus pressure made my eyes ache and it hurt to swallow. I knew I was in trouble.

My biggest concern was the fact that the only thing that makes me feel better when I have a cold is to eat. I don't know if it releases feel-good endorphins or what, but I feel almost normal for about an hour after I eat something. And, of course, what I want to eat is never healthy. As a matter of fact, the one food that makes me feel best is Lay's Potato Chips. I can eat a whole family-size bag in two days when I'm sick. By myself. Really.

This was probably the biggest test of my commitment in 2016 so far. I'm relieved to say that I passed, but it was incredibly hard. I still ate constantly, which surely was a huge part of the slowing of my weight loss, but I only ate healthy foods. I made myself some chicken soup for a couple of days and I drank lots of fluids. In place of the potato chips, I snacked on mixed nuts. They were nicely salty, but they also irritated the back of my throat and made me cough, which was never a problem with potato chips. I had better luck as I ate my way through two baskets of strawberries over four days. Besides being high in vitamin C, the berries were soothing to my sore throat.

I made myself hot chicken-and-onion soup. No noodles! Just bouillon and spices.

One huge plus to sticking with healthy eating while I was sick was how quickly I was able to kick the cold. Keep in mind, I am now 61 years old. For more than a dozen years now, even a simple cold always progresses quickly to something worse, including bronchitis or pneumonia, and lasts for at least three weeks and usually much longer. Recovery had become a very slow process, losing sleep for weeks while fighting a brutal cough and trying to get my strength back. I'd begun to live in dread of the scratchy throat that heralded the start of a month or more of misery.

This time, though, the progression of the cold peaked at twelve days and then was almost totally gone three days later. A small cough hung on for a few days longer, but now I'm fine. It never did get as nasty as every other cold I've had during the past fifteen years or so. I attribute it to supporting my immune system by eating right. Everyone else I know who has caught a cold this winter has been knocked off their feet for weeks, so I doubt I merely got lucky enough to catch a mild strain. Healthy foods rock!

4. Valentine's Day on Sunday, February 14th

Sugar-free chocolates for me from my son and his friend.

We all know the challenge of dieting during the Valentine season. It's great that love is in the air, but there is also chocolate everywhere! No matter where you turn, you're faced with a beautiful red and pink display begging you to succumb to the creamy delight of chocolaty goodness, all in the name of romance.

Godiva dark chocolate with 72% cacao from Mark.

I would like to express my gratitude to my family for remembering my commitment, even at Valentine's Day. They each gave me sugar-free candies or low-sugar dark chocolate. The boys gave me a bottle of sparkling cider, too, but I drank only a few swallows and let them finish off the bottle. And I haven't even eaten all the goodies they gave me yet, almost three weeks later!

5. Traveling and Eating on the Road, February 19th to 21st

Meats and vegetables from the Golden Corral Buffet...

As I recovered from my cold, I faced my next challenge. My sister was getting married in the Valley, a three-hour drive from our mountain home, which meant a three-day, out-of-town trip for our entire family. Eating healthy while traveling is one of the greatest trials I regularly face, and usually I fail. This time, though, I was determined to plan ahead and prevail!

So during the two days before we left home, I cooked and baked low-carb foods that could travel well in an ice chest. I made deviled eggs for my breakfasts and I made low-carb sweets to enjoy at the wedding (see below). And I packed nuts and berries and cheeses for snacks.

...and strawberries for dessert, without the chocolate fountain drizzle.

One of the best things about this trip was that my older son and his wife drove all the way from their home in Utah to attend the wedding, so we got to enjoy spending time with them. It was their idea that we all gather at Golden Corral for dinner when we arrived in Mesa on Friday night. I cringed. Buffets are hard. To me, it's like asking an alcoholic to be content drinking soda in a tavern while everyone around you is gulping down liquor.

But I did it. I filled my plate with fish, chicken, beef, and pork, as well as non-starchy, non-breaded vegetables. It filled me up, tasted delicious, and I still had energy after that big meal. No carb crash!

El Pollo Loco has a nice avocado chicken salad.

But that still left the rest of the weekend. Since we were staying in a hotel with nothing more than a small fridge, rather than our usual resort with a full kitchen, we ended up eating out more than I liked, which presents a whole other set of challenges.

On Saturday morning everyone wanted to go out to breakfast, so we ended up at Denny's. Breakfast is pretty easy in a restaurant: I had a ham-and-cheese omelet with broccoli on the side instead of toast and potatoes.

That afternoon, my sister's reception went from 3:00 to 5:00 and featured a luncheon buffet, so that took care of our lunch (for details, see below). Our late dinner came from my favorite fast-food restaurant, Carl's Jr. I enjoyed my usual Super-Star lettuce wrap with no sides, which I order nearly every time we're in the Valley (since, sadly, we have no Carl's Jr. in my rural mountain community). I no longer eat burgers with a bun, including homemade burgers. even when I'm not dieting. Although I love and miss breads, burger buns simply seem unnecessary to me.

For Sunday morning's breakfast I had my deviled eggs. Lunch was a bit more difficult, due to transportation problems (more on that below), but we ended up at El Pollo Loco, another fast food place I used to frequent when I lived in the Valley in the 1980s (back when it was called El Pollo Flojo and then El Pollo Asado). I hadn't been there in years, though, because their signature chicken meals all featured tortillas in some form. However, I'd noted recently that their commercials were promoting "healthy" chicken salads, so I wanted to check it out. Sarah and I ended up ordering their avocado chicken salad, which was very good. There was a bit of corn in the salad, which imparted a sweet flavor, and I took a risk on the creamy cilantro and avocado dressings, but when I checked their nutrition guide a week later, I learned that the whole salad contained only about 15-16 carbs. Not too bad for a vegetable-based fast food lunch.

6. The Wedding on Saturday, February 20th

All the ingredients needed for Double Chocolate Paleo Banana Bread.

I always find it hard to resist wedding cake, plus my sister always puts on a spread of delicious goodies when she plans a wedding (she has married off and done the weddings for one son and five daughters so far--two more daughters and two sons left to go--so she's a pro). I knew the buffet would include other sweets, as well as her signature pasta salad and her famous chicken salad on croissants (I love croissants).

I also knew the buffet would likely include some things we could eat, like the chicken salad minus the croissant, perhaps some nuts, maybe some cheese balls, and probably fresh vegetables and homemade dip. All I needed to focus on were sweet options to offset those that would beguile us at the reception. I decided to make a non-wheat-flour cake and my own signature MacTurtles.

Bananas, eggs, and vanilla go into the blender.

Someone had posted this recipe for Double Chocolate Paleo Banana Bread on Facebook, and it looked scrumptious. I don't recommend this "bread" (I consider it more of a cake) as a regular treat because of the sugar content of the bananas that sweeten it, but it seemed appropriate for something special like a wedding, so I decided to give it a try. It was amazing!

Double Chocolate Paleo Banana Bread

3/4 cup almond flour

1/3 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

4 ripe bananas

2 eggs

splash of vanilla

3 + 1 oz dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8 x 8 baking dish (I used butter).

Sift the dry ingredients together and blend the other ingredients. Then mix all together well.

Chop up 3 oz of dark chocolate and fold into the batter.

Pour into baking dish and smooth the top. Sprinkle 1 oz of chopped dark chocolate on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Then cool and cut into 12 squares.

Voila! To me, it looked dry and grainy, but it wasn't that way at all.

It was moist and had a texture like gooey brownies, my favorite!

And the little pockets of hot, melted chocolate inside were the best!

The dark chocolate I use for baking is Ross dark chocolate bars. These gourmet Belgian chocolate bars contain no sugar and just 2 net carbs for a 1.2 oz bar. Years ago, for a brief time, Walmart carried Ross chocolates in their diet section, but for most of the 15 years I've been enjoying them, I've only been able to find them online. They have a variety of other flavors, as well, but those have more carbs (3 to 5 per bar) and, besides, dark chocolate has always been my favorite.

I always order a case of 96 bars to avoid paying for shipping. Although the regular price for a case is almost $140 (unless it's on sale, which is when I buy), it lasts me for at least two years. I'm pretty sure I spend much more than that on sugary treats from Walmart in a 2-year period when I'm not eating right! And, having a case in the closet, I always know I'll have it when I need it.

If you're interested, here is a link to their website: Ross Chocolates Online

Only two ingredients for my MacTurtles: Ross dark chocolate and macadamias.

Macadamia nuts are the healthiest, with a perfect ratio of protein to healthy fats.

Break up and melt the chocolate bars in a double-boiler over low heat.

I've used the microwave before, but there's a higher risk of burning the chocolate.

Once it's fully melted, add the chopped macadamias and stir to coat well.

Generally, 4 Ross dark chocolate bars and 50 macadamias will yield 12 MacTurtles.

I usually cut each whole nut into about 4 pieces because I like my MacTurtles chunky,

but you could chop them finer if you prefer more chocolate and less nut.

Finally, drop one heaping teaspoon of the chocolate-nut mix onto wax paper.

Place in the freezer until firmed up, then put in a sealed container and refrigerate.

They won't melt, but they will soften if left out for more than a couple of hours.

With our low-carb goodies ready to go, we packed them up, took them to the Valley with us, and carried them into the reception, where we enjoyed our own healthy treats while other guests enjoyed wedding cake and other goodies. And, as I'd hoped, there were a few items on the buffet that were allowable on our diet. As for the croissant-chicken salad sandwiches, I bypassed the tall pile of prepared sandwiches and headed straight to the kitchen, where I found the big bag of chicken salad in the refrigerator. (Having helped in the kitchen at my nieces' weddings, I knew exactly where to look.) I put a big scoop on two plates, one for Sarah and one for me. Other than the bits of purple grapes added to it (higher sugar content), the chicken salad was a delicious and very healthy main course for our lunch.

Our table at the reception, with my containers of sugar-free sweets.

I'd also brought bottles of sugar-free root beer so we wouldn't be tempted

by the colorful punch. We enjoyed the chicken salad sans bread and fresh vegetables

with handmade dip, which I think may have been a creamy spinach dip. Very tasty!

Without our low-carb options, this would have been far more tempting!

7. New Car Woes and Crushing Stress, February 20th to 21st

My "new" 2009 Chevy Traverse is towed away.

I'd only owned it for two weeks.

Having made it through the wedding reception unscathed, we were almost home free, but there was one more issue I had to tackle before this eventful Valley weekend ended.

On February 4th I had purchased a used car, a nice SUV that would make our future family vacations more comfortable and more convenient, with the extra cargo space I'd been missing since I'd traded in my 2000 GMC Jimmy back in 2008. Everything was fine until February 18th, the day before we left for the wedding. My older son had arrived from Utah, and he took my new Traverse to the car wash that evening. When he returned, he noted that he thought there was a problem with my power steering. On our way out of town the next day, I stopped to see my mechanic. He confirmed that there was a "strain' on my power steering system and told me I needed to get it to a dealership soon (since I'd owned it less than 30 days), but he felt it would get me safely to the Valley for now.

It did get us there safely, with a beautifully smooth ride despite the occasionally troubling noises on tight turns, but that all changed after my sister's wedding reception. Once Karla and Steve had driven away from the church to begin their honeymoon, we headed over to visit a friend who lived nearby. We'd only gone a mile when gray smoke began pouring out of the back of the car and an acrid burning stench filled the air. By the time we reached my friend's house, I could barely turn the steering wheel at all. Ultimately, I called AAA and my poor car was towed away into the darkness.

Essentially, we were stranded 175 miles from home. My AAA services only included a 100-mile tow, so it would have cost more than $350 to tow my car the rest of the way home. I called my insurance company, which would tow only to the nearest service facility and provided no rental car unless I was stuck due to an accident. I contacted a car rental company but found that it would cost almost $200 (plus gas) to drive the 175 miles home because of their one-way fee. My son's car seated only four comfortably, but there were eight of us who needed to get home. We all needed to be at our jobs and school the next morning, and my older son and his wife had to drive back to Utah the next day. It was Saturday night and Sunday morning/afternoon, so of course I was unable to reach my dealership at home, and no local service departments were open. And how was I going to pay for this after I'd just taken on a new car payment? Would my dealership man up and take responsibility for selling me a damaged car or was I facing a long, ugly battle? I was feeling just a little stress...

And I am a stress eater. The more tension and frustration I feel, the more I want to comfort myself with food. And not the healthy kind. In the end, my car was stuck at a Valley dealership for the rest of the month, but my step-sister's husband graciously offered to drive the other half of us home. That drive was, perhaps, the most dangerous time of all for my healthy eating commitment.

I cannot tell you how close I came to having us all stop at Burger House in Miami on the way home, for one of the world's greatest (for real, truly) green chile burros, which I love, love, love, and which would have been immensely comforting, even if I'd hate myself for it later. And once we'd made it safely home, all nine of us went to El Rancho for dinner and I had to sit on my hands to prevent myself from eating the pre-dinner chips and salsa or from ordering a fat, shredded beef chimichanga or three cheesy enchiladas instead of my usual taco salad without the tortilla shell or beans.

But I did it. Somehow, I DID IT! I got through all 29 tough days of February without cheating even a single time. The rewards weren't huge, but in the end I had lost weight when I could so easily have gained instead. Surprisingly, I only gained 1.2 lbs of bloat from our weekend in the Valley (normally I gain 3-5 lbs), and I dropped that much and more after the first day back at home. All in all, a net loss of 4.8 lbs is nothing to sneer at.

Therefore, I'm going to call this month a success. A modest success, to be sure, but a success nonetheless. Here's to an even better month in March!

End of January

Last week I talked about how important a variety of vegetables is in a healthy low-carb diet.

Now let's talk about fruits. Many people believe you can't enjoy fruit if you're on Atkins. Not true.

No fruit is forbidden, especially if you're fit and just want to improve your health through real foods.

However, the recommendations regarding fruit will vary depending upon your goals.

If you wish to control your blood sugar, you'll want to limit high-sugar fruits like bananas.

Bananas, apples, grapes, etc, have less impact on blood sugar if you limit the serving size.

And if your goal is serious weight loss, you'll want to forego those sweeter fruits, for now.

To satisfy a sweet craving, berries are your best bet. Not only are they naturally 

low in carbs, but they are nutritional powerhouses, packed full of antioxidants.

Strawberries are my personal favorite, followed by boysenberries, raspberries,

blackberries, and blueberries. There are sure to be many others that work, as well.

 *Note: fruit juices are off the list! Orange juice, grapefruit juice, cranberry juice, whatever:

Stripped of the fruit's fiber, you may as well hook yourself up to a sugar-water IV!

The first month of 2016 is gone, and I managed to avoid all temptations and stick to my low-carb resolution. And it paid off. I lost 16.4 lbs in the 31 days of January! It's paying off in other ways, as well. 

The best of these benefits is the change in my fasting blood sugar levels, since I've been pre-diabetic  for 4 years. (I suspect it hasn't become full-blown diabetes yet because I do tend to eat low-carb most of the time, despite the frequent periods of cheating.) During the first week of January, my blood glucose levels fluctuated between 115 and 125. Not the worst, but not good either. Anything below 130 is okay (according to the American Diabetes Association), but ideally it should be between 70 and 100. My numbers have been dropping over the past few weeks: 113, 111, 104, 118, 102, 112... Then this morning I did my finger-prick, stuck the stick into the meter, and my number came up as 88! I checked it twice to be sure, because it's been a couple of years since I've seen a number so low. I know it will continue to fluctuate for a while, but it's so good to be hitting the target at last.

Meanwhile, my blood pressure continues to be lower. Soon I hope to hit normal there, too.

At this point, I'd like to give a shout-out to my daughter, Sarah, who jumped on the low-carb bandwagon with me last Sunday. After her first 7 days, she had already lost 13 lbs! I could see immediately that she'd lost substantial weight when she walked in the door yesterday for our weekly family dinner. If I'm not careful, she's going to pass me by! Way to go, Sarah!

And now, the past 7 days...

SATURDAY 01/23

LATE BREAKFAST: I made myself 3 Eggs, Scrambled in butter with a drizzle of heavy cream cooked into it.

LATE LUNCH: I threw this together quickly before heading out for some shopping: 1.5-oz. slice of Monterey Jack Cheese and a small piece of leftover Beef Roast (from Friday night's dinner) drizzled with olive oil.

DINNER: Mark and I were shopping at Walmart and it got kind of late (7:30). The last thing I wanted to do was go home, put away groceries, and then have to start making dinner. (My post-surgery knee is still a long way from being fine.) So we stopped for dinner at the McDonald's inside Walmart.

I ordered the Double Quarter-Pounder again, and this time they brought it to me without the bun, as I'd requested. There's sugar in the ketchup, but it's such a squirt that I won't stress over it. It's funny how, when I'm not low-carbing, I wouldn't dream of having a lone burger with no sides for dinner. (I never order soda, don't care for it, so water is fine.) Without at least two items in front of me, I'd feel almost panicked, as if I'd starve if I didn't have those large fries, too. (I do love fries, and Mark's smelled sooooo good...) At this point in the diet, though, I feel full after just the bunless burger, so the panic is gone. Completely. So I'm eating less than half what I used to eat at meals. That's a gift of enjoying fat and protein without guilt.

DESSERT: For dessert around 10:30, I enjoyed a cup of sugar-free Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate with two sugar-free Dark Chocolate Pecan Delights by Russell Stover.

SUNDAY 01/24

BREAKFAST: I didn't feel like messing in the kitchen, so I just ate 2 squares of Ghirardelli's Dark Chocolate Intense Dark Twilight Delight (72% cacao). It actually satisfied me enough to not be hungry for a few hours.

LUNCH: I made some Deviled Eggs and enjoyed 3 of them (6 halves) for my lunch.

SNACK: 1.5-oz slice of Monterey Jack Cheese.

DINNER: For our weekly family dinner, Mark suggested that we throw a pork roast into the slow cooker and have shredded pork burritos. The pork roast in my freezer was kind of small to feed eight people, so I threw a larger beef roast into the crock pot with it, along with diced onion and garlic and spices. They both came out perfectly tender and flavorful!

Of course, I can't eat the tortilla (muy grande carbs), so Sarah made a lovely green salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and celery. She had decided on this day to start eating low-carb herself, so no tortillas for her, either. While the guys made their burritos, Sarah and I tossed our shredded pork and beef into a bowl with the salad and mixed it all up with some olive oil and red wine vinegar. Yummy! I didn't even miss the tortilla!

Mark shredded up both roasts and placed the meat on the platter.

Shredded Beef and Pork Salad for dinner!

DESSERT: None on this night because I was still perfectly satisfied from my big salad.

WORK WEEK 01/25 to 01/29

BREAKFASTS

Monday: 2 Deviled Eggs (4 halves)

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: 2 Eggs, fried in butter

MID-MORNING SNACK: Each day I took my 1.5-oz slice of Monterey Jack Cheese. I told you it's a favorite of mine!

LUNCHES: Every day of the week I took my usual frozen Atkins Meal. Below, these are the ones I chose for this week:

AFTER-SCHOOL SNACK:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Each of these days I had 2 squares of 72%-cocoa Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate.

Thursday: I had my post-op, follow-up appointment with my orthopedic surgeon right after school, so I didn't have an after-school snack on this day.

Friday: I enjoyed two Prosciutto Paninos (mozzarella cheese wrapped in prosciutto ham), which I'd purchased at Walmart the night before. One frustration I have with eating low-carb is the amount of planning required. Eating garbage is easy: grab a bag off the shelf and then stuff your face. No cooking or planning needed; compulsive eaters welcome! So I'm always happy when I can find a grab-and-eat low-carb item. (Never as cheap as a bag of Lay's potato chips, alas...) The trick with these is keeping them away from Dylan, who loves them, too. He's stolen one already!

DINNERS

Monday: There was a bit of leftover salad and leftover roast from Sunday night's dinner, so I had a leftover Shredded Beef and Pork Salad for dinner.

Tuesday: I made Stuffed Bell Peppers for dinner. Most recipes for stuffed peppers call for low-carb-unfriendly ingredients like rice, but these work great on my diet. Here's the recipe...

All the ingredients you'll need. Usually I use green peppers, but these were on sale!

Start by pouring 1 cup of lower-carb spaghetti sauce into the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish

(tomato sauce if you prefer). Set aside the rest of the spaghetti sauce for now.

Crumble 3 lbs of ground beef into a large bowl. (Feel free to cut the recipe in half.)

Mix it well with a large container of ricotta (24 oz, I think), 2 cups shredded mozzarella,

the remaining spaghetti sauce, and salt and paper to taste. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, slice the tops off the peppers and take out the seeds and ribs.

Cut small slits in the bottoms of the peppers so the grease can drain as the meat cooks.

Next, stuff the peppers with the meat mixture and place in the sauce in the 8x8 dish.

Then top the stuffed peppers with some extra shredded mozzarella cheese.

Spray some aluminum foil with nonstick cooking spray and place it sprayed-side down

over the peppers (I do an extra pan of meatloaf for Dylan, who hates bell peppers.

That's the reason I make such a huge batch of the meat.)

Bake covered for 30 minutes, then remove the foil.

Bake another 50 minutes, and then enjoy!

Wednesday: I made Mark a sub sandwich for dinner, and then I ate the one leftover Stuffed Bell Pepper!

Thursday: After my follow-up visit with my orthopedic surgeon, Mark and I headed to Walmart to do some shopping (we seem to do that a lot). He wanted a frozen pizza for dinner, so I bought a roast beef sub (smaller than usual, since it was just for me) and made myself a Sub Platter. With added mayo and tomato slices, of course!

Friday: I made some Lazy Chicken Soup for dinner, just Mark and me since the guys had gone out with friends. It's easy to throw together:

On the right is the soup itself. On the left is after garnishing with cheese.

Combine and heat well: about 1.5 lbs of diced, cooked chicken

(this time, I used the precooked and diced frozen stuff you can buy in a bag),

6 cans of chicken broth, and one packet of taco seasoning.

After it's good and hot, add an 8-oz block of cream cheese.

After it melts into the soup, remove from heat. Garnish with shredded cheese.

I used cheddar and Monterey jack. Spicy goodness!

DESSERTS

Monday: Sugar-free Hot Cocoa with 1/4 cup heavy cream and 2 Russell Stover sugar-free Dark Chocolate Pecan Delights.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: 2 Russell Stover sugar-free Dark Chocolate Pecan Delights.

Friday: No dessert. I was too stuffed from the soup!

SATURDAY 01/30

BREAKFAST: Mark made us all some Scrambled Eggs and Chorizo to start off our day.

LUNCH: It was kind of an unusual lunch. I had about 70 papers to score for my two freshman English classes, so I just wanted something to munch on while I graded. So I had a cup of sugar-free Hot Cocoa with Heavy Cream, a 1.5-oz slice of Monterey Jack Cheese, and 3 Russell Stover sugar-free Dark Chocolate Pecan Delights.

DINNER: Mark and I shared the leftover Lazy Chicken Soup (and he made himself a sub sandwich on the side).

DESSERT: No Dessert tonight. Soup sure does fill you up!

SUNDAY 01/31

BREAKFAST: I was still working on my grading (I had about 30 left to do), so my quick breakfast was 3 Russell Stover sugar-free Dark Chocolate Pecan Delights.

LUNCH: Still grading, so more strange food choices. I had a cup of sugar-free Hot Cocoa with Heavy Cream, a 1.5-oz slice of Monterey Jack Cheese, and one Baby Dill Pickle. Dill pickles are actually okay on a low-carb diet, especially the baby dills, which have less than 1 carb each. So you could actually eat 2 or 3 if you wanted, but one seems to do it for me. Sweet pickles, on the other hand, are not on the menu. Too many bad carbs.

SNACK: I had Boiled Eggs to make more deviled eggs for rushed school mornings, and one had cracked open in the pan, so I ate it with some salt as a before-dinner snack.

DINNER: It was time for Sunday's weekly family dinner again! We decided to do burgers, with buns and potato chips and dip for the guys, and Bunless Burgers and Green Beans for Sarah and me, since we're both now dieting. Sarah and I topped our burgers with cheese, tomato, onion, and a big dollop of toasted onion dip! Just because we couldn't indulge in the potato chips didn't mean we couldn't enjoy the creamy-onion flavor of the sour cream-based dip. It was quite satisfying.

DESSERT: None!

All in all, January was as successful in lost poundage as I had dared to hope for. The cravings are gone and I feel satisfied with what I eat. I don't spend my time thinking about my next snack or meal anymore, and that's a big win!