confession

So yesterday someone offered me a most delicious piece of cake to try to see if I would be interested in using this baker to make our wedding cake, so of course I had to try it. It was the most delicious piece of cake I have ever had...and then I had to make sure so I tried another. Oh dear. It was probably the first real sugar I have eaten in about 2 months...it was so good...but not good on the scales. I gained .4 lbs...not sure how much of it is related to the cake...(an attempt to not feel guilty of course). Time to get back on track again!!

Fish cakes

This recipe is posted today on the Dukan Diet website:
 Salmon and Tuna fish cakes:

1 egg
1/2 tin of tuna in brine
1 fillet of salmon
Chopped chives
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Two table spoons of oat bran

 Cut the salmon into chunks. Mix with the whole egg, tuna and seasoning. Make into round, flat
cakes. Roll them in the oat bran and then fry in a non-stick  frying pan for 2 - 3 minutes on each side on a
low heat.

I'm going to try this tonight. I did a similar thing with chicken strips and then baked them in the oven, but I decided I would prefer to save my oatbran for my galette or in my yoghurt instead of using it as a coating. We'll see how these turn out. :)

Seafood Chowder

This is one of my all protein staples.
Seafood Chowder:

Ingredients:

1 litre skim milk
1 package of seafood chowder mix
1 can of baby clams
2 fresh cloves of garlic
1 piece of fresh ginger
chopped onion
green onion
fresh ground pepper
1 packet artificial sweetener

I first slowly heat the skim milk in a pot on the stove. I usually don't turn it passed 2 on the dial so as not to burn the milk. Then I add my freshly grated ginger (the piece would depend on how much you want to taste ginger). I usually use one maybe 2 cm by 3 cm, 2 minced cloves of garlic, the packet of sweetener, the clams with the juice from the can, and then the rest of the frozen seafood and frshly ground pepper. I let it cook, stirring every now and again to make sure the milk doesn't burn, until the seafood is cooked through and the flavours blend nicely.  It does taste even better the next day.

When I tasted it without the sweetener, I could really tell it was skim milk, and thought it was missing something. I added the sweetener because I thought the butter gave it a sweet taste, and found it made a really big difference in the taste.

I hope you like it!

Have I noticed an increase in my grocery bill?

A few people have asked me if my grocery bill has increased since stating this diet. I would have to say that I haven't noticed a difference, but I consider myself a frugal shopper, (but always room for improvement or suggestions), and now there are 2 of us in the household that are doing the diet, so we will see if that makes a difference.

Shopping tips:

1) Stalk up on sales: I do this a lot. When turkeys were on sale for $1.27/lb for Christmas, I bought 3 and put them in the freezer to have at a later time. When ground beef went on sale, I did the same thing, but I freeze them in portion sizes that I think I might use. For example, I froze all the beef in 1 lb bags as one recipe for beef jerky is one lb. This means though that you have to have a deep freeze and cash upfront to get the sales.

2)look for cheaper versions of the thing. When I make seafood chowder, I buy the chowder mix, and add a can of clams or other seafood that I may have gotten on sale. I find this is cheaper. I don't usually add lobster.

3) reduced produce: Every store has a shelf or section to sell the over ripe produce. I check this section to see if there is anything I want to use that night for supper and will buy it there. Or, I may buy the produce on sale and prepare it to freeze or juice it. The other night I bought to bags of overipe tommatoes and came home and grilled them for tomatoe sauce.

4)Salmon: I buy the whole fish frozen, from the Pacific Ocean. It's not as pink, but it still tastes good. I bake it in the oven with lemon slices and dill, or cut it in steaks and cook it on the George Foreman Grill.

I think one difference is that I'm not buying hardly any fruit anymore (some for one family member), and less vegetables, buy try as I  may, some still seemed to go to waste. So if you consider that you won't be buying as many fruits and veggies, and buy the protein on sale, it won't necessarily cost you anymore. And, I'm not buying chips, cookies, or treats anymore, and those can add up as well. You also don't need to buy the prime rib steak all the time either. :)

Does anyone else have any tips to cut costs when buying groceries ?

oh oh Chinese take-out

yesterday I was in the city shopping with a friend and then it was time to eat lunch, so what do I do? We went to the food court at the mall so we could each chose what we wanted to eat. I chose chinese vegetables, pepperocrn chicken (no coating on the chicken) and beef and brocoli. It was the best I thought I could do.

This morning I weighed myself and gained .6 lbs. I'm not discouraged though as I think/hope it was mainly because of the salt, and it will come off in the next couple days.

Does anyone else out there have any ideas on what would be good options for when eating out? Especially in the fast food areas ?

Putting on the blitz

This week was a different week. I was cold all the time and it took a lot more to get warm than usual. I was also disappointment because I wasn't loosing the weight each day like I was before. I would lose .5 lbs, gain .5 lbs, lose, gain. I went to read in the book which explained that after loosing 20 lbs one could expect to have a slow down in their weight loss, the plan was still working, but you wouldn't still see it on the scales maybe for a few days. It explained there could be various reasons for this; their body could be stabilizing from the change, water retention from pre or post menopause or changes in hormone levels, pre/post period.  It also explained that this is the time in the diet where people often quit because they get discouraged, and go back to bad eating habits. It explains how you can start the next phase if you think you can't carry on in this phase, and then maintain the weight you have lost, or you can put ont he blitz.

Dr. Dukan recamended:
1) double your walking time in which, I must confess wasn't doing regularly. December is a very busy month and I didn't always have the time...yes that is a total excuse and should not be accepted. It really is all about making priorities.

2) get sleep before midnight- what? I couldn't believe it. My mother has been telling me for years, and her father told her that the sleep you get before midnight counts the most for some reason.

3) try a directic tea- to help release some hidden water.

I didn't give up, trusted Dr. Dukan, and started walking, drank a directic tea- (Skinny Tea from David's Teas), falling asleep before midnight just didn't happen this week. But today I lost 1.2 lbs....yes!!

Fat free salad dressing

 I came across this recipe somewhere else but can’t remember where, and there is also a variation to this in the Dukan Diet book.

Salad dressing:

There are only 2 ingredients, mustard and balsamic vinegar. If you want it more runny, use more vinegar, if you want it more like a dip, use more mustard. I usually start with a few tablespoons full of each, and go from there.

For variations, you can use different mustards, add spices, or use different vineagrs like red or white wine vinegar. Today I topped my salmon steak with it and it was delicious.

I enjoy this as a salad dressing, or a dip for some meats.

I hope you like it too.

Tuna melts

I like trying to be creative with the limited ingredients to create dishes that I like. One could look at this as frustrating, a challenge, an opportunity to be creative, or fun, depending on your perspective. I have decided to share some recipes I came up with in case it’s not as fun for you as it is for me. There are also recipes in the back of the book.

The Tuna Melt:

I like to make this at work for lunch. It’s a twist on an old classic.

For the bread or bun, I use the galette that you can have once a day. Instead of adding the sweetener to make it like a pancake, I add some seasonings instead. The other day I used chilli lime spice from Epicure. It gave the galette a hot taste. I make the galette the night before and then put it in a baggie in the fridge so I can just grab and go in the morning. For the tuna, I chop some onion (which you can have on protein days) about 2 tbs. of non-fat greek yoghurt per can of tuna, and sprinkled some dill and lemon spice in it. I spread the tuna mixture on the galette, and top it with a fat free cheese slice, preferably swiss. And voila, a tuna melt that is delicious. 

No Alcohol

Yes, I may have forgotten to mention, or you may have figured out, alcohol is not allowed on this diet in any stage, or not that I have found yet…so how do I not be tempted to have a glass of red wine with that pasta dish, or a beer with that steak ?  Well, for the risk of sounding like an article out of Shape or Women’s health magazine, I tried to limit my access or opportunity. I offered to be the designated driver for others at social functions. I also made sure I had another drink that I liked to drink, like diet pop, herbal tea, or coffee, (that was approved on the diet), and that way people didn’t keep asking me if I would like to have something to drink, as I already had something to drink.

To resist temptation at the lovely pot lucks at work, I offered to cover duties for other workers so they could go and enjoy themselves completely, and not have to worry about running back to get the phone.

I also kept reminding myself of my goal, and asked myself if I really wanted to get there or not. I wasn’t going to just eat protein for fun, there is a goal in mind.

Not hungry on a diet ?

Believe it or not, I am very rarely hungry, and that is only if I don't have access to my food. you can eat unlimited amounts of the approved foods and you don't have to count calories! It’s hard to think you can fill up just on lean protein foods, but it’s true, after a few days, I wasn’t hungry like I was before after eating a less amount of food!

And my taste buds changed…I wasn’t craving sugars or even my potato chips anymore. I went through the whole Christmas and New Year’s holiday without cheating- and I didn’t want to! I enjoy smelling some of the food, and that seemed to be enough. I don’t know if this is because of the proteins…or because I am just really motivated this time, so desperate to get back to my healthy weight.

It is easy to be social and be on the cruise phase. I would just plan my protein and veggie days for a social day. You can usually find some form of veggie at any event, and if not, I would plan to bring some. On Christmas day I had turkey dinner with everyone else, I just didn’t have any potatoes, gravy or dressing. I also got my veggies before Dad did them so they didn’t get any butter on them. For my dessert I had fat free lemon meringue pie flavored yoghurt. My taste buds exploded with that flavor- I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have before!

The Dukan diet for me?

I consider myself a condiments girl, and really only ate meat so I could taste the condiments…yum…there are so many different flavours, and I love to eat vegetables…so I was surprised to discover that I could do the Dukan Diet.

The Dukan Diet, as any diet, may not be for everyone, but so far it is working for me. I have lost 19 lbs in one month, and still going strong with no urges even to cheat. There are 4 stages to the diet, and you do each stage for a different length of time depending on the amount of weight you want to lose.

The Attack phase- this is the first phase which you are limited to eating lean protein and 1.5 tbs of oat bran. You can do this anywhere from 1 – 10 days, but the book recommends that if you do it for the longer time, to consult with a Dr. You must also drink 1.5 quarts of water each day, and walk for 20 minutes.

The Cruise phase- the phase I am in now, allows you to do the attack phase one day, and then lean protein plus veggies except white potatoes, plus the oat bran, which can be made into a delicious “galette” or pancake and used instead of bread. And, no to forget, to drink 1.5 quarts of water and now walk 30 minutes a day.

You can also use artificial sweetener, which I was little concerned about with some research relating it to alzheimers, but have decided to use the healthiest version, Stevia. Diet sodas, herbal teas, are allowed, and you must drink 1.5 quarts of water each day.

How does diet work? Why is it different from other diets?

 The book explains that the digestion of proteins is the most time consuming  and therefore burns more energy (p.18). “protein is composed of an aggregate of ery long chains of molecules whose basic links, amino acids, are connected to each other by a strongbond that requires a lot more work to be broken down (than carbs).” (p.28).  If you don’t drink enough water, “The waste from your burning of fats will accumulate and extinguish the metabolic rate.” (p.52).

I highly recommend buying the book to read all the recommendations and cautions so you can do it safely and effectively.  The book is entitled, The Dukan Diet by: Dr. Pierre Dukan.

Battle of the Bulge...

So, one thing I have been carrying around in my suitcase is the struggle of trying to lose weight, and what that means and doesn’t mean. For most of my younger life I was very active and never had to worry or even think of my weight, even in University.  I didn’t even regularly weigh myself as I had that balance of calories in/calories out. Then, as the “real” working world started, so did my battle of the bulge. I had less time and less energy to work out, and as I moved to different cities and introduced to different cultural foods, became a “foodie”. Shift work permitted for eating any type of food at any time of the day, and too often the choice was fast food because it was quick and warm and tasty.  Then, add an injury or two making exercise more challenging, combined with a decreasing metabolic rate with each decade, and presto, 60 lbs overweight.

If you actually sit down and do the math, let’s say that you gain .5 lbs in a week...(that’s not much right? could be water retention from the Chinese food last night)…that’s 2 lbs in a month…that’s 24 lbs in a year!!!

Embarrassed to admit, I have tried the cabbage soup diet- which did work, but gained it back as it was not a lifestyle change…the South Beach Diet- which worked as well, but I couldn’t stick to it and again wasn’t a life style change…Simply for Life Diet- which worked as well, but I became tired of only being able to eat certain foods and lost motivation, and found it was extremely expensive for the support and information I received. And last, but not least, weight watchers- which works, but I found it time consuming to have to look up everything I ate and then write it down. The new pocket calculator helped, but still it took time. At the end of this diet, I do plan to live a weight watchers style of eating as it is all real foods from all food groups and exercise with portion control.

Then a friend told me about the Dukan Diet…and a new journey began…