We should be much more concerned about sugar than fat in our diets.
Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology explains the science behind why sugar is bad for you due to its effects on insulin. He argues that too much fructose (fruit sugar) and not enough fiber are some of the leading causes of the obesity epidemic. People may think that table sugar or pure cane sugar (sucrose) is fine as long as you stay away from high fructose corn syrup. Dr. Lustig explains why this isn’t exactly true.
Quick and easy low carb protein shake that’s great to make in the morning when you don’t have time for a full breakfast.
I’ve tried many protein shake recipes and this is by far my favorite. This recipe is suitable for Atkins Phase 2 – Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL). If you are doing Atkins and you’ve made it to phase 2, you may be getting a little tired of eggs for breakfast. This recipe can help break up the monotony that many people experience with eggs on Induction. Ingredients: 1/4 cup Blueberries (fresh or frozen) 1/4 cup plain Greek Yogurt 2 TBL vanilla Whey Protein powder 1 TBL Flax meal (ground flax seeds) 1 cup unsweetened vanilla Almond Milk Dash of Cinnamon 1/4 Tsp Vanilla Extract (optional) Directions: Add all ingredients to blender and blend thoroughly. Enjoy. Substitutions: Use 1/4 cup of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, or mixed berries instead of blueberries. You could substitute plain whey protein, vanilla extract and a sprinkle of sweetener if desired. Quick Tips: You can find flax meal at your local health food store. If you can’t find it already ground, you can busy the flax seeds and grind them yourself very easily in a blender or food processor. Whey protein powder can be found online or at your local health food store. Chain warehouse stores also sell it in bulk. Be aware that quality matters when when it comes to protein powder and you generally get what you pay for.
If only finding more time were as easy as buying more watches!
Let’s face it… you have a busy life.
You work or go to school. You may have a family that depends on you, household chores, cooking, cleaning…and you just can’t find the time to take care of your health like you should. Weekends are filled with family time, religious obligations, or just taking time to relax after a busy week. There just isn’t enough time in week to do everything you want to do. How do you possibly find the time to eat right and take care of your body?
The reality is that most of us will not do something if it involves too much effort or thinking. If you want to find the time to do anything, you have to make it automatic. The way to do this is to make take small baby steps every day until you develop habits. I’ve said this before, but creating routines for yourself is one of the best ways I know to create time when you think you just don’t have any. Routines allow you to set aside “you” time by making it a part of your daily schedule. They help you regain control over the chaos in your life by organizing how you spend your time. Learning to manage your time is easier than you think and the great thing is that once a routine becomes a habit, you no longer have to think about it. You just do it.
Try this today. Create a morning and an evening / before bed routine with just 1 thing on each. After you successfully complete that for a week, add one more thing to each routine. Once you’ve done that, add one more thing to each routine. After three weeks, you will have established 6 new habits that will become automatic. Make progress, not excuses!
Here’s an example that might be helpful.
Week one:
Morning:
Move your body for 15 minutes.
Evening:
Plan dinner for tomorrow.
Week two:
Morning:
Move your body for 15 minutes.
Eat a healthy breakfast.
Evening:
Plan dinner for tomorrow.
Prepare a healthy lunch and snacks for tomorrow.
Week three:
Morning:
Move your body for 15 minutes.
Eat a healthy breakfast.
Empty the dishwasher / put away dishes.
Evening:
Plan dinner for tomorrow
Prepare a healthy lunch and snacks for tomorrow.
Clear your sink of all dishes / run the dishwasher.
Get Moving
It all starts with getting your body moving consistently every day. It can be walking your dog, parking far away from the door at work and taking the stairs, or doing a workout video. The key is consistency. No matter what, move your body every day for at least 15 minutes. Start there. If you can work up to 20 minutes and then to 30 minutes, even better. It doesn’t have to be hardcore running, just movement. If you’re already in great shape, feel free to do whatever you can. If you’re a little (or a lot) out of shape or just haven’t worked out in a while, start where you are today and take baby steps. Before you know it, you’ll get there. Here’s an easy 6 minute workout anyone can do to warm up in the mornings. If you can’t even find 15 minutes all at once, strap on a pedometer and shoot for as many steps a day as you can, working your way up to 10,000 steps.
Plan Ahead
Taking a few minutes each night to plan ahead for the next day’s meals will decrease your stress level and increase your time. You won’t be that person at the grocery store at 5:30 after work starving and having no clue what you’ll be making for dinner. This will make you less likely to grab that nasty microwave meal that is chock full of preservatives. You’ll have more time to cook if you already know what you’re making. Defrost any meat you’ll be using and chop any veggies you know you’ll need the night before to save more time. Prepare your snacks for work as well. Here’s a few recipe ideas to get you started. Delicious Salmon, Taco Salad, Chicken Cacciatore, Shrimp Alfredo, and Ribeye Steak.
Eat Breakfast
I can’t stress this enough. Don’t skip meals, especially when you’re working out. You’ll need your energy to get you through the day. If you don’t have time for a full breakfast, try a homemade protein shake made with Greek yogurt, berries, flax meal, protein powder, and almond milk. You could even prepare it the night before and freeze it, or put all the ingredients in your blender in the fridge and just blend it in the morning. I use a Magic Bullet for smoothies and highly recommend it because it makes protein shakes a snap.
Keep Your Sink Clean
You may be wondering why I added doing the dishes and putting them away to the routines. I’ll let you in on another secret: You won’t feel like cooking if your sink is full of dirty dishes! It is incredibly stressful to prepare a meal when you can’t find a clean pan or a plate. If you go to bed with a clean sink, however, you wake up in the morning happier and more willing to make yourself a healthy breakfast. A dirty sink makes you start your day off stressed and in a bad mood. It doesn’t seem like much, but believe me, it’s a very simple way to give yourself some peace in the morning and start your day off in a good mood.
BONUS ROUTINE:
Get Enough Sleep
Pick a bedtime and go to bed at the same time every night. You need your rest. This will allow you to get up a little earlier to have breakfast and move your body.
10 chicken drumsticks (skin on – keeps it moist)
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper (or zucchini)
8 oz sliced mushrooms
28 oz can of tomatoes (crushed or diced, depending on how thin you like your sauce)
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons Italian Seasoning
1/4 cup dry red wine
1 teaspoon dried basil or chopped fresh basil leaves
1 cup parmesan cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Heat 1/4 cup of oil on med heat in a large frying pan
Wash and pat dry chicken
Season chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder
Brown chicken on all sides
Drain chicken on paper towels
Remove any gristle from the pan.
Add onion and green pepper. Sauté for 3 min or until just soft
Add mushrooms, cook 1 minute
Add chicken to an ovenproof casserole
Pour onion-veggie mixture over the chicken
In the same frying pan, head up 1/4 cup of oil
Add the crushed tomatoes, bay leaves, Italian spices, and wine
Stir and simmer 5 minutes or so to meld the flavors
Pour over chicken, cover and bake for about 45 minutes or until chicken is done.
Uncover chicken, top with parmesan cheese and basil
Cook an additional 15-20 minutes until cheese melts and sauce thickens a big.
Serve with a big salad and/or your favorite low carb veggie. You can also serve over rice for carb eaters.
Quick Tip:
When browning the chicken, don’t crowd it in the pan. It may not brown properly because the temperature of the oil will drop. Instead, if necessary, fry in batches.
Are these the kinds of images that come to mind when you think of Atkins?
If not, they should!
When I get asked how I lost so much weight, and tell people I did “Atkins”, I get a lot of puzzled looks. “Isn’t that really unhealthy?” “All you eat is meat!” “That can’t be good for you!” I just have to chuckle because some people just don’t get it. I don’t know where people get their information about Atkins, and really low carb diets in general, but most have no clue what it actually entails.
I think much of the problem stems from the fact that there are many people who “do Atkins” the wrong way and unfortunately, you can “do Atkins” in a very unhealthy and wrong way and still lose weight.
How to do Atkins WRONG
- Just eat meat- Eat only bacon and eggs and bunless burgers every day
- Don’t eat any vegetables
- Have lots of artificial sweeteners
- Drink lots of diet pop
- Eat lots of “low carb” products
- Have lots of “low carb” beer and alcohol.
- Eat tons of Atkins brand bars and shakes
- Don’t track your carbs
- Never get off of induction
How do Atkins RIGHT
Atkins is NOT about just eating meat. Although, you CAN lose weight just by eating meat. Low carb isn’t about “dieting”, it’s about changing the way you look at sugars and starches and replacing them with whole low carb veggies. If you read the book or check the food list on Atkins.com, you’ll see that you need to eat roughly several cups or 12-15 grams of net carbs worth of low carb veggies a day! To put that into perspective, you would have to eat 2 cups of romaine lettuce, 1 cups of spinach, 1 cup of green beans, and 1 cup of broccoli and not even be at 13 grams of net carbs! That’s 5 cups of vegetables! Atkins is CLEARLY not about just eating meat.
Artificial sweeteners can get you in trouble. In the 2002 Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution book, Dr. Atkins recommends no more than 3 packets of artificial sweeteners a day. I think this is very lenient and very doable. But, if you want to break your addiction to sugar, and go without artificial sweeteners you absolutely should. When people rely on sweeteners, they never really learn to live without them and sugar cravings become all too common. The best way is to go cold turkey right off the bat. Then, you’ll be less likely to miss sugar.
The Atkins Nutritionals company isn’t helping the matter by hawking a bunch of “low carb” candy bars chock full of bloat-causing sugar alcohols that allegedy don’t count as part of your “net carbs”. This is a big reason why I tell people to read the 2002 version of the book that Dr. Atkins wrote himself. In it he focuses more on getting your carbs from NATURAL foods.
Steer clear of any products labeled “low carb”. These products are usually loaded with non-low carb ingredients. Most alcohols have no “carbs”, but your body treats them the same way in that it will burn the alcohol before it attacks your fat! Don’t fall into the trap of buying “low carb” versions of high-carb products like bread or ice-cream. These will likely spike your blood sugar just like the regular thing and if you’re particularly insulin resistant, they will stall your weight loss. Once you break your sugar addiction and embrace whole foods like delicious meats, vegetables, and good fats, you won’t miss those things.T
Track every single thing you put into your mouth! Go get a free account at myfitnesspal.com right now. It’s the easiest way I know to track your carbs. This is where people get stuck after they lose some weight and inevitably plateau. They wonder why they stopped losing weight, yet they never bothered to track their carbs. After Phase 1, you have to slowly add back about 5 net carbs a week until you get to your “Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing” (CCLL). This is the point where if you have any more carbs you no longer lose weight. How can you find this number if you never track your carbs? You can’t! So, track your carbs.
Induction is only the first two weeks of Atkins yet most people confuse it with the whole thing. There’s actually four phases and each phase gets progressively more lenient as you learn to add back higher carb foods so that it becomes something you can sustain indefinitely. I see so many people who stay on Induction the whole time, lose a ton of weight, and then gain it all back after they stop. They never learned how to change their lifestyle because they never followed through all the steps. If you do it right, you learn over time how to maintain the weight loss and your health. If you do it wrong, you end up gaining back the weight and cursing Atkins.
We’ve officially completed Round 1 of the Super Sexy Sisters Challenge!
Congratulations! You’ve made it through.
Now let’s revisit those goals we set wayyyy back in January and see how we did!
My Goals were:
1. Lose the last few pounds of fat – Lost some, still working on it
2. Gain lean muscle – Definitely feel stronger. I’ve been lifting weights 2-3 times a week
3. Track my daily food (carb) intake – Tracked for most of the time.
4. Keep accountable to the SSSC – Done. Posted every week.
Overall, I feel good about my progress. I could have been better on some things, but that’s life. We’re not seeking perfectionism. Just progress!
How did you do? Did you hit all of our goals? Some of your goals? At least 1 of your goals?
Whether you achieved your goals or not, do you at least see some progress?
I’m willing to bet that everyone accomplished something. I’m so proud of everyone and hope you enjoyed the Challenge.
If you gals are interested in doing the challenge again and have any suggestions on how to make it better, I would love to hear them!
This was an okay week for me that certainly had its ups and downs. I’ve been getting into an exercise routine that I’ve been pretty consistent with. Check out my last post for more on creating routines for yourself. I recognize that I tend to eat a lot healthier when I cook at home versus eating out. I’m much less tempted to have bad things because I just don’t keep them in the house!
Are you the same way? It seems obvious, but what a difference it makes!
One of the things I realized is that when I have a bad day or a bad week, and try to overcompensate, by being super strict it usually doesn’t work. You just have to jump back in where you are and go from there.
If you had a bad week or a bad MONTH, you can still start fresh today and FINISH STRONG!
As the weather warms and schedules get hectic, I’m sure it can get tough to keep up with everything that needs to get done. When our lives are chaotic, our bodies and our homes follow. That’s why many of us need to establish good habits that become routine over time or we just won’t stick with it. Routines allow us to put some of our most important daily tasks on auto-pilot.
I want to encourage you guys to jump in wherever you are. You’re not behind. 2 weeks is plenty of time to do start doing something about your health and feel great about yourself.
Some ideas for good habits and routines you can start Today:
Move your body for 15 min every day – even if it’s just going for a walk. Do this at the same time every day. Eat a healthy breakfast – too many of us forget this one Plan your meals ahead of time – do this 1 day a week to save yourself stress and time wondering “what to eat” and keep you from making poor fast food choices. Lay our your clothes for tomorrow before bed – this saves you so much time in the morning spending wondering “what to wear” and will make your morning less stressful. Doing this alone will give you time to have breakfast.
Create just 1 healthy habit/routine today and do it every day for the next two weeks.
Already have some healthy habits or routines? I’d love to hear them!
Some of mine include doing my 6 minute workout + weightlifting first thing in the morning on Tues., Thurs. and Sat., making a low carb breakfast or protein shake every day, and updating the SSSC every week.
I do these things every week without really having to think about them.
My update: Last week was great. I took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to go for a walk almost every day and stuck to my new weightlifting schedule. Feeling stronger already!
Comedian and actor, Alec Balwdin lost an amazing 30 pounds in only 4 months! How did he manage to lose the weight? He says he stopped eating “sugar”. So, why do I claim he lost the weight by going on a low carb diet?
He was interviewed by David Letterman recently and described exactly what he stopped eating…
Sugar
Dessert
Candy
Pasta – because the carbs convert to sugar
Certain fruits: grapes – (13 net carbs per 1/2 cup…ouch!)
Limited amounts of carrots – Higher carb veggie
Dairy
Letterman then asked him what other things convert to sugar.
Alec replied “potatoes” and “rice”, so presumably he’s stopped eating those too.
Why avoid dairy?
Some dairy, especially milk has lactose which is milk sugar. Although not as sweet as table sugar, lactose can still cause a spike in blood sugar in people who happen to be more sensitive.
Overall, Alec Baldwin’s “low sugar” diet follows the basics of a low carb diet without dairy.
Just 3 more weeks until the end of phase one!. I hope everyone is doing well and sticking with it all the way through.
We’re at the home stretch now. If you’ve been having some challenges, feel free to wipe the slate clean and just do your best for the next few weeks.
Looking forward to your updates!
My update: This past week was okay. I tried out some new recipes, including a roasted Greek chicken and eggplant parmesan. I definitely need to find a lower carb version of eggplant parm. It was delicious, but not the lowest in carbs. I made a workout plan for this week that entails weightlifting Tues. / Thurs. and my main cardio on Wed. I’d like to spend the next few weeks getting stronger.
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