2013 another New Years

Well, the holidays are over and it's time to hop back on that wagon. I'm overall down about 50-55lbs but since Christmas and New Years it's more like 45-50. Oops, little too much eggnog this year.

This year for the holidays, I participated in reddit's secret Santa exchange. I ended up with the paleo cookbook "Well Fed" so far it's fantastic and I really recommend anyone to pick it up from amazon. I might post one modified recipe from this book later, but I don't want to discourage anyone from buying it. It really is great.

Tonight for dinner, we're making the holy grail pizza, something a wonderful person developed on reddit. The imgur link : http://imgur.com/a/7zcfu

It goes as this:
about 3 cups of shredded cheese. Mozzarella and cheddar.

12 tablespoons of ground almonds (or 3/4 cup)

1 egg.

If you're feeling it, add some garlic and Italian seasoning to the mixture. It gives a nice taste.

Melt the cheese in a microwave and add in the ground almonds and egg. Mixing by hand when it cools enough, Spread it thin in a frying pan and fry to a golden brown on both sides. Then into the fridge to cool right down. After it is thoroughly cool add you toppings and cook it in the oven at 350 for a few minutes and broil for a bit more.

It's damn fantastic. Honestly.
Aside from that, it's been a good year. I've found a wonderful job I love doing, and I just celebrated my 1 year anniversary this past September. Life is good.

Life: Keto Style

Sauteed mushrooms and onions on burger with sour cream

As I come closer to my one year mark of taking on the low carb high fat diet of ketosis, I thought it would be a good time to pile my thoughts and maybe help someone else who is looking to start this lifestyle.
A few things I have learned while along the way with keto:

• Cooking with flax-seed is interesting and crunchy, cooking with flax-meal is much nicer.
• Almond flour will give anything you make a sweeter taste, even if you remove the sweetener from the recipe.
• Making oopsie bread, almond bread and anything similar is an easy substitute for toast and sandwiches; especially breakfast ones.
• Everything is trial and error, you will botch meals and baking. It happens :) 

Oopsie bread sandwich

 A few of my sources for anything keto

• http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/
• http://genaw.com/lowcarb/recipes.html
• http://goo.gl/Snq9O
•  http://www.reddit.com/r/keto
• http://cavemanketo.com/
• http://www.carbgenie.com/ 
• Overcoming Plateaus

 Remember that losing weight is more then just losing weight. You're here to change your lifestyle and your bad habits. Its never a bad idea to start being better.

Take measurements and pictures, because weight drops fast with this diet. Especially in your first two- three months. You'll want to see how far you have come when you are stuck or feeling low.

July 2012 Life changes

Firstly, I apologize for not updating for so long, it's been incredibly busy. When I started this year, I made a few resolutions for myself and I plan on checking each of those off today.
I have lost 50lbs from eating low carb since October 2011. Keto! its good for you, look it up.
I moved cities, and now live in a beautiful small town in Ontario.
I gained, and changed employment. I now work for a reputable property management company. I live rent free, with benefits and work with my wonderful husband everyday.

Sometimes life throws you for a few loops, and sometimes life falls just right. This last month has been one of those times, it hasn't all been easy and I still screw up now and again but I am growing as a person and as a wife.

One of the perks of this new job, is that when we empty units we get whatever good and bad is left behind. Now most of that is crap, garbage and literal gunk but once and awhile you get some sort of gem and you wonder " you left that behind" on purpose or not its ours now.

So thanks for the brand new vacuum, dishes, and wine rack!

Hope you are well readers, I should be updating you on some more keto foodie things soon!

xoxo

Spring Cleaning

Its finally March and I couldn't be happier about it.  Spring is coming and with that comes the need to clean out your houses and apartments of all the dreary winter clutter.
Here's some tips on how to get it done:

• Work from the top down, inside to outside, to avoid getting what you just cleaned dirty again. Saving yourself time and effort!
• Do one room, even one area of one room, at a time to avoid unfinished jobs. The satisfaction of seeing one room sparkle will make the hard work feel like it's worth all that effort.
• When tidying, reduce trips around the house by temporarily depositing items in one spot en route to but not at their final destination, or a clutter pile until you're ready to make a trash run.
• Do two things at once. While laundry is going, scrub the shower stall.
• Make small repairs. If you're not handy, hire someone. Updating shower rods, towel bars and hooks in the bathroom are just a few ways to spruce things up a little.
• Invest in good rubber or vinyl gloves to protect your skin and nails, us ladies need to protect those french tips!
• Dust before vacuuming or cleaning the floor. Try feather dusters, especially extendable ones for reaching above window and door casings and into corners. Household rags are perfect for jobs requiring a damp cloth – natural fibers work best. My personal favorite is microfiber!
  
• Buy mops with a squeeze mechanism (great for vinyl, linoleum or ceramic tile floors) and a decent-size heavy-duty pail – one with a measuring scale helps get soap-to-water ratios correct.
  
• Don't stand your brooms on their bristles. It will destroy their shape and diminish their effectiveness. Instead, get a broom holder or a hook on the wall.
  
• Use a Swiffer for light dusting, or your favorite broom or vacuum attachment to clean hardwood floors. Then damp-mop with a mild general purpose cleaner for a nice shine. It makes the floors glow and smell good too.

Homemade Whipped Cream- Low Carb

One of my favorite things to make as a dessert on my diet is whipped cream. I thought I would share a great recipe

Steps:

1.  Put cold heavy cream and flavorings in mixing bowl. Avoid ultra-pasteurized cream if possible. Per cup of cream, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of sugar equivalent, such as Splenda or Equal. Adjust to your taste. I find that any more then 1 tablespoon is too sweet. Other extracts or flavorings (such as mint or chocolate) can be used as well.
2. With an electric hand mixer or a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat cream (you can use a hand whisk; it just will take a little longer). Start slowly and try a nice deep bowl -- if you set it on high at first, you'll have cream all over the place haha! Set the mixer so it goes as fast as possible without splashing.
3. As the cream thickens, turn the speed up.  As it gets close, slow down, because if it goes too far, it will lose volume, and become quite heavy. I truthfully don't mind when it gets this way and becomes almost a mousse.
4. If you forget to adjust the flavorings, you can still do it at this point. I prefer to add a bit of coco and turn it into chocolate whipped cream!
5. One cup of heavy cream will yield about 2 cups of whipped cream. After a few hours, it will start to lose volume. But you can mix it again and it's still good to eat, even after a day or two. Make sure to refrigerate! 

All this is relatively low carb, depending on your sugar equivalent and flavorings, enjoy!

January Resoultions

Hey there loyal readers, its been a few months since my last update. Wedding, moving and just being overly busy in general. Its time for my newest topic, diet and exercise.

That being said, I recently lost 25lbs from pure diet changes. This revolutionary diet called Keto, it focus's on high fats, proteins and low carb meals.That means no bread, pasta, rice and potatoes!
If you're interested in trying the diet for yourself, try reading up on this
A Doctor's Guide to Ketosis

I found it helped me grasp the reasoning behind the diet.  Some of my favorite meals consist of bacon wrapped cream cheese stuffed chicken, spinach dips, pork rinds, and steak!

So, it's a new year and it is time to hold myself accountable. Weight loss, meaningful employment and buy a car! That's what I want 2012 to mean to me.

I'm not on too bad of a start, new husband a new and bigger apartment as well as taking classes for property maintenance. We'll see where life takes me this year, all I know is that I'm going to keep writing to you guys.