Okay, I am coming out of the closet today. No, no, not that closet (though it is not a bad closet). I am coming out of the new diet closet.
Last year we were pretty successful on Weight Watchers but fell off the wagon last summer. Then, The One was diagnosed with diabetes and we started going ultra low carb at night but when he was at work during the day, the rest of us had carbs. The One lost weight. The rest of us plumped up.
So, we started to do research. Over and over low carb diets came to the fore. Over and over we saw that much of the research shows that it is not simply calories in/ calories out. It counts where those calories come from. Healthy fats may be more highly caloric but can promote weight loss while carbs cause sugar spikes and weight gain.
So, we have started on a low carb, ketogenic style diet using the THM plan (Thin Healthy Mama). Just Google it. There are so many blogs devoted to the diet (including the original subscription based page). Pinterest is full of recipes. We have been on the diet for over a month. We have all slimmed down. The recipes are delicious and very satisfying.
The kids love the food, the husbands love the food, we love the food. It takes some thought in the beginning but soon it becomes second nature to think about what kine of meal it is. There are E meals which are higher good carb meals (still okay range for diabetics) but have much lower fat content; or S meals which are very low carb with lots of healthy fats (butter, olive oil, coconut oil). Both kinds of meals have a protein source in each meal. Just remember not to put fats and carbs together as a basic premise.
For instance, yesterday’s Birthday Dinner for my Grandson Jim. He wanted hot dogs for his birthday dinner with a Black Forest Cake for dessert. He got his wish and on plan. It was delicious (and I don’t usually like hot dogs…a long story based on my sister, Carol, telling me as a child that hot dogs resembled something unappealing. I will not be more specific so as not to cause irreparable gastronomic harm to you, the reader.
The Main Dish
We had Everything Bagel Dogs from The Primitive Palet.
Everything Bagel Dogs
After moving out of my parents home at age 18, my first job was a baker at an Einstein Bros. Bagels. At this point in time we were still using the old food pyramid…which states a healthy diet should consist of a whopping 6-11 servings of bread & grain a day.
These dogs look like they have are getting a hug from a bready bagel. But, no friends, they are getting a hug from a deliciously cheesy baked dough comprised of mozzarella, cream cheese, eggs, and a bit of almond flour…a low carb flour. They are so delicious that you would not think twice about the lack of carbs. I would choose these over any bready hot dog I have had.
And, yes, we can have full fat cream cheese, full fat cheeses, heavy cream, butter and lose weight. Just remember to not have the fats within three hours of carbs. We are losing weight.
We have been taught for years to avoid fats to lose weight and control cholesterol. New research is showing that the carbs that replaced our fats are, in many cases, the cause for obesity and the rise in bad cholesterol. Do the research yourself and see what you find. Come to your own conclusions. I only know that this is working for us and we have family members having frequent blood monitoring which shows that blood sugar is responding and cholesterol is not rising.
Dessert
Then, for dessert there was the Black Forest Cake. My daughter baked the One Bowl Chocolate Fudge Cake from Chrissy Benoit in Love
My daughter baked the cake but instead of the Peanut Butter Cup Frosting, she made stabilized Whipped Cream (yep, full fat whipped cream with sugar free natural sweetener…a topic for another day). The whipped cream was spread between the layers of the cake and sprinkled with thawed dark red cherries then the whole cake was spread with the whipped cream.
It was decadent. It was delicious. It was on the blessed diet!
A diet based on real foods, not chemicals. A diet that is easily gluten-free. A diet where you are never hungry. I still have a hard time believing it can be real!
It sounds very much like the Suzanne Somer’s diet which I am on once again.. I will do the research and see the differences.
This diet plan is very intriguing. I am currently going back to the Suzanne Somer’s plan. It will be interesting to see how the two plans compare. It looks like there are sign up fees. Which level did you sign up for?
I signed up for a year but Kate routinely uses Pinterest and THM facebook groups to get ideas. I am not sure that subscription to the site is necessary at all. Kate does own the THM cookbook and the THM book explaining the diet. We started with those but there are so many resources online that she uses those mainly.
We’re all landing on the same thing from different places it seems. Low carb, healthy fats, lean proteins, moving away from processed foods. Roasted veggies here have become a delicious staple. Who knew eating healthy was as simple as building new habits. It’s not about losing weight for us as the goal (although it is a good benefit) but getting The Tinker’s blood sugar under control. Funny how we all ended up here at the same time!