Tuesday, May 20, 2014

LC Journey, Day One: "I Embark"

Today I began (finally) my low carb "way of eating". I hate saying that. I mostly see that acronym referred to as "WOE". WOE as me.. *snicker*. I really wish I could think of a new way of saying that, so instead I say "Journey" or "Embark" as they sound more intrepid and daring! Okay, so I know the photos you are going to see here are NOT great. I am not a photographer (yet). So they aren't all that pretty but lemme tell ya... the FOOD WAS DELICIOUS!! Day one couldn't have been easier. I don't know if I'll be saying that by tomorrow, but we'll see.
 
I got up too late to eat "breakfast", so I ate lunch upon arising. I made a simple salad of pink salmon with bacon, dill relish, sour cream and mayo and put it in some romaine lettuce "cups". Yum. For dinner I had some rotisserie chicken breast with roasted asparagus and a zucchini/summer squash veg. medley seasoned and roasted too - on the same sheet pan because I am either lazy or a genius.
 
What I really took time to make today?
DESSERT!
 
So, I heard about this new sweetener I'd never seen or used before on some low carb/ketogenic websites I had found while perusing recipes. As Brent (my fiancĂ©) always says, I look at several recipes and use them as "suggestions" to formulate my own recipe, 'cause I'm "just psycho like that"! It's called Swerve. I would see it and roll my eyes thinking it was some chemical sh*tstorm of a product, thinking all the while that it would be worth it to rip open a few hundred packets of Stevia until I got however much sweetener I needed for my recipe(s). NOW all that said, I don't mind, if, when on a diet, using an occasional sucralose or aspartame product (such as Splenda or diet drinks) when I have no other choice and options are limited, but overall I try to avoid artificial sweeteners like a brain-eating zombie. While great in practice, sometimes when sugar has landed you were I am right now - 25 lbs. heavier then you want to be and realized, 10 lbs. ago, that you needed to get the weight OFF before you gain more - YOU DON'T CARE!! At least not for the time being. I'll get back to "cleaning up" my diet but I have to start somewhere and FIRST is getting the sugar OUT.
 
Back to Swerve. I did some research out and about and realized that, while it may not be the BEST thing, it is certainly WAY better then actual sugar because of the SIGNIFICANT calorie reduction and the fact that the carbs in it are non-digestible fiber...which means that it will not spike your insulin and cause your body to store fat.
 
The best part? IT TASTES EXACTLY LIKE SUGAR. No bitter or weird aftertaste, no feeling of dissatisfaction afterwards. Honestly I felt really guilty with every bite, until I reminded myself that it wasn't going to affect my insulin and was low carb and low calorie. I've never had that luxury when dieting before so I really didn't know what to do with myself!
 
The recipe for my cheesecake is here and yes, it was absolutely magnificent! Even my fiancĂ© loved it and could not differentiate the taste of it vs. a sugar-filled, scrumptious cheesecake! He's a tough critic and according to him, it was "better then store-bought cheesecake"!
 
 
This was the finished product. Before I ate it. 
 

 
Hopefully day two will be okay or just as good, that's really all abody can hope for while dieting!
 
~Namaste,
 
the Epicurean goddess


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