What Do I Do With All Those Green Tomatoes!?

...and why don't they RIPEN during the SUMMER, like they're supposed to? 

Check out this tasty looking recipe I found online for Sugar Free Green Tomato Relish, at the FarmGirlFare blog (which is phenomenal, by the way!!) 

My plan is to follow the recipe with 1/2 the apple cider vinegar, and add some whey to lactoferment the relish.  You know me, Nourishing Traditions, and kitchen experimentation ;)

I knew I bought that 12-pack of mason jars for a reason! 

("Um, Kate, they only sell them in 12-packs...")

3/8/11 - tired and injured. blame it on the ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ahl-co-hol

Exercise: I am tired today.  I hurt my knee on Saturday, and it does not feel good still.  I am a little bummed because I really want to keep up with the schedule for the Race training program that I’m on, but I’m not stupid and realize that I don’t want to really hurt myself in the process.  So, patience.  I have to go pick up the Rx my MD called in for me for some extra strength naprosyn, that should hopefully help out.  On the upside, I truly want to go to the gym.  I hate it when I’m there, but a part of me really likes that I’m getting my ass in gear and actually going on a regular basis.

Diet and Alcohol Consumption: Well, my “food” is all strictly low carb.  However, this weekend and last night I drank some alcohol.  Although I had relatively low carb beverages (wine and some martinis), alcohol is definitely not allowed on Atkins or I&N.  The Spanish ketogenic diet allows red wine, but I’m not on that diet, and I’m not really into fish enough to want to get on it.  So, I hope that doesn’t muck things up.  My weight was down on Sunday from the week prior despite my night of drinking on Saturday, but… I really exercised and busted my hump dancing on Saturday night, so I wonder if I would have had a greater weight loss on Sunday had I not had the alcohol.  There is a lot of discussion online that alcohol can really delay the weight loss process on a low carb diet.  However, I have been testing and I’m still in ketosis, which is a good thing.  

Ketosis: In fact, I’ve been in ketosis for… is it really three weeks??  Let me check… Yes.  I’ve been officially in ketosis since 2/17 (which is when I began testing), although I was probably in ketosis on 2/15, when I first started noticing the metallic taste in my mouth.  It is March 8^th.  That’s 21 days, or exactly 3 weeks.  Yikes. 

Notes: I clearly have to input into my food journal everyday, or I forget what I ate and have to put “I can’t remember” into the journal.  Jeez.  When did my memory get so bad?  You know what it is…I’m just not as into food as I used to be.  I think that I’m starting to make the transition into “eating to survive” instead of “eating for pleasure”.  Because, while I certainly find food pleasant and enjoyable, I’m definitely not into it like I was before.  Don’t get me wrong, I really wanted to eat that birthday cake on Sunday, and the brownies at brunch on Saturday, and the pasta on Sunday, but it wasn’t really a big deal to avoid it.  I did feel a little awkward on Sunday, though, eating a troth of lettuce and chicken (4 thighs…how embarrassing!!) and having to field questions about why I’m not eating pasta or cake.  My answer: “I’m eating gluten-free these days”.  Why do people pay attention to this stuff?  Generally, I fess up to low carb with family or friends (at some point, they figure it out themselves anyway, and at some point, you get invited to an event, and you need to make sure of what’s for dinner, so that you can bring your own or augment as necessary), but sometimes you just don’t want to hear people criticize the diet.  Worse, is when people tell you that it is okay for you to cheat “just this once”.  I actually looked at the diabetic uncle who carelessly made this suggestion on Sunday, pointed to his massive slice of deep chocolate cake with peanut butter cream filling, buttercream frosting, chocolate ganache and huge pieces of chocolate artfully sticking out of the top like a delicious version of a hedgehog (a truly beautiful, gourmet, designer cake), and said “Uncle John, that cake on your plate probably has at least 300 grams of pure sugar in it.  Neither one of us should be eating it.”  He was suitably chastened, and reminded that it is not pleasant to be told, in public, what you can and cannot (or should or should not) eat.  I walked into another room, had a glass of water, and watched some tube until they were done with the cake. 

Weigh In - Week 4 - 1 Month in 2/20/11

Well, it has been a crazy week.  Look at the stats page, and you'll see that I lost only 1 pound from last Sunday.  What the heck happened, you ask?  What about being in ketosis from Tuesday to present day, you demand!!??  Here's the break down.  This has been a MANIC week for weight loss:

• On 2/13/11, I weighed in at 223.5 pounds, reflecting a weight gain of 2 pounds.
• Then, 2/14/11 was Valentine's Day and I carelessly imbibed a ton of champagne.
• The next day, on 2/15/11, I weighed myself in the morning and found out that I had gained 5 pounds since Sunday, arriving at a weight of 228.5 pounds.  Needless to say, I nearly fainted with shock.
• On 2/16/10, I noticed, for the first time, a persistent and slight metallic taste in my mouth, which I believed to be a sign of ketosis (fat metabolism). 
• On 2/17/11, I began testing the level of ketones in my urine with ketostix to determine whether I was actually in ketosis.  I was.
• From 2/17/11 through the present day, 2/20/11, I have checked my ketone level twice daily, and have been in ketosis the entire period.

So, I was up 2 pounds up on weigh in day, up 5 more pounds on day 2 of the week (gain of 7 pounds), and then, down 8 pounds by day 7 of the week.  Totally bizarre.  +7 -8 = -1.  Nuts!!

Lesson learned: ketosis appears to work, being careless with carbs is dangerous; you can't succeed on this diet if you do not perform due diligence on the food that you are putting into your mouth because even little things add up. 

Can I also say that I am so so so SO glad that I measured myself on the past two weigh in days.  I couldn't believe the loss in size in one week, even though my net weight loss from the prior week was only 1 pound. 
I lost:

• 1/4" around my neck;
• 2" around my bust;
• 2" around my waist; and
• 1.5" around my hips.

Freaking fantastic!

My energy is way way WAY up.  Yesterday, we had my daughter's birthday at an activity center, and I ran around having fun with the kids for more than an hour without any discomfort at all.  I worked up a light sweat and increased my heartrate as well.  Plus, my daughter had a ball playing with mommy.  It was awesome, and I learned something very important about getting involved in your children's exercise time.  I felt like a healthy mom, and feel that I am achieving my goals and improving my child's life in addition to my own.  Yay!  Success!

I would also like to mention that the low carb cheese cake recipe that is contained in the recipe section of this blog is very, very good, and totally hit the spot.  I enjoyed it yesterday while everyone else was munching down on high carb chocolate cake.  The recipe makes 12 x 3.5 oz. servings, and I've only eaten 3 this week.  But, I think that the addition of chocolate and either orange zest or 1/4 tsp. cinnamon (in place of lemon zest) will be my next attempt to tweak this recipe, once I've eaten my way through the cheesecake chilling out in my freezer. 

In related news, I would also like to say that I am very proud of myself for not eating the pizza or cupcakes at Anna's kids party, and for not eating any bread, cake, or cupcakes at Anna's family party yesterday.  I did eat the cheese off of three pieces of pizza yesterday (leaving the crust behind).  It was good.  I only missed the crust a little.

Not quite super, but pretty good, poop this morning.  Despite the fact that I had a large salad with dinner last night, I think that I need to get more veggies in when I'm on the go.  Veggie intake is not a problem during a regular week, but when I'm in a rush, it is really a challenge to eat as much as I should.  I am going to have to pre-prep some veggie items so that I have them at hand when I'm in a rush.  Wonder what I can prepare then freeze for later usage?  Sounds like an experiment to me :)

On that note, signing off.  Time to do some work. 

Metallic taste = ketosis?

I noticed last night at about 8pm that I had this weird metallic taste in my mouth. When I came home from my meeting, I brushed my teeth asap a couple of times to no avail. the metallic flavor persists. I looked it up online, and metallic mouth flavor is a symptom of being in ketosis. Yay! I ordered ketostix on monday, and once they come in i will see if i am right. Yesterday was a good eating day. i had french onion soup with gruyere (no crouton) and a salad with chopped eggs and veg on it for lunch. For dinner, i had some buffalo wings with a side salad with blue cheese dressing. Fingers crossed that i turn things around this week!