Courgettes are zucchinis.

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i was going to add FISH and POULTRY but i see you had salmon... so i guess you figured that out..;-)

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kims SECOND journal is HERE
kims new blog
KIMS BLOG !!
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Thanks Miss Maggie.............the walking dictionary!!!!!

So do I surmise that "marrow" family veggies are perhaps squash???

Salmon is a good thing. Dr. Perricine says that wild salmon is better than farm raised, they are higher in omega 3's, but also HIGHER in price.

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Thank you Barb, Kim, Maggie.

I understand about fibre and carbs now

I felt very good after yesterdays eating BUT had a slice of whole wheat bread before bed, hope that was ok.

I was up a couple of times during the night passing fluid which is a good thing for me as i retain fluid, i felt much lighter this morning if you can understand me

I have just finished lunch, i had breast chicken with salad have not planned what to have for dinner yet i'm going to shop soon.

Two questions please, It is ok to take omega 3 in supplement? and not bother with omega 6?

Can i drink Tea with Splenda or does it have to be decaf?

Im sure i will have some more questions for you later, i will have to make time to read the info and posts here so that everything will sink in, but for now i'm very happy and very full

Talk to you all later.

Bron?

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Brona', whole wheat bread is something you want to stay away from for now. You really need to pick a plan and read the book. If you are doing sort of an Atkins thing, you should avoid all bread products until you are close to your goal weight. They WILL stall you. If you are doing South Beach, I think wheat is to be avoided also on that plan. Wheat products, no matter how full of fiber they are, still contain a LOT of carbs and wheat gluten. Wheat gluten has been shown to be VERY hard for the human body to digest, causing fluid retention, digestive disorders, gas and bloating. SOME people are even allergic to it!!! So for now, I would not eat it.


Tea is FINE with splenda, that's how I drink mine. I have been having GREEN tea since November and have finally broken an 8 month long stall. I did find out, however, that any dairy in my tea negates the beneficial properties of it. If you have access to green tea, you might want to have a couple of cups of that per day. It also has wonderful antioxidant benefits. It also seems to help with fluid retention. You can brew a bag of green with a bag of black.........and not even taste it.

Are the Omega 6 capsules higher in milligrams than the Omega 3 capsules that you have? If they are, you may want to avoid them for now. If they are less, I would take ONE - "6" to maybe 2 - "3's". The trick is to get MORE of the Omega 3's.

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OH and have you gotten a copy of The New Atkins Diet Revolution???? The Atkins for Life book is MORE for maintenance.

Here's a link to the official Atkins website where they have all the information you need to do the plan properly. www.atkins.com

If you need translations of food names, we'll try to help you with that.

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Hi Barb, thank you for the helpful info, i will check the omega 3 and 6.

Yes, i have the Atkins book but scared to follow it because of the fat so maybe the South Beach will suit me.

Can you help me with this Barb? I don't think i'm entering my daily foods correctly at Fitday, it has come up with a huge amount of fat.

Today i have eaten chicken breast cooked on George Forman with salad and Paul Newman Balsamic Vinaigrette, little Mayo at lunch time.

Dinner, chicken breast cooked as above, brocolli, green beans, cauliflower with some mayo, Fitday came up with total Calories 2199, Fat 84%, Carbs 2%, Protein 14%, Fibre 0%. Regarding fibre, i thought Brocilli had some fibre?

Maybe the total is yesterday's food together with todays?
What do you think? i would think that what i have eaten is low fat.
I will have to go to Fitday and see what i've entered, 2199 calories and 84% fat don't seem right to me but then again with me anything is possible

I know that i need to up my carbs, i have a Mango so maybe that will help.

Look forward to your reply.
From a very very slow learner in Ireland.

Bron?

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When your carbs are so low your fat is going to be very high in comparision. Mine is usually between 60-70%. Fitday breaks it down day by day unless you accidentally put two days on one. But the mayo probably put your counts way up as well as the vinagrette, just a little fat makes a big difference when your carbs are so low...also I just noticed that you have 0% for your fiber count. With those veggies you should have some fiber. Maybe it's just so low that it doesn't register. Broccoli does have fiber and so does cauliflower and green beans. Do you custom add your foods when you have the counts on the package or go by what the site says for everything? Many dressings are very different. I notice also the counts on my frozen veggies are different from what they have for the frozen veggies. I foten am sitting in front of the computer with my food entering everything. The good thing is I don't eat a lot of variety so I don't do it often.

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Noël


Worry doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrows, it empties today of its strengths.

Do you custom add your foods when you have the counts on the package or go by what the site says for everything?

Hi Noel,

I'm going by what the site says, more than likely i've made a mistake somewhere.

I know it's early days for me but i would love to get the balance right.

I'm going to have a look at Fitday now and study it to see what has happened.

Thank you Noel for your post.

Bron?

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I haven't used Fitday for a long time. I just didn't find that it was a useful tool to me, because I make my own goodies, mix a lot of ingredients together. I would end up writing everything down from the packages OR my food counts book and just total stuff up from that. Fitday is based on USDA guidelines, which I have issues with.

But something doesn't look right. Did you have chicken WITH or WITHOUT the skin. You may have chosen chicken there on their listing WITH skin, when in fact you had it without. That will make a HUGE fat difference.

And with that amount of veggies, you SHOULD get some fiber count.

What, if you don't mind my asking, exactly scares you about fats??? Are you afraid it will make you gain? The only time fats will make you gain, is when you are combining all the carbs with it. First your body will metabolize the carbs.......100% to blood sugar. When your body has used that up for it's needs, it will store the REST AS FAT. The body will burn the dietary fats you eat for energy and cell repair, etc, but then the rest will be discarded as waste. The only fats that will have a bad effect on the body, cholesterol levels, heart disease and belly fat are the hydrogenates (trans fats) which translate in the bloodstream to triglycerides. The constant birage of "low-fat, low-fat, low-fat" has made a LOT of people paranoid. You can trim the fat off of meats, take the skin off of poultry, use beneficial oils like olive and flax, in homemade dressings, etc. One of the things I tell people when I talk about fats is to dump the margerine and trade that for butter. Margerine is ONE molecule away from being PLASTIC (polyester)!!!!! And nuts have heart healthy omega oils in them, so those shouldn't strike fear in your heart either. Actually, they are very heart healthy!!!!!

The body makes cholesterol (liver/bile) even when you decrease your fat intake to almost nil. Cholesterol is actually a NECESSARY compound that the body uses to repair cells, lubricate joints and skin, etc. And the healthy fats actually help the body make HDL (good cholesterol.......the garbage trucks that take excess LDL away) LDL is the bad cholesterol and gets a lift from the hydrogenates, whereupon it gets deposited around the belly, the heart, the vessels and organs.

The Food Powers that be have done a great diservice to humankind, making them afraid of fats. And people who do low-fat for long periods of time have been shown to have immune problems, look older than they are and just have no energy.

I LOVE having the freedom to have fat in my diet. It satisfies me tremendously, keeps me from getting ravenously hungry and just plain makes me happy.

'nuff on the lecture

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What, if you don't mind my asking, exactly scares you about fats??? Are you afraid it will make you gain?

No Barb that's not the problem, it's my Doctor that has me paranoid about my cholestrol. About three years ago she had all my bloods checked, she was new to the surgery as my own Dr retired, she wanted an all over general picture of me, low and behold my cholestrol was 9.2, not sure how to calculate it for you, i had never heard of cholestrol didn't know what it was but she sure scared me, i was 50 then and she said i could have a stroke as i was a smoker also, i got into such a state that i imagined i had chest pains and thought i would keel over anytime, to make a long story short she put me on statins, Lipitor, it lowered my cholestrol ok but after a while i felt side effects, joint pains, leg pains etc etc, felt dreadful and told her but she said no way could Lipitor do that, i stopped taking them and started to eat things that lowered cholestrol naturally, for eg, fresh Garlic, Physillium Husk, Oatmeal and some other natural things and after some months my cholestrol lowered, i also drank Green Tea, felt great but still had the weight problem. I don't know what happened but i slowly went back to my old ways forgot about my cholestrol ( i'd say it is high again) and here i am.

I have read what Atkins says about cholestrol and fats and i know the proof is there but i keep thinking about what Dr said and it has made me paranoid.

I'm quite sure there are hundreds of people that have high cholestrol and are doing Atkins with success.

Maybe if i do more reading on the subject it could help me.

Thanks Barb

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All I can say is that a LOW carb diet will naturally lower your bad cholesterol and raise your good cholesterol. And what REALLY matters is the ratio between your HDL and LDL. Even if it's high, and your HDL is better than your LDL, you SHOULDN'T have any health problems from it. See, this is what really aggrevates me about doctors. They mostly are sooooooo quick to put patients on medications and NOT look into better eating habits. I haven't had mine checked, and I should look into how much it will cost. We don't have insurance and if it's really expensive, I just can't afford it. BUT, I have total faith in my way of eating and that my cholesterol is probably good. I'm 50 AND a smoker, but I'm not worried about it. I also was able to bring my blood pressure back into normal ranges without meds. It was sky high and that's what prompted me to get on the lifestyle. My blood pressure is now in the normal ranges. And that happened even before I got rid of the weight I lost. See, insulin plays a MAJOR role in both cholesterol AND blood pressure. Insulin is what dumps the excess blood fat into the tissues. So if you get that under control with eating healthier, i.e., getting rid of sugar and processed carbs, it resolves..........naturally and without medication.

If you have the Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution book, there is a WONDERFUL chapter in there that really explains the insulin/cholesterol connection. It makes perfect sense to me.

Here's an article from Atkins.com about cholesterol: Big FAT Lies I think understanding how this all works will help allay your fears.

While you have done LOW fat...................has that helped to lower your cholesterol???????

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Welcome!

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It is always necessary to leave some part
of cooking to improvisation. - Paul Bocuse
Member since 2001

Bron?, your total cholesterol number (however it's measured) tells nothing about your cardiac risk. What's important is the different components, which you can only get with a complete lipid profile. My total cholesterol number hasn't changed since I started this, but the percentages of various lipids has turned itself around.

I'm older than you and I smoke. I went from a risk ratio of 5.4 (which is above the acceptable 4) to 2.3 over the last 6 years. My doctors are thrilled with this and I've made many converts to low carbing among the medical practitioners locally.

Remember, Robert Atkins was a doctor, too - a cardiologist, to boot.

BTW, the symptoms you've described are indicative of a very serious possible side effect of the statin group of medications. If your doctor didn't recognize it, I'd be shopping for another doctor.

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Thank you Barb Marcie and Maggie,


I have to say you are all great, i appreciate all your help.

I have lost all confidence in my Dr, she puts all my problems down to weight and smoking, she advocates that if i stop smoking and eat low fat then i will be a new woman!!!!

A strange thing happened last year, i was at her surgery having all bloods done, i get them checked every four months or so, when my results came back she panicked a bit and phoned me to go over for a Glucose Test as my blood was a little high, anyway the test came back, in her words OK! I was a bit concerned as i have two Aunts that were diagnosed Diabetics in their 70's.
One of my Aunt's daughter is her caregiver and monitors her blood, to make a long story short i asked the daughter to check my blood as i had two attacks of what i now know was Hypoglycemia, my blood went down to 1.2 another time 1.3, immediately i phoned for an appointment and thankfully my Dr was away but a new Dr that worked all his life in England saw me and was concerned and said he wanted me to be seen at Hospital and he said i should cut back on my CARB INTAKE, WOW i thought someone is listening.
I got my appointment at Hospital and the Dr there said he wants me in as an inpatient for 72 hours to monitor my blood and do an abdoman scan as i suffer from time to time with burning under left ribcage, i'm waiting for a bed as there is a crisis at the Hospital, shortage of beds.
From reading and educating myself about this burning i think it could have something to do with Pancreas, after effects of years of high carb and low fat diets or it could be due to Acid reflux. Sorry this is long.
I have had camera up and down three times, a barium meal, bladder scans and thankfully everything is fine, i look and feel very healthy except for the burning off and on.

I'm very grateful to the new Dr at least he took an interest in me, hopefully i won't be too long waiting for a bed.

I know 100% that carbs are my problem, if you put a pavlova or cheese sandwich in front of me i go for the cheese sandwich.

Has any of you eperienced the burning that i've described, i'd love to know?

I read some of Atkins book last night but a lot of the foods are so different over here but i'm sure i can substitute.

Look forward to your reply.

Bron?

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