Notes from low carbing it and another low carb vegan snack

So far I made a mistake (which would happen on any diet) and didn't keep up on my electrolytes, so these days I drink an EmergenC packet with water. I was getting charley horses three nights in a row. Thankfully, my husband mentioned potassium and that got me thinking and googling. I immediately felt better after drinking the EmergenC and haven't had the cramps again. Usually I don't get them, but we ran out of bananas and I went a few days without a banana in my protein/green smoothie. We got a bunch at Trader Joe's yesterday, but they are still green. Once they are ripe, I'll freeze them.

As you might know, I'm a plant eater for the health of the animals. Fortunately my body digs this diet filled with greens and beans. I'm eating lots of vegetables, mushrooms, tempeh, and various sauces that I make myself. Once you know how to make sauces, and they are easy to make (especially Asian sauces), then you can eat the same stuff over and over again and not get bored.

However, I like tasty snacks. My new favorite low carb snack is:

1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon garlic granules
1/4 cup walnuts or cashews
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Some roasted red peppers
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard (optional)
1/4 cup water (use less if the mixture is spreadable)
1/4-1/2 teaspoon mineral salt

Blend in a food processor until smooth.

Spread on a low carb tortilla and cook it in a pan until golden on both sides. I use coconut oil on the pan and lightly salt the pan too.

Then I serve it with fresh avocado and/or salsa. Really good!

I got the dehydrator (as a birthday gift from my Mother) a few days ago and have been, and am still, booked up with design work so I haven't set it up yet. This weekend I'm going to start! I'm excited. You wouldn't know it from this blog, but I'm a web designer/developer at dropSoul.com (just me).

Since I started this new low carb diet about 3-4 weeks ago, I'm down about 11 pounds from where I started. In the last 2.5 years, I lost 60 lbs. gained back 20 lbs., but I was still lifting heavy and eating a lot (too much pasta, but still a lot of protein), so some of that has to be muscle. I would like to get down smaller, but I have more muscle, so even if I lose less, I'll fit my size 4 clothing again without bulge. I dislike clothes shopping. I get all my clothing at consignment boutiques and second hand shops, so I can't re-buy my favorites ever again. I take good care of them and even got natural dyes at Dharma Trading company to re-dye them when they fade. I did this with some blacks in a 5 gallon pot, it works great!

Low carb Vegan Snack Idea

This is my favorite snack:

Tofu Life brand smoked tofu (http://tofu-life.com/) tastes like gouda cheese almost. It is good even without comparing it to gouda. Since I haven't had gouda in about 6 years now, I can't give you an accurate evaluation either way.


18 g of protein in 1/2 the block (which is all you need, it's really rich)
3 carbs


Flax crackers by Foods Alive (http://www.foodsalive.com/original.php):

6 g of protein
Carb 11 - Fiber 11 = 0 net carbs

Water. You have to drink extra water because the more fiber you have the more packed your intestines will be if you don't.

Once I get the dehydrator, I'm making my own flax crackers and kale/nutritional yeast chips!

What to do with Kale?

Here's a quick copy and paste job from a Facebook post I made regarding what to do with kale if you don't have a dehydrator (which I'm getting as soon as I return from Florida).


I just clean it, chop it (stems and all) and steam in the following broth:

1 teaspoon ancient mineral salt with naturally occurring iodine
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 to 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 cup of water
1/4 cup minced onion
1 teaspoon olive oil or coconut oil

Then the broth is used as a soup starter, to make a dressing, or drink it.

Another idea is:

Pulse washed, rinsed raw kale (stems and all) in the food processor to release the natural sugars and reduce bitterness. Then add some red and orange veggies too. Carrots and red peppers.

Serve with chick pea dressing I slap together:

1 can rinsed chickpeas soaked in water for 10 min. then rinsed again
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 to 1 teaspoon. ancient mineral salt with naturally occurring iodine
3-4 tablespoons lemon juice

Process until smooth.

It should be dressing consistency if not, add more water in smallish amounts.

8 lbs! lost in a few weeks: Cinnamon, Lowish Carb, Highish Protein, High Intensity Interval Training...

I'm heading out to Florida in a couple days so I don't have the time right now to list out all the recipes and the different products I'm using for low-ish carb, high-ish protein, medium fat (or low, it just depends on what works for you and you alone), vegan food. This is not gluten or soy free, but it's mostly tempeh, lots of greens (kale), and my Plant Fusion (a very excellent protein profile without limiting amino acids and has BCAAs to help protect my muscles) protein smoothies.

Here's the recipe for the Plant Fusion smoothie:

1 1/2 scoops of Plant Fusion*
8 oz. Plain Almond Milk
2-4 oz. Cold Water
2 ice cubes
1 tablespoon 3/6/9 Oil
1/2 tablespoon Vitamineral Green super food
1/2 to 1 frozen banana
1 tablespoon (yes, it's a lot) of Ceylon Cinnamon (this is a sweet, not bitter, real cinnamon)

*30 g of protein. I like to get 20 - 30 g per meal x 5 low cal (200-250) meals to make it about 1000 - 1100 calories a day but without hunger due to the protein levels. This is what works for me.

Blend until smooth, scrape the sides. Add small amounts of water to get it to thin out as you like it.

Why Cinnamon?

It provides an excellent metabolism boost among other major benefits. My mother is an RN and has recommended it to people with type 2 Diabetes, they don't have to take insulin anymore. Women suffering from PCOS (like I used to before I lost the weight) have taken it and have conceived afterwards. I feel that cinnamon combined with resistance, high intensity interval training and high plant protein with low-ish refined carbs (I eat all the greens I want) has had amazing results for me.

Cinnamon and Glucose
In a study conducted at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, scientists isolated the insulin-enhancing elements in cinnamon in order to determine if they could work effectively with glucose intolerance. The research showed that the phytochemical extracts of epicatechin, phenol and tannin contained in cinnamon helped increase the metabolism of glucose "20 fold." According to Dr. Richard A. Anderson, who conducted the study, consuming approximately ½ teaspoon of cinnamon per day can help balance blood sugar levels, along with cholesterol and triglycerides with no side effects.

In an article published in the American Diabetes Association's "Diabetes Care," a study created by Alam Khan, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Anderson's lab, corroborated that cinnamon is able to improve conditions in blood glucose type 2 diabetes. He divided 60 people with the disease into groups, with some taking daily doses of cinnamon and others taking a placebo. After 40 days, those consuming cinnamon showed a marked positive change in glucose levels. Once the diabetics stopped taking cinnamon, their blood sugar levels rose again.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/110751-cinnamon-glucose-levels/#ixzz1AH8ot0nq

Stress: Vitamin C abolished secretion of cortisol in animals that had been subjected to repeated stress.

This is not necessarily related to the vegan diet, but since I have been fat for so long and then lost 60 lbs. and then gained back 20 lbs (some of it is muscle, so I think I think 17 lbs. of fat loss would be great for me) I'm keen on sharing what I find that will help lower cortisol levels.

I'm doing similar things to what I did before to lose the fat, but it's not working nearly as well as it did before, in my opinion. Among other things, such as the body's homeostasis, I think the big difference is stress. Think about being in love, deeply infatuated love. I was high for nearly two years and felt zero stress. Nothing. This was when the worst economic problems hit the fan and I lost $8,000 a year from a client who went in the dumper business wise. Yet, it didn't phase me and I was always up and happy. I also got more business to replace it, not as great, but pretty good. It made me realize that if your mind is happy, your body responds, and your life manifests as if God Himself is handing over a silver platter of your needs just as you need it. Trust in the Universe is a huge stress relief, I think.

I'm having difficulty being in a climate (I long for the tropics in my bones) and I'm experiencing personal, work, and faith issues that are stressful to say the least.

Copy and paste job:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200210/vitamin-c-0

People who have high levels of vitamin C do not show the expected mental and physical signs of stress when subjected to acute psychological challenges. What's more, they bounce back from stressful situations faster than people with low levels of vitamin C in their blood.

In one study German researchers subjected 120 people to a sure-fire stressor -- a public speaking task combined with mental math problems. Half of those studied were given 1,000 mg of vitamin C.

Such signs of stress as elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol and high blood pressure were significantly greater in those who did not get the vitamin supplement. Those who got vitamin C reported that they felt less stressed when they got the vitamin.

The researchers believe that vitamin C should be considered an essential part of stress management.

Earlier studies showed that vitamin C abolished secretion of cortisol in animals that had been subjected to repeated stress. Cortisol is a hormone released by the adrenal glands in response to stress. Once it gets into the bloodstream, it is responsible for relaying the news of stress to all parts of the body and mind.

Cortisol is the hormone, for example, that triggers the fight or flight response to stress that allows us to spring into action when we sense danger. But like many emergency-alert systems, the stress response comes at a considerable cost.

Among other effects, frequent exposure to high levels of stress hormones exhausts the body's physical resources, impairs learning and memory, and makes people susceptible to depression.

In the animal studies, vitamin C fed to rats undergoing stress prevented the expected increase in cortisol levels. In addition, it prevented the animals from exhibiting the known signs of physical and emotional stress, including loss of body weight.