Tuscany, dogs don't walk in a straight line, either...and that's who I walk with, along with the toddler across the grass. And glad you like the almond muffins...I just developed a scone recipe with almond flour and vital wheat gluten that's upt 17g protein and 5g ECC per scone.

Seriously, since you like varied routines and enjoyed aerobic classes, you might consider something like Winsor Pilates (floor pilates, using your own body positions for resistance). You can add in resistance bands and actual equipment later...but for now, rent a Winsor Pilates video or DVD and see if you can do those moves. The combination of moving quickly and using your muscles isometrically adds in just enough resistance to the workout that you'll actually begin to see reshaping.

Also, you may want to try Quorn (unbreaded) products, which are meatless based on mycoprotein developed from mushrooms. You can also use seitan, either commercially from White Wave, or make your own from broth and vital wheat gluten. That should give you some dietary variety.

Hope that helps.

Gaelen

a scone, oh my, I love those things. Please share the recipe !! Is it in the recipe section ?

Winsor Pilates - yes I will try that; I've read elsewhere on this forum that a little goes a long way with it.

Quorn is not available in my nexk of the woods yet. In any case, I have added back tofu for the time being. I'm also researching South Beach; maybe go reduced fat & add in beans and see if it works for me. I'm definitely not going back to eating the way I did. I don't miss bread/pasta etc. The only thing I need to figure out is how to lose weight on lc without eating only eggs at all 3 meals !!

Tuscany, it's not in this recipe section, but I did post it in the Protein Power BBS yahoo! group. I'm on the wrong computer to post it here now, but I'll try to remember to post it here when I'm on my personal machine.

If you can't get Quorn and you're not allergic to wheat, I'd also really strongly suggest that you try seitan. It's gluten 'meat' that can be shaped into cutlets, roasts, pieces for stews/veggies, ground up like meat, etc. It can also be 'flavored' with marinades any way you like it, and it's very simple and inexpensive to make at home.

Gaelen

Here you go, Tuscany:

* Exported from MasterCook *

Almond Cranberry Drop Scones -- per scone: 16g protein, 6g ECC

Recipe By : Gaelen
Serving Size : 1 scone Preparation Time : 25 min.
Categories : breads

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon Brownulated (R) Domino brown sugar -- *see Notes
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cold butter -- cut into small chunks
1 egg
1/3 cup kefir, low-fat
1/2 teaspoon almond extract -- *see Note
1/3 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl.

Cut the cold butter chunks into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

In a separate small bowl, beat the egg and combine it with the kefir and almond extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix with a fork until just combined. Stir in all but 1 tablespoon of the dried cranberries.

Drop by heaping tablespoons (about 1/4 cup scoops) onto greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle each scone with two-three of the reserved dried cranberries.

Bake 12-15 minutes until golden brown on top. Allow to cool a bit on the cookie sheet. Split and serve warm with butter. Makes 6 scones. These also hold well in a ziploc in the 'fridge, and freeeze/thaw well, too.

*Notes:
SUGAR FREE SCONES: use 1 tablespoon granulated Splenda (R), and reduce the ECC per scone by 2g.

ORANGE or LEMON CRANBERRY SCONES: substitute 1 tablespoon undiluted orange juice concentrate or lemonade concentrate for the sugar/sweetener, and 1/2 teaspoon orange or lemon zest for the almond extract. ECC and protein counts remain the same as original recipe.

Per Serving : 161 Calories; 9g Fat (44.9% calories from fat); 16g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 47mg Cholesterol; 205mg Sodium.
Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 1 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

sounds like a winner...can't wait to try...& having tried your earlier creations, I'm sure it will be delish !
btw, is the pp website back up yet ?

Hi! I just read this thread and since you asked for comments, I'll tell you what happened to me.

I followed a strictly vegetarian (not low-carb at the time) diet for 1 year. I thought I was doing OK until I started to feel extrememly 'burnt-out'. When I went for my gyn exam and spopke with the MD, she recommended a blood test. It turned out to be low-thyroid, and I also had uterine polyps.

After researching about the polyps, I discovered that too much estrogen is (one of) the cause. the MD put me on synthroid and told me to eat more protein (meat, chicken, fish). I also had to have a D & C to remove the polyps.

Now I eat meat and I feel a lot better. I actually eat more fish and chicken, with beef only once a week or so. When I go low-carb, I find that the heavy protein at lunch time gives me indigestion all day (which is why I ended up at this thread!) So, I'm thinking of doing mostly veg, with some meat (at dinner).

If you're interested, I'll let you know how that goes. As for the soy,though, I was having 1 cup of soy milk a day (made iced coffee with breakfast) and tofu and Morningstar products for other meals. I've decided to do veggie lunches (on a lower-carb plan) to see if the indigestion goes away.

Best wishes to all!

Yes, sure, let me know how it goes.
I actually do not have a philisophical problem with eating meat (that includes chicken & fish; for me, its all meat!) I just don;t like the taste & texture. The only way I see myself eating it is if its shredded & mixed in with a lot of rice...with low carb, that's not an option. I have tried a few bites over the last year, but just don't like the taste.
I have re-started tofu in a limited amount, still eating tempeh which is supposedly ok, but I'm not adding back any tvp or morningstar products. I'd rather err on the side of caution as far as the estrogen effect goes; maybe its overblown, maybe not. Its hard to decide what research to believe.

I thought I was doing myself the world's biggest favor by having that soy milk every morning (to avoid hot flashes - I'm 51 now, was about 49 then) and I read that the 'estrogen' compounds in soy actually block the body-made estrogen from certain receptors in the body. So, I thought it was OK. I didn't eat tofu every day, but I did have the soy milk, like I said.

I'm pretty sure the polyps were the result of all that soy protein, the low thyroid could be from any number of things, but I bet the soy didn't help.

If I were in your place, I'd just have a little soy, in moderation. I had some for lunch today with a bowl of organic split pea soup (and no rebound hunger, because it is low GI/GL). But now I'll wait to have soy again for a couple of days (have to use the package up within 3 days).

Just to let you know, I have about 70-80 g of carbs a day (and about 70 - 100 g protein), and still do not have the crazy hunger reaction. I'm pretty sure it's because I make sure it's all low GI/GL.

By the way, one of the reasons I have so many carbs is that when I go lower, I actually can't sleep at night!

Keep me posted on your progress!

Its anecdotal evidence like yours that makes me worry. I don't drink soy milk or am not using any other soy products except tofu & tempeh now & I don't eat those everyday necessarily. My smoothies are made with whey protein powder. I'm gearing up to follow South Beach actually; that way I could get protein from other beans & lentils rather than soy. It seems just easier to follow overall for a vegetarian. Good carbs do not seem to trigger any binge behaviour for me, so I should be ok. Let's see if I lose any weight on it

Why not mix it with finely shredded or riced cauliflower? Or with spaghetti squash? And start slow...say with ground turkey, or flaked mild white fish, like tilapia?



Tuscany, you're already incorporating a lot of good, high protein full fat dairy products (Greek yogurt is good, too, and around twice the protein of regular yogurt). Have you tried seitan at all--that's great for adding in some variety now and then. Also, how about nuts, nut butters and seeds like pumpkin and sunflower seeds? All are great protein sources. Glad you like the muffins; hope the scones are as successful.

As for your question about the PP website...no, it's not up yet. There is a yahoo! group though, called the PPBBS yahoo group, where we've gathered to try to maintain a sense of community.

Gaelen

now that's an idea...will have to learn how to obtain & cook ground turkey & tilapia...but atleast it is a possibility



with the exception of seitan, I use all of the above. The only problem with nuts/butters is the high fat content. I didn't measure before I started, but I am almost certain that my stomach & saddlebag thighs are fatter than before, even though I'm still maintaining a 10 lb loss. My calves, ankles, feet & face are less poofy than before - that's where my "weightloss" is most evident. Which almost leads me to believe that most of my weight loss was just water loss.
Its hard to know what exactly my problem is - lack of exercize, too many carbs, too much fat ? All of the above ?
So I am considering trying South beach - lower my fats (though not to the level the diet recommends) & add in some beans. I will not add breads or oatmeal etc. I have read thru the book & I'm giving myself a few days to cut back on the fat before I start Phase I.
An interesting thing I have noticed is that I have not come across any vegetarian who has made goal...unless thay are just not posting. So there is no "role model" that I can look to & say "yes, it is possible" Its all a maybe in my head still

Well, I can help you there...
First, before I was diagnosed with cancer last spring, I had legitimately lost around 45 lbs on PP (not exactly sure of my starting weight...it was at least 212, but I didn't own a scale at the time.) That loss put me at 168, around 20lbs to my goal of between 145-150. I say 'legitimately' because I had no symptoms until about three months before my diagnosis, and my weight loss was basically a pretty normal pathway down from somewhere around 212 to 168 before I got sick.

I was meatless for extended periods of time in that phase, from starting the plan in Feb 2002 until my diagnosis in April, 2004. I say meatless because I did and do eat fish, have since I went meatless in the early 70s. My religion considers fish 'abstinence from meat,' and since I'm not and never have been a vegetarian for philosophical reasons, that works for me.

On PP in my dieting phase, I would occasionally include poultry or meat from warm-blooded animals in two to three meals per week, but the rest of the meals and snacks for the week were meatless.

Now, if you want someone stricter than that to consider a 'role model,' I commend you to Rose Elliot (she just authored a vegetarian low carb cookbook available from amazon.com.uk, and to Cindy Norman (now Norwitz), who has been vegetarian/vegan for years, has followed Protein Power for years, and who, prior to her recent pregnancy, had been at and maintained her goal weight for years. Now, post pregnancy, she is working on losing the balance of baby weight to get back to her original pre-pregnancy goal weight. Cindy also ate some level of fish in the beginning, but in the time I've known her in cyberspace, she has been mainly vegan, occasionally eating some eggs or a little dairy. She runs Immune-web, and hosts the lc-veg mailing list.

Yeah, it can be done. But you have to really be focused, and you HAVE to be willing to exercise and to reshape your body at the same time that you're feeding it. My 145-150 goal weight was based on a projected 26% body fat, and a 118-120 lb. lean body mass. I did intermediate level Pilates with resistance three-four times per week, and walked at least a mile every day, as well as doing two or three 10 minute sessions on the stair machine every week. I know that sounds like a lot of exercise, but it was no more than 30 minutes TOTAL on any given day. The thing is, I exercised nearly every day.

Someone else posted in this thread that exercise is all the difference between a size 6 at a given weight and a size 12, and that's totally true. Right this minute, 9 months after intestinal surgery and enforced no-exercise-but-light-walking, I am back to 203 lbs...but of the few pre-PP clothes I owned, most do NOT fit my abdominal area in any kind of flattering way. Even at 212, my body was tighter and in better shape than I'm in this second. The difference is NOT in what I ate as much as in how much I've been able/allowed to move. And at 168, I had built up my lean body mass so well that I really couldn't possibly have gotten down to what the Met Life Insurance charts say a five foot tall woman should weigh...unless I cut off an appendage. I am also 50 years old, started PP when I was 47. Although I wasn't menopausal prior to chemo, I was definitely in perimenopause and am in menopause now until the drugs stop. There's a lot to be said for maintaining a slightly higher body fat percentage (say, 26%, rather than 22%) as you pass into your 30s and 40s.

Now my LBM has dropped, due to lack of exercise, to about 99 lbs. But my frame and age and hormone levels are such that they will still keep me from ever getting to a body weight much lower than 130 lbs. And since I can now exercise more, I'm looking forward to building back that LBM to at least a more respectable 110 lbs or so.

And btw, for what it's worth...cutting fats is not going to help your blood lipid profile, which is a benefit of low carb eating that goes way beyond immediate weight loss and impacts your level of cardiac event risk. Since cardiac events are one of the leading killers of women, I'd be more concerned about my lipid levels than about whether I was a size 12 or a size 6 in my 130 lb five foot tall body. YMMV.

Gaelen

Hi Gaelen, thanks for the nice long post. Yes, I am coming to the realization that exercise is probably the missing link for me. (as well as less off-plan foods ) I tend to nibble on things off my husband's or son's plates; no bingeing, but it adds up, I do realize.
btw, when i talk about lowering fat, it is from the lowering my calorie intake perspective. I am not sold on the SB diet's mantra of "artery-clogging fat". I don't believe that dairy or animal fat is the problem. The other reason to lower fat would be, if I'm going to add in beans (ie more carbs), then I need to lower the fat. Thus far, my blood lipids, bp & glucose have all been in the very good to excellent range (both pre & post LC)
As far as exercise goes, I've ordered something called callanetics based on good reviews of that program on the lowcarbfriends website. I'll work that in & see. Also trying to talk myself into getting a treadmill, but as I have mentioned before, I hate it with my entire being, so I need a change in attitude first.
I read about your cancer & treatment on the PP website, but since I never signed up there, I couldn't post. Always wanted to ask if you were doing ok? Cancer in remission ?

Remission is a strong word...let's just say it's fighting to take over as hard as I'm fighting to kill it.
I had new scans yesterday; I'll know more about how successful things are going by tomorrow...

I send good wishes & prayers your way