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  #16   ^
Old Sat, Oct-21-17, 07:19
Bonnie OFS Bonnie OFS is offline
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Plan: Dr. Bernstein
Stats: 188/150/135 Female 5 ft 4 inches
BF:
Progress: 72%
Location: NE WA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FatBGone17
Carbs vary by brand but most have about 8g fiber and 3g starches/sugars per 1/2 cup dry. It's also a good way to stretch ground beef in chili recipes.


Bob's Red Mill has 14g carbs per 1/2 cup. Tad too much for me!
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  #17   ^
Old Sun, Oct-22-17, 19:35
robynsnest's Avatar
robynsnest robynsnest is offline
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Posts: 2,146
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 336/286/199 Female 5'11"
BF:Losing it....
Progress: 36%
Location: Canada ay?
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Add a couple of teaspoons of water , I swear it works!!
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  #18   ^
Old Sun, Oct-22-17, 20:16
Bonnie OFS Bonnie OFS is offline
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Posts: 2,573
 
Plan: Dr. Bernstein
Stats: 188/150/135 Female 5 ft 4 inches
BF:
Progress: 72%
Location: NE WA
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I made meatloaf burgers today & remembered this thread. So I added some oat bran & coconut flour with an egg to the ground beef. Turned out great - didn't fall apart.
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  #19   ^
Old Sun, Oct-22-17, 22:11
FatBGone17 FatBGone17 is offline
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Posts: 34
 
Plan: Atkins / South Beach
Stats: 265/246/185 Male 71 inhes
BF:
Progress: 24%
Default Bob's Red Mill TVP

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonnie OFS
Bob's Red Mill has 14g carbs per 1/2 cup. Tad too much for me!


True, there are 14g total carbs in 1/2 cup of Bob's TVP, but 8g are fiber, leaving 6g net carbs. As a 1/2 cup dry wt can be rehydrated and added to one or two pounds of ground meat (resulting in about 1.5 to 2.5# of mixed product) that makes 2g or less of added net carbs per 1/2# serving. That's four golf ball sized meatballs or a couple of good size slices of meatloaf.

I like to rehydrate 1/2 cup TVP in about a 1/2 cup of beef broth with added flavoring, usually onion and garlic and maybe some herbs. Add an egg when mixing rehydrated TVP with ground meat and you get a very acceptable meatball/meatloaf texture.

The added fiber has obvious added benefits and the egg adds protein and fats along with some micronutrients.

Way good and minimal addition of net carbs

Another good way to fluff up meatballs/meatloaf is to run some mushrooms through a food processor until they are finely chopped, then add about 1/2 cup of the chopped mushrooms and an egg to your chopped meat. This adds about 1/2g of carbs. You can even use 1/4 cup rehydrated TVP and 1/4 cup finely chopped mushrooms to get the best of both.

Last edited by FatBGone17 : Sun, Oct-22-17 at 22:22.
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  #20   ^
Old Mon, Oct-23-17, 07:27
Bonnie OFS Bonnie OFS is offline
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Posts: 2,573
 
Plan: Dr. Bernstein
Stats: 188/150/135 Female 5 ft 4 inches
BF:
Progress: 72%
Location: NE WA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FatBGone17
True, there are 14g total carbs in 1/2 cup of Bob's TVP


Which is what I count - total carbs. I follow Dr. Bernstein's method for diabetics & total works better for me than net. Also very low carb - under 20. I don't like to "waste" my allowed carbs on processed vegetables.
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  #21   ^
Old Mon, Oct-23-17, 14:18
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Kristine Kristine is offline
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Posts: 25,581
 
Plan: Primal/P:E
Stats: 171/146/150 Female 5'7"
BF:
Progress: 119%
Location: Southern Ontario, Canada
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonnie OFS
I don't like to "waste" my allowed carbs on processed vegetables.

...and it's not even "vegetables" - it's soy. It's the leftover gunk from making soybean oil.

I haven't bought any in a while, but it does make for an easy emergency meat sub. It's come in handy when I've been snowed in. I could make a pretty good "pantry chili" entirely from TVP and canned/dried goods. Ideal? No. Better than many alternatives? Yep.

TVP in fat bombs/chocolate bark also makes incredible mock rice krispies. OMG.
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  #22   ^
Old Mon, Oct-23-17, 14:53
Bonnie OFS Bonnie OFS is offline
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Plan: Dr. Bernstein
Stats: 188/150/135 Female 5 ft 4 inches
BF:
Progress: 72%
Location: NE WA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kristine
I haven't bought any in a while, but it does make for an easy emergency meat sub.


I have meat on the hoof - chickens & rabbits - so I will hopefully never face a meat emergency! Also a freezer full of meat & canned meat. Next food adventure is drying meat.
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  #23   ^
Old Mon, Oct-23-17, 19:37
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robynsnest robynsnest is offline
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Posts: 2,146
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 336/286/199 Female 5'11"
BF:Losing it....
Progress: 36%
Location: Canada ay?
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I make my own jerky, really good, people ask me to make it all the time. Fantastic for emergencies...
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  #24   ^
Old Mon, Oct-23-17, 19:44
FatBGone17 FatBGone17 is offline
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Posts: 34
 
Plan: Atkins / South Beach
Stats: 265/246/185 Male 71 inhes
BF:
Progress: 24%
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I don't use a lot of TVP myself but since it does make a fluffy meatball with low net carbs, I thought it appropriate for this thread. The chopped mushrooms also work well but don't have quite the same texture.

Kudos for those making their own jerky. I do it and homemade is definitely tastier and more healthful than most commercially produced brands.
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  #25   ^
Old Sat, Jul-14-18, 12:03
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Buttoni Buttoni is offline
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Posts: 3,234
 
Plan: LC/OMAD
Stats: 199/188/130 Female 5'3"
BF:5'5" tall
Progress: 16%
Location: Temple, Texas
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I tend to have 1-2 LC biscuits, LC pancakes, LC rolls, or LC sandwich buns leftover when I bake them. I toss them all into a bag and freeze. Then when I want meatballs or meatloaf, I crumb them up and add to the meatloaf mixture with egg until I have a loose mixture. I find with LOC meatlof fillers, an extra egg from my norm works best. Makes for a nice, soft textured meatloaf IMO.
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  #26   ^
Old Tue, Jul-24-18, 13:14
Meetow Kim Meetow Kim is offline
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Posts: 166
 
Plan: Atkins Concept
Stats: 225/190/175 Male 70.5"
BF:
Progress: 70%
Location: Central Virginia
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Buttoni's way is best I think for homemade. The problem is I never have leftovers of the low carb baked products that I dont want to eat! But baking bread for a dual reason is also a smart idea. You get two benefits from that effort.

My favorite meatball method? Believe it or not, I love to cook, but almost always buy store-bought frozen meatballs. Most of them are very carb friendly. Just read the label.

Here's one brand I've bought several times, and the product is good:

https://www.cookedperfect.com/produ...tyle-meatballs/

4 grams net carbs per serving...and at that rate, having a couple extra dont hurt! Its one of our favorite easy meals. I roast them in the toaster oven in a stoneware dish with high enough sides to handle sauce, on high, about 450° to increase the browning for a bit (they are fully cooked), then usually dont even need to drain them, I heat up some jazzed up no added sugar marinara (Walmart sells an organic one for like $2) and pour over the top, back in the toaster oven till you see it start to bubble, top with your favorite Italian cheese and back in the oven to melt/brown a bit, and done! An easy weeknight no hassle meal you can make while preparing a salad to go with it.

I also second the adding a little water. I do make my own sausage, and water or wine is in almost all pro-grade sausage recipes I found. It not only starts the meat off with more moisture but aids in the mixing of spices and ingredients. Usually about 3 tablespoons per pound or so, or 1 cup of liquid to 5-6lbs and it should be preferably very cold, dont use hot water, it melts the meat fat and changes things for the worse. I've even seen to add the spices and mix with the water then adding to the meat mixture, this helps because like others said, what often makes people's hamburgers, meatloaf and meatballs dense is they overwork the mixture. You want to mix as gently and as little as possible to get everything blended, then form very gently.

Once I learned this, and that the best way to cook a hamburger for instance, is on a flat iron griddle or pan rather than a grill, my hamburgers are the best ever in my life now. And I only use fatty ground beef (I grind my own from a chuck roast to 1/4 inch die size and only once, never through the grinder again), never lean ground beef...if you are doing Atkins, you need the fat for your energy anyway, its what your body has been trained to burn. I form my burgers just so they barely hold together while griddling, use only plenty of salt and pepper and only on the surface, never mixed in the meat. and thats it. Best burgers ever and I spent years making "meatloaf burgers" with all kinds of stuff thinking I knew what I was doing. Also, overcooking a burger is not good. The best cooked burgers have a bit of pink in the middle at least, not totally gray. Grinding your own meat is a good way to ensure the meat is from a single muscle and almost completely avoid any food borne illness. Think about it, a medium rare steak is perfect if you ask nearly any chef. It's safe because its a whole muscle and not cross contaminated with other things in the kitchen (where most food borne illness comes from), so being sure your burger meat if from a quality, clean whole muscle makes the burger pretty much just as safe. I've never been sick from my own cooking because I know the rules of cross-contamination and proper hand washing. I was also the NSF credentialed person in a metal shop that made food service equipment, so it helps to understand "Herman the vermin" and where he can hide!

So, the first mistake people make is using lean meat. I'd say 80-20 is the leanest you want to go. 70/30 is even more flavorful and moist. I haven't weighed it out in years but I think my average chuck roast home grind usually worked out about 75/25 (I literally cut the meat up and separated the fat from the flesh and weighed it). I do the same thing with pork butt, you want to judiciously add the meaty and fatty pieces to the grinder evenly together. A lot of butcher shops run the ground beef through twice, this is partly to distribute the fat better because they are not going to do the tedious work I just described. But this also starts you out with a ground meat already a little overworked.

The mushrooms do add some moisture and a decent texture. I did that for years with hamburgers and meatloaf before I learned what I wrote above about gentle handling and proper ground meat to start with. Extra egg never hurts, except it firms up at the same time it leaves a fluffy texture...hard to explain except egg is a binder so it always "sets up"...still good though.

Letting any meat dish rest responsibly is also one of the good recommendations you got in this thread. That's true for meatloaf and steaks alike. One of the biggest mistakes people make is not letting meat rest well before cutting, that goes for birds and roasts and even griddled or pannini sandwiches. One of my favorites is a Reuben, but they can come apart when eating if well stuffed. I learned to remove the sandwiches from the pan/griddle to a wire rack and let them rest, even flipping them over while resting so juices never have a chance to settle on one side...it allows the sandwich to set up before you cut and eat it. Thanks to Buttoni/Peggy I have a caraway version of her Foccacia recipe I can now use to make Reubens again! I smoke my own pastrami too...you will not find anything as good in the supermarket.

Jerky? Heck yea! Got that down pretty well too. Been doing it for years. I have a buddy who brings me his deer kills (I hate to hunt, not the blood and killing, just the getting up early and freezing in the woods for hours with no guaranty of a kill) because he likes my jerky so much..and I make sausage. I only dehydrate tenderized by mallet, well marinated, usually only deer when its available. I never grind the meat and squirt it out of those caulking guns. My jerky never lasts long around anyone, so I started putting severe heat on it with cayenne to make people slow down and think twice!..to protect my stash...I can handle the heat!...but it slows me down too.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonnie OFS
Which is what I count - total carbs. I follow Dr. Bernstein's method for diabetics & total works better for me than net. Also very low carb - under 20. I don't like to "waste" my allowed carbs on processed vegetables.


That's ultra low carb right there. Even Atkins tells you induction level carb intake is not good for you over the long term...a couple months max. Your brain needs some carbs to function right from what I have read, just dont get them from sugar, simple starches, refined wheat and fruit juices.

But then again, a lot of Dr.'s and people think Atkins is unhealthy because of the high fat intake..so our mileages may vary!

If/When I ever get to goal, and I'm OK that taking some more time, I'm 35lbs down in 7 months, a little slowdown is ok...I plan to shift over to what my wife lost her 35lbs on, the Zero Sugar diet. Similar to Atkins but allows much more carbs as long as they are good carbs and the carb/natural sugar balance is not upside down...and never added sugars. But she gets to cheat! (with food of course)...I have never cheated and had a real sandwich or burger when out, once in a while like her, and she has still matched my weight loss...but she doesn't drink liquor in large quantities like I've been doing lately.

Sorry for the novel here, I was in the mood to write and been meaning to chime in on this thread.

Last edited by Meetow Kim : Tue, Jul-24-18 at 13:49.
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  #27   ^
Old Wed, Jul-25-18, 09:19
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Buttoni Buttoni is offline
Patience Personified
Posts: 3,234
 
Plan: LC/OMAD
Stats: 199/188/130 Female 5'3"
BF:5'5" tall
Progress: 16%
Location: Temple, Texas
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RE: high fat intake being bad? Well, case in point, my new doc ran a battery of blood tests upon first visit in January. When I came back for her analysis of those results, she turned to me and said "I see in your medication list you don't take a statin for cholesterol. Have you ever taken a statin?". having read all the latest on statins, I readily replied "NO, and Dr. Jones, I will never take one, EVER." She said my lipid profile was one of a much younger person (I'm 69) and one of someone who was on a statin. I told her I had once had higher cholesterol leve, but been doing Atkins for 9 years, which is a moderate protein, low-carb, high fat program. I'm one who has NEVER trimmed the fat off a good steak and have always eaten the skin on my chicken! She ( a lady in her 30's) was completely shocked and replied in her utterly charming Russian accent (from Georgia), said that whatever I was doing diet-wise, to just keep doing it.

Re: brains need carbs for fuel...........there is much research out there now that shows brains not only do fine on fat for fuel, but they perform perhaps even better on fat for fuel. Just listen to how many people on a LC diet will profess they no longer feel they have "brain fog".

I still chose to listen to Dr. Atkins and the research he found and saw in his practice with real patients as well as newer research the supports his position on all fronts.
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  #28   ^
Old Wed, Jul-25-18, 09:42
Bonnie OFS Bonnie OFS is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 2,573
 
Plan: Dr. Bernstein
Stats: 188/150/135 Female 5 ft 4 inches
BF:
Progress: 72%
Location: NE WA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Buttoni
Re: brains need carbs for fuel...........there is much research out there now that shows brains not only do fine on fat for fuel, but they perform perhaps even better on fat for fuel. Just listen to how many people on a LC diet will profess they no longer feel they have "brain fog".


AMEN! If I were to increase my carbs, I'd not only feel crappy, my blood sugar would be way too high. There's only one main way that I know of to lower blood sugar, & that's reducing carbs. Reducing protein, increasing fat, & exercising also help. But then there are the things outside my control that will increase blood sugar: injuries, illness, emotional upsets. I'm having surgery soon & I'm not looking forward to the toll it will take on my blood sugar.
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  #29   ^
Old Wed, Jul-25-18, 14:52
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ImOnMyWay ImOnMyWay is offline
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Posts: 3,831
 
Plan: OWL
Stats: 177/168/135 Female 5'1"
BF:50.5/38/25
Progress: 21%
Location: Los Angeles
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Quote:
Originally Posted by deirdra
I use psyllium husks, which are all fiber, net carbs = 0. 1-3 Tablespoons per pound or so of ground meat, depending on how wet it is. They swell to soak up fat & liquid so start low, let it sit for 5 minutes to see if more husks are needed.

I just made some ground chicken/turkey into a fluffy casserole with poultry-seasoning herbs, psyllium and some brussel sprouts (I like one-pot meals with extras for future meals, so I add some vegs - no more than 5g net carbs/serving - to my protein & fat & herbs). It has the same taste & texture as stuffing that has been inside a turkey.

Stuffing was always my favourite Thanksgiving food; who knew you could make it without bread and a meal's worth of protein, which I just did off the top of my head on a whim based on what I had in the fridge.

Another backwards "meatball" dish I make is a meat sauce with ground beef, tomato paste, Italian herbs & spices with baby brussel sprouts as the balls (or slice green or red cabbage into linguini or lasagna "noodles" if I am in a mood for noodles). I do put a Tbsp or two of psyllium in the sauce to bind in the fat.


I saw someone else on here making "stuffing" with psyllium, was it Thud? Anyway, so I'm guessing your "stuffing" had the larger amount of psyllium per pound noted above?

I had unfavorable results with different meals, but never considered that having a heavy hand might be the problem! Thanks Verbena!

My go-to add-in for meatloaf is minced raw mushrooms, because they absorb liquid and fat, and add umami, too. But I will try some of these other add-ins, just make sure that I use as light a hand as possible.
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  #30   ^
Old Sun, Aug-05-18, 08:54
Meetow Kim Meetow Kim is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 166
 
Plan: Atkins Concept
Stats: 225/190/175 Male 70.5"
BF:
Progress: 70%
Location: Central Virginia
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Buttoni
RE: high fat intake being bad? Well, case in point, my new doc ran a battery of blood tests upon first visit in January. When I came back for her analysis of those results, she turned to me and said "I see in your medication list you don't take a statin for cholesterol. Have you ever taken a statin?". having read all the latest on statins, I readily replied "NO, and Dr. Jones, I will never take one, EVER." She said my lipid profile was one of a much younger person (I'm 69) and one of someone who was on a statin. I told her I had once had higher cholesterol leve, but been doing Atkins for 9 years, which is a moderate protein, low-carb, high fat program. I'm one who has NEVER trimmed the fat off a good steak and have always eaten the skin on my chicken! She ( a lady in her 30's) was completely shocked and replied in her utterly charming Russian accent (from Georgia), said that whatever I was doing diet-wise, to just keep doing it.

Re: brains need carbs for fuel...........there is much research out there now that shows brains not only do fine on fat for fuel, but they perform perhaps even better on fat for fuel. Just listen to how many people on a LC diet will profess they no longer feel they have "brain fog".

I still chose to listen to Dr. Atkins and the research he found and saw in his practice with real patients as well as newer research the supports his position on all fronts.


I'm the same way. I refuse to take poison statins.

Certainly the brain can function on fats and protein. Eskimos and others who live on diets that mostly include meat and fish are the proof. I cant imagine good carbs from whole fruits and vegetables, nuts and modest amounts of whole grains causing brain fog though. I'll have to read some more on that. My promotion of carbs for the brain excluded bad carbs.

Atkins promotes a relatively balanced diet from what I read, and even in induction specifies above 12-15 grams and below 25 net grams carbs (their 20 plan now says 20-25 grams net max). There are people here doing dramatically below that. That's OK, its their body, kind of like my drinking, but if one is not keeping carbs intake above 12 even in induction...that's not Atkins.

https://www.atkins.com/how-it-works/atkins-20

Week one alone in their example menu (which would be induction) has asparagus, mixed greens, radishes, cucumbers, avocados, tomato, green beans, Brussels sprouts, stir fry vegetables.

https://files.atkins.com/18-03-Atki...ickStart-20.pdf

I'm with you, Atkins is a well researched diet. But I see some folks in here that seem to be so dramatically cutting carbs they arent even including many vegetables. I believe those are the carbs "for the brain"...and the fats really help too. I force myself sometimes to eat vegetable and nut carbs, just because I believe they have to be good for you

I'm looking forward to reaching goal and getting to phase 4. 80-100 grams of carbs a day looks alike a lavish lifestyle to me right now

Last edited by Meetow Kim : Sun, Aug-05-18 at 09:03.
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