HoldTheToast! by Dana Carpender

Got this email from a reader named Janice Salomon:

Hi, Dana -

A Google search on The Julian Bakery led me to your blog where I noticed that your 5/25/10 post about a carb test seems to be based upon incorrect math. If you started out at 125 (lowest reading), and your highest reading was 157, then the gap between high and low was 28 points, not 38. So I'm assuming that a lower baseline would result in a better carb count for this bread (I figure 2.4?). Anyway, just so you know. I wouldn't notice if my house is burning down, but this I noticed...LOL...

Rice Krispie Treats are now being advertised with the slogan "You're never too big for a little something sweet." In a nation with a growing obesity epidemic, I'm thinking there are a whole lot of people who are too big for a little something sweet.

Worst thought out slogan since Old El Paso -- you know, people who sell beans -- came up with "Pass the Old El Paso."

Hey, it's cheap entertainment.

Since August 3rd is apparently National Watermelon Day (who decides these things, anyway?!) I thought I'd post the stats for watermelon. According to Mastercook, 1 slice of watermelon weighing 550 grams (that's over a pound, by the way, so a good-sized slice -- but the stuff is full of water, of course, and water weighs heavy) contains:

92 calories
1 gram fat
21 grams carbohydrate
1 gram fiber
2 grams protein
2% of your calcium
9% of your potassium
3% of your iron
1% of your zinc
46% of your vitamin C

I know a lot of folks drink cranberry juice to prevent urinary tract infections, but cranberry juice cocktail is loaded with sugar, because cranberries in their natural state are so tart. Yesterday while cleaning out my fridge (YUCK!) I found my bottle of unsweetened cranberry juice concentrate -- 8 teaspoons of the stuff with 8 fluid ounces of water makes 8 ounces of unsweetened cranberry juice. I came up with an idea that worked out beautifully. Indeed, this tastes a lot like the cranberry juice spritzers I used to buy at the health food store back when I thought juice was healthy.

Got a query on Facebook re a granola recipe in 500 Low Carb Recipes. The recipe is based on TVP, a soy product, and the reader wanted to know what she could substitute. My best suggestion? "A better recipe." Here it is.

Flax Granola

2 cups flax seed meal
1/2 cup oat bran
3/4 cup vanilla whey protein powder
1/2 cup Splenda granular
1/2 cup sesame seeds
3/4 cup shredded coconut meat (unsweetened!)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup sugar free pancake syrup

I'm a 35 year old Finnish woman, living in France for 15 years already! I live in a small medieval village near Chartres (70km from Paris) and am often tempted by the smell of bread from the village's 5 different bakery shops, tough! Anyway, I have always had weight issues, more so during the past 2 years even though I tried dieting and exercising.. Finally I was diagnosed a hypothyroidism with a Hashimoto syndroma meaning my metabolism is really slow and weight loss is difficult. I got a hormonal treatment and started cutting carbs, on my own, 2 months ago.

So I launched a new blog today: My Total Gym Transformation. It's going to be a record of my using my Total Gym exercise machine with Slow Burn technique to get back into fierce shape, increasing my muscle mass and bone density. I'll probably throw in some other exercise along the way, but I've had a Total Gym for a long time now -- wanted one the moment I first saw the infomercial over a decade ago -- and I think it's a great machine.

Dr. Mike's latest at the Protein Power blog. Good stuff.

Started a new article today, but life caught up with me; I'll finish it tomorrow. In the meanwhile, here's one from the deep Lowcarbezine! archives:

For years and years, mainstream health authorities have been denying that sugar is detrimental to health. The only proven ill-effect of sugar, they insist, is that it rots your teeth.

As many of you know, I'm currently working on 100 new 15 minute recipes for a new, expanded edition of my book 15 Minute Low-Carb Recipes. I thought perhaps a quick run-down of some of the basic principles of 15 minute recipe creation might be useful.

* You won't be using your oven. Even if a recipe needs less than 15 minutes baking time, you have pre-heating time to deal with. This means, among other things, that 15 minute recipes are great for summer.

Several years back, I wrote a proposal for a book about long-term low carb success. Sadly, no publisher picked up the proposal -- this was at the height of "low carb is dead" -- so the project died a-borning.

In the process of writing the proposal, however, I put out the word for people to let me know about their long-term low carb success, or lack thereof, and what they felt the contributing factors were. Two things rose above all else as the make-or-break influences on low carb success.

In the Ancel Keys thread, Sandy Lee writes:

I just can't understand why the powers that be can't restudy, re-view and re-evaluate such nonsense!! Why won't main stream just turn around and say YES the obesity problem is due to SUGARS and such useless carbs Period!.

Granted, there is now a push to get rid of corn syrups in everything and a push toward more fiber/whole grains and no trans fats, all great steps, but just rip that old band aid off and face up to the Whole Truth??? NOW

Calling all low carbers anywhere in driving distance of Bloomington, Indiana! Jimmy and Christine Moore will be in the area the weekend of August 7th, and we've decided to hold a low carb meet-and-greet at my home. Low carb blogger Amy Dungan is coming, too!

We'll be sampling Zevia and Blue Sky Free, we'll have snacks from CarbSmart, we'll be recording for my up-coming radio show, and just generally having a good time. Saturday, August 7th, from 1-4.

So That Nice Boy I Married and I went to the county fair yesterday evening, and had a very nice time. We saw all the lovely beasts -- horses and goats and sheep and cows and bunnies, and lots and lots of chickens. We want more chickens! We were looking at all the pretty breeds and trying to decide what sorts we'd like to add to the flock next year.