Lowcarbezine! 5 January 2000

Hey, Gang!!  Welcome to the first issue of Lowcarbezine! of the 21st
Century, and a very Happy New Year to you all!  Hope you had a great
holiday!  I had a very good time -- saw a lot of family, visited
friends, went to a *great* New Year's Eve party -- but I was very, very
glad to get home again.  Trying to settle back into my old routine.

Gained about five pounds over Christmas, which is what I expected --
that's what I put on just about every time I take an Indulgence.  Pretty
sure it's all gone, since my clothes are fitting just fine, including my
new size 12P jeans.  Not entirely certain, since my bathroom is being
remodeled, and my scale is packed away!  (Do you know how hard it is to
work at home with workmen around?  Even though the guy doing the bulk of
the work is a dear friend.  It's just distracting.)  Even if there's a
pound or two left, it'll come off fast now that I'm in complete control
of my own food again.

Resolutions?  You know, I thought about it, and I have some ideas for
stuff I want to do in the New Year, but nothing that really amounts to a
resolution.  I plan to cook a lot more, experimenting with recipes for
you guys (Tried poaching a turkey breast in the crock pot yesterday; it
tasted fine but got so tender it fell apart and didn't slice neatly.
Back to the old drawing board.)  Keep writing.  Want to tweak my diet a
bit, to see if I can drop another 10 pounds or so -- and of course I'll
report any results!  Might go back to doing some resistance exercise.
That's about it.

Let's dive into a healthy low carb New Year together, shall we?

Dana

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All contents copyright 2000 by Hold the Toast Press.  All commercial
reproduction or use is expressly prohibited.  As always, feel free to
forward Lowcarbezine! to any family or friends you feel might enjoy it,
so long as you forward it in its entirety.

If Lowcarbezine! has been forwarded to you, and you enjoy it, you can
subscribe for FREE at our website:  http://www.holdthetoast.com .

Lowcarbezine! welcomes reader submissions!  If you would like to send us
your favorite low carb recipe, a low carb product review, or your low
carb success story, we'd like to publish it!

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Thought for the Week
AND
Frequently Asked Question

Yep, I'm combining them this week.  Hey, it's my ezine! :-)

The question is:  Isn't a low carb diet terribly expensive?

The answer is:  As compared to what?  There's no question that steak
costs more per pound than generic pasta, and that fresh fish is more
pricey than bulk-purchased potatoes.  However, I have a number of
thoughts about this (which is why we're combining the two sections this
week!)

First, I will say that I consider the refined carbs -- white flour,
white bread (or even most "wheat" bread, which is mostly white flour
laced with corn syrup), white rice, sugar, corn syrup, etc. -- to be so
incredibly detrimental to health, *even for those who are not carb
intolerant*, that even if they were given away *free* they would be too
expensive.  These are anti-food. Yep, since the micronutrients needed to
metabolize them have been removed, (Yeah, I know they "enrich" it.  Know
what that means?  It means that they take out at least 35 nutrients
*that we've identified so far*, plus all the fiber, and they put back --
are you ready? -- five nutrients.  Four vitamins and a mineral, recently
increased from three vitamins and a mineral.  "Enriched" is a lie,
nothing less.)  they actually go into your body and suck nutrition out.
They also rack up those dental bills, and I don't know about your
dentist, but mine makes something like $500/hr. Cheap, refined, junk
carbs are not, and have never been, cheap.

As for the unrefined, concentrated carbs -- potatoes, whole grains,
legumes, etc. -- they certainly contain far more nutritional value, and
are less detrimental to the body, than the refined, highly processed
stuff.  But if you're carb intolerant, they're still expensive.  Why?
Because they'll make you sick, and being sick is expensive.  They'll
make you tired, and that's expensive too.  For that matter, they'll make
you *hungry*.  What on earth could be cheap about food that actually
makes you crave *more*!?   You may want to serve some of these things to
your family, if they don't share your carb intolerance, but for you,
they are not cheap.

Also, let me assert here that many of the most frequently eaten carb
foods (at least here in the USA) are *not* low priced.  Cold cereal is
unbelievably pricey for what it actually is.  I sometimes think it's a
conspiracy to get people to pay $4 for 15c worth of grain.  Buying
potatoes as potato chips means that you pay $2-3 a pound and up, and I
can get meat for that price!  Packaged side dishes are steep, too, as
are frozen, prepared potatoes.  And microwave popcorn is so much more
expensive than the bulk kind that even when I was a low fat/high carb
type, I refused to buy it.

So you need to realize that carbohydrate foods aren't necessarily as
cheap as everyone thinks.

Now, let's look at the cost of low carb foods.

The most important thing to remember when you're on a budget is that the
more actual cooking you're willing to do yourself, the cheaper your
food's going to be.  (This, by the way, is true of carb foods as well.
Scratch biscuits are cheaper than the whack'em-on-the-counter kind.)  If
you insist on being helpless about food, you're going to pay for it.
I'll try to help you be less helpless!

The second thing to remember is that your body doesn't much care whether
you get your protein from $7/lb lamb chops or 99c/lb sale hamburger;
from $12/lb lobster or 59c/can tuna.  I certainly am not rich!  (Now, if
you'd all tell your friends to run out and buy my book... ;-D)  My
freezer is full of that 99c hamburger, along with 49c/lb chicken
leg-and-thigh quarters, 99c sale pork chops, "irregular" bacon (funny
shaped strips for 79c/lb), and the like.  I have a few steaks and lamb
chops in there as well -- all of them purchased when they'd been marked
down a day or two before the "sell-by" date.   ( I also rely heavily on
eggs, although I confess I buy $2 a dozen local small farm eggs -- I
just think the quality is *hugely* better.  But around here, I can find
grocery store eggs for about 89c/dozen, which is *darned* cheap.)     A
freezer is one of the most money-saving things you can own, by the way.
I rarely pay anything but sale prices for meat; I just buy a ton while
it's on sale and freeze it.  I do this with basic frozen vegetables like
green beans and broccoli, too.  When they drop to 69c a bag a couple of
times a year, I load up.

Which brings us to low carb vegetables, which also run the gamut in
price.  Asparagus and cabbage are both low carb veggies, but only one of
them is cheap!  Seasonal veggies will always be cheaper, of course --
this time of year I buy fewer peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes, and more
cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, and celery.

Also, I find that around here ("Here" being Bloomington, IN) the price
for vegetables varies a *lot* from store to store -- I've seen
cauliflower as high as $3.89 and as low as $1.29 in the same week!  So
shop around.  (I *love* those stores where everything is the store brand
-- around here we have Aldi and Save-a-Lot.  Not only do they have great
prices, but there's very few decisions to make, and the store isn't so
big it's intimidating.  I hate the new, HUGE, grocery stores.)

So the key to eating low carb on a budget is threefold:  One, choose the
most economical low carb foods, two, do a bit more cooking and three,
have some fairly easy low carb recipes so that you don't get overwhelmed
and go back to eating expensive, prepared stuff!  To this end, I'll be
focusing on low carb budget recipes for the next few weeks.  And if you
have a cheap, easy, low carb staple, hey, do us all a favor and share,
will ya?

One last thought on the subject:  I can think of no better investment
than good food.  It is what you use to create yourself on a day-to-day
basis; yes, you and all those you love.  The quality of your life can
never rise much above the quality of your diet; you are utterly
dependent on it, both body and mind -- your brain is, after all, a part
of your body.  If you have to choose between driving a new car or eating
good food, buy a used car and eat decent food.  If you have to choose
between new clothes and eating good food, shop at the Goodwill -- and
don't think I don't buy used clothes! -- and feed yourself right; you'll
look better for it.  If you have to choose between adding onto the house
or basic good nutrition, double up the kids in the bedrooms and buy them
the food they need to be strong, healthy and happy.

Food is the stuff of life.  Hold it dear and give it the respect it
deserves.  I promise you that you will be well rewarded.

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Product Review

Are you the type who likes meal replacement shakes?  There's a recipe
for sugar free protein shakes in _How I Gave Up My Low Fat Diet and Lost
Forty Pounds!_, but it does involve combining several things in the
blender.  If you'd like a no-work protein shake -- okay, you do have to
mix it -- you might look for ProFormix.  This was recommended to me by
my friend Mykki, who said it tasted just like a fast food shake.  She
was right!  Tastes *great*.  Different texture than a fast food shake --
more like commercial chocolate milk, maybe, or a tad thicker.  But the
flavor is *wonderful*.  I  tried ProFormix chocolate, since I come from
a long line of people whose family motto was, "If it ain't chocolate, it
ain't worth it."  Yum -- very chocolatey, and it does have real cocoa
powder in it.  (It also comes in vanilla, if you prefer.  Vanilla can be
great, because it mixes well with so many things, and if you want
chocolate one day, you can just add a tablespoon of cocoa powder.)

You add one heaping scoop (1 ounce) of the ProFormix powder to 1/4 cup
heavy cream and 3/4 cup water, with ice cubes, and run it through the
blender, which is pretty darned easy.  The protein comes from egg
albumen (egg whites), considered the highest quality protein there is,
and one shake has 22 ounces, which is about the same as three eggs or a
quarter-pound hamburger patty.  It has *no* carbs, although the cream
will contribute just under 2 grams.

I have only two small criticisms of ProFormix.  One is that it is
sweetened with aspartame, a substance not all people are willing to use.
(I'm guessing that they'll switch to sucralose when it becomes more
readily available.)  And two is that it contains no fiber -- and some
soluble fiber would not only make it better for you and more filling,
but would also improve the texture.   I myself added a pinch or two of
guar gum to my ProFormix shakes and felt it improved them.  (Don't turn
green; soluble fibers like guar gum are widely used to improve texture
in processed foods.)  A few raspberries or strawberries would do the
same thing, and be very tasty.   I doubt, however, if this addition will
be made, since fiber has to be listed on the label as a carb, which
would mean they couldn't advertise it as "zero-carb".

(For those readers who aren't familiar with the concept of the Effective
Carb Count:  fiber grams are included under "total carb count", because
fiber is, technically, a carb.  However, since you don't digest or
absorb it, it doesn't raise your blood sugar or cause an insulin
release.  Further, it will help buffer the absorption of any other carbs
eaten with it.  Therefore, you can subtract the grams of fiber from the
total grams of carbohydrate in any given food, thus giving an Effective
Carb Count.)

However, if you're not sensitive to aspartame, and you like the idea of
a meal replacement shake, ProFormix is definitely worth a try.  From
Morico Health Products, 1-800-524-4473 -- I just called and they were
very nice!  Or you can order through their website at
http://www.morico.com .  (By the way -- they're sending me a canister of
their soy protein powder, used for baking, to try, and they're also
working on a low carb baking mix.  Reviews soon!)

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It's January!!!  You know what that means!  Yes, you're up 5 to 10
pounds, but you're going around dressed like the Michelin Man, so nobody
can tell.  ;-D  You know what else it means?  Spring is less than THREE
MONTHS AWAY!  Yippee!!!  And you know what happens in spring?  The
weather turns warm, and you can't wear big sweaters and coats anymore,
at least not with out giving long, convoluted explanations.  Better to
just knock off the weight, starting now!  If you're reading this, you
have at least a passing interest in low carb dieting.  But which sort of
low carb diet is best for you?  Read the book that explains the options
-- in fun, easy to read, real-people language!  _How I Gave Up My Low
Fat Diet and Lost Forty Pounds!_  http://www.holdthetoast.com -- Read
the first chapter, FREE!!

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Cool Personal Story

I've mentioned my friend Mykki more than once in this ezine -- heck,
she's mentioned above.  Mykki started her low carb diet right after
Memorial Day weekend.  We were camping with a big bunch of friends, and
I traded her a copy of _How I Gave Up My Low Fat Diet and Lost Forty
Pounds_ for a haircut -- Myk is arguably the nation's best hair
stylist.  Well, I just saw Mykki at the New Year's Eve party I went to.
Guess what?  She's gone from a size 26 to a size 16!!!  She told me she
just recently went clothes shopping (she's doing a lot of that these
days!) and had to return a size 18 because it was *too big*!!  "I've
*never* had to return something for a smaller size!" she told me,
glowing!

Mykki has an even bigger reason to glow -- she just married Adam, her
own true love, on December 22, and she looked utterly *elegant* in her
fitted, Renaissance-style gown.  Adam's been totally supportive of
Mykki's new way of eating, and is soooo proud of her!  He told me that
when they started dating, he could barely touch his fingertips when he
put his arms around her waist.  Now he can grab his wrists, and that's
getting loose!

Congratulations to them both!  And a long, happy life together!

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That's it for this week!  See you next week!

Dana W. Carpender
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