Dana's blog

Oh, good Lord. I was just at a local health food store, buying dried mustard and xanthan gum, when I spotted it on the shelf: Organic Light Corn Syrup. Yes, there is now an organic corn syrup on the market. I looked at the label; it's a blend, actually, of corn syrup -- oops, I'm sorry, organic corn syrup and organic glucose syrup, plus some organic vanilla and some salt. Not organic salt, but then, salt is inorganic by definition, not containing carbon.

Sweet-and-Tangy UnPotato Salad

1/2 cauliflower head
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup extra light olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons pickle juice from sugar-free bread and butter pickles
1 teaspoon salt or vege sal
Tabasco sauce to taste -- a few dashes
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 small green bell pepper, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
1/4 cup chopped sugar-free bread and butter pickles
3 hard-boiled eggs

We've all heard the arguments against low carb diets: glucose is the most important fuel of the body, all that fat will give you heart disease, you'll have no energy, any diet that requires you to give up a whole category of food is bad, yadda-yadda-yadda. Among the arguments most commonly trotted out is "It forces the body into "starvation mode," so you're making ketones!" As if this were a bad thing.

Inspiration comes in odd places. McDonald's has billboards all over town, advertising frozen lemonade with a strawberry swirl. It sounded tasty, though of course I would never consume such a thing. It also sounded very simple to decarb, so I did. I haven't tried McD's version, but here's mine, and I'm betting it's not only lower carb, but better.

Lemon Ice with Strawberry Puree

You may have seen recent headlines warning, in dire tones, that red meat causes colon cancer. I remain unalarmed, because I am all too aware of just how bad previous studies purporting to "prove" this link have been. My thanks to Tom Naughton for posting the link to this article on the subject. I know Tom is busy plowing through the full text of this study, and I look forward to his analysis.

Update: Sorry, folks. The page was created but not Published. I've corrected that, and you should be able to read the article now. -Eric

I reprinted this recently, but given all the chatter about Dreamfield's pasta since the Low Carb Cruise, it seemed time to mention it again: Reprint: Lowcarbezine! article about Dreamfield's.

Dreamfield’s Pasta – Is It Really Low Carb?

Boy, you gotta love Memorial Day Weekend! Not only is it the official beginning of summer, not only will Miss Manners grant you permission to wear white shoes after this weekend, not only do most of us have a long weekend off, but it's a holiday that isn't centered around junk food. YIPPEE!!

I was at my pharmacy today, and spotted these on the shelf: Planter's Flavor Grove Skinless Almonds Chili Lime. I like almonds and I like hot food, so I thought I'd check 'em out.

The stats include 6 grams of carb per serving, with 3 grams of fiber, for a usable carb count of 3 grams; well and good. 6 grams of protein, too, and 15 grams of fat -- something the label actually boasts about, maybe we're making inroads. The ingredient list reads:

I am going to bum a lot of you out today, but it has to be done. A study has now been done, comparing the blood sugar impact of Dreamfield's pasta to the blood sugar impact of standard pasta. The blood sugar curves were essentially identical. Read it and weep.

Here's Science for Smart People, Tom Naughton's speech the low carb cruise. Hilarious stuff, and highly informative. And if you haven't yet watched Tom's documentary Fathead, you're seriously missing out.

Gang, I know I got back from the Low Carb Cruise less than a week ago, but truly, it's time to start thinking about the 2012 cruise NOW! Especially since we have learned that Gary Taubes will be coming along and speaking. I go all fan-girl at the very thought. And anyway, if your budget looks anything like my budget, you'll need that time to save your spare change to pay your fare. Worth it, worth it, worth it.

Ever wonder if liposuction might be the answer? Here, thanks to Dana Seilhan, aka Other Dana, of Low Carb Curmudgeon blog, is an article from the New York Times that points up one of the problems: You just gain the fat back somewhere else on your body.

After putting you all off regarding the Key Lime Cheesecake recipe, because it was promised for the cruisers, it turns out I got the recipes to Becky Gandy too late for them to go in the cruise program. So I can give you recipes without waiting till summer! Here's the Key Lime Cheesecake, and fabulous it is, if I do say so myself.

No-Bake Key Lime Cheesecake

After my most recent podcast, where I talked about Attention Deficit Disorder, and how it appears to be tied into every other health issue I have, including my lifetime struggle with obesity, sleep disorder, thyroid trouble, and seasonal affective disorder, I had an email from a listener asking for more info, since she had many of the same problems. Here's a quick list of some references:

ADD and circadian rhythm disorders