Went to a party on Friday where for the main courses were different types of quiches and then they had a sweet table.  I ate the quiches without eating the crust but I did have something from the dessert table.  I did take a carb blocking pill afterwards.I noticed that the next day I had gone up 600g.  Went back to the plan yesterday and I'm back down to 68.7.  Haven't gone down below that number yet, but I'm confident I'll do so this week.

On to the picture to the left.  It's my newest discovery.  It's LCHF microwaveable bread!  Done in just over 2 minutes.  Yep, that's right folks.  Bread you can do in the microwave that's LCHF.  I found the recipe in my LCHF för Familjen cookbook.  It's now my go-to bread for when I want something quick as a snack or for breakfast or well, for anything really, and it only takes two ingredients.  This bread only makes one portion.  If you double it, it won't cook, so really it's just a quick fix kinda bread.

LCHF Quick Bread
1 portion

1 dl almond flour
1 egg (large)

In a small bowl mix together almond flour and egg well.  Place in microwave on high for 2 minutes. 

Yep, that's it.  Pretty simple huh?

I made LCHF waffles yesterday as well.  Didn't take a picture yet because I want to perfect it before I do, but they tasted pretty good, albeit they weren't fluffy and kinda flat.  A bit closer to pancakes.  But in taste, they were a good substitution and with whipped cream and berries, I'm not complaining!

So, I haven't updated in a LONG time, so this will be a longer than normal post filled with quite a number of pictures and random babblings.  Reason I haven't been updating is well...Diablo III.  Yes, I play computer games (I met my husband playing World of Warcraft) and now the long-awaited Diablo III was released last week.  I still stuck to my LCHF diet, so that's a good thing.  It was also "that time of the month" so I knew that the scale would be a bit skewy with the water retention and all. 

Here's my update.  I made a few more recipies from my various cookbooks and magazines and some with more success than others.  I also did a bit of experimenting.  Those were less successful!  To the left is a picture of my more successful creations.  It's two "oopsies" (I made them more coconuty by adding some shredded coconut and stevia to the mixture) with some coconut whipped cream (whipped cream with pressed virgin coconut oil, vanilla powder and stevia) with raspberries and blueberries.  Seriously, this was scrumptious.  As a side note, the stevia I used is the white one that's meant to be used like sugar.  My husband said that it was like eating waffles.  I let it sit in the fridge for a little while before serving so the oopsies became a little moist.  I felt that it added to the overall taste and texture.  My original plan was to make a meringue top, which I did, but it just didn't turn out to plan as well, stevia doesn't make the egg topping hard like sugar does.  It tasted "okay".  My daughter liked it.  It was like eating marshmallow on top of an oopsie.  Looked kinda funky in any case!

I also tried making coconut waffles.  Waffles made with coconut flour.  Didn't like them.  The texture was too grainy for my liking.  So I won't share that recipe with you.  I then made a "tiger cake" which tasted kinda like french toast.  It was a bit eggy.  Now, if you like french toast, like I do, it may not necessarily be a total failure.  But the idea was a cake, so in that case, it did fail.  It did get eaten though, so it wasn't a total waste.

Then on the weekend I made a chocolate pie LCHF style.  I think it tasted pretty good.  I did the coconut whipped cream to it, think it was a bit too much coconut so next time I'll skip that.  I also put a bit of shredded coconut in the crust (yes, I like coconut!), that tasted good though.  It does need a cream, so regular whipped cream will suffice.  I added a bit of stevia here and there to the original recipe in order to get it sweet enough for my liking.  Probably not wise seeing as that you wanna wean yourself from any sugar cravings.  I'll post the recipe for the chocolate pie either tonight or tomorrow.

All in all I'm coping quite well I think with the diet.  Now we're going to begin in earnest!  Will load up some pictures of my new LCHF finds during the next day or so.  Also, this weekend may be a bit of a challenge.  My sister-in-law is in town and so we're going to be eating with family on Friday and Saturday.  Friday will be a bbq, so I'm thinking I'll make some dessert or maybe some daikon gratin or coleslaw or caulflower dish and then on Saturday we'll be on the lake on my father-in-law's boat so it'll be "fika".  That's usually some cakes, coffee and sandwiches.  So I may make some LCHF goodies for that outing as well.  I'll keep you posted and post pictures!

Today for dinner I made a meal out of ground beef and zucchini.  I had some meat left over and I was going to put it into the fridge to be eaten another day.  I then wondered, "What can I do to make something interesting with this leftover meat?"I had some broccoli and tomatoes left over from my oven chicken the other day.  I figured I could put everything together, add some cream and eggs, season it up a bit and voila, mini egg muffins!

Going on a LCHF diet can be expensive.  There are a number of ingredients, like the flours and sweetners, that can make the pocket a bit light.  Not to mention buying the meats.  If you are even more health and/or socially conscious, you then opt for organic/free-range/ekologisk products, which also usually has a higher pricetag attached.  My suggestion in making things a bit easier is make use of your leftovers and try to be creative with them.  With this same ground beef mix that I had left behind, it could have gone into a personal portion of pasta served with LCHF noodles, or make a LCHF friendly crepe/pancake to make a type of taco or burrito.  Not only do you save money, but you also get some variety with regards to meals.  Small bits of vegetables?  How about a filling omlette or add it to a salad?

Came across an awesome looking blog with such tasty recipes I just had to share.  Unfortunately for those that can't read Swedish it may not be of any use unless you run it through googletranslate.  The blog is 56kilo.se and the blogger is a woman who lost 15 kg after having a baby.  It's a very popular blog here in Sweden, so, if you are Swedish, or if you take the time to run it through a translator....enjoy!

So I weighed myself this morning and it came to...69.5 kg.  I'm actually very happy with that because it means that I still haven't gained much back with respect to what I lost from last week's VLCD.  I'm hoping by the end of the week I'll be under 69 kg.  Here's to that!  My current mini goal is 67 kg.  I believe that takes me from the obese category to overweight.  My overall goal is 55 kg, which if I recall correctly, will take me to the middle of normal weight.  It's a bit to go, but I'm really hoping that this works!

Last night I asked that my husband watch a video regarding low carbs and cholesterol.  It's the one I linked a few days ago.  I know he wasn't looking forward to watching it at first, but in the end I think he didn't mind it because he learned a few things from it.  I wanted him to watch it, not because I feel like he needed to go on the diet too, but I wanted him to understand, not just support my diet plans.  It's important that your support system is on board.  Trying to explain LCHF to sceptics isn't easy.  Luckily for me, my husband was already an advocate of a low carb diet.  The only thing he didn't understand was the cholesterol/fat debate.  I felt that was keeping him back from totally understanding why I needed to add more fat into my diet, and how it wasn't going to affect me detrimentally.  In any case, obesity is the real killer and by getting out of the obese range I greatly improve my life expectancy. 

So, this morning, we continue on.  For breakfast I made a two egg omlette with some gouda cheese and spanish paprika in it.  I then had two pieces of turkey bacon.  I cooked this all in ghee (clarified butter).  It's not in the picture, but I added a dollop of mayo for good measure afterwards, to ensure that I had enough fat.  My current concern is that I haven't been adding enough vegetables to my meals.  I have been so focused on adding all the fatty stuff which I had been avoiding that I haven't restocked my fridge with the veggies.  Later today I'm think gonna head to the store and buy some broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini and rättika (I think it's called winter radish or black radish in English, in any case it's Daikon in Japanese). 

Been feeling a bit guilty that I haven't worked out the last few days.  I think I'm going to TRY Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred (30DS) again.  I always hurt every time I start it up, and when I got to level two, I started getting knee pains, which at that point I was afraid that my knee would give in from the impact of jumping up and down.  I do know that if one persists with the 30DS, you get results, and results is what I'm after!

Update:
Today for dinner it's a dish of my own creation, inspired by a recipe that I found in my new LCHF cookbook.  I've put the recipe for this chicken in my LCHF Recipe section. 

So, bought a new cookbook today.  Very excited about the recipes that are in it.  I bought it because the types of meals in them weren't very far from what I was accustomed to making, so I thought it would be a good cookbook to make the transition seemless to LCHF.  I made the halloumi bread today.  Seemed to go quite well with the salmon that I prepared. 

Whilst I was in town I got a bit hungry, not overly though.  I think that's because I didn't eat enough fat during lunch time.  I was in a hurry to catch the bus so all I had was a 1 egg scramble with generous dollop of cottage cheese.  Whilst I did fry the egg i butter, I didn't add any additional fat to the meal, which may be why I was a bit snacky later in the day.  Good thing I brought some macadamia nuts with me.  Had a few of those and some mineral water and we were good to go.  Planning to make either pancakes or waffles this weekend using one of the recipes in the book.  By then I should have received the ingredients that I ordered over the net the other day.  I must say that I have never been as excited to do a diet as I am now. 

Among the other things I picked up today were turkey bacon (I don't eat pork) and ghee (clarified butter)

I just wanted to share the video I watched today that cemented my decision to go LCHF.  This one I found from another blogger's website.  I am a fan of statistics and reading about the science behind things.  It helps me convince myself that my decisions are worth while and founded on some sort of fact.  This is a fact filled video that explains how big bucks and government policy in the US have caused a generation to live lives of obesity.  Enjoy!

So, today is the first day of this website, and the first day of my LCHF diet/lifestyle.  I'm a bit nervous about it...it goes against all that I've been taught about cholesterol, fat etc.  That said, the evidence is pretty compelling: lose the carbs = lose the weight.  Seems like a simple equation, until one thinks about what does cutting carbs really equate to.

No more chips, no more fries, no more sugar, no more juices, no more starchy foods, no more breaded anything...

As a foodlover, that cuts out a lot of what I know to be tasty.  My goal is to protect what I love about food and but lose weight.  Whether it be on the LCHF diet or South Beach or whatever....I'm tired of restricting myself.  I hated counting calories and the idea of the LCHF really appeals to me, and my husband.  It's not so nice on the pocket book, but if it means I'll be buying less junk food, that'll be a saving that we can put towards the increased meat budget.  Although I'm gonna be giving up some of my loves, I'll also be saying hello to those that I had, until  the recently, thought that I'd never be able to enjoy (guilt free) again: whole fat whipped cream, full fat cheese, mayonaise, eggs with yolk, hollendaise...to name a few. 

My goal is to share this journey with you and hopefully inspire you with my successes and failures.  I'm highly anticipating the experimentation that I'll be doing with this diet in the kitchen, learning how to make food I love (especially baked goods) using low carb alternatives.  How do you bake without flour??  I'm gonna learn how!

Tomorrow is a new day with new challenges.  I'm excited about going to the grocery store.  I'm gonna pick me up some whipping cream and eggs and some full fat cheese.  I'm gonna look for a nice juicy steak as well and maybe some chicken pieces (with the skin!).   I'm going to try to avoid weighing in for the next week or so, to give my body a few days to adjust to this new diet, afterwards, I'll keep you up to date with my progress.  Wish me luck!