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I’ve been wanting to add more coconut oil to my diet for a while now. I cook with it almost exclusively and add it to the occasional smoothie. But from what I’ve seen from the literature, I need to start at about 2 tablespoons a day, and increase slowly up to about 5 to get the maximum health (and weight loss) benefit. I calculate I’m getting a good 1/2 tablespoon a day just from eating what I’ve cooked in it.
When it was time to put the Christmas decorations away for the year, I found the plastic mold from a box of Advent calendar chocolates hanging around. Although I like the flavor of coconut oil, it is difficult for me to eat plain because the texture just doesn’t feel right. One thing I can always eat plain, though, is butter! Yum! So, I melted equal parts of butter and coconut oil, washed up the mold and poured the delectable solution into the little hearts. Isn’t it cute? Each heart holds about 1/2 a tablespoonful of mixture. Can I eat two of these a couple times a day? Oh yes, I certainly can!
I’m still considering going grain-free. Anna commented on my Low Carbing It post with some really fascinating info that I’ve been researching. The more I study this issue, the more I think I need to cut out the grains. Totally at first, at the very least for a few weeks. But I’m pretty chicken about asking my family to go down that road with me. Funny, I didn’t think twice about offering them a raw meat meal, but a meal without bread just seems beyond the pale.
So, I’ll start with my coconut oil treats and see what happens.
This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays, hosted this week by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
Cabinet by newrachael, on Flickr
(NOT my cabinet above)
I have a real fondness for carbs. The mere smell of toast is enough to put me in a feeding frenzy. The thought of honey in my coffee makes my mouth water. Pasta, bread, potatoes or rice: now that’s a sound architectural base for a filling meal.
Back, oh, six years ago now, I lost a few pounds on the South Beach diet. But it was a struggle and I didn’t enjoy the food. (This was before I started using real foods like butter and cream and raw milk.) And as soon as “diet time” was over, the pounds packed right back on. I guess you could say I’m one of those that probably needs to lay off the carbs permanently. I’m also quite an addict: one piece of toast today leads to two tomorrow, etc.
But, for the last couple weeks I’ve been playing at low carbing my diet. Nothing extreme or regimented, just making different choices. My normal breakfast has been a couple eggs fried sunny side up in coconut oil. It’s the right size and usually keeps me from getting hungry again before lunch. Yesterday when the kids made sloppy joes for lunch, I had my meat in a bowl with a dollop of creme fraiche instead of on a bun. Delicious! And the Chicken Fettucini Alfredo my daughter made for dinner a few days ago tasted just right over broccoli instead of noodles.
I’ve been kind of keeping track of my total carbohydrate count for this most recent visit to Low Carb-land. I’ve been averaging less than 100 grams, some days slightly higher, but most days significantly less. Yesterday, for example, I was at about 50, even after a serving of my daughter’s homemade ice cream.
I haven’t seen a single pound drop and my clothes aren’t fitting differently so far. I do have a fairly good energy level and haven’t needed quite as many midday cups of coffee. After seeing Fathead, (yes, Kelly, Netflix finally found a copy for me) I’m convinced that even if I never lose an ounce I’m on the right track. So, I’m going to stick to it and not expect any weight loss. I’ll be doing my body a favor, even if it never does my wardrobe any favors back.
Okay, I’m going to try making whey one more time. I really wanted to take advantage of the lacto-fermented veggie recipes in NT, but just haven’t been able to get the whey thing working. I picked up my raw milk order today and am separating milk and cream on the counter right now. Along with my order I got some pasture butter and clarified that so my allergic daughter can benefit without breaking out. I got a last minute call from the farmer that she couldn’t make any creme fraiche for me this week, so we put that off a couple weeks.
Last night I had an attack of heartburn, my first in the month of February. It occurred to me: I hadn’t had any fermented foods at all yesterday. I got to the kitchen and poured myself about a half cup of my son’s eggnog and felt immediately better. My stomach didn’t act up again all night. I must remember this!
We had leftover cherry muffins for breakfast, and cleaned out the fridge for lunch. I ran out to the grocery store and on my way home got a call from hubby: too many sickies in the house and we’d be skipping church. Oh, and could I pick up dinner on the way home? He had a Taco Bell craving. Blech. The kids were ecstatic. I made some Coconut Chicken soup that I sipped while I messed around in the kitchen with various projects I’m working on. I had some flour soaking that I didn’t use this morning for pancakes (no eggs), so I put together some blueberry muffins for tomorrow’s breakfast and put the rest of the flour in a Mason jar in the fridge. Those pancakes can wait.
I head back from the egg farmer, his chickens aren’t pastured, and are fed a mash of corn and soy, just what we don’t need. Still looking! I haven’t been on the scale, but I put on a dress today that was too tight at the beginning of the month and it almost fit. Hm. Perhaps I’ll step on the scale tomorrow.
