Low Carb Noshes and "My 600 lb Life"

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I'm sorry if I haven't put in any new recipes in a while. I'm, as usual, on a new diet. A few weeks ago, I was told to, at least temporarily, eat a low carbohydrate high protein diet. Anyone have any idea how hard that is for a vegan??????

So, even though I was told a while back to get off soy for a while, I figured there wasn't much else I could base my meals on, particularly before I was able to procure pea protein. So I was eating tofu for the first week or two. But it seemed to be negatively affecting my gall bladder, so my medical practitioner had me switch to seitan (glutan). (It's ironic that I can't eat wheat but I can eat glutan -- I guess it's something else in the wheat that's an issue for me, but I digress...)

In any case, I've had to totally readjust my eating habits. I've been doing this for about a month or so now and, while I have only lost about 5 pounds, my blood sugar has changed. For those of you who don't know, there are basically three levels of high sugar -- the first level is over 140 -- that makes you diabetic. Between 126 and 139 is high pre-diabetes, between 100 and 125 is sort of low pre-diabetes. Ideally, fasting blood sugar should be under 100. A few days before I started this diet, my blood sugar spiked at 202. When I started with eating the tofu, it went down a bit (mostly 145-185) but since I started with the gluten and no soy, it started coming down. After about 2 weeks, I had four readings under 110 -- two of which were under 100. I hadn't had 4 straight days like that in ages (years, possibly????). Actually, after that, I even had days in the 90s and even in the 80s. It was low enough, in fact, that I decided to give blood last Sunday (Father's Day, also my birthday - My Father's Day Birth on Hubpages ).

So at this point, I hope this way of eating is temporary, but even if it is, I still have to eat now. So while I'm nibbling on nuts (mostly cashews), I have also come up with some ways of adding food to my diet.

Since these things I'm going to list are mostly calorie free, they don't have a lot of carbohydrates. I'm making Gello, Vanilla Pudding, Lemon Pudding (just add grated lemon rind/zest to Vanilla Pudding) and I also started making muffins out of my protein powder (Yellow Pea Protein) and breaded zucchini.

The Gello I'm making from Agar (a sea vegetable that gels), Celestial Seasonings tea (I'm using their new "Watermelon-Lime" flavor) and stevia. I take a 5 cup container and fill it almost to the top (or just measure out 4 cups) with cold filtered water, add 4 tea bags (choose your favorite flavor or flavors) and stevia to taste (I use the equivalent of 1 cup of sugar). Once the tea bags have steeped enough (I use the same ingredients to make 1/2 gallon iced tea except I add 1/2 gallon of water and put it in a pitcher), take the mixture, one cup at a time (approximately), and put it with 1 tablespoon of agar into a blender and blend until I've done this four times, emptying the blended contents into a pot. I then boil it up and simmer for 5 minutes, let it cool and put it into a container in the refrigerator. (It doesn't always gel well, so I sometimes add a bit of konjac -- about 1/2 teaspoon.)

To make the pudding, I use cashew milk instead of iced tea, add stevia, vanilla to taste (I use 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla powder) and I use 1 1/2-2 teaspoons of konjac. If I want lemon, I add about a teaspoon to a tablespoon of grated lemon rind. I blend the konjac little by little, boil it in a pot, let it cool and put it in the refrigerator.

I've been watching "My 600 lb Life" these days and I wish Dr. Younan Nowzaradan, the doctor on the show, would tell these people about the above (making desserts with stevia and making Gello that way) and about my favorite filling food -- Miracle Noodles. (To use the Miracle Noodles, open the package and pour it into a strainer, wash and drain)

I do two major things with Miracle Noodles -- one with the "Rice" and the other with the "Fettuccini". The "rice", I use with my main dishes (for tonight, I made a marinated Hemp Tofu (the marinade is made from Lemon and spices and stevia and cashew butter) with vegetables (mushrooms, shallots, etc.)) -- I put the "rice" on the bottom, then spoon the main dish on top (in a covered loaf pan) and put it in the oven (at about 200 degrees) to warm. 


The Fettuccini, I use for breakfast. I take 1/2 cup cashew milk (almond milk should work, too) and add 1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice, add stevia to taste, sometimes a "shnip" of peppermint extract and boil it up. When it's blended (sometimes you have to "open" the blobs of spice with a fork) and boiling, add the drained miracle noodles to the spiced "milk" and simmer on low for a while. Turn off the stove and let it sit for a few minutes and eat. 


The noodles have no calories, the cashew milk (unsweetened) has 25 calories a cup (so 1/2 cup has 12 1/2 calories), so we're talking VERY few calories.