Its a funny thing, the diet of the Depression, mostly cheap carbohydrates, became the diet of the rather affluent Cholesterol Generation. No eggs, no red meat, no butter, no fat! And diabetes and obesity now are at an all time high. Now the newest diet for diabetics is low carbohydrate. No bread, potatoes, corn, sugar, flour, rice, not even peas! From one extreme to the other. When we went to the Doctor in the 90's we were told "change, change, change your way of eating" as if it were a sin to eat a steak cooked in butter with a side of fried eggs. I was enthusiastic at the time and found that a diet based on carbs was a cheap diet. For some time we spent $50 a week for the two of us. Those days are over. For I am being initiated into the mysteries of the low Carb diet. And it's attendant controversy as well. I was not enthusiastic at first, and I've found there are side effects to this diet that are almost never mentioned by Doctors. Nausea, loss of appetite, extreme mood swings. But I am impressed by the results, both the touted results and my own results. Though I have struggled with it and was not always compliant, my blood sugar is down and I have lost about 18 pounds. And I know I can keep this up. This is different from a "never" diet. It has some really loved foods in it. Real cream for my coffee. Bacon. Real butter. Steak, chicken, fish and pork. Sour cream. Cheese. And, as my Doctor styled it: "Leaves and stems"! Asparagus, lettuce, cabbage, green beans, brussels sprouts, spinach, all things I like. So this week, I'll give you our menus:
Thursday, day before shopping day: Steak, Fauxtatoes, (made from cauliflower) and lettuce wedges with Aoli.
Friday: Chicken Piquant with sour cream gravy, Rice for Bill, Asian vegetables.
Saturday: After a breakfast out late in the day, we had soup and sandwiches. Bill had tomato soup and ham and Swiss cheese on rye. I had a wonderful peanut soup out of Dana Carpender's big Low carb book, and Rye Krisp with cream cheese, olives and ham.
Sunday: Giant meatballs in tomato sauce with pasta for Bill. Lavish salad with Feta cheese and avocado. One small square very dark chocolate.
Monday: Chicken stir fry, with rice for Bill. Hot peanut sauce on mine.
Tuesday: Ham steaks, cole slaw, Baked potato for Bill, avocado with mayo for me.
Wednesday: Clam chowder, made without potatoes for me, Rye Krisp with toasted cheese sandwiches. I'll be serving raw vegetables with sour cream dip to guests that evening.
To distract myself from diet aggravation, I have been playing with my miniatures a lot. Upstairs in the guest bedroom is a big table covered in all the miniatures I have that are not already in service, so I have plenty to select from.
This is my Miss Hickory Room. Notice that she has a Baby Hickory. Also a pet turtle which moves his tail and head eerily at the slightest vibration.
This is the third table I've tried and I think I like it best. On the side of the white mug it says "Ana" That Coleman lantern actually works, you know! .
I have been rearranging the house and conducting some general spring housecleaning. The table is gone from in front of the stove. The insulating layers are gone from the picture window and I have put the house plants there to catch a little sun.
Last weekend we stayed at the Canyon Inn at McCormick's Creek State Park. There was a tool show there but I enjoyed other things. In the Nature Center was a Bird Room, where we could sit and watch the antics of birds, squirrels and chipmunks unseen. Then in the lobby of the Inn there is a red-eared slider in a large tank. I am sorry I did not take a picture of him, I thought him charming. He is a turtle! But lest you think turtles boring I hasten to add that this one has personality. When I peered at him, hovering over his tank he paid no attention but when the Ranger came to feed him he obviously recognized her and began to wiggle and try to climb the glass. She fed him tadpoles and he was entertaining to watch, catching them. He never took his eye off the one he was pursuing, backing up to make another attempt on one who was too fast for him. He ate 21 and was satisfied at last and went to take a nap on Sunday afternoon.
So I wanted to make a bird room of my own. I moved furniture out and added all my house plants as a screen. Not as many birds are coming as will once they have all discovered my largess.
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| No birds yet! |
I've had to rearrange my shopping too. A low carbohydrate diet is not so easy to achieve. And looking for direction, I got a book at the Library that was rather extreme. But I gave it a try. And my blood sugar went up, not down. My Doctor was more helpful the second time around and now I am doing a "modified" low carb diet. Whew! Still, I've made changes. Bought more meat, real Mayo, real cream for my coffee. It blew the budget out of the water but I am learning ways to do it.
These items as well as a large quantity of meat have added $60 to our monthly expenditure. I am beginning to find some new recipes to try. The best so far is Asian pulled chicken, with a few snow peas and lots of mushrooms, ginger and soy sauce, hot peppers too! A lunch time special is tuna salad with celery sticks instead of bread. Very good.
The last rearranging has been to my loose leaf binder where I store recipes I print off of the Internet. Labeled dividers became necessary as well as jettisoning some high carb desserts. And when I put the plants in the bird room I found room for more miniature displays, as you see. Next time I'll show you what I have added in more detail!
