Healthy Lifestyle Bloggers

Ever noticed how when you give up grains and carbs that your indigestion goes away?? Well, here's another funny "proof" (and I use this loosely of course! LOL).

About 1/2 of the baking soda sold in the U.S. is used for indigestion in cattle. Most cattle are fattened up in feedlots on corn, hay, and supplements before being slaughtered. They can eat up to 25 pounds of grain a day. Their stomachs were designed to digest grass, not grain, so they tend to get indigestion. Feedlots give the cattle baking soda to ease the problem.

See Question 3 and it's Answer:

http://www.foodreference.com/html/currentculinaryquiz.html

I’ve been making variations of this for over thirty years - since the time I lived in San Francisco and was eating fanatically well in order to nurture my first pregnancy.

Two cups of short-grain brown rice
Four cups of water
1 tablespoon salt

Heat the above ingredients until boiling, then stir once with a wooden spoon and cover. Turn the heat down very low. Continue to let this cook for twenty-five or thirty minutes then turn it off but keep it covered so it can steam. Don’t be tempted to look inside for at least ten or fifteen minutes.

While that’s cooking heat a bit of vegetable oil in a skillet and add spices. Typically I’ll add any spices I can find in my cupboard that look like they’ll fit. I smell them to decide if I want them. I always use salt and pepper.

Then chop some onion and garlic and toss that into the pan. Chop some fresh vegetables and toss them in too. I like to use carrots and celery, and whatever else I have on hand that looks good.

Keep stirring and warming these gently on a low to medium heat. If you get impatient like I usually do, add 1/4 cup water and cover the skillet to let the vegetables steam a while. Stir often.

When the vegetables are tender and the rice is cooked, serve by putting the rice on the plate, then veggies on top. If you like cheese, put grated cheddar or monterey jack on top.

This recipe feeds my soul.

Brown Rice Burritos

A way to use leftovers from the recipe above.

Warm up a big flour tortilla. If you have a gas stove just turn on the burner and toss the tortilla onto it… no pan needed. Wait until it wilts a bit then turn it over. Repeat until little air pockets start to rise inside the tortilla.

On the tortilla place some brown rice with your cooked veggies. Add spices, jalapenos, or whatever makes you happy, along with a lot of cheddar cheese. Then wrap it up.

Since I usually get cold rice leftovers out of the fridge I then put this burrito in the microwave and warm it up… or at least I would if it were not for the fact that my microwave broke and my dear boyfriend won’t agree to buying another one - he points out the certain dangers - so now I’m warming these in my cast iron skillet.

My favorite taco sauce is La Victoria Salsa Brava, HOT.

This makes a quick, easy but filling snack so I can get right back into my writing without losing my train of thought too much.

Today I’m thankful that we lived through the fires. Often when there are forest fires, people die. This time four people died locally, three of them related to the forest fire activity in town.

Probably in a bigger town we wouldn’t notice so much, but here people don’t die very often. If they do, their memorial notices end up taped to the post office door.

It started on Saturday when a local resident failed to negotiate a curve two miles east of here, and ended up dying in a roll-over accident. Her three passengers all survived. She was in her 70’s or 80’s.

Next there was a helicopter crash Monday morning. Really weird, in that this is the second year in a row we’ve had a fatal helicopter crash locally during a fire. Last year two fire fighters went down about ten miles southwest of here, right in the Klamath River near Independence Bridge. This year a single pilot died in a crash about twelve miles south near Norcross Campground, the northern gateway to the Marble Mountains. He was 61.

Stranger still, on Monday afternoon two out-of-town men employed locally as fire-camp cooks drowned in the Klamath River near a swimming hole I’ve been to dozens of times. Apparently they didn’t realize that we who live here swim in the creeks, not in the river - and especially not at the confluence of a creek with a river. A current pulled one of the men under, and another went in after him. Big mistake for both of them. They were both in their 30’s.

What a terrible loss of human life. My sympathies are with all the family members dealing with these tragic deaths.

. . .

Recently at MySpace a site change made it possible for me to put another one-liner at the top of the page. My page now says, “Linda is quite happy to be alive.” That just about sums it up for me. I use MySpace to keep in touch with my children, and to promote some of my online activities, including this blog.

. . .

I wasn’t feeling up to writing an article in Happy Camp News about the deaths that transpired, so I asked the woman I’m trying to sell the site to, to write it. She did an upstanding job of it: Tragedy In Happy Camp. I love her writing style.

. . .

Yesterday Bob and I went shopping in Southern Oregon. We had a great day. I bought some healing jewelry, a tie-dye t-shirt, and some exercise equipment. We ate at a Chinese restaurant in Grant’s Pass.

So a study comes out that says that High Fructose Corn Syrup does not contribute to obesity. But here's a few "sneaky" things about this "study".

1. First off they didn't study the affects of HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) on any individuals. They just read through OTHER studies and literature reviews.

2. Secondly, WHO did this "study" - Maryland Center for Food, Nutrition, and Agriculture Policy (CFNAP). It's no wonder they "found nothing".

3. Guess who funded this "study" - Tate and Lyle - and you know who they are? Large corn refiner in North America - Tate started out as a SUGAR REFINER. Well OF COURSE they couldn't find anything wrong with the studies funders MAIN source of business.

How bogus can you get. You can read this ridiculousness here:

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/531862/

Friday, July 13 was my birthday. To celebrate, my boyfriend, Bob, and I went to the coast. It was great to get out of the Klamath River Valley for a few days. I had a great time, bought a bunch of stuff, won money at a casino that gave me play money for my birthday, and slept overnight in a motel.

When we returned on Saturday night at 11:30pm we were appalled to see a bright red mass of forest fire flames on the hill right next to the forested hill I live on. When we left on Friday, that wasn’t there. The lightning that started all the fires hit the Wednesday before. There are dozens of fires burning all through this forest, but this particular fire ignited two days later and came way too close to our little town of Happy Camp.

So my last few days have been occupied with packing for evacuation, storing valuables elsewhere, attending community fire information meetings, writing articles about the fires for Happy Camp News, being elated when it rained heavily on Tuesday night, and in general, feeling like I was misplaced.

Here’s something you never want to see happening less than a mile from your home. This is what it looked like last Tuesday. We had a lot of people praying for us and God sent rain on Tuesday night. Now there are only a few white wisps of smoke coming up in various places from the forest. I pray it doesn’t get this bad again before they get the entire fire under control. The fire is called the Little Grider Fire after Little Grider Creek, a creek that runs a mile southwest of here. The fire was between our town and the creek.

The map shows how close this fire got to my house.

I’ve been going to work every day. Yesterday at the pizza place where I work we were inundated by hungry fire fighters. I guess they had the day off because of the rain the night before. Guess what. Fire fighters like pizza. They kept us busy from noon to closing time, 9pm. Actually I heard that the night shift stayed open an extra hour to accommodate the famished. Seemed like almost everyone wanted their own personal sized mini pizzas, and we probably sold over a hundred, whereas we usually sell less than five of those in a day.

The good news is that the fire moved away from town and it looks like I won’t have to evacuate after all.

I’ll get back on my schedule again soon - I didn’t even have my computer in my home for a few days so I couldn’t do any blogging at all. For now I’ll file this with my thankfulness articles because I’m so grateful my house didn’t burn down.

Bob and I are heading out for our daily fire watch time. We go across the river every day to get a good look at fire suppression helicopters and to see where the smoke is coming from. See ya later!

Listening is a choice. Traditional advertising is great at pushing out messages they think we need to hear. But there's a backlash of consumer protest. Consumers are becoming more and more powerful. The Internet has changed everything. In the past, word of mouth was from one person to another but now a dissatisfied customer can post a bad review and it can be broadcast instantly to the world. It's time for advertisers to LISTEN to the consumers. Advertising and marketing executives are waking up to the reality. And I for one, am glad!

I saw a commercial on TV for a mascara that is supposed to make your lashes about ten times thicker and more lush. Yeah, right? The model had the longest lashes and it was obvious they were false eyelashes. Who do they think they're kidding? No wonder we don't trust them anymore!

Vegan Visitor is a blog that invites you in with scrumptious recipes and colorful photography. The author starts her introduction by writing, “This is a guide to fill you, satisfy and demystify vegan cuisine.” Then she tells the story of her consternation at learning her fiancé’s parents, who were coming to dinner, were vegans. She had no idea what to serve them and had to research in cookbooks to figure out what to cook. That was a while back; now she’s a regular at vegan cooking and shares her recipes on her blog.

This blog is nominated for the Blogger’s Choice award. It would be nice to take time to vote for it while you’re checking it out.

One major thing I feel is missing from the blog is more description about the writer. I really prefer blogs where you can get to know the person who’s doing the writing. She’s got a great writing style, but there’s no name or picture to go with it. Still her personal stories are interesting and her talent for cooking is obvious. I recommend a look at her recipe blog, for anyone who enjoys vegan food.

Now I’ve got to hurry to get ready for work, and I’ll be out of town this evening and hopefully tomorrow. Today is my birthday and my boyfriend is taking me out on the town in the Eureka, California area. Have fun this Friday night.

Something sweet to drink on a hot day:

Combine a 12 ounce can of frozen orange juice, melted… with 2 quarts of 7up.

Add 1 pint of orange sherbet and 1 pint of vanilla ice cream on top, by spoonfuls.

Serves 12.

1. Cook pasta according to the directions, making sure it's al dente. Omit Salt. Drain

2. Add coconut oil to pan and heat over med-high heat. Once the oil is shimmering add the chicken. Stir fry the chicken for 5 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.

3. Add broccoli and 2 tabl of water to the pan. Cover the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Uncover and add the bell pepper and the green onions and stir fry for 2 minutes longer. Everything will be tender crisp. Add the chicken to the bowl of pasta and put the vegetables on top.

4. Meanwhile, combine the peanut butter, 2 tabl of VERY hot water, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes and garlic powder in a small bowl. If it doesn't get creamy then microwave it for 30 seconds. Stir til creamy. Drizzle over pasta mixture; toss to coat. Serve immediately.
Serves 4

One serving:

Calories: 365
Fat: 17
S. Fat: 5
Carbs: 12
Fiber: 3
Protein: 24

Again, real pictures, no doctoring up. I made these straight off of the box. I used coconut oil to fry in. As in regular pancakes the first ones turned out kind of greasy but the rest were sort of "strange" looking. I thought they tasted fine. My husband noted the crunchy ones tasted like "pancake dust". LOL With sugar free syrup they were a fair substitute. I'm still going to look for a "real" texture. These would be VERY band friendly as they were a bit on the flat crunchier side!


2 cups carbquik - LC Baking Mix
1/8 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup water
1 stick butter, melted
1/8 cup water

Stir together and cook following directions on the box.

Made 8 pancakes - 1 pancake:

Calories: 234 (a little on the high side for me)
Fat: 20
S. Fat: 10
Carbs: 20
Fiber: 16
Protein: 8

Cream Cheese Crockpot Chicken

This is a creamy delicious dish that even your non-low-carb friends (isn't that about everyone we know! LOL) will love. We serve it over a very SMALL amount of Dreamfields pasta (like 2oz of cooked pasta).


4 each Chicken Breast - skinless boneless
3 each Chicken Thighs - bone-in with skin (my hubby LOVES the skin)
2 tablespoons butter
1 package Italian Dressing Mix - Good Seasons
7 ounces chopped onions, frozen
14 ounces condensed cream of mushroom soup
8 ounces lowfat cream cheese
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 dash salt
1 dash pepper


1. Brush chicken with butter and sprinkle with the dry Italian seasoning mix/ (I did two layers in my crockpot to make sure that the Italian seasoning got on all the chicken and not just those pieces on top.) Do this on both sides.

2. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or cook on high for 3-4 hrs.

3. About 45 minutes before done, brown the onion in the butter and then add the cream cheese, soup, and chicken broth to the saucepan. Add the crushed garlic and stir all ingredients until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Drain some of the liquid in the crockpot (about half) and pour sauce mixture over chicken and cook an additional 30-45 minutes.

5. Remove chicken to platter and stir sauce before ladling some over the chicken and serving the rest in a gravy boat. Serve over faux rice or LC pasta.

For 4oz of meat and 1/4 cup of sauce:

Calories: 307
Fat: 21
S. Fat: 8
Carbs: 6
Fiber: Trace
Protein: 26gms

As I mentioned in the Post about the Chocolate Tops - these are pricey ($18.00 for 1 dozen). They are 2oz in size. They also contain Malitol, but that does not seem to affect me. They are only 6 carbs per muffin. They also contain NO soy.

As for the Review:

I also toasted these in the Toaster Oven and can I saw: WOW - they were LOADED with walnuts on the top and the toaster oven, toasted them up BEAUTIFULLY and gave the nuts such a great "toasted" taste.

Ease of Use: Again, if you can use your toaster oven, then I'd give them a 10.

Taste: These are GREAT. Very banana flavored and if you miss bananas, these are a nice substitute. I'd give these a 7 for flavor.

Band Friendly: Well, if you can't eat bread, don't try these. They are afterall a MUFFIN top. I don't wear my band too tight, so I can have these on "most" mornings and every evening (not that I do - they are an occasional treat). So I'd give them a 2 for band friendliness.

You can buy these here:

Vitalicious Low-Carb Muffin Tops

This was a HUGE week for both my daughter and I. She has managed to lose 41lbs now and has hit the milestone of going UNDER 200lbs. She was delighted and I couldn't be prouder of her. I got to thinking how hard it is for ANYONE to lose 41lbs, but for a teenager to do it is nothing short of amazing.

The best part of it, is that she's "not starving herself" and really doesn't see herself as dieting. She is just eating "good food" and making sure she's not eating unless she's hungry and eating til satisified. WOW - how smart is that??

I have also broken through some sort of wall and managed to lose 3lbs this week. After a week of gaining 2lbs. I do believe that gain was PMS gain - which is odd as I shouldn't technically have PMS as I'm on the "pill". But that old PCOS reared it's ugly head and had it's way with me last week. So in the midst of my "cycle" I LOST 3lbs. How weird is that? I'm also down another pound since then, so next week looks good as well.

I did change up a few things this week. I'm still eating on average 1400 calories a day and under 40 carbs a day AFTER subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols (but I'd like to add I eat VERY little sugar alcohols because I try to keep things as clean as possible). I have added back the Glucophage I quit taking when I first started low-carbing as it was making me so sick to my stomach I was almost vomiting (a big no-no for lapbanders as it can cause slippage of our bands, which most of the time means going back under to the knife for a small repair). I also have added the following suppliments after looking up good ones, that Dr. Atkins recommends for those of us who are VERY metabolically challenged (the first group is what Dr. Atkins recommends and at the amount her recommends and the second group are some additional supliments I've added as well):

Chromium Picolinate - 1000mcg
L-Carnitine - 1500mg
CoQ10 - 100mg

Flax - 1000mg
Fish Oil - 1000mg
Krill Oil - 1000mg (for the anti-inflamatory properties - I hope to get off the daily Naproxen Sodium for the Fibromyalgia)

I used to take the Flax and Fish Oil before my band, but was worried they'd be too big. I've had no trouble taking them.

I can't say why I've dropped weight, but I have and I'm delighted. I'll continue taking these suppliments as long as I can.

The government has spent over $1 billion dollars on changing how schoolage children are eating and the results are NOT GOOD.

Dancing fruits and veggies, paying kids to eat them and even the kids who are "following" this new program is NOT working.

Dr. Tom Baranowski, a pediatrics professor at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine who studies behavioral nutrition, says..."Any person looking at the published literature about these programs would have to conclude that they are generally not working".

Here is the complete article:

Fight Against Childhood Obesity is NOT WORKING.