Day 2 - 2 Week Atkins Induction Challenge

Day 2 – SusieT Report

Weight 264 lbs (-2lbs), Pre-poopy
FBG - 103
Pain - 4
Mood - 9
Walking - 30 Minutes

Susie’s Comments –



Note to Self - Count Your Blessings!

As expected, I’m down a couple of pounds from yesterday. Water weight for certain. I was peeing like Secretariat yesterday so could almost feel the fluid departing from my swollen and inflamed body.

Even though I ate the ginormous half of a Kitchen Sink (that’s code for the Kitchen Sink that only has 1 beef patty in it, instead of 2) at Beck’s Prime last night, I felt peckish before dropping off to sleep and wondered if I would be able to sleep due to hunger.

And that started me off feeling I’m so very blessed to have a roof over my head and warm, abundant food in my tummy. Somewhere in America there are children who aren’t as lucky. That made me very sad. So I said lots of prayers and fell asleep counting my blessings.

Counting blessings is an excellent past-time! PMA is critical to success in all of life. Too often I get sucked in to my panic of the moment or start focusing on the aftermath of the cancer – all-consuming fatigue and widespread pain and neuralgia due to the chemo, surgery and radiation – and I feel resentful of it all. I play the “why-me” game. I whine. I waste time in negative thoughts.

And I focus on the pain. I can promise you that anything you focus on builds until it becomes larger than life and holds more power than it really has – like the Wizard of Oz.

He was just a little man behind a curtain puttin’ on a great show. And everyone in Oz believed in his mighty power. They feared and were controlled. Once Dorothy and company ripped the curtain open and exposed Oz, he lost his power and majesty and the ability to control through fear.

I think that’s what our challenge is as people. We are challenged to greet each day and determine, “Today is going to be a spectacular day. I will focus on the positive. I have the power to choose happiness and success. I will choose to eat on plan. I will feel the inflammation leave my body and pain levels reduce. And I give the glory to God for this right to choose. Any time I feel hungry, I will offer it up for His use and in remembrance of the scores of people right here in America who feel uncertainty and hunger.”

It's easy to preach, but the hard is in the "doing." As difficult as choosing positivity is some days, I sometimes feel that if each of us woke up every morning and made that decision – just did something like choosing happiness, contentment and productivity – we would be so much better off. Sounds simplistic and a bit Polyanna-esque, but experience has taught me that the self-fulfilling prophecy is a strong power.

Have a most blessed and excellent day everyone!

Day 2 Food

Soft Boiled Egg with Goat Cheese, Spinach and Tomato
is quick, easy fix for weekday brekkys!

Breakfast
Soft Boiled Egg with Spinach, Tomatoes & Goat Cheese


(Note - You can have 1-2 soft boiled eggs with this recipe. I feel satisfied with 1 soft boiled egg and the 2 oz of goat cheese and figure I can alway eat more for lunch if I get hungry!)





Recipe:

So simple my sock monkey boys can make this breakfast!

Soft Boiled Egg with Spinach, Tomatoes, Goat Cheese
Serves – 1
Prep Time – 2 Minutes
Cooking Time – 7 Minutes
Difficulty – Easy

Ingredients
1-2 large Eggs
4c Baby Spinach
1 Campari Tomato
2 oz Goat Cheese
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 clove Garlic, slivered
1 small Campari Tomato
Sea Salt and Black Pepper, to taste

Fill sauce pan with water and bring to simmer over high heat.

While water for egg is heating, select a small sauté pan, add olive oil and slivered garlic clove. Heat for 1 minute over high heat.

Add spinach, salt and pepper. Stir until just starting to wilt. Turn off heat and remove pan from burner. Spinach will continue to wilt. Reserve in hot pan until egg is finished boiling and you are ready to plate.

Delicately slide an egg or two (still in the shell) into the water. It’s easy to rest the egg in a large spoon and slowly submerge into the water. Set timer for 6 minutes.

Remove egg at 6 minutes and allow to stand an additional minute.

Run egg under cold water until it’s cool enough to peel. Peel egg.

Cut egg and place on top of sautéed spinach and garlic.

Place sliced tomato and goat chunks of goat cheese around egg.

Serve immediately.

(Sam's and Costco have much cheaper prices on Organic Baby Spinach. Spinach is one of the Dirty Dozen most contaminated, pesticide-driven, crops - so it pays to eat Organic if you can.)

Lunch

Lunch = One Part Left Overs + One Part Necessity Being
The Mother of Invention!
(Asian Pork Soup from Day 1 + Fancy Egg Salad with Veggies)

1 c Egg Salad with Veggies
2 oz Red Bell Pepper
2 oz Kohlrabi
1 med rib Celery
2 Pork Rinds
1 c Asian Pork, Egg, Cabbage, Mushroom Soup








Recipe:

Fancy Egg Salad with Veggies

Fancy Egg Salad with Veggies and Pork Rinds

Serves 3-4
Prep Time – 15 Minutes
Cooking Time – 12 Minutes
Difficulty - Easy

Ingredients6 large Eggs, whole
2 large Green Onions
1 large rib Celery
1 large Jalapeno with seeds
2 Tbsp Country Style Dijon
4 Tbsp Greek Yogurt*
4 Tbsp Mayonnaise
1 tsp Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar
¼ tsp Garlic
1 Tbsp Parsley, dried
Sea Salt and Black Pepper, to taste

Place eggs in saucepan and cover with cool tap water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to simmer and allow to boil until hard, about 12 minutes.

While eggs are boiling, chop onions, celery and jalapeno.

Run cold water over eggs until they are cool enough to peel. Peel and discard shells.

Roughly chop eggs. I use a pastry cutter to do this very quickly.

Combine eggs and veggies with dressing components and seasoning. Mix well and serve.

This will keep for 2 days, refrigerated in an air tight container.

Serve with cut fresh veggies. Red bell pepper and thinly sliced kohlrabi make a refreshing, cruncy cracker-substitute.

(*Greek Yogurt - Is not considered an Induction-Level food choice for the first 2 weeks. This is my normal recipe for Fancy Egg Salad. To make this Induction Friendly, please sub out the Greek Yogurt with either sour cream or extra mayonnaise. Homemade mayo tastes better and is better for ya, but store bought works too if you don't mind eating a wad of soybean oil, partially hydrogenated oils/transfats and other "stuff"! *sniff!* Damn you food manufacturers!)


Dinner

Fred Flintstone Beef Rib with Asparagus & Mushroom

1 Beef Rib, grilled
4 Asparagus Spears
1 Mushroom
1 Tbsp Butter

(Note: I totally LOVE ribeye steak! But these days they are SO freaking expensive!!! I went freezer diving and found a package of these bad boys vacuum sealed in the depths of ice station zebra. At the time, I paid $1.79/lb for them.

These are ribs left after the butcher cuts the ribeye steak off them to sell at eleventy gazillion dollars a pound. You can find these today for about $2.04lb. Expensive-er but still cheap for ribeye steak!

You heard me. I paid $1.79/lb for these ribs.

For ribeye steak. On a "stick". Who doesn't love food on a stick?

Score!

The end.

(Note - I decided not to put the nutritional information from vitamins and minerals on each daily chart because Fitday isn't always accurate about adding up the vitamin totals and percentages, especially when you add in custom recipes.)

*Note. Thank GOD today is over! I did not think there was any way on this green earth I would make it under 20g Net Carbs today coming in to dinner with so few carbs left. I felt like I had used up life and was screechin' into home on two wheels and fumes in the tank! I was almost in tears trying to figure out how to eat the rest of the day with less than 6g of net carbs left.

I thankfully had the last pitiful dregs of asparagus in the crisper drawer yelling at me, "Choose me! Oh. Oh. Choose me!"

I also had 2 last pitiful and almost slimy mushrooms that either had to go down the gullet or just "go". So far, it's 4:01am. I have insomnia. But no gastric distress from said mushroom. Haven't heard from Denny so assume all is proper in his world too. Score!

And the best news? Today is a NEW freakin' fantastic day and opportunity to better manage my carb allotment! Can I have an allelujuah?! Allelujuah!!!!