boring diet page, formerly known as the lo carblog.

Public Service Announcement: Do NOT eat too many of those sugar-free candies at one time. Seriously. You will regret it.
binki 5:34 PM |

Patting myself on the back a little. I've gotten through two of the big three holidays in this season and stayed in ketosis through both of them. Yay me. I also was in a housewares store and hopped on a scale--I'm not sure what my technical "starting weight" was, but, allowing for coat and shoes and everything, I'm down around 10 pounds from what I thought I weighed. So that's cool.

I was in a great big Acme the other night, and man, there are a lot of new low-carb products out there. I swear, it's a movement. I truly believe that in ten years nobody will be fat if they don't want to be. It just seems so inevitable. Little by little there are fewer and fewer reasons to not do this low-carb thing. When someone comes out with a really good LC pasta, buy stock and stand back.

It's too cold to try all the LC ice creams and stuff right now, but I did try the sugar-free Reese's and Hershey's bars. The Hershey bars weren't anything special. Take everything that's lame about American chocolate and multiply it, and you'll end up with one of these things. Kind of waxy and bland. The Reese's cups, on the other hand, were pretty darn good. I imagine side by side you would be able to tell the difference, but I haven't had a regular one in a while and these things definitely did the trick. Definitely heed their warning about eating too many of them at once, though. If the price doesn't convince you to make the bag last, the whateveritol they use to sweeten them will. 'Nuff said.
binki 5:34 PM |

I've figured out where the "cappuccino" flavor is supposed to be in the Keto shake. I tried the "cappuccino" flavor Soy Slender and it all makes sense to me now. Imagine being overcharged for one of those huge cups of foamed milk with about two over-roasted beans' worth of espresso in it that you can get at your local Charbucks. Then imagine dumping the contents of one of their sugar dispensers into it. Know how that last sip would taste? Like wet sugar, with a faint caramelly brownness to it? That's the flavor right there. The Soy Slender has the vaguest resemblance to coffee, unlike the Keto mix which is still totally unidentifiable. That said, I actually really like both of them. Just don't expect anything that tastes like coffee. Maybe, at a stretch, they taste a little like New Englandish coffee milk. Which I also like.

I wish WestSoy would make a low-carb regular soy milk, though. They do make an unsweetened one, but I don't want something that tastes of soybeans! I can get straight-up Japanese-style soy milk at my local international market. I want the American-style thick sweet stuff, only with Splenda. If the Soy Slender line catches on, I hope they'll add a regular version to it. The flavors are good and all, but they're all wrong for pouring over cereal.
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I've just tried the vanilla-flavored Soy Slender. The vanilla is very subtle, more of an aftertaste than a milkshake-like punch in the palate. It might disappoint someone looking for a vanilla drink, but on the other hand it probably wouldn't be too offensive over cereal after all. I will try it soon.
binki 5:33 PM |

Just placed another whompin' Netrition order. Having a good backup of protein powder gives me the same safe feeling as having a new roll of stamps. I ordered a couple of new products so I'll have reviews of them in the near future.

Which reminds me, we tried Baja Bob's Margarita Mix last night. It wasn't half bad, though the package instructions are crack-based. They say to mix 3 parts of the mix with 1 part of tequila. We did 2 to 1, and it was still a little too sweet for me. I think it'd be better 1.5 to 1 or even 1 to 1. Further research will, of course, be necessary. It's awfully nice to have a low-carb margarita option. I've got a bottle of the Desert Lime flavor in my Netrition order and will report back on that once I try it.
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I adore Netrition. I didn't realize today was Friday when I placed my order. This is a problem, since I'll be at D's for the first part of next week. I called Netrition to see if I could delay the package, and nice guy Frank physically went to the warehouse to stop it for me. I can't recommend this company highly enough.
binki 5:33 PM |

Today's product review: WestSoy's Soy Slender. This is soy milk that's sweetened with Splenda. I tried the chocolate, the only flavor they had at the local store, and it's excellent. They advertise that they have only 5 grams of carbs per serving, but they oddly refrain from trumpeting the fact that there's also 4 grams of fiber in each serving, thereby making ONE GRAM of effective carbs per serving. In other words, practically free food. I'd have that all over the front of the package if I owned the company. (Disclaimer: I do own a few shares of their parent company, Hain Celestial.) And it tastes good! And it's a soy product! I'm going to buy a lot of this stuff.
binki 5:33 PM |

Tried an Atkins Endulge bar yesterday, "caramel nut chew" flavor. It wouldn't fool anybody into thinking it was a real candy bar; you just can't do caramel without sugar, I don't think. It was kind of bland but it made for some satisfying munching during the play. I'd buy it again.

For dinner, we went to Burritoville, a burrito place I'd been missing. They have a great new menu option: the Bowl-Rito. You get one protein, a choice of chicken, two kinds of beef or their veggie chorizo. Then you get four other things. Choices include lettuce, mixed veggies, different cheeses, sour cream, guacamole, rice, several bean choices, chips, several salsas, and more that I can't remember right now. It was easy to create a low-carb bowl o' yum. I hope this catches on.
binki 5:32 PM |

The Keto cappuccino-flavored shake mix has a very sweet and caramelly taste which is nothing like any cappuccino I've ever had. It's not bad, but it's not cappuccino. I'll mix it with the chocolate flavor from now on, I think, or maybe it'd be good with vanilla. I imagine it'd taste like the ice cream in butter pecan ice cream.

Went out last night and with some creative substitution (a big pile of callaloo instead of the usual starchy sides) it was a pretty luxurious low-carb meal. Sad I couldn't have had more of the corn soup, though. Their soups are always wonderful.
binki 5:32 PM |

Party season is going to be interesting. At the one last night, there were: chips, salsa, quesadillas, tempeh Reubens, veggie Cuban sandwiches, veggie wraps, won tons, and veggie fritters. Not much there without carbs in it. I had the middles of some sandwiches and threw out the bread, then had some guacamole with the lettuce that had lined the serving platter at the end of the night as we were cleaning up the food stuff. Not exactly gourmet, but I was starving (and shitfaced, on vodka and sodas!) Still in ketosis this afternoon.
binki 5:31 PM |

As always, Netrition delivers superfast, and the box got here today despite the snow. I got the mac and che, but it's 15g for the box (they call that three servings, but who are we kidding.) Maybe I'll make it and save half for tomorrow...naah. I'll save it until I'm really jonesing. It's expensive, of course. I think I'm gonna start putting Keto stuff in my Baggle bag. This is turning into a real luxury hobby.

I got the Keto hot chocolate mix, which came just in time for this wintry day. The container is very small and also very pricey. 20 servings, and the can is the size of a can of mixed nuts. In any case, I had some today and it was just lovely. I'd put cream in if I had any, but even with no dairy at all it hit that ho-cho spot that needed hitting today.

I also got the Keto Frosted Flakes cereal, honey nut flavor. I had a bit of that this evening, dry, as a snack. Can't say I'm wild about the flavor, and the texture is kind of like Baked Lay's but smaller and rounded--but again, it will do the trick in case of extreme cereal withdrawal. It'll have to be extreme; the stuff is trop cher, and the box is the size you'd normally buy Muesli in, not flakes.

I also got the strawberry-flavored shake, which tastes meh, not bad, but not Quik by any stretch. The cool thing is, it's beige in the can and doesn't turn pink until you mix it with water. And I got some low-carb margarita mix that I'm looking forward to trying. That and some restocking got me up to the $75 level, so I also got a free shaker cup. I like it; it's got a screen in it to break up lumps, and a nice closeable top. It's a great big sippy cup. What could be more of a comfort food?
binki 5:31 PM |

I just ordered up a passel of treats from Netrition, so check in here in the next week or so for my inevitable opinions.
binki 5:30 PM |

New fast food friend: Blimpie is rolling out a whole low-carb menu. Smart! The store I went to didn't have it yet, though. I did pretty well with a chicken breast salad platter from the regular menu, but would love to know more about that no-carb brownie they've got. And buffalo chicken salad? Uh, yum?
binki 5:30 PM |

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