South Beach

This week I purposely did not post for Ten on Tuesday - I might be able to stretch for some categories, but this week's Favorite cocktails or mocktails was too much of a stretch for me (as I don't drink or like mocktails even) so I decided to skip it.

I did want to post this week though, and then I ran into a problem. The only knitting items I am currently working on are not blog-able. They are gifts for people who could (whether they do or not, who knows) read the blog.

So.... I thought I'd post about another aspect of my life. I in the middle of day 5 out of 14 days of South Beach Diet, phase one. Phase one is a pretty strict two week course in re-training your body. For these two weeks you severely limit carbs and sugar - including pasta, rice, bread, starchy veg (carrots, peas), corn, oats, potatoes, fruit, milk, etc. None of those. Which sounds pretty drastic, but I am eating lean meat and eggs and low-fat cheese, and lots and lots of green vegetables.

For breakfast I am eating protein (eggs, cheese, canadian bacon), and at least 1/2 C vegetables - usually spinach in my eggs and a can of V8. For lunch I can have protein and at least 2 Cups of vegetables, and some fat. I usually have a large salad - lettuce and fresh spinach, cucumber, pea pods, broccoli, peppers, almonds, ham or chicken breast chopped up, and small amount of dressing. For dinner how I cook the vegetables varies, but I can have once again protein, at least 2 cups of vegetables, and some fat. I have 2-3 snacks a day - usually a certain amount of nuts, or celery with cheese. I also have a scattered through the day a variety of hard sugar free candies and some sugar free popsicles.

The first day or two was pretty hard, both because it was weekend/holiday, so not my normal schedule and also because I was pretty addicted to my carbs throughout the day. I absent-mindedly grabbed a cookie at the end of a library event yesterday, and I plan to cheat a bit tonight at bookclub, but otherwise I figure I can do this for 14 days. I am letting my kids eat some of our contraband food for their lunch and breakfast - but dinner I am only making one, so they have to eat our food or cheat from it in only small ways.

On day 15 I start phase two and I can start adding back in one serving of starch (bread/rice/pasta) and one serving of fruit. I can slowly increase those to three servings a day, as long as I don't notice cravings coming back. I can also add back in 1 1/2 c milk or yogurt.

I'm doing this diet with my husband - he's done it before a couple of times while I've done most of it but not stayed strictly with it due to other circumstances (pregnant or breastfeeding usually), so it's been interesting to do it completely. I usually feel so full by the end of the day - but i still want my chocolate - maybe soon I'll have to grab some sugar-free fudgsicles. The idea is to continue with phase two until you get to your desired weight and then move into phase 3 where you still eat with the same basic guidelines but add some things back in every once in a while. Our usual course of attack has been to do phase one and phase two for a while and then slowly drift back to our normal eating habit, to return and do phase one and phase two sometime (a year or two) in the future.

Now, if you made it this far, through all my diet talk...

I realized that my last post was post number 250. A milestone number of posts and the fact that I'm sick of snow and cold... that means that it's time for a contest! Just leave a comment and you'll be entered into the contest. Get someone else to leave a comment (they have to somehow mention you in their comment) and you'll get another entry (and they are then entered also!) I'll then pick a random winner from all the entries. The only rule is that you have to make sure I have your email address if you want to be able to win (I will not be tracking people down - I'll just skip to the next random winner who is easier to contact). Oh, right, and you can comment on any post going forward until the end of the contest - not just this one... Feel free to comment more than once - each comment on a separate post will give you a separate entry - multiple comments on the same post will only result in one entry - make sense?

Oh right, you might want to know the prize.... There are two options - if you are a knitter/crocheter you might be more interested in the first, otherwise you are welcome to choose either.

Option A: You can choose some fiber in my stash and I will spin one skein to whatever weight yarn you want... plied and washed and ready to make something with.

Option B: You can choose any project that will use one skein of yarn in my stash and I will make it for you. My stash in pretty eclectic right now so that's a lot of different project options, but if you get your heart set on something that isn't in my stash we can talk... no promises.

The contest will close to entries at midnight my time zone saturday March 5th - that gives quite a while for entries, and it just so happens to be the end of phase one for me! I'll pick a winner and let you know monday march 7th.