I'LL HAVE MY CAKE AND EAT IT PLEASE!

Oh yes I will! Who said a low carb diet means you can't eat cake? Well whoever did, they didn't know what they were talking about... Just look here, at this mouthwatering little treat of mine from last night:



Believe it or not, the recipe is the same as for that sunflower flat bread - just omit salt and/or spices, and replace with sweetener (I use Sukrin because it is 100% natural, but not sure if it's available outside Norway?) and cocoa powder. The frosting is made with butter, cocoa powder, sweetener and a little coffee for that yummy mocha taste.

And now for another recipe - yummy tuna cakes:



1 can of tuna, drained
1 egg
2 tbsp finely ground sunflower seeds
1/2 tbsp psyllium husk fibre (PHF)
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp chopped chillies
1 tbsp oil
A dash of lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything really well, and leave to stand for 10 minutes (to allow the PHF to do its job, preventing everything from falling to bits when frying) before shallow frying until golden brown on both sides. Yummyyyyy!

Read more...

A DIFFERENT AND VERY YUMMY VERSION OF THE SUNFLOWER FLAT BREAD

My supper tonight - looks yummy eh?







It's a different take on the flat bread baked with ground sunflower seeds that I posted about the other day. If you want to have a go at making this, you will need to look at the original recipe in this post - and then make the following modifications:

• Replace the cream cheese with cottage cheese
• Add a good handful of grated Jarlsberg cheese (or another yummy cheese) and a teaspoon of dried rosemary to the batter
• Sprinkle sea salt and rosemary on top before baking

Enjoy!

Read more...

BACK ON THE LOW CARB WAGON

I let things slip. Badly. But I am back on a very carb restricted diet, and I feel GREAT. It's pretty apparent that carbs do nothing for me, apart from making me bloated, sluggish and low on energy. After only 3-4 days without carbs, following a sugar/carb withdrawal from HELL, I emerged on the other side to find the bloatedness had gone and my energy levels were WAY better. Now, after a full carb-restricted week, I have gone into ketosis and so hopefully the weight should start dropping again too.

Been baking low carb bread again, and felt like sharing some pics for inspiration... first out is the bread you can find the recipe for here:



Here served with an omelette and parma ham...



I also tested a new recipe, for a flat bread baked with ground sunflower seeds instead of flour:

3 eggs
75 g full-fat cream cheese
50 ml double cream
110 g finely ground sunflower seeds
1 tbsp psyllium husk fibre
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 scoop (approx 2 heaped tbsp) unflavoured whey protein powder
1 tsp salt

I used a food processor to grind the sunflower seeds finely and it worked a treat. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and whizz with a hand-held blender. Spread ontp a lined baking tray (spread it so it's about 1 cm thick) and bake at 200 °C for about 15 minutes. I also sprinkled some sesame seeds on top before baking. Allow to cool slightly on a wire rack, then cut into 12 squares and store in an air tight container.



Here served with a generous helping of cream cheese and smoked salmon.. YUM!



If you spread the batter much thinner, and pre-bake it, it makes a lovely low-carb pizza base too:



Enjoy!

Read more...

GETTING READY TO BE SHREDDED!

So, after a loooong period of being way too lazy and eating way too many carbs... I'm back on track, and back blogging! In addition to running I've just started Jillian Michael's 30 day shred, and have just completed day 3 of level 1. I have heard so many people getting good results from the program, so thought I'd give it a go. Of course, here are "before" pics from 3 days ago - I have to have something to compare with once the 30 days are over!

If you are feeling brave, the images can be clicked for larger versions ;) I'll be updating with pics again on day 10, 20 and 30...

Read more...

FIRST RUN OVER 10K

11.45k in fact. I did 10k in JUST under an hour, and since I felt I could, I kept on going :) On a proper endorphin high now! Whooooooo!

Read more...

PROGRESS PHOTO - MAY 2010

It's been a while since I last posted a progress pic, so here goes. Weightwise there hasn't been much change lately, but since I started running I see a major difference in my legs and thighs. Running takes care of toning up the legs - so now I need to focus on toning those abs and arms! And I need to get my eating back on track, have had far too many carbs lately and not only has weight loss stagnated, but it makes me feel bloated and sluggish too.

Hope you're all having a nice weekend!

Read more...

NEW SHOES AND NEW TOY

Ahem, I mean gadget. Not toy, GADGET. There's a difference ;)



So I got my new running shoes today (thanks mum!) and also picked up my Nike+ sensor from the post office. Was looking forward to taking them for a test run after work, but for some reason the sensor refused to activate. It paired ok with my iPhone, but just wouldn't activate when I wanted to log a workout. So I faffed around for 10 minutes, but realised if I didn't run NOW, there'd be no time left even for a quick 3k - so thought "sod it" and just went. The new shoes are amazing, I love'em! And they're silver and pink - did I mention I love them? Can't wait to try a longer run in those babies.

FWIW, the Nike+ sensor activated with no further problems when I got home and rebooted my iPhone - so I will get to test it properly tomorrow.

Read more...