:lol:

:iagree: Welcome to the club! :lol: Me too. I cut out all grains, potatoes, other starches and sugars, and the weight's coming off. ETA: this does not need to be forever, but when I reach my goal I will have to be very careful with the amount of starches and sugars that I consume. I can't go back to eating the way I used to (no one can, with any diet). :iagree: Agree again. Food got me into this, and food is getting me out of it. I haven't read the whole thread yet, so don't know if anyone's mentioned it, but you're welcome to join us at The Weight Loss Challenge social group.

Yep. We did. :D This is the second time--the first was probably 6 years ago, and the meat was really good. I think I got a better deal this time. His line was that it was the end of the day, and he had these "extra" boxes left over. He was offering to sell them to us for 50% off, which would be around $175. I hemmed & hawed a bit and said that was too much for us. He said to make him an offer. I said $100. He almost winced at that. He asked if I could meet him halfway. I said I couldn't. Then he said his cost was $120 and he could give it to us for that, since he'd get a bonus if he sold them all. I hemmed & hawed and said I couldn't do it. He asked if I could go halfway--$110. I said no. I was planning to not get it at all, and it was evident in my voice & body language. So he came down to $100. :tongue_smilie:

Here's a very detailed article.

Unlikely that excess protein turns into glucose? It's a function of the liver. Here's some info. You can find it elsewhere, too. Even a small fraction of fat can be turned into glucose.

Have to mention this too... From the same page on the website: "To satisfy your sweet tooth, you can have sugar-free gelatin desserts and up to two Atkins shakes or bars coded for Induction (Phase 1)." On that low carb forum, they usually recommend against using artificial sweeteners if at all possible, especially while on Induction. They also say low carb bars or shakes can really slow/stall weight loss, even though the sugar alcohols are not supposed to affect blood sugar. Atkins continues to promote those products, even during Induction, but remember that Atkins is now a company primarily interested in their nutritional products. That's one reason many people prefer the 2002 or earlier books.

I'm doing Atkins. I also did it several years ago, but went back to my old eating habits since then. I recently found this low carb forum that I've found very helpful. I never read the 1972 book, but I have the 2002 version. I don't know what the more recent ones say. I looked at the Atkins website to see where it says 6 cups a day. It says, "Eat no more than 20 grams a day of Net Carbs, 12 to 15 grams of them as foundation vegetables. This means you can eat approximately six loosely packed cups of salad and two cups of cooked vegetables per day. Remember, carb counts of various vegetables vary, so be sure to check them." My book says 3 cups of salad or 2 cups salad plus 1 cup other allowed vegetables. The problem that a lot of people encounter is, what is a salad? Does it have to be lettuce? What about other "salad veggies"? So I suspect that the website, and maybe the newer books, say 6 cups loosely packed salad (probably mostly referring to lettuce, which is very, very low in net carbs and calories), to really encourage people to get their veggies. A lot of people on Atkins tend to skimp or forego their veggies, since with an increased fat intake you tend to fill up faster and not feel as hungry. The most important part is to get about 2/3 to 3/4 of your net carbs as veggies, and watch the carb counts on other items, such as cheese, cream, salad dressing and other condiments. Don't forget that Atkins is not a high protein diet...if you consume too much protein your body will turn the excess into glucose. Another reason to keep the balance with lots of green veggies.

This was supposed to be the coolest day of the week, even at 92. I did have dc drink plenty of water and we got the ice packs out of my cooler back a few times to cool down with. At one point dd8 said she was getting a headache (we were in a butterfly enclosure, it was pretty warm and she said it was the noise that was bothering her). I gave her some tylenol and we sat & rested in the air conditioned part of the building for a few extra minutes for good measure. I didn't want to take chances that it was more than the noise.

92˚. 6 hours. :svengo: That's all.

No. Dc say it during the school year on Wednesday nights at our church's kids club, and twice a month at AHG. So they know it, but there's no need to do it at home as part of school.

Pfft. So they shouldn't be encouraged to read more? :001_huh:

Well, you can't turn those in early, and it's expected to enter the extra time above 15 min/day.

We're doing the Half Price Books summer reading program, which is a minimum of 15 minutes a day. I tell dc they have to tell me when they start to read and when they finish, or else it won't count. Then I add up the minutes and mark it on their chart.

I would go back in and ask to talk to someone else. Go higher up if you can. On another note, I'd love a library reading program that awards a t-shirt and a book. Ours just enters dc for a drawing. Last year it was a bike, which would have been great if they won (didn't); this year it's an iPod (I'd rather they win books or a gift certificate to a bookstore). Their chances of winning are so low. I decided that each time they complete a bookmark (read 10 books or for 5 hours, turn in as many bookmarks as you can during the contest period; last year the bookmarks were 20 books or 10 hours) I will let dc pick something from my prize box. I put a little check mark at the bottom corner of their bookmark so I know they've redeemed it for a prize and I can set it aside to take to the library next time we go.

When I go pick up pizza at Dominoes (it's delivery or carry out only, no dining area), there is a place on the receipt for a tip. I do not tip when I'm picking up, only when I get delivery. I assume it's there not to encourage people to tip for carry out, but because it would be silly/cost-ineffective to have two different point of sale systems to generate different types of receipts.

Grains and dairy are two of the MOST inflammatory foods that you can eat - if you are having joint pain and inflammation then removing both of those from your diet for a time could really help. If you google around you will find many people who found this to be true for them.I got to this point and I just had to share my experience at the dentist today. I go every 3 months because I have periodontal disease. My gums usually bleed a lot when they clean my teeth. I also usually forget to floss, and they (just about everyone at the office who takes care of my teeth) know it. I've been eating low carb for about 4 weeks now, and completely grain-free, potato-free and very low sugar for probably 2.5+ weeks. First, the hygenist immediately noticed my weight loss. I told her about how I've been eating. Then, while she's cleaning my teeth, she said my gums are so much healthier. She asked if I made any changes--more brushing, more flossing, etc. I said no. She said it must be my diet. She was very impressed. She said normally my gums bleed a lot (she said more, but it might be too graphic for this thread ;) ), but they didn't much today (very unusual for me!). So there was a huge reduction in inflammation. It's not something I would have previously linked to the foods I eat, but now I can see the correlation.

I know you probably know this, but just wanted to clarify for anyone else: Sugar is a carb. So is starch and fiber. The body turns sugar and starch into glucose; fiber has no effect on blood sugar, that's why people on low carb diets subtract the fiber from the total carbohydrate count to find out how many carbs they're consuming that will affect their blood sugar. So as someone else mentioned, even a really healthy, whole grain bread will have carbohydrates that will affect blood sugar because there is still starch in it that will be turned into glucose. ETA: fruit & veggies have carbs, too, so "cutting out carbs but eating fruit & veggies" is not cutting out carbs. Check the sugar/starch content (glycemic index/net carb count) to find out which ones are the better ones to eat.

I lost a housecat and am almost up to a Bald Eagle.

Yeah, Red Pop is strawberry flavor, according to the can. Faygo flavors

No, nowhere near a cola or Dr Pepper. It's a fruity flavor.

It's a red pop made only by Faygo, as far as I know. It's not strawberry or cherry or any other common fruit. I don't know how to describe it. It's unique.

I live near this store, where I can probably find every brand of pop mentioned in this thread (except the store brands that have been mentioned). Go ahead--be jealous. :tongue_smilie:

:iagree: And it's never just church personnel. It takes a boatload of volunteers to run VBS.

We used to make "swamp water," which was a combination of Faygo Rock & Rye and whatever other pop flavors you wanted to mix in--you had to have Rock & Rye and at least 2-3 other flavors to achieve swamp water.

I used to drink Stewart's Key Lime in Michigan's U.P.