My doctor’s nurse returned my call yesterday with advice from my doctor: She said to try taking half of the antibiotic pill one hour after I eat, then the other half another hour later. I was skeptical after the first day with it, but I tried it this way after I ate dinner and I seemed to tolerate it better than the first time. I wasn’t extra sick all night, just Aunt Flo’s menacing and my usual gastro discomfort. So, I’ll keep taking it the way she suggested unless it makes me very ill again. Who knows, maybe it was something I ate and not the medication. I may never know unless I have a repeat of that first night. Don’t want.
After I posted yesterday, I said I was going to have some low-sodium V8 juice quick tomato soup and I did.
11oz low-sodium original V8 juice + 2 drops stevia extract + 1 oz Shop Rite shaved parmesan cheese (90 cal) + black pepper + 6g Kerrygold butter = 208 calories, 13 NET carbs
It’s SO GOOD! Highly recommend the parmesan cheese. Yum!
Along with the soup I had: 4 oz Fage full-fat Greek yogurt + 54g fresh blackberries
Blackberries are so sweet when you haven’t had sugar in a few days. Crazy! I love blackberries, don’t care for the huge seeds though. So woodsy. Blek!
UPS delivered my Amazon.com goodies that I ordered over the weekend. I LOVE Amazon.com Prime! It’s so convenient.
I ordered another spiralizer even though I haven’t used the one Dustin bought me for Valentine’s Day last year yet. 
This Joyce Chen spiralizer shows it slicing really thin spirals, almost paper-thin, that look awesome. Plus, it’s smaller. And it was on sale. So I decided to order it and give it a whirl.
I saw these salad dressing mixes mentioned somewhere on the interwebs and orders them too:
The only ingredients are herbs and sea salt. Sounds good! Added this cute little salad dressing bottle to my cart as well. Thought I might need something to make dressing in and store it easily.
And finally, after learning about the zero-cal sweetener made from chicory root extract, I ordered some Just Like Sugar to try out:
I had it in So Delicious no sugar added coconut milk “ice cream” this week and thought it was pretty good, even though it seemed to have an artificial sweetener aftertaste. Not sure if it was the chicory root extract or the other sweeteners they used. After my baking experiment last year I realized that the aftertaste is definitely the chicory root extract.
Too bad because the nutritional profile is legit…
It measures nearly like sugar, so this small bag wouldn’t last long. I think I’ll stick with my favorite NuNaturals stevia products from now on when I’m going for sugar-free sweetness. They have very little aftertaste compared to other stevia products and zero-cal sweeteners.
Dinner (late lunch) came from Yanni’s Gyro Express Café in Monticello. I wasn’t feeling all that wonderful most of the day, wasn’t even thinking about dinner until I was hungry for it. Realized my options were limited to fresh fruit + veggies and canned tuna/salmon or eggs. All meat and seafood was frozen and I didn’t really feel like tangling with it. So I looked over Yanni’s menu and found a lot of things that would suit my low-carb menu. I chose the grilled chicken with vegetables and added pork kebab.
It came with fries that I gave to my mom and a small Greek salad that I removed the grape leaf from and added to a larger bowl to use my own olive oil + vinegar, plus add more lettuce to. One cup salads don’t do it for me; I need at least 2 or 3 cups for it to count. 
Each piece of meat weighed ~2.5 oz, I weighed them before I ate, lol. Out of curiosity, of course. 
The veggies were quite good. A mix of zucchini, string beans, tomatoes, eggplant, and onions.
Taziki sauce (yogurt-based) on the side
Totally delish! I ate half of the meat, most of the veggies, half of the taziki sauce and most of the salad leaving behind a pool of oil + vinegar at the bottom of the bowl like I usually do. I ate the rest of the meats later on with some eggs + green bell pepper. I have no idea how many carbs or oils they used to prepare these foods, so I used my best judgment and erred on the side of overestimation. I do know that the meat is pure, no fillers, as were the veggies. They have a lovely menu with authentic Greek foods. Check them out if you’re in the area. One of the best places in Sullivan county to eat REAL food!
I felt a little ambitious last night and decided to make that grainless coconut pound cake recipe that I’ve been admiring for the longest time. I was driven by my lust for something doughy! 
I made some modifications:
- I used light coconut milk instead of full-fat (it’s all I had on hand)
- I replaced the coconut extract with lemon extract
- I omitted the honey and used Just Like Sugar
- I added 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
- I greased my loaf pan with butter instead of coconut oil
j3nn’s version:
8 servings = 145 calories, 5.25g NET carbs
12 servings = 97 calories, 3.5g NET carbs
The original recipe for Coconut Pound Cake with Strawberries by CFSCC
The batter smelled incredible as I was mixing it! A light citrus fragrance, reminiscent of walking into a bakery. I think it turned out really well. My only complaint is the mistake I made using Just Like Sugar. 
The cake is flavorful, moist, forgivably crumbly, and hard to tell that it’s grain- and gluten-free, but there was the artificial sweetener aftertaste from the Just Like Sugar sweetener that overpowered it. Next time, I’ll try it with NuNaturals stevia extract. But for what it is, I think it’s pretty tasty! I’m sure the original version with honey + full-fat coconut milk is even better. I’ll have to try that sometime too. So I highly recommend using either the original recipe and accepting the carbs as is OR use a better zero-cal sweetener. The recipe is a winner. Oh, and it doesn’t taste like coconut! It might if you go with the original recipe that uses coconut extract, but mine had a very subtle citrusy flavor. I really liked it, and probably would have loved it without the aftertaste of Just Like Sugar. And it won’t have you carb-crashing like eating a whole pumpkin pie might… COUGH… Dustin…
While the coconut pound cake baked, I decided to make a mushroom and baby cucumber salad like the one I made the other day with my tuna avocado wraps.
Mushroom and Cucumber Salad with Red Onion
(vegan, gluten-free, low-carb)
Ingredients:
- 8 oz sliced white mushrooms
- 4 baby cucumbers, sliced
- 50g red onions, sliced paper-thin
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- Sea salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- In a large bowl, toss sliced mushrooms, sliced cucumbers, and red onion with olive oil, vinegar, garlic powder, salt + pepper. Serve immediately and let marinate in fridge.
Makes 4 servings (or one greedy one for j3nn)
Delicious! I ended up eating half of it throughout the night. SO GOOD! And good for you. 
Tuesday’s lower carb menu courtesy of MyFitnessPal.com
So now it’s Wednesday and I completed my first 3 days of lower carb. Today, I start my regular menu with a 16-hour IF. Lower carb eating is not bad! I enjoy everything I eat. The only downside was Aunt Flo and my sinus infection and whatever went wrong with my tummy on Monday. Other than that, I feel fine. I’m not hungry or having horrible sugar cravings. I don’t even miss bread that much! I know, I know. But I think it’s because I know I’ll have it in a few days, so it’s not a big deal. The only thing I have to get better at is having my menu planned and the food ready. It’s hard to eat lower carb without food being easily accessible unless you want to eat raw veggies and dairy all day long. I do not, haha. I’ll get better at it. I’m still having fun. Love these experiments and trying new stuff. Now, if I could just shake this sinus infection and get Flo to pack her bags, I’d be extremely happy. Soon! I’m on the mend, my friends! I hope. 
Not sure what to eat today! I kind of want to just eat that mushroom and cuke salad, and nothing else, LOL. It’s so good. Try it!
Off to take a shower and EAT!
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