almond buns

eating healthy is so much easier when you get to eat stuff you like.

or stuff that reminds you of stuff you like.

Matt and i were getting pretty sick of the same old eating of meat all by its lonesome and then we heard of a little thing call almond buns.

you guys, i'm hooked!

last night we made bacon cheeseburgers and it was like i was eating a fo sheezy cheeseburger!

and then this morning we had open face bacon, egg and cheese mcmuffins!

check it out!

here's the recipe for anyone who's feeling adventurous and ketogenic enough to try it out!

Recipe for Almond Buns!
Almond buns - perfect for breakfast sandwiches, open faced sandwiches or as a burger bun.


Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 3 buns (6 pieces)
Serving Size: 2
Calories per serving: 373


Ingredients
3/4 Cup Bob's Red Mill Almond Flour
2 Large Eggs
5 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
1.5 tsp Splenda (optional)
1.5 tsp Baking Powder


Cooking Directions
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl
Whisk in the eggs
Melt butter, add to mixture and whisk
Divide mixture equally into 6 parts, place into a muffin top pan or equivalent
Bake for 12-17 minutes at 350 degrees (varies by oven, watch the first time)
Let cool on a wire rack.


Keto Specific (two pieces, one bun):
Calories: 373
Net Carbs: 4
Carbs: 7
Fiber: 3
Fat: 35
Protein: 10

breakfast bars

i'm very excited to say i found another healthy breakfast idea for us!

my mom would sometimes make these grape nuts cereal bars for us when i was younger and i always tried to find the recipe since i've been out on my own with no luck and then, finally, I FOUND ONE!

i don't think it's the same exact one but it's super easy and super tasty so i don't mind!

ingredients you need are...

don't you like that i'm super cheap and all my food is walmart brand?? except the peanut butter, you can't skimp on the important stuff people!

so you can find the recipe i used here but really all you do is boil the honey and pb together for a little bit and then throw everything together.

i told you it was easy!

and then you have these delicious little nutty bars!

they're a little carby for a ketogenic diet but since i'm kinda dancing on the keto/non-keto line i think they're just right for me on those days i need a little somethin somethin extra in the morning or for a snack.

and the recipe makes a lot!

i cut them into a bunch of bars and froze half of them so we don't eat them all in one week.

next time i think i might throw in some different kinds of fruit and use crunchy pb instead of creamy!

YUM!

almond bars

so i went to the doctor this week to see how my whole metabolic syndrome-ness is going.

the doctor made me feel all proud of myself for losing some poundage and being overall a little healthier but i guess i'm still not exactly where i need to be blood sugar wise.

i went there really hoping she would tell me i was doing good and i could get off the medication that makes me nauseous 24/7 and on those really super fun days has me puking but sadly, i have to stay on it for now.

i know i felt the absolute best when we were on our ketogenic diet and i've heard lots of success stories of people who can get off this medication if they stick with this diet but it's sooooo hardddd.

we did it for a good month with barely any cheating and both Matt and i lost over 10 pounds in that one month but you hardly get to eat anything.

well, that's not true.

you get to eat a lot of meat and veggies and dairy but with my lactose intolerance i don't get the dairy part and i'm allergic to a lot of veggies too so it's like taking a very limited diet and making it super duper BEYOND limited.

but i'm determined to find an amazing balance of the keto diet with maybe a little extra stuff to make me not want to throw myself off a ridiculously tall building.

basically i'm gonna try a bunch of new foods and weird recipes to see what i like and what's healthy but tasty enough to keep in my diet long term.

and i'll be posting about it for my own benefit so i can remember likes and dislikes and also for anyone who is interested in eating healthy along with me!

so Matt and i wandered around Trader Joe's this week and found these healthy looking bars called Five Seed Almond Bars.

i've been putting off trying them for a couple days now but today i put my big girl pants on and tried them out.

and guess what...THEY ARE DELICIOUS!

they're nutty and cinnamony and probably the best tasting health bar i've tried.

only problem is, we didn't notice they have butter in them until after i had one this morning so no more delicious cinnamon nutty goodness for me anymore.

insert sad face here.

but Matt loved them too so he'll get to gobble up all those bad boys.

and after eating this i decided breakfast bars are totally genius for those mornings you don't want to cook or, if you're like Matt, you're already 15 minutes late to work by the time you head out the door.

 so i searched the interwebz for some breakfast bar type recipes and found some i'm going to try out!

basically anything that can give us a little break from eating eggs every single morning would be nice!

TGIF

this is one of those weeks i'm super glad is over.

i definitely need a break from work. i've been typing so much i'm starting to get cramps and spasms in my arms. no bueno.

i got a haircut. i hate it.

Matt worked so much i started to forget what he looks like. 

oh yeah...he looks like that. 

i've been extremely nauseous this week. i don't feel like eating at all. hummus especially makes me sick for some reason. oh hummus, how i love you and you torture me.

i'm just so ready for a weekend of me and Matt and food and sleep and House.

which we recently got into a decade after everyone else and i like it.

it makes me laugh.

hellooooooooo weekend!

best surprise ever

so i went to the doctor this week.
i had every intention of going in and saying "hey lady, this pill you gave me isn't doing diddly squat. fix it!"
but instead she came in the room and before i could say anything she told me i've lost 10 pounds this past month.
say whaaaaaat??
who's happy about this?
THIS GIRL!

the scale we have at home is most definitely broken.
best surprise ever? YES!

happy

here's a super short friday health update since friday is almost over now and i have a puppy playdate to get to!

this week i feel....

i seriously think i'm falling into a great rhythm.

yay me!

update

time to share how this week went with my new diet.

it started off reaaaaaaally crappy.

in that extra long post i said i had made it almost 2 full days sugar/carb free and felt exhausted and not any better than before.

in fact i felt worse, much much worse. i was like a walking zombie.

i was tired and grumpy and had a constant migraine and was starving and sad. so sad.

obviously that didn't work. i didn't like feeling that way and, let's face it, nobody wants to be near me when i'm that way.

so for a couple days i gave in and ate carbs and started feeling better and now... my plan is changing up a tiny bit.

i'm still trying to not eat sugars and carbs in the form of cookies and breads and candy and rice and crap like that but i need more natural sugars in my diet to balance out the work that the metformin does.

right now i'm doing this by adding more fruit into my diet. sometimes in the morning i'll make really yummy smoothies with coconut milk and berries with a little peanut butter thrown in there for protein. (and because i really love peanut butter.)

they are so delish! Matt even has me make him one in the morning too.

i've also started eating a snack in the afternoon that consists of a handful of mixed nuts and a couple dried apricots or some other fruit.

again, delicious and helps keep my blood sugar balanced throughout the day.

it's working well so far. i can go days without needing to just flat out eat carbs but i do if i start feeling extra sick so i can bring my blood sugar up fast.

i think i'm actually starting to get the hang of this metabolic syndrome diet thingy-ma-do.

and now, just for funzies, a little rant.

now that my diet basically consists of meat, veggies and fruit Matt and i find it incredibly hard to go out anywhere.

can't go fast food because they always have milk in everything and usually it's a carb overload.

can't go to a restaurant unless all i want to eat is salad with no cheese or creamy dressing.

and personally, i find it stupid to go out to a restaurant and pay $10 for a salad i could've made at home for free.

so we eat at home. always.

it's a huge bummer.

it makes me laugh at those people that are allergic to gluten and make a huge deal out of it.

i just look and them and think "really? you're really complaining to ME about that?"

every single grocery store now has a special area dedicated to gluten free foods.

pastas and baked goods. even bisquick has a specific gluten free kind now.

and most restaurants offer gluten free meals too.

i mean, i'm sure it sucks to live a gluten free life.

in fact, i know it sucks because i basically do.

but i also live a lactose free life and a sugar free life and besides a little complaining about it here on my blog i don't really make it a big deal.

i'm allowed to complain here because i'm basically just complaining to myself but in a setting where there's a bunch of family or friends around, i don't talk about it because this is just how i do things now and that's that.

so gluten free people, suck it up and realize how good you actually have it.

end of rant!

now i'm gonna go hurry through my work because hubsy got the day off work so we're gonna do something fun today!

the journey of all journeys

i've spent most of my married life battling something that was wrong with my body but doctors couldn't diagnose. i would just go from doctor to doctor getting blood test after blood test hoping that that one time it would be different, they would find something and i would get better. this was never the case. like most married couples, Matt and i both gained weight after getting married and dealing with our busy lives. the only problem was that when i would actually try to lose weight it never worked. i would exercise like a mad woman running or doing some bouncy workout video and even tried P90X and did it religiously for weeks but nothing ever helped. i'm sure you can understand how depressing that was. so that's how it went for years and years and years. feeling sick with no diagnosis or cure in sight.

fast forward to July 2010...on the 4th of July at a family barbeque i had an allergic reaction where my throat almost closed up and i felt horrible for days. this led me to go to an allergist and have an allergy test done. that's when i found out i'm allergic to the world. not really but they tested me for 71 things and out of those 71 things i was allergic to 43 of them. those 43 included all trees, all grass, almost all weeds, one mold, cat hair, horse hair, dog hair, all melons and avocado. so basically the outside world wants to kill me along with animal hair and melons and the doctor probably just added avocados to the list to make me cry. i loved avocados. in addition to those things they also told me i'm lactose intolerant. again, probably just to make me cry because no one loves ice cream more than me. but i learned what food to avoid and how to live a lactose free existence. it was incredibly hard at first to give up things like ice cream, chocolate, cheese, most breads, milk, yogurt, butter, etc. but i figured it out and now i hardly miss it. the only problem was that even though i found out what i'm allergic to and could now avoid those foods i still felt horrible and like something was still not quite right.

fast forward to present time...i went to the doctor at the beginning of August because i hadn't had my period in over three months and the pregnancy pee stick said no so i was a little on the worried side. also, my sister called me up one day to tell me about PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome). her friends had told her about it and i had a lot of the symptoms. so the PCOS worry combined with my total lack of a monthly cycle caused me to make an appointment with my gynocologist. i went, with Matt because he's supportive and knows how much i hate to go to the doctor, and explained all of my symptoms and how we suspect i have PCOS. the doctor was amazing. she went over all of my history and was careful not to leave anything out. she explained to us that PCOS is actually not my problem but she believed i have metabolic syndrome. the symptoms were all what i was experiencing and after some lab work i returned to the doctor and she told me all the lab work came back positive for metabolic syndrome.

for those who have no idea what metabolic syndrome is, meaning if you're like me about a month ago, then here's a little bit about it. metabolic syndrome is also known as insulin resistance, syndrome X, prediabetes and cardiometabolic syndrome. basically the plain and simple way to describe it is my body can't use insulin effectively and insulin is needed to help control sugar in the body so as a result blood sugar levels rise. the doctor described it to me as prediabetes and said if we don't get it taken care of i will end up with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. this also explains why i have gained weight and can't seem to lose it no matter what i try. apparently one of the more lovely symptoms of metabolic syndrome is extra weight around the middle because of the rise in blood sugar. awesome right?

so the treatment the doctor gave me is a pill called metformin. it's usually prescribed to people with type 2 diabetes but doctors have found it's very successful with metabolic syndrome as well. i've been taking it twice a day for a little over a week now and i don't feel any different. it made me very very nauseous the first few days but luckily that's gone away. both the doctor and the pharmacist told me metformin would cause me to lose weight but i'm still waiting for that side effect to grace me with its presence. i'm trying not to get too down about it because it's only been a week so far. i can't expect to be fixed overnight.

now fast forward to this morning...the doctor had sent me to get additional blood work done after the first time i went. she sent me to get a glucose test to be 100% sure i have metabolic syndrome. if you've never had a glucose test before this is how it goes, you go into the lab and have your blood drawn while fasting and then you drink this really sugary drink that at first tastes like orange soda without carbonation but the more you drink it the more disgusting it is and since you have to down the whole bottle in 5 minutes you basically feel like puking afterwards and then you sit at the lab for 2 hours so they can draw your blood every 30 minutes. yeah, it's super fun. well i finally got the call from the doctor this morning telling me how it went. apparently my levels were a little concerning. my test showed actual diabetic levels so combined with the previous blood work i had done my doctor told me i am basically walking that very fine line between diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

some good news...matt found THIS and showed it to me the other day.

it's this amazing story about a woman who went through all the same things i have gone through. all the doctors and the testing and never finding out what truly is wrong with you. she found out she was lactose intolerant and then was misdiagnosed with fibromyalgia but when she went to her yearly gyno visit she was tested for the same things as me and found out that she's insulin resistance (metabolic syndrome). she talks about how she cut out sugar and carbs and was feeling better in a matter of days and now she's lost 40 pounds and is back to her old self again. i just couldn't believe that this woman went through almost the exact same things as i did and actually got through it and felt amazing now. it really has lifted my spirits!

so now i'm trying really hard to give up carbs and sugar so i can have the same success story as that woman. i want to have energy and a good attitude and feel like myself again more than anything and if giving up sugar and carbs is going to help me get there then that's what i need to do. will it be hard? HECK YES! but i'm going to take it one day at a time. if i can make it through the day sugar/carb free then the day was a complete success. if i stumble and eat some i won't beat myself up about it i'll just tell myself that tomorrow is another day and i'll try again. i really wanted to get all this out so that i can start writing every friday about how the week has been for me health wise. that way i can see the changes i'm making and the difference it brings to my life. i already have a really good sugar/carb free habit for breakfast and lunch it's just dinner that i have to worry about now. that shouldn't be too terribly horribly hard. well...yes it will be hard but i'm going to tryyyyy to make it feel like it's a piece of cake. hopefully if i write down how my week went every friday i'll be able to see what's working and what's not and find the perfect balance that i need.

so i'll make this my first weekly report. even though i just found out about all this i haven't been too terrible this week. my meals have stayed pretty sugar/carb free but then i ruin things by having a soda or popcorn. those are my weaknesses. this is just my first week though so i shouldn't be too hard on myself. i even made a special dinner this week with delicious tilapia and set my oven on fire. i'm experimenting with new foods to keep me away from craving my usual go-to carby meals. that's progress already! and so far the last 2 days have been completely sugar/carb free! i can't say i feel better, in fact i feel more exhausted than usual, but i'm holding on. we'll see how the next week goes!