Effects of Proactol on Fat Absorption (Part 3)

In research on NeOpuntia’s effect on

fat absorption

, researchers predicted that if NeOpuntia did indeed bind with fats from ingested foods, preventing these fats from being absorbed into the body, then feces should contain an increased amount of excreted fat.

To test this hypothesis, researches used a group of ten healthy individuals and divided them randomly into two groups. Both groups received the same diet and were administered a capsule orally with 1.6 grams of material in it. The control group received a capsule with an inactive ingredient (the placebo) while the other group received a capsule with NeOpuntia in it.

Researchers found that the two groups varied in the amount of excreted fat: those in the NeOpuntia group excreted 27.4% more fat than those in the control group. These results suggest that NeOpuntia does bind with fats and prevents them from being absorbed into the body. This is recorded as increased

fat content

in the feces. Go to Proactol web page right now.

Today was a little piece of hell

I just got home. It's almost 11pm. Our beta software release (that I was in charge of the deployment) literally went to hell in a handbasket. I won't bore you with details but we had a rollback after major problems and then I spent ten hours with various developers and my manager trying to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The list of what went wrong is long. A shorter list would be what went right. As one dev said, it was a major FUBAR. Don't know what that means? Google it. :)

I have my alarm set for 4:50am. I am going to the gym come hell or high water. Actually, today was sort of like hell. Major high stress. I didn't realize until 8pm I had not gone to the bathroom or drank any water or had a bite to eat...all day. Today, of all days, I skipped breakfast and skipped the gym. I just wasn't hungry and I was tired so slept in until 7am.

Little did I know I wouldn't be eating anything until 8pm. My manager brought me a turkey Subway at 2pm but I didn't have time to eat it until 8pm. The best sandwich I've ever tasted in my life!

I'm actually a little excited about my Geneen Roth workshop this weekend. I've emailed Grace so I sure hope I hear from her. I'm sure I'll learn something and meet some interesting people. I'm actually sort of looking forward to it. At least I won't be at work!

Not much else to post. I'm going to bed and hoping to sleep (if I can just calm down and turn off my brain...please...sleep would be a blessed release right now).

The Down & Dirty on Dumping

Today's article section links to several important and helpful articles about dumping syndrome. Take a look and see how you fit in a generalized picture of this phenomena that many of us consider both a blessing and a curse. Remember there is power in knowledge and we are all in this together!

Gastric Bypass Dumping Syndrome - Three Foods that Cause It
As pre-op weight loss surgery patients we

10,000 Pounds of Tomatoes (Part 2)

So what did I end up doing with my 10,000 pounds of tomatoes? 

A plateful of home grown tomatoes served with salt and pepper is absolutely delicious. There isn't enough salt, pepper, spice or sauce in the world that can make store-bought, anemic tomatoes edible. 

Fantastic on BLT's, cold cuts or just plan bread.  We'll even chop them up in a bowl, add some balsamic vinegar, blue cheese and call it lunch.  There are endless serving suggestions for these gems.

My husband made these for dinner the other night and I've been craving them ever since.  Just a tad bit more involved than slicing tomatoes, but the flavor is worth the little extra effort that is needed.

Slice and toast Dutch Crunch bread.  Dip bread onto a plate drizzled with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Cover with sliced tomato sprinkled with a dash of salt and pepper, mozzarella cheese and basil leaves.  So good--now I want to make some for lunch!

Earlier in the week, I cut up as many tomatoes that would fit in my pot.  When it boiled down a few inches, I added more until it reached the top.  I cooked the sauce for several hours until it got thicker and cooled it down so I could put it in the fridge.  

The following day, I fried up ground beef with onions and garlic.  Then I added enough sauce to make a batch of spaghetti sauce.  While I let the flavors merge into each other, I added the flavorings and seasons to make it taste yummy. 

I made spaghetti twice that week and the left-over plain sauce was frozen for a later time.

There is no way to photograph these, because they are ugly no matter what.  I dried the rest of the tomatos that I had in my dehydrator and this is what they look like.  They may be ugly, but they are tasty little snacks that can only be made with home grown tomatoes.  

Graciela...Grace...where are you?

Help! Does anyone know how to contact Grace? She had two blogs, 55 and Losing It, and a newer blog, Grace Notes. She hasn't posted anything since August 24. I miss her blogging, but I really need to talk to her.

We were suppose to meet up at the Geneen Roth workshop in Seattle this weekend (the Women Food God workshop). Unfortunately after searching my emails I can't find the email with her contact information. Which is odd because I rarely delete emails, and I remember specifically when we exchanged emails (I was on vacation in July).

If you know how to contact Grace, please let me know. I'm actually more excited about meeting Grace than hearing Geneen talk.

Speaking of the workshop, I'm not as over the top about the book God Food and Women as I was back in July. I wrote several posts about how wonderful it was and how I felt like Geneen was speaking to me.

Perhaps at the workshop I'll gain some new insight I didn't get from the book. I think it'll be interesting, but after giving the intuitive eating a try for a month, I'm not so sure this old dog can learn that new trick. It seems to me that eating exactly what I want when I really want it has been my problem my entire life and what helped me gain 100 pounds. Yes, I know there was a lot more in the book than what I just put in that one sentence, but that's the jest of what I remember (perhaps I should review the book before this weekend).

I'm sure I wasn't doing the intuitive eating thing right because it seems to work for a lot of people. The people in Geneen's book, and people in blogs that I read, it just didn't work out very good for  me.

Maybe it's 40 years of guilt I've felt from eating "forbidden" food. I just can't get past the idea that it's okay to eat a cookie when I really want it, because in all honesty, I ALWAYS want a cookie. With me one cookie turns into a dozen cookies. I especially can't get past the idea it's just wrong to eat cookies when I need to lose 40 pounds to get to my ideal weight (175.6 this morning...ugh!).

I'm still excited about the workshop. Hearing a famous author speak is always interesting, especially when it's about something that seems to be my life's work...weight loss. Kind of sad that I even think that way. One's life's work should have a higher purpose.

Not much else to report. My cold was almost a non-event. I was only sick for two days. I drank NyQuil and stayed in bed. I slept about 20 hours Sunday and Monday. Tuesday I was almost back to my old self and went back to work.

I was actually going to the gym this morning after a three-day absence, but after a bout of insomnia last night I decided to sleep in for an hour. Then when I realized I can't find Grace, I'm hoping someone out there can help me find her. It would be very sad if I miss the opportunity to meet her at the workshop.

Today's our beta software release, after a week delay. It's the one we've been cranking on for the last few months. Beta for us means pushing the software to production in one city. It's nerve wracking to say the least. I always worry about what if the testers didn't catch some big, bad bug. Something that could delay flights and bring some very unwanted attention to our team. It's happened before. It's not the end of the world when that happens, although it kind of feels like it when you're in the moment. I'm hoping for the best.

I also have my mid-year performance review today with my manager. And I have my Toastmasters meeting. I'm VP of membership now which means I have a bunch of new responsibilities. Does it sound like I wish this day was already over? :)

Huevos Rancheros

Ingredients:

Ranchero sauce:

• 2 tsp olive oil


• 1 small yellow onion, chopped


• 1 Tbsp chopped garlic


• 1 can (14 oz) diced fire-roasted tomatoes


• ½ tsp ground coriander


• ½ tsp ground cumin


• ½ tsp dried oregano


• ½ tsp salt


• ½ tsp dried chipotle chili powder (optional)


• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Huevos Rancheros:

• 1 corn tortilla


• 2 Tbsp fat-free refried beans


• 2 egg whites


• 1 Tbsp shredded low-fat Cheddar cheese

Preparation:

• Heat oil in nonstick skillet. Add onion and cook 5 minutes, or until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer, but do not allow garlic to brown. Add tomatoes, coriander, cumin, oregano, salt, black pepper to taste, and chipotle chili powder, if using, and cook a few minutes longer.


• Transfer sauce to blender or food processor and blend or process briefly. The finished sauce should be a bit chucky. Stir in cilantro.


• Warm tortilla and refried beans and set aside.


• Coat small nonstick skillet with olive oil cooking spray. Add egg whites and cook 2 minutes, or until nearly set. Turn eggs with spatula and cook 1 minute longer.


• Place tortilla on plate and top with beans. Place cooked egg whites on beans. Top with ½ cup hot Ranchero sauce and cheese and garnish with cilantro.

Amount Per Serving(1/2 cup each sauce only):50 Calories, 1 g Protein, 6 g carbohydrates, 2 g Dietary Fiber, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 530 mg sodium





Weight Loss Recipes Amount Per Serving(Huevos Rancheros): 180 Calories, 14 g Protein, 24 g carbohydrates, 4 g Dietary Fiber, 3 g fat, < 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 530 mg sodium

Well I never!

What's more fattening?

Jacket Potato, beans and cheese...

or

2 large cheese and ham filled pancakes with peas...?


Well !!!!! It is actually the Pancakes, but only by 100cals!!!!!!!! I was absolutely amazed at this as I thought this was going to be a heavy HEAVY calorie loaded dinner, so I didn't even have my PM snack because I thought I was going to go overboard a little with tonight's tea.

295g potato (which is reasonably big)
200g baked beans (i.e. half a can)
30g cheddar cheese (poxy amount)
10g margarine (also poxy)

Total cals 519

Pancakes: (harder to work out cos it made 8 of them equally divided)
2 pancakes cooked with frylight spray =
0.5 of an egg
47.5g flour
100mls skimmed milk
60g mature cheddar cheese
50g of chopped ham
100g peas.
8 sprays of frylight (yeah, lets be completely anal!! Love it!)

Total cals 618

Oooh so thrilled am I

Its given me a real buzz because I really thought that pancakes filled with yummy were off the menu. This means that my cannelloni will be defo back on the menu for the weightloss phase! The cheese was actually the highest calorie item in them, so if they were filled with low fat ricotta & spinach for example and smothered with a salsa... Ooooh the possibilities are endless.

That's even better is that this has been my weeks lowest caloried dinner. Even yesterdays chilli was knocking around the 800cals mark!

If i analyse it a little more, it means that if you have 2 pancakes for breakfast - its less calories than porridge!! hurrah!

Here are the tasty beauties which i added a dollop or two of wholegrain mustard to. Mmmmm

So guess what I had for lunch then..? LOL yeah a jacket with beans. Nevermind, it means I get to have my favorite snack of choice this evening while watching the Inbetweeners - DAIM BAR. I love them. they are so yummy and so low in calories too which is the main thing. Its just awesome being able to enjoy myself in such a wicked fashion and know I will lose weight!

Although I haven't been aiming to keep my protein up, I do seem to be having a fairly protein rich diet, without trying, which is great. I have never felt, at any time that my nails weren't growing or my hair was falling out so this must be why.

Here's my chart
1st Oct - 95g
2nd Oct - 109g
3rd Oct - 69g
4th Oct - 72g
5th Oct - 86g.

So this is great I think

Its TOTM at the mo, so I think I timed this re-start at exactly the right time. I think being honest it would have been more of a trial had I resumed the fight and then had a week's weigh in where I went up a kilo or two because of the curse. It ticks me off so bad hen that happens. I need all the willpower I can get at the moment so that I see those first few kilos start to come off and feel like I am starting to get somewhere.
I know that I will struggle on Friday when I weigh in because its always the same when I start something. Its like the goal is Friday, not the goal is next year! LOL. Something in my brain thinks that the race is over on the weigh in day and it can sit back and relax, so I need to get myself over that - I think that will be the first problem I encounter.

So my friends, take care and see you tomorrow