I am so proud of my Husband, Jonas. This morning he got up at 4:45am to do a workout. It did not last too long though as he got a call from work early with some problems and he had to rush in. When he does come home I will be waiting for him. As part of my Unstoppable Fatloss Package I did receive the Fit Bastard full year of workouts. I will print them out for him and we will do them together with the Fit Chic workouts.

 I am always amazed at how busy Jonas is. He works 11-12hour days. He is on call during his time at home and on the weekends he does some extra carpentry work. So truth be told.. I hardly ever see him. [Read more →]

My husband Jonas joined me for the first time for a workout. We had so much fun together. It was kinda weird bonding for the first time in this way but overall a great experience. He has decided to join me in a commitment for 2009 to get fit/healthy and get sexy six pack abs. I am very happy to have an exercise partner.

You see since starting low carb cooking I personally have been able to lose 23lbs. But since my cooking was high fat my husband has gained 20lbs. He is not restricting his carbs so the extra fat is adding to extra pounds around his waist. He does love my food that I cook!

When we met in college he was doing weight training but nothing like High Intensity Interval Training. Back then he had six pack abs so it will be no time till he gets them back. Our goal will be a sixteen week challenge. On April 25th we will show his before and after pictures (he is a bit shy about them). I will post mine as soon as I get them done.

Benefits of Exercising with a Partner

• It is motivating and encouraging.
• It holds both participants accountable.
• You can spot problems with exercise form.
• It is more fun (the more fun it is the better chance you are going to stick with it).
• It pushes you harder because it creates a slightly competitive mood.

Posting this publicly encourages accountability. I am excited for the results. I welcome everyone to join in this six pack abs journey. I will be adding some exercise videos of exercises that we have been doing.

Many Blessings,

In the last two weeks I have had two days that have been higher carb and sugar. The first was a holiday work party. I did well at dinner but when I saw the dessert table I let my guard down and indulged. I also had an alcoholic beverage or two. Ah well. 

The next day was back to normal low carb eating. I have been reading Suzanne Somers Fast & Easy. She has created a diet called Somersizing and it is mainly a high fat low carb diet.  There are two phases - a weight loss phase and a maintenance phase where you can eat carbs (but without fats). Fruits are also allowed but should be eaten alone and preferably in the morning so you have all day to use the sugars and carbs.

[Read more →]

Eggs are a staple in low carb eating. My family can eat about five to six dozen eggs in a week. We just love them. Are we crazy for eating so much??? Nope! Eggs are a great source of high quality protein and many vitamins. They are also a brain food because the yolks are high in long chain fatty acids DHA and EPA. Almost all the fat is found in the yolk. In children these kinds of fats are essential for the developing of the nervous system and the brain. 

That does not mean that adults should shun the egg yolks. [Read more →]

Last week I took the kids and myself to the dentist. The kids normally have a checkup every six months, but I was a bit nervous about this appointment. You see I also made an appointment for myself. I have not seen a dentist since I was 12 years old – that was 20 years ago! Everything went well and no cavities in any of us so far.

My eldest daughter Aliena has had some issues though. When she was a small baby she developed small black pits in her front teeth and white discolourization in some others. I was concerned because she also was classified as failure to thrive and was losing weight. We were vegan at the time (due to milk and egg allergic skin reactions in Aliena) and I had a vegetarian pregnancy.  I was very concerned about her growth. [Read more →]

Are you confused? There many exercise programs /videos on the market and you can choose just about anything. The New Year is just around the corner and one of the top resolutions on the list is to lose a few pounds.  I bet you are just like me and have several videos and books on your shelf just collecting dust. How often do you take them out and use them?

One product that I love and use is the Unstoppable Fatloss Program. With the New Year coming soon it is time to review the year and set new goals for the next. Today I was listening to the Dax Moy interview in the Unstoppable Fatloss Program.  He is the author and creator of The Magic Hundred. This interview was filled almost 2 hours long and filled with captivating information on how to create and set goals and achieving them. 

The Unstoppable Fatloss interview…

• spelled out how to set goals from the heart and not the brain and why we should do this,
• how we can get over fear that is stopping us from achieving our goals,
• demonstrated how fast we can pull ourselves out of a negative mindset and into a pleasant positive one,
• How to set clear, concise targeted goals,
• And why setting realistic goals can be a bad thing…

Dax Moy’s 5 Golden Rules For Goal Achievement:

There are many more “precious gems” in Unstoppable Fatloss.  This product is definitely not going to collect dust!  

To find out more about goal achievement take a look at Dax Moy’s The Magic Hundred.

To your health and wellness,

Catherine Osthaus

Celery root can make a delicious low carb French Fry. It can also be used as a substitute for scalloped potatoes and potato latkes. It is one of the ugliest veggies that can be often ignored in the grocery store.
Celery root is a veggie high in potassium and one cup will give you 480mg. It has a mild celery flavour that is quite tasty.

Celery Root French Fries

1 celery root
4 tblsp olive oil, butter or bacon drippings
1 tsp of garlic powder
a pinch or 2 of cayenne
salt and pepper to taste

yields 4 servings

Calories 194, Total Fat 14.4g, Protein 2.5g, Total Carbohydrate 14.9g, Dietary Fiber 2.9g

To your health and wellness,

Catherine Osthaus

Christopher Gardner, PhD. 25 year vegetarian and in his own words “had to swallow a bitter pill” and write a medical paper that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on how Atkins Low Carb is shown to be medically healthier way of eating.

They conducted a study with 311 pre-menepausal overweight women. The researchers took four popular diets including the National Dietary Recommendations for high carb and low fat, the Atkins diet, the Zone and the Ornish diet. They took these women and educated them on the diets and made sure that they understood them completely. They then asked them to follow a selected diet for a period of 12 months. They followed up with them periodically. The researchers wanted to know what the “real life” results would be so they did not interfere.

I find this study fascinating. This is a long video but I hope that this does not discourage you from watching it. I do have some highlighted points if you are short on time and want to jump to that part of the video.

• Weight Loss stats for all the groups  @ 20 min
• No other group that did better in health criteria than Atkins. @ 23min. They measured Weight, Systolic Blood Pressure, Diastolic Blood Pressure, Triglycerides, HDL Cholesterol, LDL Cholesterol, Insulin and Glucose.
• Health parameters improve on Atkins vs. all other diets @ 30:15 min.
• A controlled study that had participants lose the same amount of weight on different types of diets  had the low carb participants still have better blood chemistry. So this concludes that it was not the weight loss that made participants healthier -  It was the low carb diet @ 31:45 min.
• Low Carb and High Fat diet is more effective for insulin resistant people @ 41min. The more overweight you have then the more insulin resistant you are.  @ 44 -45 min
• My favourite nutritional advice is @ 47:55 – 52min

The Battle of the Diets: Is Anyone Winning (At Losing?)

What are your favourite points on this study? I would really love to know?

To your health and wellness,

Catherine Osthaus

So what is the real deal about behind Low Carb success? Is it a metabolic advantage that Dr. Atkins claimed? Can you eat all you want till you feel satiated and still lose weight? Or can the weight loss be due to reduced calorie intake?

I will share with you some of my experience and thoughts…. While on the low carb diet my appetite did drop drastically to the point that I was skipping lunch and just eating a good hearty breakfast and dinner with a veggie snack in between. My calorie intake did drop and my food cravings were non-existent.

I was having muscle cramps due to not enough potassium so this past week I have been increasing my food intake to ensure that I get all necessary vitamins and minerals.  Eating this way I eat 3-4 meals a day.  I do not feel hungry but I eat anyway. My calorie and carbohydrate (veggie sources) intake have increased.  I have not counted the calories, but have deliberately increased the amount of food eaten. I have not decreased portion sizes at all. My food cravings are still non-existent and I am feeling full all day.

I am eating a lot of low carb food but I am not bloated, or have digestive issues, or cravings and no binges! All of these nasty side effects would have happened if I had eaten grains and legumes.

Did this extra eating result in extra weight gain? – Nothing. No weight gain or weight loss.

But…  I do weight bearing exercises.

So to me the metabolic advantage does not matter.  The benefit to the low carb dieting lies in how my body physically reacts to it.

The critics can claim that low carb works because of calorie restriction yet I can easily balloon and gain 5 lbs in a day if I eat high carb and have all the above mentioned nasty side effects.

The diet to choose is the diet that makes you feel good. This is important because diets are meant to be a way of life and not “just a diet”. You should be able to continue with this way of eating even when weight loss stalls or you have reached your goal.

What about you?

• what has your experience been?
• Do you think that eating low carb has a metabolic advantage?
• How do you feel when you eat low carb?

To your health and wellness,

Catherine Osthaus

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I was looking for a good pumpkin pie recipe to use up the last pumpkin from our CSA share. I came up with this wonderful treat using Stevia Sugar. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Top it up with some whipped cream and it will melt in your mouth.

Low Carb Pumpkin Pie Recipe

8 Servings

Almond Crust

1 cup Almond Flour
2 tablespoons Butter
1/4 teaspoon Stevia Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

extra butter for greasing pie dish

Butter pie dish and set aside. Combine almond flour, butter, Stevia and vanilla. Pat down into pie dish.

Almond Crust: Calories 95.6, Total Fat 8.9 g, Total Carbohydrate 2.4 g, Dietary Fiber 1.4 g, Protein 2.6 g 

Pumpkin Pie Filling

2 cups pumpkin puree
2 eggs
0.5 can coconut milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 inch fresh ginger (peeled)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cardomon pod
1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
1.5 tablespoon Stevia Sugar
1 Cup of Pecan halves

Preheat oven to 350F. Put all ingredients into a blender. Blend until smooth and spices are all mixed. Pour into pie shell. Add pecans on top of pie filling. Bake for 60-70min. To check the pie if it is ready to come out, insert a knife into and if it comes out clean then it is ready.
Let pie cool completely before cutting it.

Pumpkin Pie Filling: Calories 185.2, Total Fat 17 g, Total Carbohydrate 6.6 g, Dietary Fiber 2.2 g, Protein 3.6 g

To your health and wellness,

Catherine Osthaus