One of life's "not so little" challenges.

Weight loss...can be so depressing.
It is something that has been haunting me for most of my life, but this time I was out of control.
A little over a month ago hubby and I decided it was time to do something about it. We figured we each had about 50 pounds to loose...ugh. He has had previous success on Atkins and felt good about the science of the diet so we decided to go that route. What a great plan ! Now, I am by no measure a diet guru. I thought I tried Atkins before but had no success...that is what happens when you don't understand the principles of what is happening to your body while you are following Atkins. I highly suggest visiting atkins.com and devouring every bit on information on the site that you can. There is even help in the form of chat rooms and blog posts if you need, and you will probably need. I also suggest the atkins carb counter app for your iphone. It takes all the guesswork out of what you can or cannot eat. This program is easy and you never need to be hungry. In the last month I have lost 14 pounds and 7 inches, and hubby has lost 19 (he doesn't calculate inches = ). I call that success. My reasons for blogging about this though is simply to share some of the recipes that we have enjoyed during the process. Maybe I can inspire someone to make the life change we did.

Here are a few things we do that work well for us.
Olives are wonderful...I keep a container in the fridge for when I need something to snack on NOW
Avocados are a perfect food, always have them on hand.
Onions and mushrooms make almost anything taste good.
Don't be afraid of eating fat. The main principle of Atkins is that you are retraining your body to find its energy source from fat instead of carbs. 
I literally went through the house and gave away all the bad stuff I didn't want to eat any more. Bread, rice and sugar. When my body is ready to have these things again I will introduce them slowly.
You absolutely NEED the support of your family. I couldn't have done this alone and having someone to bounce ideas off is wonderful. When one of us is weak the other supports sticking with it ! 

We don't have a source here on the island for any Atkins products but we did order some shakes and bars from on-line and they are great to have around for emergencies. You need to eat several times a day so if your away from home take a shake and a bar with you. That way you won't be tempted to buy something not on the list of things you can eat. Besides...the bars are like candy and will make you feel like you are totally cheating = )

One of our first and still favorite creations is the Anything Caesar Salad. I call it that because you can make it with almost anything you have on hand. Leftover chicken, pork, it's amazing with steak. The most important ingredients are the Romaine lettuce and the dressing.

According to Julia Child Cardini's has been making Caesar salads since the 1920's. This dressing is amazing. Now the peppers are the hubbies idea, and a great on at that. We kind of add them to everything too.

Here it is before it's mixed up. Romaine lettuce, peppers, chicken, fresh grated Parmesan cheese and dressing...it's that simple.

 

Here it is all ready fo pound...um, to eat. NO CROUTONS ALLOWED ! 

Anything Caesar Salad

1 cup Romaine lettuce

5 hot peppers

1 chicken breast

2 tbls fresh grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbls dressing

According to the Atkins carb counter this contains 2.6 grams of carbs. I am learning that as long as I eat reasonable portions I don't worry about calories and I still loose weight ! 

If you have any questions...feel free to ask = )

 

Spring is coming and we've had a bit of rain. Not enough to get us out of our drought, but enough to turn the island green for a few weeks and send the grasses, wildflowers and Ekoa into seed production. If we are lucky, very soon we will have another good dose of rain that will start some of the new seed.

 

We have plenty of Ekoa on the ranch and I will be watching closely for just the right time to harvest the seed. If I wait too long the bugs find them and they are ruined.
 

 

 

After gathering, the seeds are boiled in water with a dash of oil to soften them. This makes the needle and thread pass easily through them for stringing.

I string mine together with seeds from Ali'ipoe for earrings.

 

 

Even after boiling and stringing they must be properly cared for. I keep them in a sealed plastic bag together with bay leaves to keep the bugs away. I currently have these in stock as well as my Job's tear earrings in my Etsy store Makamae O Molokai

 

One of my favorite parts of this time of year is to watch the beautiful grasses blowing in the pasture. I shot this video the other day when I was on my way home from getting the mail in Maunaloa. The trade winds were blowing. The clouds were moving very fast leaving shadows running on the hills. I love the way the grass moves much like the waves of the ocean. Enjoy !