Tag Archives: keto

April 17, 2025 · 7:43 pm

Day 11 in Hospital

Today we have an appointment at the local visa place. We’ll then go to the bank, and then to the hospital.

We will talk about low carb with the therapist who feeds Harvey, plus the head nurse and the doctors who come to the room. It makes no sense to US to give him daily shots in the stomach to try to bring down his high blood sugar while feeding him a high carb diet both in the therapy feedings and the nutrient bags he’s still getting via the feeding tube.

We have seen the delirious behavior before in the states when he was drinking a bunch of chocolate milk and eating potato chips. This behavior wasn’t repeated at ALL once he agreed to quit cheating and we went to a strict low carb diet. Right after breakfast yesterday, he was out of it. He didn’t know we were there yesterday. He didn’t react to commands.

We have lots of details to handle outside the hospital and inside. We will try to do as much as possible on each of the areas.

Otherwise, the water festival is a thing of the past for another year. Workers were taking down the scaffolding used to protect the front of the huge mall Maya during the festival. I have truly never seen that many people in one place before. The Grabs are no longer having to detour around the area as much as possible to get people where they are going. There were still a huge number of people walking around, but that is the norm in Chiang Mai. I find it fascinating to see everyone, see what the people are wearing, where they are congregating, watch in amazement as the Grabs dart through the lanes of traffic as the motor scooters and motorbikes dart in and out, everyone seeming to know how to navigate, when they need to stay in there lane and when it’s okay to dart out. Only the motor scooters dart in and out. All others are very calm, taking every opportunity to change lanes when needed, but remarkably competent in getting where they are going.

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November 13, 2024 · 10:11 am

Wednesday 11-13-2024

Source: CatLover1 – Pinterest (sorry, image is backwards and I can’t make out the whole url.) It made me smile, so wanted to share.

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LINDA’S CRAFTINESS – 19 x 12 x 1/4 heavy straw mat for a one-of-a-kind, hand-painted “Southwest Turtle.” Ready to hang. $42.99 with Free Shipping. There are 3 others in this series. Contact me at lindawlewis1@gmail.com if you’re interested in more details about the collection.

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LAZY LOW-CARB FINDS – I’m really happy to have found 4 things to share with you!

Great Value – Walmart
  • We have always driven to See’s Seafood in Fort Smith to buy fresh shrimp, maybe a couple of times per year – lately not that often. The shrimp is fresh, beautiful, but expensive for us, plus a lot of work for me. I found this Great Value x-large Frozen Shrimp at Walmart recently and I’m really happy with it. All I have to do is thaw it, pull the tails off, and serve to have a nice shrimp cocktail, which we enjoyed last night. The shrimp is already cooked, peeled, deveined. There is a jumbo size, too, I think, but this was really nice. We had a shrimp chef salad two nights ago and then the shrimp cocktail last night. I have another bag in the freezer. I’m looking for a good, low-carb recipe for a shrimp casserole. (2 carbs per 3 oz serving (about 5 shrimp) 0 sugar.)
  • I feel as if I hit the mother lode with the next three on the list of finds – KETO bread, ready to eat. I’ve tried to make myself make keto bread, rolls, etc. from recipes. I’m just too lazy. I don’t want to spend all day, every day, fixing food. I just want to lose the lard, get more fit, keep the lard off, without a whole lot of hassle. Yesterday we shopped at our local Harps grocery. I checked the bread section, not really expecting to find anything. I found KETO sandwich bread, KETO hot dog buns, and I just found out there are KETO hamburger buns available, as well. AND, just to put frosting on the cake, the brand name is “LEWIS Healthy Life.” You can’t beat THAT with a stick! The hot dog buns are 1 carb per bun. The sandwich bread is 0 net carbs per slice. The hamburger buns are 1 net carb per bun. All are high in fiber, something I’m trying to increase, so it’s a win/win. Since bread is one of the main things I’ve been missing, I’ve been eating Mission 0 Net Carb Tortillas in place of bread, and they’re all right, but this will be a really nice change.

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We’re having a quiet day so far today, and I’m hoping to make it up to my art room today. Enjoy your Wednesday.

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February 20, 2024 · 10:31 am

Tuesday 2-20-2024

sent by a friend

We’re lucky to be having a gorgeous Tuesday here. It’s sunny and is forecast get to the low 70s today! But it’s FEBRUARY! Shhhh!

We didn’t sleep well. Amber decided something was trying to encroach in the middle of the night and started barking. I tried to ignore it, then got up to go down and talk to Amber and she stopped.

We did this FOUR. SEPARATE. TIMES. I’m still fantasizing about tearing her tongue out so she can’t bark. It’s amazing that a dog who looks so pretty and SWEET can drive you nuts. Anyway, we are all up now and halfway functional.

I have to tell you it was a pleasure to be able to fully use our master bathroom last night and this morning. Our plumber’s helper, Josh, was here right at 8:30 and put the new parts in my basin and draining system, then pulled the toilet, resealed it, and replaced the parts in the tank. We’re fully functional again. I have to put everything back under the sink and in the toilet part of the bathroom, but I’ll do that slowly so my back doesn’t yell too loudly.

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I did my yoga practice like a good girl. I did a new abdomen exercise Sunday which made my stomach muscles sore – a very good sign. I did it again yesterday and will keep doing it until my muscles aren’t sore, at which point I’ll increase the reps. Did I tell you I love seeing sparkly stars on my desk calendar for my exercise? I will never outgrow that…

We had quite a nature-filled evening. There were deer in the driveway, setting off the driveway detector. When I went out to check, there were also several white-tailed rabbits playing in the grass between our house and our shop and a roadrunner standing on one of the woodpiles. We also heard a group of coyotes singing for a minute or two. It’s really a distinctive sound. Kind of eerie. I have no clue why they do it.

I’m researching modifying the way I eat. I’m trying to cut my carbs way back, but I’m not really strictly following the keto eating plan. My lack of gallbladder makes handling all that fat difficult at best. My plan is to just do about 2/3 of the plan, eating the fat naturally included, but not trying to eat more than necessary.

I have Simply Keto – a wonderful book by Suzanne Ryan – that explains what to do and provides recipes that we already know we like, such as Keto Chili and a breakfast quiche type meal that we eat for dinner. We’ll see what happens. Fingers crossed.

Have a great day!

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April 10, 2022 · 10:33 am

End of Week 2 of New Regimen

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I can’t shout it to the rooftops or anything, but I AM making steady progress in my newest effort at lifestyle change and the goal of being healthier.

This is the end of WEEK 2.

I lost 3.4 lbs last week and 1.6 lbs this week, so I’m 5 lbs down in this latest effort.

Down a total 28.4 lbs since my heaviest. Down 28.7 inches since my heaviest. (I’m HOPING for a change in measurement by the end of the month. We’ll see.)

I found Mike, from More Life Help Seniors online. I’m doing two of his short exercise-with-weights videos, switching from one to the other each day. I like them so much I went to his website and downloaded his 4 week exercise program. It’s free. All you need is a chair, weights, and MAYBE a resistance band. I’ll start it tomorrow, and I’ll report back on how it goes.

Besides the weights exercises, I’m doing a 30 minute or so session daily of stretching yoga. I’m doing this late in the afternoon, after I’ve finished the yard work I’m going to do, the weights exercise, and any other more physically active stuff for the day so I can really relax and stretch. I also have a heat pad in my recliner that I can switch on if I need a bit of extra pampering.

The effort to eat low-carb is going well, too. I’ve finally gotten the scales to stop the laughing – though not the smirking – at me. It is noticing my efforts. :0)

Yesterday I made spaghetti sauce using Rao’s Marinara Sauce. It’s the lowest carb sauce I can find. I paired that with macaroni for my husband. (He prefers that to spaghetti) and I prepared 4 medium zucchini with my spiralizer. (one medium zucchini is a serving.) I used one serving and saved the rest. When we finished eating, I was able to make 3 additional meals for each of us to go in the freezer (labeled “H” and “L”) so we know which has macaroni and which has ‘zoodles’ (zucchini noodles.)

MyFitnessPal.com is a lifesaver for me. Each morning I list what I plan to eat for the day. I can readily see if I’m making a mistake or staying under my goals for carbs, sugar, fat, protein, and calories for the day. I can rethink and adjust or be confident then. I then add the exercise for the day. (This program makes adjustments based on how active you are). Sometimes that causes ME to adjust my eating, but not often. Just nice to know and a good record.

Things are going well so far. My friend Susy sent me a low-carb recipe for keto/gluten free bagels that I’ll try as soon as I get low on the rolls I made for the week.

Onward to WEEK 3

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September 6, 2020 · 9:15 am

Decision

“Caught Red-Pawed” – Audrius P. – Bored Panda

We have cancelled our BistroMD meal plan. We have to accept one more week’s delivery, but then that’s it.

We tried dinner the first night and then lunch and dinner yesterday – plus my husband had two snacks. He said – after tasting the dinner last night – “Three strikes and they’re out.” We will try to eat our way through the rest of this week’s fares plus next week’s, but this plan is not for us. A sample of our conversation: “What is this veggie?” “I think it’s apple.” “I think it’s squash.” Whatever it is, it’s pretty awful.”

Our new plan (after we try to finish the food we have, AND yet to be delivered), is for me to go back to cooking keto. We will also check out a new place called REAL FOOD that opened up recently in Greenwood. At Lunch Bunch the daughter of one of my friends mentioned the place, saying that their frozen dinners, made fresh each week, were really good, and were good for you. That may give us a nice change from all the cooking from time to time.  I will also make a point of cooking so that we have leftovers, so I won’t be spending all my time in the kitchen and cleaning up.

I’m disappointed, but the dinner was so unappetizing last night that I threw mine out, opting for some deli meat, a hard-boiled egg, and a string cheese stick.

There are a few more options we may try, but I’m STARTING to learn that being lazy and trying to avoid cooking might not be the best option long term. We used the South Beach as a kind of ‘reboot’ on our keto efforts. When my husband saw how much time I was in the kitchen, prepping, cooking, and then cleaning up when we had finished the two months of South Beach, he suggested that we try another plan and I – lazy person that I am – caved.

I will concentrate on cooking enough of each keto recipe we love so that we have leftovers for another dinner and maybe a lunch. I will also research how well each one freezes in individual portions.

 

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May 26, 2020 · 11:13 am

Trying to Lose the Lard

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Actually, I’m feeling encouraged that I am back on track since yesterday.  I am planning what I will eat using MyFitnessPal.com, trying to get as close as possible to my macro percentages again today.

We came through another tornado warning last night with no damage that I have seen so far. I’m am truly thankful. This is one of the days that we are thankful we live on top of a hill because flash flooding is forecast. I will be glad when this mini-monsoon season we’ve been having is over.

To celebrate that, I’m planning to get on my elliptical trainer in the garage after lunch and do at LEAST 15 minutes. I’m hoping that I will be able to do my ‘regular’ 35 minutes;  but since I’ve been a slug lately, I don’t want to push it too hard. I also plan to do at least 30 minutes of my “Gentle Yoga” stretches before the afternoon is over.

I am again planning to bake a loaf of keto bread, plus a Twice-Baked Cauliflower Casserole” by Suzanne Ryan. My husband isn’t fond of cauliflower, but I’ll just serve him quietly and see what he says.  We will have a hamburger patty and a salad, so he should have plenty to enjoy even if he isn’t fond of the casserole. We’ll see.

It feels good to have a plan and feel in better control. Fingers crossed.

 

 

 

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February 15, 2020 · 12:33 pm

Thoughts on a Saturday 2-15-2020

The sun is ALMOST shining today and it’s warmer, so I’m a happy camper.

We just got back from running errands. We have two main things on our list today –

THING ONE – getting a replacement collar for the shock collar we use rarely with our 94+ pound yellow lab, Amber. The shock part is still working, but the collar is too short now. Once we get one we can use, we’ll start working with her again in the yard. We need to be able to take her to the vet, for example, without worrying about her pulling my husband or me down and making us face surf on the ground. Our biggest problem is that she minds well when we are by ourselves. She looks at us as if she has never seen us before and is totally deaf when we are out in public.

THING TWO – adjusting a door knob assembly so that the door to the guest room closes and stays closed, rather than opening with the nose of a dog or cat.

I told you that we don’t really celebrate any holidays like birthdays, Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, etc. My husband was raised without big celebrations and I don’t want him to feel obligated to get me something just because of the calendar.  When we find something we think the other will like, we get it and give it, regardless of the day.

I have also told you that I’m a very happy, spoiled lady who is treated better than I deserve 99% of the time. Two examples –

He bought me these earrings a couple of weeks ago. I just love them. They gave me some trouble trying to actually get them into my ears, though. The post is curved and didn’t want to go through the hole in my ear. I kept trying. I finally decided to wait until my earlobes were completely happy and THEN try them. I wore them yesterday!!!! My husband was a bit disappointed, saying they were ‘small,’ but they looked pretty. I tried to get a pic of them with me wearing them, but I wasn’t able to.

TODAY I opened a package in the mail to find these –

The picture doesn’t show how sparkly they are. They are called, “sidewinders” or something similar because you see the whole circle while they are in your ear, not just an outside edge. I will put them on and try to get a picture. Fingers crossed!

See what I mean about being happy and spoiled?

After several days of running like a nut, I’m fairly caught up today.

I am planning to –

  • Bake a loaf of keto bread
  • Get back into exercising – with my elliptical trainer in the garage plus a session of yoga later today.

I hope that YOUR Saturday is a fun one!

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November 1, 2019 · 1:04 pm

Slow but Steady Progress in Getting the Lard Off

Spoon University

I have been on the plateau from Hell for a long time now.  I’m FINALLY in a regimen that is breaking through that. My eating plan is intermittent fasting and keto, paying particular attention to macros.

 

 

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I was kidding myself, THINKING I was eating keto, but didn’t actually make any progress until I started making sure I was eating according to the percentages of fat, protein, and carbs I should have daily. I use a program called Cronometer    which allows me to log what I plan to eat, modify if necessary, and add the exercise I’m doing.  I’m still doing a bit of yo-yoing, since eating out is a bit of a challenge, or life gets in the way, but at this point I’ve lost a total of 43 lbs and am showing signs of a smirking set of scales in my future.

 

Rabbit Care Tips

My bigger news is my exercising efforts. I have gotten more serious about doing 35 minutes on my elliptical trainer and 35 or so minutes of yoga stretching daily, adding gold star stickers to my desk calendar when I have been a good girl. My efforts have yielded some definite smirks from my measuring tape this month. I have now lost a total of 47.2 inches. 

Though my weight loss goals remain the same (I’m planning to lose another 30 or so pounds and whatever inches go with that), the exciting thing is that I FEEL BETTER. I have much less pain in my joints and back. I have more energy to do what I want to do (like play in my art room). I am feeling more confident now that I can continue losing the lard and one day meet my goal.

Thanks to Suzanne Ryan of Simply Keto, and Makinze of Delish.com, I’m finding lots of good recipes to try. My husband is VERY pleased with my cooking efforts and actually requests that I make many of the recipes again. The latest favorites are “Keto Chili” and  “Sausage, Egg & Cheese Bake” – both from Suzanne. A close second is “Keto Fried Chicken” by Makinze of Delish.

Feeling in more control and that I CAN one day meet my goals is making me a much happier person. I want to stay as healthy as possible for as long as I can.

 

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October 3, 2019 · 10:26 am

Thoughts on a Thursday – 10-3-2019

Jeff Jett

Seeing this cute photo of a raccoon reminds me how HAPPY I am that we finally seem to have encouraged all the raccoons to go elsewhere. At least for a while.

We love seeing animals around our place. We see deer, possums, racoons, squirrels, road runners, birds of all kinds….   We have lots of feeders on our deck because we love watching all kinds of birds flit around while we sit at our dining area table. This comes to a halt suddenly, several times in the spring, summer, and fall, when we find ALL the feeders empty, hanging at half mast, or down on the deck, ruined. Our raccoons seem to arrive in families. We use a humane trap to catch them, one at a time, and then drive them out further into the country about 5 miles or so, and let them out at a creek to hopefully catch up to the ones we’ve relocated before and go on to live a happy life – away from us.

If they would SHARE or wouldn’t trash our feeders and make a mess, we could live in harmony. SADLY, they want it ALL.

Right now we still have hummingbird feeders up and filled since we are still seeing up to 4 at a time, darting between the two feeders and our wave petunias. We’ll keep them up to feed late stragglers who haven’t gotten the memo yet that it’s probably time to head south. (Mother Nature is still giving us summer here, so it’s no wonder the sweet hummers are confused.)

We also have black oil sunflower seeds and small seeds so everyone can find something to their liking. We had kept the feeders empty, trying to discourage the raccoons, for a LONG time, so it’s good to be back to normal now.

I just finished the first of 2 sessions on my elliptical trainer in the garage. I overdid a couple of days ago, and ended up like a slug in my chair most of the day yesterday. Dividing up my time into two sessions will hopefully allow me to keep moving without my body going on strike. I do another session later today plus a session of yoga.

My creative juices are starting to rummage around in my brain, so I’m hoping to get up to my art room this afternoon and start plotting, planning, and playing. (I hope you get a kick out of alliteration :0) )

*Today is Day 31 of daily yoga. Day 16 of getting-serious-about-keto-macros, and Day 5 of three-times-a-week elliptical trainer time. I’m going to give myself a gold star EACH time I do an elliptical session, hopefully making it so I don’t slough off the second session of the day, so I can earn THREE today. I cooked “Cheesy Bacon-Wrapped Chicken” by Suzanne Ryan, Simply Keto last night. Both my husband and son said, “YUMMY!”

The weather people are saying a cold front is coming through over night. I’m holding them to their word that this will happen, and will finally break the back of the too-hot temps with too-high humidity that have become the norm here. Fall – here we come!

I hope YOU have a star-filled and raccoon-less day, too!

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September 29, 2019 · 10:23 am

Thoughts on a Sunday – 9-29-2019

Patti’s Pasticceria

First HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our cousin/treasured friend MURRAY. I hope you have a wonderful day celebrating YOU, Sweet Murray. I love you! Love, also, to all there with you today. :0)

We are having a nice, calm morning so far, and for that I’m truly thankful.

Our son helped me find another carb counting site. We compared it to the one I’ve been using and it seemed to be more accurate and easier to use, so I’ve switched to Cronometer.  So far, it seems easy to figure out what type of thing I need to eat in order to meet my percentages of fat, carbs, and protein for the day.  I can also type something in there I’m planning to eat to see if it is good for my goals. If it isn’t, I find out BEFORE I mess up. A really good thing! :0) I’ve lost 4 pounds this month, but have only gotten serious about the keto percentages (macros) for 12 days now. I’m hoping to be able to report next month a much more satisfying number. I’m planning to lose another 30 lbs or so.

I am earning Gold Star #10 this week (7 for daily yoga practice and 3 for elliptical trainer exercise three times this week.)  Even though I really am adverse to exercise, not relating at ALL to the fit folks in their cute little exercise outfits who LIVE to get to the gym, saying it feels so GOOD, I CAN tell you that I can feel that my body needs what I’m doing.  I stiffen up again after I exercise, but even that is getting a bit better as I move the lard. :0)

I tried my new crayon melter two days ago. I made a huge mess and had a blast doing it. I will watch more YouTube demonstrations and enjoy playing in my art room – if not today, then hopefully tomorrow.

Lots to do today to end this month and start a new one.

I wish you a really good day.

 

 

 

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