Lowcarbezine! 23 August 2000

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Hey, Gang!

Am I actually writing this newsletter, or am I just channeling it?  I
swear, half the time I have no idea what the finished product is going
to be like when I sit down to write.  Last week, no recipes.  This week,
lots of recipes -- indeed, pretty much the whole thing is recipes and
menu suggestions this week.  No breaking news for us low carbers, and no
new products or books  to review, although I have both on the way, so
come on back next week!  (Bagels, folks -- I have low carb bagels
coming!  And protein chips!  And new protein "cookies", including
chocolate mint, which I love!)  (There are some perks to this job, and
free food is one of 'em!)  It just comes out the way it comes out,
that's all, and sometimes I wonder just how much I have to do with it.

Anyway, hope you like lots of talk about what to serve for dinner,
because that's what you're getting this week!

Read on!

Dana

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All contents copyright 2000 by Hold the Toast Press.  All commercial
reproduction and/or use is expressly prohibited.  As always, feel free
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Lowcarbezine! welcomes reader input!  If you have a question, a recipe,
a product review, a low carb success story, send it on in!!
mailto:dana@holdthetoast.com  However, please note -- although I really
do read all my email my very own self, I get a *lot* of mail --
generally over 200 posts a day (not all of them about Lowcarbezine!), so
I can't promise to answer every post personally.  Or I'll never get the
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Frequently Asked Question

Recipes are all well and good, but what can we eat that's *FAST*, and
takes no work, or almost no work?

(I once heard this question phrased, "What can a low carber eat when
they used to live on Lean Cuisine?" ;-D )

An astonishing number of people in the United States live almost solely
on pre-prepared foods, doing virtually no cooking at all.  Personally,
this wouldn't suit me; even when I'm tremendously pressed for time I'd
rather broil a burger, a chop or a steak, or make an omelet,  than eat
something frozen.  But that's me, and I'm writing for a whole bunch of
*you*.

One thing you'll have to accept is that the more food prep is done for
you before purchasing, the more expensive the food will be.  It is
virtually impossible to get the most food for your money when someone
else does much of the work for you.  Think about it -- having a cook has
always been the prerogative of the wealthy.  And remember:  Not only is
time money, but money is time.  (In other words, the more money you
spend on prepared foods to avoid the work of cooking, the more hours
you'll have to work to pay for not doing that kitchen work.)  And the
more people you're feeding, the more expensive it gets to have someone
else do the prep work for you.  But that's your decision to make.

Here are some ideas for low carb stuff you can eat with very little time
or effort involved:

* Rotisserie chickens -- is there a grocery store left in America that
doesn't sell these?   These are an ideal low carb fast food -- hot,
fresh, tasty, not too many interesting chemicals added (personally I
don't worry about salt), and not overwhelmingly expensive.  You may have
a Boston Market near you (I don't) -- their chicken is good, but I think
it's pretty overpriced.  Kenny Roger's Roasters is another brand; I've
never tried them, so I can't tell you about quality or price.  Sadly,
KFC discontinued Tender Roast awhile back, at least around here.  I was
bummed -- 2-3 pieces of dark meat and two sides of green beans was my
favorite fast food meal.  Maybe if we all wrote KFC and begged them to
bring it back?

* Deli stuff -- only some of this will work for us.  Cold meats are
okay, of course, but be wary of "loaves" and sausages and such -- some
will be okay, and some will not, and try to get the lowest sugar ham you
can -- I ask the deli staff, nicely,  to show me labels.  Deli salads
may or may not be okay, depending on the deli; many of them will have
sugar in the dressing. If you can't get a clear reading on what the
ingredients are, don't buy it.  Some delis will have chicken salad or
tuna salad which will be okay for us; just the protein, a few veggies,
mayonnaise, and maybe some nuts.  (Nuts are *wonderful* in chicken
salad!  See the article on pecans, below.)  Delis are expanding their
lines, however -- I've purchase very good roasted vegetables, for
instance, at the deli at my health food store.  It's worth checking out,
and worth comparing several local stores.

* Refrigerated, pre-cooked, pre-seasoned chicken.  My grocery store
carries several different flavors of this sort of thing -- mesquite
grilled, teriyaki, lemon pepper, that sort of thing.  Tyson puts out a
number of them.  As always, watch the labels for added carbs!  There are
also frozen hot wings, which I mentioned last week.  Both Tyson and
Banquet make these.

* Refrigerated, pre-cooked turkey breast, ditto.

* Pre-cut stir-fry meat -- my local groceries have this in the meat
department.  Add some sliced onion, some frozen broccoli cuts or snow
peas, and a little soy sauce or low carb "stir fry" sauce, and you've
got a meal.  Sometimes the meat is even packaged with the vegetables!

* Pre-made kabobs -- most big grocery stores carry these in the meat
case -- not the open case, but the glassed in one, where the meat guy
is.  For some reason, I see chicken kabobs more than beef or lamb.
Again, these are quick to cook because the meat is in smallish pieces.
Just broil, basting with something apropos -- maybe olive oil, garlic,
and lemon juice, maybe soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and toasted sesame
oil...

* Boneless, skinless chicken breasts -- but then, you knew that already,
right?  Try them with different marinades or sprinkle-on seasonings, to
vary them a bit.  I have a "Soul Seasoning" I like quite well, and there
are more seasoning blends on the market every day.  Watch out for
anything labeled "glaze", it's going to be sugary, sure as you're born.
Plain old bottled
Italian salad dressing is good for marinating chicken.  Here's the
recipe for my Tequila Lime marinade (I published this back in July):
Combine:
2 tablespoons lime juice (bottled is fine)
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon tequila
1 teaspoon Splenda
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 clove garlic, crushed

* Eggs -- it's hard to come up with a low carb food that is faster,
cheaper, and more nutritious than eggs.  You owe it to yourself to come
up with good things to do with them, that the family likes!  Slices of
sausage or frankfurter in them, perhaps, or peppers, onions, and plenty
of Swiss cheese.  Eggs are just about instant food.

* Pre-made hamburgers -- most grocery stores have these in the freezer
case.  Read the label; some of them have additives which increase the
carb count, and many have soy.  You can serve them plain, either pan
broiled, oven broiled, or grilled.  (I use my George Foreman electric
grill for burgers most of the time.)  Not only do you not have to form
the burgers yourself, but boxed burgers are usually thin, like fast food
burgers, which makes for quick cooking.  Vary them, if you like, with
different toppings -- we all know about cheddar or American cheese, of
course, but try Swiss sometime, with a little bacon perhaps (you can
even buy pre-cooked bacon slices at my grocery store!), or a little raw
onion.  With jarred pizza sauce (Ragu now makes one with no sugar or
corn syrup) and some mozzarella, you have a pizza burger.  Add Monterey
Jack and salsa, and you have a Mexi-burger.  Blue cheese?  Excellent!
How about sautéed mushrooms and onions, if that's not too much work?

* You-made hamburgers -- just sit down with ten pounds of sale
hamburger, a stack of baggies, and a TV show, and you'll have a stack of
burgers to freeze in no time.  Do yourself a favor, and separate burgers
with a *double* layer of waxed paper -- a single layer does virtually no
good at all.  Just tear a strip and fold it in half.   Also, if you wet
your hands with cold water between burgers, it will stick to your hands
*far* less. You can do this with ground turkey or ground chicken too, if
you like, but I find them pretty bland without added seasonings, and
we're trying to avoid any sort of actual cooking here, right?

* Chops and steaks -- it's just as fast to pan broil, oven broil, or
grill a steak or a chop as a burger, and personally, I think it's
tastier!  Try rubbing steaks or chops with olive oil and garlic before
broiling or grilling -- they'll be both tastier and juicier for it.

* Don't forget that the world has fish steaks in it, too -- salmon
steaks, swordfish steaks, etc.  You *definitely* want to rub these with
oil before cooking!  Dry fish is icky.

* Ham steaks, too!  And these I don't rub with oil.  Remember, ham is a
processed meat, and always has some sugar in it; read the labels for the
ones with the least sugar.  Me, I like green beans with ham, and you
could give the non-low carbers some mac-and-cheese.  (Yes, there is
whole grain mac-and-cheese mix on the market.  Check a health food
store.)

* Lobster -- I had no idea about this until my friend Kwee Ong told me,
but the grocery store will cook those live lobsters in the tank for
you.  Not cheap, but certainly easy and low carb, and probably not as
steep as ordering one in a restaurant.  And you may have all the lemon
butter you like!  (One product *not* to buy:  Fake seafood, like
Delicaseas.  The stuff is actually quite high carb -- stay away.  Lump
crab meat is fine, though, if you can afford it!)

* Frozen, grilled fish fillets -- finally, the freezer case has an
alternative to fish sticks and breaded fillets!  Available in lemon
pepper, garlic butter, and other flavors.  Fast and easy -- five minutes
in the nuke-ro-wave.

* Frozen, cooked shrimp.  Heck, frozen uncooked shrimp; they don't take
more than five minutes to cook!  You can sauté them, as in the Scampi
recipe a few of weeks back, or you can boil them, quick and easy.  If
you'd like to do the latter, you might pick up a box of "crab boil"
spice, good for boiling any seafood.  By the way, don't actually boil
your shrimp -- bring the water to a boil, drop in the shrimp (and the
crab boil packet, if you use it), cover the pot, and turn off the
flame.  Let them sit in the hot-but-not-quite-boiling water for 3-5
minutes (three for bitsy little shrimp, five for bigger ones), and
drain. These will keep for a couple of days in a jar with a tight lid in
the refrigerator. Don't serve with cocktail sauce, since the stuff is
loaded with sugar, just like ketchup and barbecue sauce.  Try garlic
butter, lemon butter, horseradish butter, or mustard and mayo, mixed.
(You can, of course, save time on that last item by keeping Dijonnaise
on hand.)  Oh, the Tequila Lime marinade is good on shrimp, too --
marinade for at least an hour (or all day in a zip lock bag in the
fridge), then grill or sauté.

* Canned meats and fish -- Spam does have a little sugar in it, but not
enough to show up on the carb count on the nutrition label -- figure
it's about 0.5 grams per serving.  Canned shrimp, canned crab meat,
canned chicken and turkey, and, of course, canned tuna and salmon, are
already cooked, and, hence, fast.  What to do with them?  Easiest thing
to do with most of them is toss them into a salad.  Which brings us to:

* Bagged salad -- What a great product for the low carber who doesn't
want to deal with prep work!!  Do yourself a favor, and don't just buy
the standard Iceberg Blend; it's the least nutritious lettuce God ever
made.  And don't miss the pre-shredded cabbage for coleslaw.  Broccoslaw
-- shredded broccoli stems -- is good, too.  Bagged salad makes a great
side dish, but don't miss the main dish possibilities:  Salad tossed or
topped with any protein food becomes a meal.  Further, if you like
things like fried cabbage (we're quite fond of it around here), bagged
coleslaw is the fast way to do it.

* Packaged salad dressing -- is what you're likely to used on your
bagged salad.  Believe it or not, the salad dressing aisle can be a real
minefield!  You'll want to avoid French, Russian, Catalina, Honey
Mustard, Poppyseed, Raspberry Vinaigrette, and any other dressing that
tastes sweet, for the obvious reason that the stuff is loaded with
sugar.  Ditto all fat-free dressings; they're just spicy corn syrup.
Steer clear.  Italian, Caesar, Ranch, Bleu Cheese, Peppercorn Parmesan,
oil and vinegar, are all generally good choices.  As far as I'm
concerned, the best bottled salad dressing on the market is Paul
Newman's Oil and Vinegar -- good stuff!  He makes a fine Caesar
dressing, too.  And don't forget powdered dressing mix; it's convenient
to have on the shelf.  For that matter, it's good to know that the
proportions for your basic vinaigrette dressing are 2-3 parts oil to one
part vinegar.  Wine vinegar is best, if you ask me, and you did, but
cider vinegar ain't bad, and lemon juice is just plain wonderful.  Also,
the better your olive oil, the better your dressing -- I keep two grades
of olive oil on hand; inexpensive stuff by the gallon for frying things,
and good extra virgin grade for salads.  Makes a *big* difference!

* Pre-cut vegetables -- broccoli cuts, cauliflower, and celery are
available pre-cut and ready for dipping in most grocery stores.  (So are
baby carrots, but they're higher carb than the broccoli, cauliflower,
and celery.)  Cherry tomatoes are good for dipping, too, and in the
winter they're usually better than the regular sized tomatoes.  Peppers
and cucumbers are pretty darned swift to cut up for dipping -- they
don't come cut and packaged because they go over so rapidly.  If your
grocery store has a salad bar, you can probably get them there.

* Salad bar -- also a good place to go for pre-cut vegetables for
stir-fry, shredded cheese, sliced mushrooms for sautéing, all sorts of
things.  I'll never forget being at the World's Greatest Grocery Store
Salad Bar (Sunset Foods, Highland Park, IL -- unbelievable.  Hi,
Highland Park!) the day before Thanksgiving, watching all the local
women buying all of their celery, onions, and other chopped vegetables
for turkey stuffing, and thinking, "Man, is that smart!"

* Frozen vegetables -- Personally, I much prefer these to canned, and,
properly cooked, they're nutritionally superior to canned, unless you're
in the habit of drinking all of the water from the canned vegetables!
Frozen vegetables are sooooo convenient, and can be prepared many ways.
Of course, what you'll probably do with them is nuke them, which is just
fine by me.  Add the barest minimum of water, so as to lose the fewest
vitamins.  And if you've been in the habit of covering the dish you
microwave veggies in with plastic wrap, you may now stop.  Just put a
plate on top.  Works great, costs nothing, and the plate will only need
to be lightly rinsed and put back in the cabinet.  Frozen vegetables are
great in stir fries -- I find frozen broccoli, in particular, much
easier to use for stir frying than fresh.  There are, of course, about a
billion blends of vegetables available; be sure you check the total carb
count.  Be wary of vegetables with sauces already on them; they're
likely to add carbs.  (And why, exactly, does anyone buy vegetables in
lemon-butter sauce?  Just how hard is it to add a chunk of butter and a
squirt of lemon juice, anyway?)  Good bets in the frozen vegetable aisle
are asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, wax beans, snow peas,
brussels sprouts, spinach, collards, kale, mustard and turnip greens,
and summer squashes, like zucchini.  Also available in many grocery
stores are frozen chopped onions, and frozen chopped green peppers,
which you may find to be a convenience.

(Important thing to know about frozen vegetables -- they are *not*
immortal, especially if you have a self-defrosting freezer.  Leave them
in there more than a few months, and they'll be marginal, at best.)

Here's a good thing to do with frozen green beans -- cross cut or french
cut, doesn't matter:  Sauté them in olive oil, with a clove of cut
garlic.  Add a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice, and a good shot of
black pepper.  Yummy.

* Canned vegetables -- maybe you like these better than I do.  There's
only a few I can tolerate -- I keep canned mushrooms on hand, for
anything where the mushrooms are going to be cooked for quite a while
anyway.  I used canned tomatoes in things, and tomato paste and tomato
sauce.  (All of these are borderline -- watch your portions!) Canned
bamboo shoots work fine in my hot-and-sour soup recipe, and I don't mind
canned water chestnuts.  Jarred or canned sauerkraut is good, and quite
low carb; if you like it, keep it around and eat it often.  But as for
stuff like canned asparagus, canned green beans, canned spinach -- you
may eat these if you like, but I'll stick to fresh or frozen.

* Juices -- most of the stuff in the juice aisle isn't for us, but
bottled lemon juice and lime juice can be mighty handy.  No, they're not
as good as fresh, but they can still make a pretty good lemon butter
sauce, or liven up that frozen broccoli, or make that tequila-lime
marinade for that ubiquitous boneless skinless chicken breast.  I use
fresh for "good", but keep the bottled stuff on hand for everyday.

So there you have the basics.  Of course, you can also do things like
cooking in quantity over the weekend; this is a strategy that busy
people have used forever.  (If you like, freeze individual portions of
the stuff you make a lot of; then you don't have to work your way
through all of it in a couple of days.)  Making friends with your slow
cooker is a good idea; it will let you assemble dinner the night before
(*after* dinner!), plug it in in the morning, and come home to instant
food.  And I'm going to do some experimenting with slow-roasting in the
oven -- this is a technique which was suggested back in the 60s or so,
and if it works for me, it should let you start a roast before you leave
for work in the morning, and come home to a roast that's just nicely
done, rather than overcooked and dry.  Of course, it means leaving your
oven on while you're out of the house.  But then, everything has its
problems...


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An Interesting Personal Food Discovery

I've made an interesting discovery since I got home from vacation:  If I
have a late breakfast (which I can do, since I work for myself, at home)
of either tuna salad, chicken salad, or egg salad, with lots of
vegetables, a big whack of protein, and plenty of mayonnaise, and eat it
with several fiber crackers (I eat Fiber Rich brand), I am full for
*HOURS* -- sometimes I'm not hungry again for as long as ten hours,
especially with the chicken salad.  (I have no idea why the chicken
salad holds me longer than the others.  Maybe it's the pecans I put in
it.)  I also feel great, and operate at a high level of efficiency --
tons of energy, even more than usual.

I've been doing this, and I've generally been eating only two meals a
day, with no hunger at all.  Maybe a handful of nuts somewhere along the
line, but that's about it.

This may not work for you -- may not fit your schedule, or your tastes
-- but the results have been so striking for me, I thought I'd let you
know.

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A Quick Thank You...

To the folks who wrote to let me know that they drew inspiration from my
lead article last week.  I really struggled with that article; it was
one of the hardest things I ever wrote, and the reason the newsletter
was late.  I appreciate all the comments I get from my readers, but for
this article that I *really* sweated over, it meant the world.

Sometimes I don't know how I lived without you guys.

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Cruise!!!  Cruise!!!  Cruise!!!

Come cruise the Caribbean with me!  You know you want to!!  We're going
to have whole lot of fun, learn a lot, get away from *WINTER* (which
*is* coming, you know!), get rid of the holiday stress, get the New Year
off to a *great* start, sample new low carb products, learn way-cool
breathing exercises to accelerate metabolism -- all on an outrageously
luxurious and beautiful floating resort called the Carnival Victory, the
newest, largest, and most luxurious ship in the Carnival fleet!  You
have to see this ship to believe it!  And we're going to Mexico, Grand
Cayman, and Jamaica!  How cool is *that*?!

So come meet me!  Get an autographed preview copy of my second book!
Meet new low carb pals!  Knock off another five pounds!  And have a
*ball*!  We sail on January 7th, 2001 (You'll want to be in Miami by the
evening of the 6th -- we can arrange that, too.) for a full week!

But you want to get your reservations in *now*.  Why?  Because just like
with airlines, you get a better rate with cruise lines if you *book in
advance*.  At this point, we're moving toward the winter Caribbean
cruise season, and prices will only go up.   So book now!!  Your deposit
is fully refundable through October 15th, should anything untoward
happen.  Check out all the details of the cruise at
http://www.holdthetoast.com/cruise.html .

C'mon, which would you rather be doing come the second week in January?
Shoveling snow?  Or sailing blue waters with me and a whole bunch of low
carb diet pals?

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Spotlight Low Carb Food-of-the-Week!

Pecans!  Yum!  My favorite nut, especially when cooked.  There's
something about that extreme crispness -- one might almost say
brittleness -- that a toasted pecan has that just thrills me!  And I
like the little grooves -- I always ate Tricuits by breaking off a line
at a time, and sometimes I eat pecans the same way.

Pecans are among the lower carbohydrate nuts; one ounce of pecans has 5
g of carb, of which 3 g is fiber, for a usable carb count of just 2 g
per ounce. (An ounce is approximately 36 halves.) Like all nuts, they
have healthy fats in them.  Did you know that eating nuts regularly has
been associated with a lower risk of heart disease?  They have some B
vitamins, too, and a pretty good potassium content -- one ounce of
pecans has 111 mg of potassium, or about a third of the potassium of a
banana.  They're actually pretty good sources of minerals in general,
supplying magnesium, zinc, copper, and manganese -- even a smidge of
calcium.  They supply just a little protein, only 2.2 grams in an ounce.

I buy raw pecan halves by the pound when they go on sale, and keep 'em
in the freezer -- I eat them raw, right out of the bag, all the time
(they don't even need thawing.)  Here's some things I do with them:

* Pecans are *great* in chicken or turkey salad!  I make my chicken or
turkey salad with chunks of chicken or turkey (duh!), diced celery,
onion (usually red onion), and green pepper, a whole bunch of chopped
raw pecans, and plenty of mayonnaise.  One of my very favorite things to
eat!

* You've probably heard of green beans almondine (or Green Almond Beans,
as they're called around here), but have you heard of serving vegetables
"pecandine"?  Sauté chopped pecans in plenty of butter over low-medium
heat, stirring frequently (or they'll burn!), until crisp through, then
serve over cooked, drained green beans.  An elegant change!

* A few weeks back, when I wrote about spinach, I mentioned my favorite
spinach-pecan salad.  At the risk of repeating myself, here's that
recipe again: Wash and dry two pounds of fresh spinach.  Sprinkle them
lightly with salt or Vege-Sal, and squeeze them a bit with clean hands
-- they'll wilt a little and shrink in volume. Now add 8-10 sliced
scallions, 1/4 good olive oil, and 1/4 cup lemon juice, and toss well.
Top with 1/4 pound toasted, salted, chopped pecans.  Out of this world!
( Credit where credit is due -- I got this idea from -- dare I plug her
book *again*?  Peg Bracken's _The Compleat I Hate To Cook Book_.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0883657945/lowcarbohysoluti   She
calls it Syrian Pecan Salad.  By any name, it's great. )

* For a special occasion, when you're making poultry stuffing from the
lowest carb bread you can find, well diluted with plenty of celery,
onions, and mushrooms, and maybe some cooked, crumbled sausage, you
could dilute the carb count still further, while improving the taste, by
adding some chopped pecans.

* Believe it or not, I've seen a recipe for Pecanburgers!  Mix a pound
of ground beef with a teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 cup
chopped pecans.  Make into thinnish burgers.  Brown 'em in a skillet,
then add 1/3 cup burgundy wine and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes.
Haven't tried it, but I might -- I mean, with ingredients like that, how
bad can it be?

* I recently received a query from a reader, wanting to know how I
cooked pecans in butter for snacks.  Here's what I do:
I melt a good 2-3 tablespoons of butter over low-medium heat in a heavy
bottomed skillet.  When it's melted, I add a handful or two of pecan
halves.  Then I stir them frequently, for about 5-7 minutes, or until
they're crisp clear through.  Then I have to decide how to season them!
Here's some things I've used:
*just a little salt -- hard to go wrong with a classic!
* a couple of teaspoons of soy sauce and a sprinkle of powdered ginger.
* a couple of teaspoons of worcestershire sauce
* a sprinkle of my "Chicken Seasoning, a spice blend I make myself -- 3
tablespoons salt, 1 teaspoon each paprika, curry powder, onion powder,
garlic powder; a 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.  Great on chicken or pecans!

* my latest favorite, a couple of teaspoons of Splenda and a sprinkle of
cinnamon!  A really nice little something sweet for after dinner.

Pecans rule!

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Reader Review of _How I Gave Up My Low Fat Diet and Lost Forty Pounds!_

Dont let the cover fool you! This book
gets 10 stars!,

I bought this book and read it in 2 days. It should
be a "must" have for any low-carb dieter. Dana
gives info on all the various low carb diets out
there, so you can choose which works for you. She
gives you a wealth of information that I didn't
find in the Heller's book or the Eades book. She tells
you what works and what doesn't.

I almost didn't buy this book because the cover
looked, well, weird. Never judge a book by its
cover! The inside flap has a wonderful before and
after shots of Dana, and she is quite pretty. The
book had cute little cartoon guys and girls that
made me smile.

If your still in doubt, read through Amazon's
listing of her table of contents. Sounds interesting, doesn't
it? I almost gave up my low carb diet in spite of
the benefits because I was struggling with some
things- but Dana cleared up some things. Like I was
gnashing my teeth al ot, and Dana gave alot of
info on supplements (do not buy the store
multivitamin junk- not sufficient at all! ). I gnashed my teeth
because I was not getting the correct minerals and
vitamins. Read the book, find out more!

This book is awesome! I have lost 15 lb. in 2
months and this book will help me reach my goal, and
live happily ever after. What more could you ask
for?

Amy W, Michigan


Thanks, Amy!

You can read this and other reader reviews at
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0966883101/lowcarbohysoluti

And you can read the first chapter of _How I Gave Up My Low Fat Diet and
Lost Forty Pounds!_ for FREE at http://www.holdthetoast.com !  You can
order the book through the order page on the website, through
Amazon.com, or -- and this is a *very good deal!* through Carb Smart, at
http://www.carbsmart.com .

If you'd like to order the book through a local bookstore, you should be
able to do so virtually anywhere in the USA -- just give them the title,
_How I Gave Up My Low Fat Diet and Lost Forty Pounds!_, and the ISBN
(0-9668831-0-1), and tell them it's available through Baker and Taylor
-- that's our wholesaler!

International readers, I'm afraid you'll have to order through the
internet, or by sending us a check or money order here at Hold the Toast
Press -- we don't have an international wholesaler yet. :-(  But we've
shipped as far as Japan!  We'd be happy to ship to you!

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Funny Story From a Reader

I had written, at the beginning of July, that one of the dumber
accusations that anti-low carb types throw at low carb dieting is, "You
only lose water on a low carb diet!"  I said that I would always
respond, "FIVE GALLONS?!  I've lost FIVE GALLONS of water?!"  That's how
much water I would have had to have lost to lose forty pounds.

Boy, my experience was nothing -- here's a post I got back from a
reader, who didn't give a name:

Re the "just water weight loss" comment..I had to laugh.  My GP saw me
in about 1973 at nearly 300 lbs for annual checkup.  When I went back
the next year I had lost 120 lbs.....he was thrilled and impressed till
I told him it was "Atkins"  then he  sourly said.....yes...."it's just
water weight!".

Ah, yes, it's "just water weight"...  By my calculations, this reader
lost *FIFTEEN GALLONS* of water.  Tidal wave!!!  Or maybe a tributary of
"De-Nile"?  Sounds like that doctor's real name was Cleopatra.

Thanks, Mystery Reader!!

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That's it for this week!  See you next week!!

Dana W. Carpender

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