Dana's blog

Hooray! It's time once again to announce the Low Carb Meet & Greet -- I believe this is the Fourth Annual Low Carb Meet & Greet. "What is the Low Carb Meet & Greet?," I hear you cry.

If you're like me, you read everything that comes along that offers to clarify the relationship between nutrition, and particularly carbohydrates, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. And frankly, a lot of it covers the same ground over and over, though some people do it better than others (I'm looking at you, Gary Taubes.)

Well, I just read ... The Fat Switch by Dr. Richard Johnson. I then immediately read it aloud to That Nice Boy I Married. Amazing, ground-breaking stuff, and highly, highly recommended.

Hey, Gang --

Ever wish there were a low carb magazine? You look at Cooking Light and think "Why isn't there something like that for low carbers? Geez."

Wonder no more. As of about 10 days ago, CarbSmart.com has launched a tablet-magazine. You know, articles, recipes, pretty pictures, all that stuff. And it's tres cool!

(Please note: As of this posting, the magazine is available for iPad users. My understanding is that CarbSmart is working out formats for other platforms/devices, and this should be available before long. So for now, please do not attempt to install the CS app or purchase the magazine unless you have an iPad. We're working on it!

How it works: The CarbSmart Magazine application runs inside iTunes Newsstand on your iPad. The app itself is free, but once you have it installed, you may buy a single issue for $3.99, or a full subscription for $19.99. This is why the application says it is "free", but is empty when you have first installed it.

We apologize to those who have had trouble. This technology is very new to us, and we are both learning as quickly as we can. -Eric)

We have the Best of 2012 Roundup, but that's just for starters. The Spotlight of our first issue is Fat Fasting and super-high-fat diets in general. Jacqueline Eberstein, RN, who worked with Dr. Atkins for 30 years, has written an article about how to tell if the Fat Fast is for you, and we'll tell you the 10 best foods for Fat Fasting. The Roundup includes my articles from when I first tried Fat Fasting, and Di Bauer's experiences with it, as well.

And RECIPES! Do we have recipes! In Dana's Kitchen you'll find Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Frittata, Ham, Cheddar and Broccoli Quiche, and Green Eggs and Ham. And do you know Susie T. Gibbs of Fluffy Chix Cook? She's smart and sassy and funny, and her recipes are, if anything, more impressive than my own. She's doing our Budget Low Carb Column, and for our first issue, she's really blown the kitchen doors off: Easy Beef Stroganoff with Buttery Cabbage Noodles, Un-Corned Beef Pot Roast & Pan-Browned Winter Vegetables, Oven-Fried Catfish, and Swiss Chard with Oven Roasted Grape Tomatoes. We'll both be contributing recipes exclusively for CarbSmart Magazine on a monthly basis.

It's a tad late now, but we also have Passover recipes from Barbo Gold, of Barbo's Low Carb Kitchen -- Aunt Sadie's Brisket, Low Carb Charoset, Barbo's Noodle Kugel. Yes, Passover is over. But brisket tastes great any time, and Passover will come again next year.

Amy Dungan fans, she's on board, too. This issue she's reviewed Tom Naughton's documentary FatHead -- it's not new, but we won't rest till everyone's seen it. Amy will be covering low carb success stories, too.

And have I mentioned design? Those of you who weary of my visual-deficient blog will be pleased to know that Azure Zebra Productions has given us a vital, zingy, totally engaging visual style. Great photos! Great layout!

In our second issue, we'll have a spotlight on the surprising health benefits of ketogenic diets. If you think it's just weight loss, you're going to be dazzled! We're also starting Kitchen Table Wisdom, with tips from the Low Carb Community (that's YOU), Ask the Low Carb Doctor with Dr. James Carlson and of course, more recipes! We're actively recruiting more writers weekly.

In short, we're on the fast track to being everything you could want in a low carb magazine. Download our first issue today, and we're convinced you'll want to subscribe!

(Again, the CS app for iPad is free to download, but you will then need to choose a single issue for $3.99, or a full year's subscription for $19.99. -Eric)

Addendum, for anyone having trouble:

I have had a few folks report having trouble getting this all to work. My apologies if this is the case for you. The technology is very new to me, but I'll do my best to get it straightened out.

First thing is to make sure you're using an iPad.

Next, are you able to open the CarbSmart app in iTunes Newsstand on your iPad at all? It's a little odd that way, like an app inside an app. (Took me a couple of tries to work it out.) Go to Newsstand (which is on the first screen on my iPad), and open the CarbSmart app from there. If the CS app is not there, then you'll need to go to "Store" in Newsstand (it's really the iTunes app store, but it installs the CS app inside Newsstand), search for "carbsmart", and download/install it.

Then, open the CS app, go to "Store" and see what options show up for purchase. Tap once anywhere on the screen in the app, and "Store" shows up as a button at the bottom. Tap that. That's where you should see all your options for purchase, which should include $3.99 single issue, $19.99 yearly subscription, and a recurring pay-by-month $1.99 subscription.

If there is nothing in the Store, then we've got a problem, and I'll have to check with a colleague who knows this stuff better than I do. Hope this helps!

-Eric

What's "umami?" (Say "Ooo, Mommy!") It's the fifth flavor. No doubt you learned somewhere over the years in science class that your tongue has receptors for four flavors: Sour, sweet, bitter, and salty. Turns out there's a fifth, and the Japanese -- who have been hip to the idea for a long time -- have named it umami, which just means "deliciousness."

As I write this, I have a glass of apple cider vinegar and water on my desk. I made it good and strong -- maybe a quarter-cup of vinegar. And I added no sugar nor sweetener.

Yet it tastes delicious -- sweet and sour and apple-y. How can this be?

Miracle Frooties. And ain't they just the darnedest things?

Happy 2013, everybody! Now that I've finished the Fat Fast book (soon to be available in Kindle and iPad formats)and the holidays are past, I can get back to work.

How much sugar is too much? It's a perennial argument, and one on which David "Wolverine" Smith has a unique perspective. You don't want to miss this new writer at CarbSmart.com

Long-time reader and low carber Paul Abrinko asks: Re: dogs, Dana, I'm curious: how trim do your dogs look on their low-carb diet? How's their health? What about their teeth? I see so many obese dogs here in SF, and although I don't have dogs anymore, I cringe to think of all the fancy, "scientific formula" dog food I used to feed them, filled with rice meal. It made them hungry all the time and led to to very poor dental health, even though the vet told me that kibble was good for their teeth.

I've been playing with chia seeds recently, looking for new and tasty ways to consume these little nutrient powerhouses. I've come up with a breakfast custard that's delicious, filling, and super-quick -- if you put your chia seeds in to soak the night before, you can have a hot breakfast in five minutes flat. And for those of you ramping up your fat to stay in nutritional ketosis, it's nice to know that once you subtract out the fiber, this gets 88% of its calories from fat. Here's how:

Chia Breakfast Custard

2 tablespoons chia seeds
1/2 cup water

I told my Facebook fans how I baked a 20 pound ham last weekend -- with only the two of us to eat it. I've been coming up with leftover ham recipes ever since. Since lots of people have ham as well as turkey for Thanksgiving, some of you may find this recipe comes in handy a week from now.

Cheesy Southwestern Ham Skillet

Ah, the incidental joys of being low carb: I am completely unaffected by the demise of the Hostess corporation. I actually remember the last snack cake of any kind that I ate: It would have been the winter I was 21; I was at a corner bodega in Chicago, in the Rogers Park neighborhood. I had quit sugar and white flour a couple of years before, but saw -- it was either Ho-Hos or Hostess Cupcakes, one of the chocolate "creme"-filled things -- at the checkout, and thought, "Oh, what the heck. Let's see what it tastes like now."

As I write this, Thanksgiving is just exactly a week away. I've been busy writing a Fat Fast cookbook, and finished just two days ago. I figured I'd better run over here and say something about Thanksgiving, fast!

The nice thing about having written for fifteen years or so is that I have a backlog of work to fall back on. I've written quite a lot about Thanksgiving in the past -- here's last year's menu, and an article I wrote about

Okay, I have officially impressed myself. This bread has rapidly become a staple item in my house, and That Nice Boy I Married and I regularly eat Yummy, Scrummy Toast (YST.) With good pastured butter, of course.

The Coconut Bread Mark II is awfully good, but it's somewhat sweet, and quite coconutty; we found we didn't much like it in grilled cheese sandwiches, or with fried eggs. Something about the flax makes this more "grainy" tasting, and cuts the sweetness. This is great with fried eggs! Come to think of it, I should try it in grilled cheese sandwiches tonight.

I know I've been quiet lately. I've been working on a fat fast book, and have a deadline at the end of this month. Still, I thought I'd take a break and remind you of the basic rules of getting through Halloween without completely blowing your low carb plan:

1) Do not buy candy early. I don't care how good the sale is. Wait till the last minute. Why put yourself in the position of sharing a house with roughly 60 million extra grams of carbohydrate for a week or two? I know people who put a bowl of Halloween candy out a week or two before Halloween. This is madness. Don't do it.