I don’t remember what I was looking for, when I found a video of Jimmy from LivinLaVidaLowcarb talking about this great lowcarb bread he’d tried. Jimmy is famous for his 150 lb loss and now maintains a website talking about the lowcarb lifestyle, reviewing products meant to help live life easier and in general, being an inspiration.

I always find that I do just fine without bread until I decide that I’m not having it anymore and then ohmyGodIneedsomebreadrightnowwwww! Most of the time, if I can get a hearty, whole grain bread, it doesn’t affect me as badly as regular slice of Wonder. Something in the fiber? I don’t know. I don’t buy bread. The only time I eat it is if I eat out and they put some on the table. I cannot resist the bread at Cheesecake Factory.  I’m also not all that particular, as long as it’s wheat. I can’t stand white bread. *shudder*

So sometimes when I am having some tuna salad (or salmon salad) or some scrambled eggs, or something I’d normally eat with bread, the meal feels slightly empty without it. For a fleeting moment, I wish I ate bread, and then I sit down and eat and the thought is gone.

When I stumbled onto this lowcarb bread from Julian Bakery, and heard Jimmy singing it’s praises, I just wanted to try it. Because. So I ordered a loaf, using the coupon code that was provided on the website. It is baked fresh and all orders are shipped on Tuesdays. I got mine Thursday.

It is about the size of one of those loaves you get at the grocery store– not the regular bread but the whole grain and multi grain breads.

This is a really REALLY dense bread. If you like your bread full of air and barely there, you probably won’t like this bread. It’s a meal in itself. Very thick, very hearty. I LOVE a thick bread, so I was giddy. This would be so good with some stew….

This piece is toward the end of the loaf so it is thicker, but this is about the width of each piece. They don’t slice them razor thin or anything.  I had some today, on my lunch, with my salmon salad. At first I spread the mixture on the bread and tried to eat it like finger food but I found I didn’t like the mixture of tastes together, so I dumped the salad and ate  interspersed with bites of the bread.

Okay, if I didn’t say it before, this bread is thick. Did I mention it was a meal in itself? I was pretty much full after half a slice but I kept eating because it’s what I do. The taste is very slightly nutty, if it’s just plain. A tad bland. This weekend I will toast a slice to have with my eggs. I bet it kicks butt toasted. A little buttah…. it’ll be like buttah.

When I bit into it, it wasn’t like ‘mmmmmm, bread.’ I only reserve that reaction for Cheesecake Factory bread. But it looks like bread and smells like bread and tastes like bread. So. I guess they did a good job of producing a lowcarb product that walks, talks and acts like a duck…err… bread.

The true test for me, as to if I can tolerate it, is its effect on my body. Normally flour makes me sleepy. I come back from lunch and just want to stretch out and go to sleep. Sugar does the same, except I get a little rush and then I crash. I was awake and alert – and satisfied – all through the afternoon. I came home and worked out, had plenty of energy, and then cooked and ate dinner. Very filling and satisfying.

Here are some nutritional deets:

A) Smart Carb No 1 (Net 1 Carb)

Ingredients:

Sprouted Whole Grains of *kamut®, *spelt, *wheat, *rye, *millet, lentils, eggs, organic non-gmo soy milk protein, flax, sesame, *quinoa, *amaranth, wheat gluten, 7 grain flakes, oat bran, sea salt & yeast.

The number that most lowcarbers look at is carbs and fiber. The ‘new school’ lowcarb dieters subtract carbs from fiber to get a net carb. All I really care about are net carbs, or what’s left after you subtract the two. Also, as far as I am concerned, the higher the fiber and protein count, and the lower sugar the better. Seeing a big fat 0 next to sugar makes me happy. This bread is so packed with fiber that it essentially cancels out the carb count. And 12 grams of protein isn’t  too shabby, either!

*I should mention that most diabetics actually figure each slice to be 3.8 carbs– which is far lower, still, than other lowcarb breads.

In all, this isn’t too bad. It’s the lowest of the lowcarb bread, and reviewers about the interwebs say it’s tasty. It’s too expensive to blow through a loaf with any kind of frequency, but I admit most of the cost was shipping. Julian Bakery does offer a multi loaf discount, to take the edge off of the shipping fees.

And since I can’t make salmon salad like my aunt makes salmon salad, I sort of liked the bread better than my salad. I need her recipe.

Once this loaf is gone, I’d like to try the Cinnamon kind… but I foresee that loaf going much, much faster.

It’s been an emotional week at Chez Jones. Not really drama filled, but lots of introspection and trying to figure out what makes me tick. What do other people see, when they see me? What do others think about me? Am I a good friend? Am I a good person? Do people feel like they can count on me?

And if the answer is no, do I care enough to change? [Read more →]

So, all week I have been watching my sugars, white flour and starches, and have been doing a great job. Drinking a lot of water and in general making great strides. Every morning I go down to the Cafe and have a good hot, protein filled breakfast. I used to never eat breakfast, but I find  a good one sets the day off right for me so even if I don’t have time to eat at home, I stop somewhere and get something for fuel– yesterday was one of those days. I would normally also get a bottle of Fuze Slenderize Lowcarb juice drinks, so I can avoid the caffeine of coffee. Been going great all week long, and have been happy with my routine.

Yesterday I got two bottles and drank one with breakfast and saved the other for after lunch. I opened the bottle, drank about half of it down, and thought, wow, this is really good. It doesn’t taste lowcarb. And then it dawned on me… there is no way that a Banana Colada is lowcarb.  Oh NO.  Checked the label…25 grams of carbs. TWENTY THREE GRAMS OF SUGAR.

I thought I was going to pass out. I was SO UPSET with myself, because once I have sugar, even after not having it for a few days, I will go on a sugar craving rampage and I will be able to justify whatever I eat and then cry the next day. The bottle was nearly empty so I finished it (can’t waste stuff!) and then had a bottle of water and determined within myself to just stay on the train. The real test would come later on. [Read more →]

Mmmhmmm. It’s one of those posts.

Every time I think about this post, as in the goals I want to accomplish in writing it, what I want to lay out, I keep thinking of Anna Nicole Smith’s TrimSpa Commercial- “Do you like my bodyyyy???” Not because I want to try TrimSpa, but one of the things I think about when it comes to my body is ‘do I like it?”

My answer? It’s alright.

Like a large portion of the population of the US, I am overweight. And not just overweight– fat. Obese. Really heavy. I  have been, for a very long time. I almost don’t remember what it was like to be thin. I was in my 20′s and I wasn’t even all that thin. I remember being 150 lbs and thinking I was fat. And then at 190, being devastated. 190 would be a Godsend right now.

I’ve fluctuated, up and down, the same 30 lbs for years. I’ve tried lowfat– I don’t lose a lb, I’m grouchy and hungry. It doesn’t work for me. What does work is moderating my carb intake and my fats, keeping my eating relatively simple. But sometimes……..I just want a Snickers bar. Or a pizza. Or a burger. And when I let myself have it, I go down hill. FAST. Weight that I have sweated off and lost through a dedicated diet comes piling back on. And it brings friends. Lots of them.

So I find myself at this juncture of life where I am [Read more →]