With the honey it isn’t truly low carb but it does meet the criteria of no numbers or frankenfoods (artificial additives, colours, flavours, preservatives or thickeners).

This is one of my Mums recipes and is a great dressing on lightly steamed asparagus and green beans which are in season right now.

• 2T while balsamic vinegar
• 1T wholegrain mustard
• 2t honey
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place the vinegar, mustard, honey and garlic in a small bowl and stir to combine.  Use a balloon whisk to gradually whisk in the oil until well combined.  Taste and season with salt and pepper.

I found the Eating Low recipe video site a while ago but hadn’t been back to take a look for a couple of months. Amy’s site is looking great, no traces of Kimkins affiliation there now and there are a heap of new recipes with the ingredients lists on the recipe page rather than having to scribble it down. They are great ’starter’ recipes for inspiration and you can add and substitute based on what you fancy and what you have on hand.

Tonight we had a broad interpretation of the Hearty Chicken Chilli made with fresh ingredients and herbs to replace the tinned tomato mix and a heap of mushrooms. With some guacamole and cheese it was absolutely divine and I (hardly) missed the taco!

You can check out Amys recipes on Eating Low here.

In a lot of the low carb recipes books and forums from the USA they require Atkins bake mix which I can’t get locally so I’ve been wondering what it is exactly.

I found this recipe online today and apparently it’s a good substitute and works out at 3 carbs for half a cup. I haven’t tried it out yet but I’ll pick up some soy flour in the next shop and thought I’d have a go at some pancakes.

• 1 cup soy flour
• 2 cups soy protein isolate
• 2 T baking soda
• 1 t salt
• 2 T splenda

You then just sift it all together and store in an airtight container and use in place of Bake-Mix.

I’ve struggled to reach my required water targets but in getting it to 2-2.5 litres a day it helped me to understand why I need it. Here is a list of the top seven:

• Moistens the tissues such as the eyes, nose and mouth
• Maintains body temperature
• Protects body organs and tissue
• Lubricates joints
• Lessens the burden on the kidney and liver by flushing out waste
• Carries nutrients and oxygen to the cells
• Helps dissolve minerals and other nutrients so they can be used by the body

Well the scale didn’t move so much this week but it nudged down a little. I did have a couple of other wins though, I have kept my water consumption up around 2.5 liters a day, ate clean all week and have taken to wearing my 10,000 step counter and getting it up over the 10k every day.

My target for week three is to bring in a bit of weight training …

Mango’s are really plentiful and pretty cheap fruit here in Queensland at this time of year, although they are a little higher in carb than some other fruit they are delicious and nutritious, full of vitamins and fibre. Here’s a recipe for a change to your chicken, I like this with just some salad or vegetables but if you wanted you could serve it on rice.

Ingredients:

• 2 skinned & boned chicken breasts
  2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 mangoes, peeled, and chopped into chunks
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 60ml pineapple juice
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp fresh crushed ginger
• 1 capsicum, cut into chunks
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• A little salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Combine soy sauce, pineapple juice, brown sugar, and ginger in a separate bowl.
2. Heat oil in wok or large frypan.
3. Cut chicken into 2-3cm cubes and brown in oil.
4. Add capsicum and almonds to wok and stir fry until slightly tender.
5. Add soy sauce mixture to wok and stir until thoroughly heated.
6. Reduce heat and add sliced mangos, salt and pepper. Stir only gently so the mango doesn’t get crushed or squashed.

I find it hard to get back into a regular exercise routine, between finding the time and battling the heat and humidity it can be difficult. So I decided to list out my reasons why I have to make the time and effort:

· I will burn fat more effectively. Your body produces hormones during aerobic exercise that activate the breakdown of stored fat for use as fuel.

· I will burn more kilojoules. A daily 30 minute walk, if you put a bit of oomph in it, burns around 6300 kilojoules a week. Ok on its own its not that month but in 6 months that is 5kg of fat blasted.

· My metabolism will increase and be more effective. Even once you finish exercising your metabolic rate stays elevated, and the more intensely you exercise (or for longer) the longer the rate will stay elevated after you finish. So if you your 30 minute walk will help you burn an extra 200-300 kilojoules though out the rest of the day after your walk.

· It will improve muscle tone. Dieting can result in muscle loss but by exercising you can stimulate the release of growth hormones that assist in the development of muscle tone.

· I will become fitter. Then I can exercise for longer and lose more fat – or have heck of a lot more energy to play with family and friends.

· It will reduce my appetite. Apparantly it’s true, exercising before lunch or dinner can help control your appetite and make you feel more satisfied with less.

One thing I have found when I try to eat well and fit a bit of exercise into my day is that I need to plan a bit better. If the food isn’t in my fridge when I get home from work then I won’t be able to eat it, and if I don’t pack my lunch the night before I’m going to end up down the food-hall picking the best of the bad options come lunch tomorrow.

So now one night during the week I make the menu plan for the following week and turn it into my shopping list for the weekend. Not only does this help me eat clean for the week but it means less waste as I buy what I need when I need it and I’m using it.

To make it all a bit easier and for a neat looking list I can pin up on the fridge I found this link to a printable menu planner form today.

Well week one wasn’t as hard as I anticipated and I dropped 2.5kg of fat – yeah!

The hardest part for me was getting my daily water intake up over 2 liters I really struggle with drinking water, it makes me retch if I try drinking it too fast and I hate the taste. I started upping my water intake (from a zero starting position) a couple of weeks before I started the diet and was really surprised to find that now only a couple of weeks later I can drink a glass or even two straight down without gagging. I’m getting through over 2 liters a day now without too much of a struggle as long as I keep a glass or bottle handy through the day.

The second dilemma was figuring out what to do for weekend lunches, in the end I just stuck with omelette’s but will be searching around for some new alternatives in the coming weeks or it is going to get really boring. I like something we can sit down together and enjoy not grab on the run during the weekend but I like lunch to be different, not a replica of dinner so I need to kick the imagination up a gear.

Other than that I am feeling better, I had a few headaches and dizzy spells over the first few days but given this was a detox after a lot of eating junk this year I had expected it to be worse than it was.

In my second week I need to bring a bit of exercise into the mix.

For dinner tonight I made a style of chicken that I’ve come across in quite a few low carb forums, sites and books. In place of breadcrumbs dried cococunt flakes are used as the coating. It has a divine flavour and keeps the chicken really moist.

• 500g chicken breast sliced into thick strips or chicken tenders
• 1 egg
• Coconut flakes (I used the dessicated but still slight moist coconut flakes but I am sure any would work)
• Moroccan spices (cumin, ginger, coriander, cayenne, cloves, allspice and pepper)
• 1/3 cup melted butter

Wash and dry the chicken and moisten in the beaten egg. Blend the coconut and spices and dip the chicken into that, it doesn’t matter if it isn’t totally coated, just aim for a good even coating. Place into a baking dish (I lined it with baking paper for easy cleanup) then pour the melted butter evenly over the chicken.

Place in an over heated to 180c and bake for 30 minutes turning once.