Thread: THM (Trim Healthy Mama) for P4

Thanks for the reference. It's obvious I need to just keep re-reading the book, like I do with the Simeons manuscript when I'm doing HCG.

I had a very nice S lunch: Asian chicken salad

I added ginger and ground chili paste to the dressing, and added a handful of kelp noodles to the mixture before topping my bed of greens & shredded cabbage. For my big bowl of salad, about half the dressing was plenty. I really enjoyed it. I think next time I might add a few goji berries for a little sweet pop.

I'm finding it a little tricky to time the afternoon snack, so I think I'm just going to stick to protein snacks for a while, like greek yogurt and berries, or a protein shake with no fats added.

I would like to use the H-Burn smoothie sometimes, but I'm not sure how since it seems to be a mix of S & E:
These are the main ingredients plus water/ice:
¼ cup raw sunflower seeds
2 cups fresh spinach
1 cup kale
1 whole grapefruit, peeled
¼ raw beet, peeled
1 tablespoon coconut oil

I'm thinking if I eliminate the beet, and cut the grapefruit in half, it could qualify as an S? Or is the grapefruit a deal breaker? What I really like about it is the flavor mix of the sunflower seeds and the grapefruit. So if I can't make it work, I'll just forgo it until I get back to LIW.

Yummy, I will have to try it!

Boo. Up another bit today.

At the end of the day, I was recording my meals and realized I had had 3 snacks. So I think that might have something to do with it, even though they were all FP. I'm generally a disciplined person, so that was shocking even to me. I think its a response to the "out of jail" syndrome I'm still experiencing after so many restrictions on THE PLAN. So I need to get over that, stick with real foods and stop experimenting with the THM concoctions for a while. I'm used to using glucomannan in miniscule quantities (like a few sprinkles to thicken my berrie compote), but there are gobs of it in a lot of the THM recipes and I think I overdid it. I'm also not drinking enough water, so I need to get back on that horse too.

Just finished my oatmeal with berry compote & a dollop of low-fat ricotta. Life is good. *yum* I might do an E lunch and and S dinner today.

Today's Question: For FMD, I usually added about a half cup of either butternut squash or sweet potato to my oats when cooking them. Is that a good idea on THM or not? I was thinking it was OK since they are on the E food list, but then I was wondering if it would push the carb count too high.

I'm always hungry on antibiotics, Ginger. I think it gets the candida raging. LOL Hopefully the hunger will be gone in a few days. I'm never hungry after an E breakfast.

Leez, you'll need to see how many carbs that would put you with adding squash or sweet potato. The limit on THM is 45 grams of carbs. And take a look at the berry compote. Is it the one from The Plan that has the chia seeds in it? That's not okay for an E breakfast. Just checking. Maybe you're doing something else.

I just had a revelation. I know you are done with The Plan, but I hope you don't mind me saying something that references that. I was over on The Plan FB group asking questions. I'm just now in P4. Because of some things going on in my life right now, I"m not able to start anything until the 21st of Dec. So I'm trying to learn from you Leez and Grammy. I'm reading books, asking questions. After so many failed diets, I'm skeptical. Yet I know I need SOME kind of help to maintain because it didn't go well last round.

Okay, so I am at this place where I question whether our weight gains are due to food senstivities like LG says or food combinations like THM says. I was leaning towards the latter. So I went to the FB group to ask what they had found regarding combining fat/starch, which for me is a big no-no...or so I thought.

One person, who says she is very inactive, told me that she has no problem with white bread slathered with butter and lots of EVOO as well. Well, I found that interesting. So, maybe there is something to it being a food sensivity, after all, because when I eat bread and butter, biscuits and gravy, etc...weight stall or gain for sure.

The discussion continued and I admitted to her that I really can't eat bread at all, even if not buttered, even if I make sourdough myself with no additives whatsoever. I have weight stall or gain and it leads to cravings which escalate over time until I'm like an addict. I admitted I can't have corn either, nor much rice at all (maybe a cup if I eat it with a salad). I hypothesized that it was because these were like sugar to my body. I explained that I can't have cane sugar or corn syrup. But then I realized that I can have unlimited amounts of fruit sugar...even dates. They do not lead to cravings at all. Then it hit me. All of these things I can't eat are in the Grass family. I can eat quinoa just fine, and wouldn't you know it is not in the Grass family.

Then I remembered how I used to break out in a rash when I unloaded the hay truck.

So, hmmm, I'm thinking I might just experiment with this.

Maybe I can have buckwheat pancakes with butter. (buckwheat isn't in the grass family)

I eat buckwheat pancakes only not with butter. LOL But I actually think BOTH are causing problems for most people. I don't believe it's either/or. I don't care how much I ate sourdough bread dry and with nothing, I would blow up like a balloon eventually. The gains might not start right away but they WOULD start.

Originally Posted by grammy1952

I eat buckwheat pancakes only not with butter. LOL But I actually think BOTH are causing problems for most people. I don't believe it's either/or. I don't care how much I ate sourdough bread dry and with nothing, I would blow up like a balloon eventually. The gains might not start right away but they WOULD start.

I don't know. How can that woman eat bread/butter. My husband can eat bread and butter all day. I can't eat bread at all, with or without butter. But someohow I can eat potatoes and butter just fine. (potatoes aren't in the grass family)

Originally Posted by grammy

Leez, you'll need to see how many carbs that would put you with adding squash or sweet potato. The limit on THM is 45 grams of carbs. And take a look at the berry compote. Is it the one from The Plan that has the chia seeds in it? That's not okay for an E breakfast. Just checking. Maybe you're doing something else.

OK, so its NOT just following the food lists....you still have to be aware of carb counts, fat counts etc. Yikes. More mistakes.... I was thinking that I could use some of the FMD part1 meals I liked and just call them E meals, but it seems that's not going to work. This plan is a lot more about portion control than I expected. Not happy about that. So eating what I consider a decent portion and not overeating, I ate approximately twice my carb allowance for an E breakfast this morning. I am going to have to come up with something to fill out the volume gap. Probably greek yogurt. I might try cooking it in with the oats, because in winter, I just don't want to eat cold stuff in the morning. I wish I could use eggwhites--it would make things a lot E-sier. ^_^

My berry compote is just a berry mix (raspberry, blackberry, blueberry), water & a little glucomannan to thicken slightly. So I think I'm ok there. I've stopped adding any fats to E meals, since I want to be able to put half&half in my coffee whenever I drink it. I figure that will be my fat allotment.

Now I understand why this didn't work when I just tried to follow the combining principles. I followed the rules but basically went by hunger cues, not portion restrictions.

EDIT: Checking the carb counts, it looks like if I want berries, I can only use a 1/4 C (dry) of oats. No room for any other carb grams. Thats really not enough breakfast for me. Even if I add some yogurt. No wonder you are hungry, Ginger!

I'm also thinking FP snacks are not a great idea at least for starting out. It seems they just make me want to eat more.


Ginger, I'm glad you now know why you are extra hungry and that its likely temporary. Wow, antibiotics are so hard on our bodies. And we get them from so many sources (including foods and soaps) that we sometimes aren't even aware of. Hit those probiotics as soon as you are off them, girl!


Kstbts: Thats really interesting about "the grass family". I wonder if that will end up being your key? I don't get that about the bread/butter thing either. Lyn-Genet says somewhere something like: if you don't slather your bread with butter you are just asking to gain weight. What? It seems to be one of the conflicting theories between these plans.