Goji Berries

http://livesuperfoods.com/LSF001.html?gclid=CJaHmeGlkpECFScXagodTir7OQ
This is the website that I get mine from because they are first off American approved organic and no added sugar. I use them to get off sugar and then just add them to my salads… they are amazing, have carbs but digest slow and are a miracle food, more in the category of medicine than food. Go to this website to learn about them if you haven’t heard of them, they are amazingly good for you and I think they taste great. Haven’t heard of a low carber talk about them so if you’d like to share with me I would love to hear from you.


1/25/08
Today’s Carb News Study from My readings:
From Sugar Shock
Explore the possibility that some of you baffling, unexplained maladies might be related to your eating patterns.
Are you buffeted about by wildly fluctuating mood swings, panic attacks, angry outburst, and sobbing spells that make your sweetheart throw his or her hands up in puzzlement and eventual disgust? (husband said to me last night, why are you so mean) ugh
Are you bewildered by overpowering exhaustion, fuzzy thinking, incapacitating blues, aching eyeballs, rapid heartbeat, unbearable migraines, and sever PMS? (definitely exhaustion, rapid heartbeat and getting headaches which I’ve never had ever, oh and once a month I want a divorce (smiles)
Are you engaged in a seemingly endless battle of the bulge – but nonetheless always make room for dessert foods or quickie-carb snacks? (battle of the bulge hello!)
Are you “hooked” on chocolate, chips, or pasta-even identifying with people who can’t go a single day without cigarettes, booze, or drugs? (yeah, that’s me)
So is ¼ to ½ of Americans who have difficulties processing sweets and refined carbs.
Mild hypoglycemia can cause nausea, a jittery or nervous feeling, cold and clammy skin, and a rapid heartbeat.
Moderate hypoglycemia often makes you feel irritable, anxious, or confused. You may have blurred vision, feel unsteady, and have difficulty walking.
Severe hypoglycemia can lead to loss of consciousness, seizures, and coma and may be fatal.
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/conditions/diabetes/blood-sugar/hypoglycemia/symptoms
Sounds like fun doesn’t it? Since I have been doing low carb for over 100 days with slips in the sugar a lot of this has been better. 1st thing I really discovered was my mental clarity. Like I just wanted to ‘not be here anymore feeling’ went away within 3 days. My fatigue is much, much, much better but yet I am still not where I want to be with it.
The reason I am writing about this issue is that most of hypoglycemia’s are not obese so that I find really interesting. Mine has just turned the corner a year or two years ago. Which means 20-30 pounds over your ideal weight. Which a lot of people don’t know that is what is classified as obese, morbid obesity is 100 pounds over your ideal weight. So much to take in – and for the most part I don’t want to deal with it. But my life got so out of control for me that this is the way I am digging my way out.
This book Sugar Shock is so good, wow, I am really excited, would be better if I didn’t have my headache but hey 3 days won’t be too bad to get my last sugar binge out.
OK moving on
‘Good Calories, Bad Calories’ most, most, most amazing book, her is a Youtube link that I love… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoQGRJqGQTs
Give it a look, I’ve got a lot of stuff on him, amazing researcher.
Anyway, one of my favorite quotes in the book so far is:

‘It is easy to insist, as public-health authorities inevitably have, that calories count and obesity much be caused by overeating or sedentary behavior, but it tells us remarkably little about the underlying process of weight regulation and obesity. To attribute obesity to ‘overeating,’ as the Harvard nutritionist jean Mayer suggested back in 1968 is a meaningful as to account for alcoholism by ascribing it to over-drinking.’
Totally brilliant. Hope you are enjoying this information as much as I am…
One of my daughters and her boyfriend are coming over for a walk and dinner, she got me new rain boots so excited to try them out, cause it is stromin’ here. We are having Steak and salad, yummy!
Peace and Joy

Some info on Goji:
In addition to LBP, the fruit contains a full complement of other nutrients:
18 amino acids, including the 8 essential ones
More antioxidant carotenoids than are found in any other known food, including more beta carotene than carrots, and zeaxanthin (which protects the eyes)
Nearly as much protein as bee pollen
21 trace minerals, including germanium, an anti-cancer substance rarely found in foods
Vitamins B1, B2, and B6, and vitamin E
Research validates a broad range of beneficial effects from using goji berries:
Strengthens the immune system
Increases longevity and protects from premature aging
Helps prevent cancer and aids remission
Protects the liver
Builds strong blood and promotes cardiovascular health
Supports eye health and improves vision
Maintains healthy blood pressure and blood sugar
Stimulates secretion of human growth hormone
Strengthens muscles and bones
Supports normal kidney function
Improves fertility and treats sexual dysfunction
Helps reduce obesity
Goji berry is also widely used to reduce the craving for sugar. It is especially useful for hypoglycemic people and for hyperactive children. In addition, goji berry exhibits potent antioxidant activity and contains one of the highest concentrations of beta-carotene of any known food. In Asia, it has been traditionally regarded as a longevity, strength-building, and sexual potency food of the highest order, widely believed to increase sexual fluids and enhance fertility.
In ancient times, people in China used goji berries to make tea, soup, stew, and wine, and chewed the dried fruit like raisins. These delicious fruits are still a main diet staple of many of the longest-living people on earth, including the Hunza of the Himalayas, who have regularly lived beyond 100 years of age. They are also used in many herbal formulas to maintain overall health during a wide variety of chronic conditions.
According to the principles of Chinese medicine, goji berry is a tonic, to be used to nourish and support the body whenever it suffers from illness or weakness. It can, however, be taken on a daily basis for general health. And with over 15% protein, 21 essential minerals, and 18 amino acids, it is a nutrient-dense superfood in a class all its own.
Our goji berries are USDA certified to ensure that no preservatives or artificial colors are added, and that they aren't smoked with sulfur, like some in Chinese stores.

Still Going

OK Connie Bennett has both a blog and blog Talk Radio show, which I’ve read and listened to most if not all of what she has said… it has taken me time to really look at what she is saying as a believer in low carb, my goal was to replace my ‘bad carbs’ with imitation carbs, which has actually lead me to believe that keeps me sick and triggered for sugar.
So I hope Connie doesn’t mind but I want to write her opening for you cause I have almost all of what she says can happen when you have a sugar addiction. So here is goes:
SUGAR SHOCK!
A mood-damaging, personality-bending, health-destroying, confusion-creating constellation of symptoms affecting millions of people worldwide, who often eat processed sweets and much-like-sugar carbs. “SUGAR SHOCK!” describes the often misdiagnosed and maligned condition of reactive hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), as well as other blood sugar disorders, from insulin resistance to diabetes. Research reveals that repeatedly over-consuming sweeteners, dessert foods, and quickie carbs (white rice, chips, etc.) wreaks havoc on your blood sugar levels, over-stimulates insulin release, triggers inflammation, and could contribute to more than 150 health problems, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, polycystic ovary syndrome, severe PMS, failing memory, mental confusion, Candida, sexual dysfunction, infertility, wrinkles, acne, and early aging, Victims of SUGAR SHOCK! Also may experience depression, fatigue, headaches, dizziness, cold sweats, anxiety, irritability, tremors, crying spells, heart palpitations, forgetfulness, nightmares, blurred vision, muscle pains, temper outbursts, suicidal thoughts, and more. Ultimately, this insidious rollercoaster effect hampers sufferers’ ability to function at full or even half throttle.
OK I will now go back and highlight the ones that I have suffered with before and some even now. My most promenade one is fatigue which lingers on and a lack of direction which I think is caused from the way I feel about myself. So I am going to work on my eating to see if I can by my food plan can eat my way out of these symptoms.
Trying to find my sugar truth…
I go to sugar for comfort and strength…
After I eat sugar I feel tired, isolated, unsocial, sleepy, guilty, I don’t want anyone around me and the next day I feel hung over like I partied. More isolated, more unsocial, and want to hide.
Sound like a drug addict doesn’t it? Makes me sad and I want to heal so I am going to be as honest as possible to get myself back to the place that I can live a life once again.
Peace

Did it again

Well, opps did it again, had a slip. For me it is around emotions. I had a huge daughter issue arise and don’t want to go into detail but it was so painful and I went to the ½ uneaten carton of ice cream left over from a New Years Eve party. Ate it all, almost licked the sides as well. I am a sugar addict and a food addict. Been addicted to all kinds of things in my life but this is my first addiction and started when I was 5 years old. It is part of my story and I have probably already told it in a blog earlier. It all stems around my sister who was taken away and put in a home for other mentally retarded people when I was 5, and at kindergarten that day. Came home and had a babysitter, no one told me it would be the last time she would live with me, and I would have to visit her at the institution for the rest of her life. My mom left me a box of raisin nets on the Clorox cleaned counter and I describe it as a glowing box of comfort. That was the day it started for me and has grown for 42 years into a life of torment and self-hatred. I am pushing to restart button yet again today and am awaiting on 5 books I ordered about how to eat low carb just to help me to remember why I am doing this and also to connect to others who are doing this.
I am truly sad today, but am also not giving up. My issue with my daughter has given me another chance to find peace within me and to go forward with good intensions in my heart. I am looking for a purpose still and this is part of the journey.
I am loving listening to podcasts and reading blog of others who struggle like I do. And am hopeful that I will recover to a place that I am capable of being a whole person once again.
I truly am grateful to all the comments and love people have given me. Thank- you.

Anesticized

Haven’t written in awhile, been in an emotional slump and had a binge on sugar… have made it through and feeling emotionally settled again. I realized I am alone when this happens and when I am feeling lonely, helpless and stressed or have things that feel out of control for me. I am learning what and why I go to sugar, just really nice to have the cravings gone again. I had to pray when they hit, that seemed to be the only thing that worked for me. I am again listening to podcasts and reading material to keep me remembering why I am doing this. I made it totally fine till after all the holidays and then lost it for a few hours and took three days to detoxify. It was ugly.
I stopped drinking enough water and that is so important to do. Not having artificial sugars is proving to help me. I have been using Stevia and the craving just stopped. I am going to do this and make it. It isn’t even about weight loss at this point it is about mental health and being really honest with my issues. I am an addict and that is because I don’t like what I am feeling. So sugar is a great drug to do when you don’t want to feel, I get totally anesticized. But I am of the age now that it is starting to show up in health problems. Ordered 4 or 5 books for even more motivation and information and I am excited and ready to go for it again. Relapse is part of recovery and we have to eat to live so this is a big one. I am so grateful to be out of cravings again and I am so sensitive to the artificial sweeteners that they kept me triggered in a small way that I would end up in a binge on crackers and finally sugar one night. So keeping an honest and open account of this process is so helpful. I don’t feel so alone in this journey and am truly grateful there are others out here with me doing this.

Broken

I'm the cat! HELP ME

I blew it twice since my last post with wheat thins 10oz boxes… ugh, but it is like the way I deal with my emotional issues. I do really well for a time and then the compulsion hits me and today it was around fear of a situation my daughter is in and my grandbabies and I thought well, it will be OK. My husband got 3 boxes on sale and tons of candy and it is those that I have chosen twice this past week. Did really well over the holiday’s didn’t eat all the sugar and stuff but also didn’t take good enough care of my needs. I didn’t make myself special desserts so I could feel a part of. I wasn’t even tempted to eat all the sugar with everyone which was nice, but days later I get an emotional back lash. It is painful. Just wanted to write after my binge of almost the whole box so I can be raw and honest with how I am doing. I think the stall set me up for not trusting this food plan. I’m way too tired and I’m not sure if it is cause of all the emotions of this past year. So much illness and medication and then I’m extreme and just cut everything out all at once. I’m learning my way along this path. I love that I have a safe place to scream out to the world about this place. Last night on TLC was all these programs on morbid obesity, I’ve seen them before and I so relate with them. I’m not morbidly obsess but have the total ability to do so. I am really afraid and feel alone in this venture. It seems to be the biggest issue in my life since I was 5 years old and my sister was taken away from my family and put in an institution for the mentally retarded. I watched my mom turn to food, hide food, binge on sugar and I learned how to do this with her. Eat in secret. I would not have eaten this box of wheat thins today if anyone was around. I was not thinking I was setting myself up for this one. But I see how it happened and I can only be grateful that I can see it close enough afterward to write about it and express myself about it. I’m not doing good on my Atkins plan or low carb plan, but I know I have to keep trying, slips will happen it isn’t my plan it is just a disease I think, never really thought of it as a disease but I’m very dis-eased by this right now. I’m way over tired from the medication I’m on and need to taper off it also. I’m overwhelmed by my own life right now, but believe that I will get through it….