Tis the season, so let's talk about pumpkin page 2

[primalrob]

I've noticed that when I eat butternut and acorn squash not only does the scale stall, but my weight goes up. Does this happen to anyone else? I currently have about 15 pounds to lose and I feel like I am always teetering.......down 2, up 2, down 2, up 2 etc. Any advice for breaking this pattern would be appreciated!

this is probably just water weight when you have those extra carbs. it doesn't sound like you're gaining body fat or anything. switch to weighing in once a month and focusing on measuring, and you'll get a better sense of your progress. don't blame the squash; the squash are amazing.

[primalrob]

I've been making a mini "bread" loaf in the microwave with just 1 egg, 100g pumpkin,and some spices daily for months and nothing has happened to me. except feeling like im eating a cake when im not and it makes me happy. i say go for it.

you can also replace the pumpkin with mashed squash/banana/sweet potato/really mashed anything. incredibly amazing.

i'm sure i could experiment with this, but could you describe this a little more? i'm assuming you stir the egg in, but what kind of time is best for the microwave?

[Jamie Madrox]

i'm sure i could experiment with this, but could you describe this a little more? i'm assuming you stir the egg in, but what kind of time is best for the microwave?

it varies. i just crack an egg into a bowl and and whisk it. then add my puree of anything. Ive found going by weight with a scale produces the best results. usually 70g egg to 100g puree. if you want it more dense use more puree. after whisking the egg just add in your pumpkin and stir everything to combine and pour into some microsafe container and throw in the microwave. For moist cakey like go for 3:30 to 4 mins on high for more dense slightly less moist go for 5 mins. its very hard to screw up unless you want like a brick of egg and pumpkin that is more like a cracker than put in a thinner layer in a bigger container and go for 7 to 8 mins. ive done that too. the recipe is very forgiving and incredible versatile. experiment with spices and you wont even taste the pumpkin. add in cranberries and orange zest for cranberry orange bread! really you can do anything.

sometime adding like 3g of coconut flour will help it rise a bit more and make it more fluffy. but its not really necessary.

here is a pic of an orange/apple/cranberry loaf topped with sunflower seeds i made. same recipe only added in some orange zest, cranberries and diced apples.

[gopintos]

Great to hear im not the only one with a similar experience. Could you give me a rough idea of your carb/fat/protein breakdown? Also why kind of carbs did you add in (ie greens? Starches? Fruits? Nightshades?)

I read Perfect Health Diet weight loss version, which I had read many times, but I was committed to LC/HF so it just wasnt sinking in. Then one day, after reviewing my tracking for the last 10 months and I could see that as fat increased that weight loss decreased, I read PHD again for some reason and this time in sunk in. Perfect Health Diet: Weight Loss Version | Perfect Health Diet

I try for 30-40% fat, 30-40% carbs, about 30% protein. I pretty much shoot for about a 3 way split as far as % goes, so that means I am +/- on any of them, so it all works out.

I added in apples and bananas w/o feeling bad about it like I might would have before. I might would have one or the other, now I have both if I want I had remembered losing weight and heavy lifting years ago, while eating lots of potatoes, but I was afraid to try it again because it was a carb. PHD suggests 1lb of safe starches per day.

So I have also added back tators, sweet tators, white rice. I have always had tomatoes, green peppers. I never knew that anyone had adverse reactions to these so I have a little most daily.

Adding these things back in, I dont know the words I am looking for, but as far as preparing meals for my family, I am cooking more normal again as far as they are concerned. I could eat stir-fry veggies every night, but they like a little more variety so meals look a little more normal now to them.

I feel like I also have more energy. I dont know if that is accurate or not, but I do have more desire to do things now. That might be because the hot summer is over, I dont know, but I have started to implement exercise and outside activity again, and enjoy it whereas before I just dreaded it. It is almost like a fog has lifted. I know that word "fog" is used alot, but that is really what it feels like. And maybe that is because the scale is moving again, I don't know but I just feel more like doing stuff now, like I did when I started losing weight CW way of 50%c, 30%f, 20% protein.

Yum. Those colorful squash are very, very nutrient dense. Avoid Americanizing the recipes by adding brown sugar and marshmallows and you are OK. Sweet potato/cranberry is also a great flavor combination!

My sister, every time I mention fixing sweet potatoes, she is like oh those are so delicious with brown sugar, marshmallows yada yada and can't imagine ever eating them w/o it And she wonders why her belly is getting bigger and bigger.

[gopintos]

it varies. i just crack an egg into a bowl and and whisk it. then add my puree of anything. Ive found going by weight with a scale produces the best results. usually 70g egg to 100g puree. if you want it more dense use more puree. after whisking the egg just add in your pumpkin and stir everything to combine and pour into some microsafe container and throw in the microwave. For moist cakey like go for 3:30 to 4 mins on high for more dense slightly less moist go for 5 mins. its very hard to screw up unless you want like a brick of egg and pumpkin that is more like a cracker than put in a thinner layer in a bigger container and go for 7 to 8 mins. ive done that too. the recipe is very forgiving and incredible versatile. experiment with spices and you wont even taste the pumpkin. add in cranberries and orange zest for cranberry orange bread! really you can do anything.

sometime adding like 3g of coconut flour will help it rise a bit more and make it more fluffy. but its not really necessary.

here is a pic of an orange/apple/cranberry loaf topped with sunflower seeds i made. same recipe only added in some orange zest, cranberries and diced apples.

This sounds and looks fantastic!!

[Artbuc]

it varies. i just crack an egg into a bowl and and whisk it. then add my puree of anything. Ive found going by weight with a scale produces the best results. usually 70g egg to 100g puree. if you want it more dense use more puree. after whisking the egg just add in your pumpkin and stir everything to combine and pour into some microsafe container and throw in the microwave. For moist cakey like go for 3:30 to 4 mins on high for more dense slightly less moist go for 5 mins. its very hard to screw up unless you want like a brick of egg and pumpkin that is more like a cracker than put in a thinner layer in a bigger container and go for 7 to 8 mins. ive done that too. the recipe is very forgiving and incredible versatile. experiment with spices and you wont even taste the pumpkin. add in cranberries and orange zest for cranberry orange bread! really you can do anything.

sometime adding like 3g of coconut flour will help it rise a bit more and make it more fluffy. but its not really necessary.

here is a pic of an orange/apple/cranberry loaf topped with sunflower seeds i made. same recipe only added in some orange zest, cranberries and diced apples.

Is the purée in addition to the pumpkin or are you using the terms purée and pumpkin interchangeably? Thanks.

[PrimalStudent]

I read Perfect Health Diet weight loss version, which I had read many times, but I was committed to LC/HF so it just wasnt sinking in. Then one day, after reviewing my tracking for the last 10 months and I could see that as fat increased that weight loss decreased, I read PHD again for some reason and this time in sunk in. Perfect Health Diet: Weight Loss Version | Perfect Health Diet

I try for 30-40% fat, 30-40% carbs, about 30% protein. I pretty much shoot for about a 3 way split as far as % goes, so that means I am +/- on any of them, so it all works out.

I added in apples and bananas w/o feeling bad about it like I might would have before. I might would have one or the other, now I have both if I want I had remembered losing weight and heavy lifting years ago, while eating lots of potatoes, but I was afraid to try it again because it was a carb. PHD suggests 1lb of safe starches per day.

So I have also added back tators, sweet tators, white rice. I have always had tomatoes, green peppers. I never knew that anyone had adverse reactions to these so I have a little most daily.

Adding these things back in, I dont know the words I am looking for, but as far as preparing meals for my family, I am cooking more normal again as far as they are concerned. I could eat stir-fry veggies every night, but they like a little more variety so meals look a little more normal now to them.

I feel like I also have more energy. I dont know if that is accurate or not, but I do have more desire to do things now. That might be because the hot summer is over, I dont know, but I have started to implement exercise and outside activity again, and enjoy it whereas before I just dreaded it. It is almost like a fog has lifted. I know that word "fog" is used alot, but that is really what it feels like. And maybe that is because the scale is moving again, I don't know but I just feel more like doing stuff now, like I did when I started losing weight CW way of 50%c, 30%f, 20% protein.



My sister, every time I mention fixing sweet potatoes, she is like oh those are so delicious with brown sugar, marshmallows yada yada and can't imagine ever eating them w/o it And she wonders why her belly is getting bigger and bigger.

Thanks for the advice! Much appreciated. I think I'll consider trying something similar.
If you don't mind me asking, how active are you? Are you within my range (30-60 min brisk walk daily)? I'm just wondering if my exercise should change much if I'm adding in a bit more carbs, but my instinct says no.

[Emmet Fitz-Hume]

Hi everyone.
I tried out a great recipe for pumpkin "porridge" this morning that involves about a cup of canned pumpkin, eggs, almond milk, and a few spices. It filled me up for hours in a way that, I've personally found, meat and vegetables just don't. It's making me wonder whether I've been keeping my carbs too low (I've been averaging 30g a day... usually in the form of an avocado and a pile of kale at dinner, plus maybe 5 olives some nights).

Let's say I did this cup of pumpkin every day... am I asking for trouble? Is there danger of weight gain -- even if I make this my chief chunk of carbs for the day and stay under 100g (maybe even under 50g) for the whole day? Pumpkin seems to be among the least starchy of the safe-starch vegetables, from what I've read... but is it still too much to be an everyday thing?

Thanks so much guys.

The only problem I see is that you didn't share the recipe! Can you post it? It sounds good.

[Jamie Madrox]

Is the purée in addition to the pumpkin or are you using the terms purée and pumpkin interchangeably? Thanks.

Interchangeably. Or you could do a combo of pumpkin anything else to get 100g per 70g egg.

[Damiana]

I can do this, too! Kabocha is the best flavor ever. I need to grow them. Do you?

I don't, since I have no backyard and I eat them year-round. I'm fortunate to live in SoCal where I'm surrounded by Asian markets everywhere I turn, so I can buy them very cheaply year-round.