The hourglass that is your lifetime comes in many sizes; in most cases, the bigger, the better. If a grain of sand is the equivalent to a day in the life, here’s what my particle of yesterday looked like:
Then, I was off to an appointment with Dr. Jo for the second installment of my chelation therapy. Other than getting a needle poke for the injection, it was pretty painless. This will likely be a regular event for the next several weeks. It’s 2000 pesos a pop, but if it helps clear those blocked arteries, it is worth the time and money.
It being Tuesday, Baloy Beach was next on our agenda.
So, I mentioned a while back that Swan had bought some almond flour and keto sugar. Yesterday, she put her new ingredients to work and baked a carrot cake.
I’m sorry to say, looks can be deceiving. It tasted dry and unsweet, lacking the flavorful richness I’m accustomed to. That small slice cost me 180 calories, and it was unsatisfying to my sweet tooth. Needless to say, I won’t be tempted to indulge again.
One year ago, the next step in my recovery from nasal nodule surgery was removing the internal bandages.
Today’s YouTube video is from one of my favorite vloggers, The Filipina Pea. In this installment, she responds to viewers’ emails in a fashion reminiscent of Dear Abby. Some of the situations these guys get into with their Filipinas are so bad as to be almost funny. Not that I have any room to talk. My biggest diversion (perversion?) was dating the eighteen-year-old and not grasping how weird it truly was until my granddaughter celebrated her eighteenth birthday. Nope, I couldn’t continue on that road after that. Still, I never even considered asking out the mother of a girl I had been dating like one of Pea’s fans. Pea is wise beyond her years in the advice she provides.
If that wasn’t funny enough, how about these:
So, I had a good hike this morning and have no plans as yet for this evening. Something special is coming here to LTG tomorrow. I hope you’ll come back and read all about it.
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future
I’m sorry to say, looks can be deceiving. It tasted dry and unsweet, lacking the flavorful richness I’m accustomed to. That small slice cost me 180 calories, and it was unsatisfying to my sweet tooth. Needless to say, I won’t be tempted to indulge again.
There’s the question of calories, then there’s the question of carbs. The caloric intake does matter, but the carbs arguably matter more. More than 100 g a day is probably not good for your blood sugar, but 180 calories for a slice of carrot cake that has a third of the carbs of regular carrot cake isn’t a bad trade-off.
As for the taste: there are definitely low-carb alternatives that I don’t like, either, so you have my sympathy. There may be things Swan can do to improve the eating experience, maybe by adding other ingredients to make the cake more moist (she might need more oil… I’d recommend coconut oil for carrot cake, or she could try adding another egg or two) or by using a different sweetener.
Have you had that sweetener in other things? Does it pass the taste test in those instances? Just be careful not to add too much sweetener, especially if you don’t like it: things that taste bad will only taste worse.
At this point, I have a whole array of different sweeteners that I use in different cooking contexts—erythritol, allulose, Splenda/sucralose, Stevia (which I don’t much like in pure form), Truvia (only partly Stevia), etc. In some cases, it doesn’t matter which sweetener I use; in others, a given sweetener will be a clear winner. None of them, though, will ever taste as good as real sugar; it’s just a reality you have to get used to, and the main coping mechanism for most of us in this position is cheat days. Just eat the real thing every once in a while, like once or twice a month.
For what it’s worth, my current favorite sweetener is Bocha Sweet, called bocha (“BOH-tchuh,” not “BOH-kuh”… goofy commercial here) because it’s derived from the kabocha squash (if you order it, though, expect it to be hellishly expensive). It’s good for sweetening your tea or coffee or whipped cream, and also for baked goods. But despite how good it is, you can still tell it’s not sugar.
Or maybe this is all just a psychological problem: you seem fine with Diet Coke or Coke Zero, for example; Diet Coke has aspartame, and Coke Zero is a combo of aspartame and something else (acesulfame potassium, or Ace-K). Can you extend your love of sugar-free Coke to other foods?
I wrote:
(if you order it, though, expect it to be hellishly expensive)
The sweetener, I mean, not the squash.
And “particle of yesterday” could be either a song title or a group name.
To get into the weeds a bit on sweeteners, at the beginning of my career, I was in R&D and one projects being worked on was synthesizing L-glucose.
Naturally occurring sugar is D-glucose, so L-glucose is an isomer but not naturally occurring. However, it has the same taste, sweetness factor, and texture of regular sugar. The advantage of L-glucose is that it is not absorbed by the body and just passes through the system, making it a virtually non caloric natural sweetener.
I was not directly involved with the project but do know that while we were successful in synthesizing it, and made some batches of chocolate bars with L-glucose, we found out it gave people the shits. Tasted great, couldn’t tell the difference from regular sugar but had those unwanted side effects. LOL
There was thought to marketing it as a laxative, but the market was too saturated and low margin to make it worth while.
Brian, interesting history on the L-glucose efforts. Too bad it all went to shit.
I’m not going to stress over the lack of sweetness in my life. It is what it is.
Kev, I put some effort into “particle of yesterday” line. I didn’t want to repetitively use the word grain, so I did a search for synonyms and particle seemed to be the best option. Looking back, it does seem a little convoluted.
Kev, I understand the good and bad trade-offs regarding calories versus carbs. On my previous massive weight loss adventure, I followed a disciplined low-carb diet. This time, I am counting calories and watching carbs, but not as strictly. We’ll see how that works out for me.
I agree that some of the low-carb or low-calorie alternatives just don’t taste good enough to be acceptable substitutions. Swan’s first attempt at healthy carrot cake didn’t work for me, but that’s okay. I think she’s using that sweetener for my morning tea, and it is fine.
I did the Thanksgiving cheat day and might do another for Christmas, but my plan is to maintain discipline (such as it is) until I achieve my weight-loss goal. After that, I’ll allow myself some of the things I’ve been missing occasionally while continuing to monitor my food intake to avoid regaining those pounds.
Thanks for the Bocha link. Swan used the sweetener we have for the frosting, but I’m thinking maybe it was the almond flour that didn’t resonate with me. I’ll share your tips on ways to decrease dryness with her. I’ve been on Diet Coke/Coke Zero for so long that the real thing tastes weird to me, so I don’t think I have a natural aversion to artificial sweeteners. My favorite alternative dessert thus far has been Jello sugar-free instant pudding. It satisfies my bedtime craving for something sweet. I have to order it online, and it ain’t cheap here, but it helps me sleep at night.