VSGinny

Hi and welcome! I'm an American transplanted to Sydney and loving it. I blog about my post-op VSG life, my weight loss progress, body positivity, and low-carb recipes. HW: 600+ lbs. | Surgery Weight 488.2 lbs. | Well over 300 lbs. lost!

[vsginny]

All that farmers’ market produce from Camden Fresh Produce Markets has made my lunches gorgeous this week! This one is for the whole family.😍 https://www.instagram.com/p/CGWOuoQBoCEhdpWao2CCUaIiEUw4FCU6pJjGok0/?igshid=113i5e8pheyxy

[vsginny]

When you’re thinking about what you’ve been through and survived and your husband says ‘hold that pose’. #fierce #determined #survivor #nomakeup https://www.instagram.com/p/B1Vw1tCBJqe/?igshid=lwlwvt6592sm

[vsginny]

Fortunately my husband is cool 😎 with it. ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ ☕️ (at Parramatta, New South Wales) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1ClPVxhV1Q/?igshid=a2nxvm5r5njp

[vsginny]

Meals at @thealkalizer are always Insta-worthy. ‘Super vegetable roast with pecans’ - Roasted veg (broccolini 🥦 , eggplant 🍆 , pumpkin 🎃, tomato 🍅 with pickled ginger, chef’s 👨‍🍳 salsa verde and toasted pecans. Usually comes with potatoes, quinoa and cous cous but I asked to skip those. You can add your choice of proteins as well (or not) - I asked for my fave, two poached eggs. 🍳 https://www.instagram.com/p/B0vOxGph0qn/?igshid=4myj1oyh013n

[vsginny]

Bacon ranch chicken foil packets from Dinner at the Zoo with turnip instead of potatoes. #ketodinnerideas https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz2930Dhw1E/?igshid=smz0unmbjmjd

[vsginny]

Okay, so I always share recipes we love here, but not usually the “meh” ones. However, I want to help save people from “meh” results as well, so here’s one we made tonight that wasn’t great, but wasn’t awful, either. The sauce unfortunately turned out very watery. 

Paprika Cream Chicken (Keto) Recipe: https://onceuponafoodblog.com/paprika-cream-chicken/#wprm-recipe-container-2946 We didn’t make any substitutions or changes other than adding some much-needed salt and pepper at the end.  We served it over konjac noodles. Rating: 2/5

[vsginny]

While this is billed as a low carb shepherd's pie, and it's made with cauliflower rather than potatoes, it has more carbs than I generally aim to stick to for a meal on keto, so be cautious if that matters to you. It has things in it usually verboten on keto - white flour and regular milk (though very little of both), corn, peas and carrots. We substituted bell pepper/capsicum for the carrot which took the carbs down slightly but not much. You could leave the corn and peas out to make it even lower carb, but my husband really wanted them to stay in because “it's not shepherd's pie without them.” :) I plugged it into MFP the way we made it (capsicum substitution) and got about 11g net carbs per serve.

Even given the higher amount of carbs, we'll definitely make it again. It is really, really tasty. My husband said "You wouldn't even know it was cauliflower instead of mashed potato." And my toddler devoured it. It's a nice medium between keto meals the two of them don’t like and non-keto meals I have to stay away from. I just have to plan my other meals to be really low carb the rest of the day. 4 stars out of 5. :) 

[vsginny]

New favourite keto recipe! Coconut Curry Chicken. Seriously, this was sooooo good! They suggest using cauli rice, but we used two packs of konjac rice (Slendier rice) and added it in with the curry for the last 5 minutes of simmering. It was phenomenal. Both of us went back for seconds (me a few hours later, ha). We used 1 1/4 tbsp regular curry powder and 1/4 tbsp spicy curry powder. https://www.wholesomeyum.com/keto-low-carb-curry-recipe/

[vsginny]

Keto Crockpot Bacon Ranch Chicken

Okay, THIS is a recipe you need to make immediately if you’re keto and you like chicken! With most keto recipes, I enjoy the first meal with it but the leftovers? Well... I procrastinate on those. I eat leftovers, of course! I just don’t get excited about them. 

Until these. These, my husband and I bickered over. 😂

The ingredients are not easy to source in Australia (bottled ranch dressing, ranch dressing mix, Rotel). We sometimes order from USA Foods, sometimes pick up from one of two local American junk food shops that luckily have a few non-junk-food options as well, sometimes buy from Chile Mojo (for the Rotel). Oh, and Costco for Coburg American Style Streaky Bacon. It just depends on who has what and how quickly we need it. Totally worth the trouble though! Definitely get Hidden Valley Ranch as opposed to any other brand if you can. My fave.

Recipe:

https://www.midgetmomma.com/keto-crockpot-bacon-ranch-chicken/

[vsginny]

Why low-carb eating works so well for me

I wrote this for a Facebook group I’m in with other WLS patients, talking about why eating low carb is so beneficial for me personally. This is why I chose to go back to it.

There are four main things that make it REALLY work for me:

After I’ve been on it a few weeks, the cravings for junk food and sweets mostly disappear. I can walk past a bakery and really be pretty uninterested, whereas after I had the baby the siren song of the muffin was real. (That level of sleep deprivation REALLY messes with your body and causes serious cravings for sweets and carbs!)

Eating low carb causes natural appetite suppression. I'm hungry a lot less often now because I'm eating a lot of good fats and protein, both of which increase satiety (aka keep you full).

I tend to eat more solid protein when eating low carb, which is a REALLY good thing for me as a person who has had weight loss surgery - nothing makes you feel your restriction like a chicken breast or a steak!

I know that even one "cheat" item or "cheat" day while I’m eating low carb can mean regaining all the water weight I lost when I started it, meaning a huge jump upwards on the scale and possibly going back through the "keto flu" again, neither of which I want to endure. This is enough to keep me on the straight and narrow with what I'm eating.

Things to watch out for, if you decide to try it:

Keto flu when you start (push electrolytes, fluids and salt when you first start to make this go away as quickly as possible!)

Constipation. You reallllly need to make sure you're getting 25g of fibre a day so you'll stay regular. Do whatever you found that worked when you first had WLS if you need to. Benefibre never worked for me, so I take Metamucil on days where I can't quite get enough fibre from food as a preventative. But I do what I can to get enough fibre from low-carb, fibre-filled veggies (kale, spinach, broccoli, etc.), low-carb berries like blackberries, etc. The good thing is that now that I’m almost 4 years out from my WLS, I can eat enough to get these sorts of veggies in in the quantities I need (especially if I eat them cooked - cooked spinach compresses down so the fibre in one cup cooked is equal to that in 2 or 3 (can’t remember now) cups raw spinach.

If you have any history of high cholesterol (or even if you don't), talk to your doctor first and consider getting your cholesterol levels tested regularly while you're eating low carb. Personally, I've always had really good cholesterol levels even at 272kg/600 pounds (yes, really!), and when I spent years doing keto before I had my sleeve, my bad cholesterol levels dropped even further (like off the chart low!) and my good cholesterol got even better. And there are studies that back this up - that low carb eating actually does NOT negatively affect your cholesterol. But I am definitely NOT a doctor, and there are still a lot of medical professionals out there who believe it can be detrimental to your cholesterol, so I don't think it hurts to stay on top of it - we should be getting regular labs drawn as people who had WLS anyway, so it's not too hard to do. It’s already part of the tests my GP does on me regularly anyway. 

[vsginny]

What do you eat?!

This has been a common question over the last couple of weeks. Yeah, great you’re eating low carb, but what do you actually eat?! So I’ve created this keto snack and non-prep meal list. What would you add to it that I’ve left off? 

Pickle "sandwiches" (use a pickle half instead of bread) with deli meat and cheese - in Australia, use Globus Dill pickles or other pickles with NO sugar in the ingredients list. I find these sometimes in the International section of Woolies or Coles, or in the pickle section, depending on the store

Tuna mayo (aka tuna salad in the States - I eat it just by itself, or on raw spinach as a salad)

Egg salad  (just by itself, or on raw spinach as a salad)

Deli meat "rollups" (literally just a piece or two of deli meat and a slice of cheese rolled up)

Meat and cheese sandwich on Aldi's Baker's Life 85% Lower Carb Bread - this is one of the only two truly low carb brands of bread I’ve found here in Aus. The other is Herman Brot bread, but I prefer the Baker’s Life. Watch out for breads called “Lower Carb” but you should avoid because they are still too high in carbs for keto purposes, like Helga’s Lower Carb. 

Baker's Life toast with avocado

Baker's Life bread and peanut butter. Note: watch out for added sugar in your PB. Many have it. I use Mayver's Protein+ peanut butter

Baker's Life toast and cream cheese

Baker's Life toast and Purely Nutz Sea Salt and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter

Baker's Life sandwich with deli meat and cheese

Baker's Life bread and cheese (cheese toast)

Baker's Life grilled cheese sandwich / cheese toastie

Baker's Life tuna sandwich

Baker's Life egg salad sandwich

Quest protein bars

Quest protein cookies - only in Woolie's

Egg - hard boiled, soft boiled, poached

Egg baked inside an avocado half

Scrambled eggs (with cheese, sausage, capsicum, spinach, mushrooms - any of these)

Avocado and spinach and tomato and cheese and egg and capsicum, bacon, and chicken (any of these) salad - I use lemon-infused olive oil as a dressing

Rotisserie chicken or grilled chicken breast

Cheese (sliced or block - check the nutrition but most are low or no carb)

Spinach - raw or cooked

Broccoli - raw or cooked

Olina's Seeded  No Gluten Sunflower Seed Crackers (health food section of Woolie's - pretty much the only truly low carb cracker I’ve found in Sydney)

Low carb crackers with peanut butter

Low carb crackers with tuna

Low carb crackers with sea salt and choc PB

Low carb crackers with cheese slices

Low carb crackers with egg salad

Low carb crackers with avocado

FroPro - relatively high in carbs (6.7 per serving) for a small serving, so I use it sparingly / when I really want ice cream

Strawberries

Blackberries

Pecan halves

Flax Farms Paleo Protein Mix - health food section of I think Coles, but can't remember - I use this for extra fibre I add to things like salads, etc.

Mini capsicums with sour cream or low-carb dressing or cream cheese

Cauliflower rice with bolognese on it (check carbs on the Bolognese - some are worse than others)

Fathead pizza - relatively quick and easy low carb pizza when you are really craving it

Fish fillet - pretty much any, just check any pre-packaged ones to make sure they don't have anything added to them that gives them a lot of carbs

Pretty much any meat is fine - beef, pork, lamb, etc.

YoPro - again, higher in carbs for a serving so I use it sparingly, sadly (I used to eat it daily)

Slendier noodles, chicken broth and spices ("ramen")

Keto Egg drop soup

No sugar added chocolate (health food section)

Lettuce wraps with deli meat

Lettuce wraps with tuna

Lettuce wraps with egg salad

Avocado sliced

Mashed avo with salt, pepper and a tiny bit of lemon juice

Sashimi (sushi that's just fish, no rice)

Cauliflower with cheese

Hellmann's Original Mayo (all Aussie mayos usually have added sugar - one of the stores around here has Hellmann's Original, which is American and doesn't have sugar)

Most hot sauce is okay

For main meals, I use low carb or keto recipes I find on Pinterest - I have a LOT of low carb / keto recipes pinned on my Pinterest boards at https://www.pinterest.com.au/lowcarblovin/ , just keep in mind I definitely have not tried them all so can't vouch for most of them.

[vsginny]

Ladies, gentlemen, enbies and #lowcarb #cheeseaholics of all ages... may I present to you... the #milliondollarspaghetti of your dreams! Okay, okay - so there are zoodles under there. This is @mymoderncookery​‘s Low-Carb Million Dollar Zoodle Spaghetti recipe! 

If zoodles are not your thing, you might want to pass this by. But I’ll be darned if they don’t make a REALLY nice vehicle for all this ooey gooey melty cheese. Oh my. Do keep in mind that a serving is considered 1/4th of the recipe and that has 9 grams of carbs, at least with the sauce I used, so depending on your macros for the rest of the day it might be tough to fit in a full serving if you’re keto. That’s why I’m hashtagging this one #lowcarb instead of keto, just to be safe. If you have access to a truly low carb pasta sauce, rather than just looking at jars of regular pasta sauce in the grocery aisle like I did to try to find the best one, you might be able to get better macros from this. :) 

Recipe: http://www.mymoderncookery.com/low-carb-million-dollar-zoodle-spaghetti/

[gemmalosesherjelly]

So I was getting back on track

But unfortunately I lost my Nan yesterday. She was the last grandparent I had left. And although she has been unwell for a long time, her death came very suddenly. We saw her just before she went downhill and she was the best she had been in ages.

So 2019 hasn’t exactly started out the best for me. Hoping it gets better…

[vsginny]

You might not even remember me at this point (it’s been so long) but I just really wanted to say I’m sorry about your Nan. :( 

[vsginny]

Lemon-Garlic Kale Salad (with toasted sliced almonds and parmesan). Sooooo delicious! No one else in my family will touch kale, either, so it’s all mine! Muahahaha! :D  Recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015707-lemon-garlic-kale-salad

[vsginny]

Mmmmmm... Keto pumpkin cream cheese muffins! So I’m obsessed with all things pumpkin (not just in the fall!) but it’s pretty impossible to find American canned pumpkin here (and yes, it’s different than Aussie pumpkin! Very different!). So when I find it, I snap it up. And we make these. They are freaking delicious - though I’m just going to note (so hopefully I’ll remember next time) that they’re always a bit too sweet for me - maybe need to try cutting down the sweetener next time if we can.

https://kaseytrenum.com/pumpkin-cream-cheese-muffins-keto-friendlylow-carb/

#keto #pumpkin #creamcheese #muffins #breakfast

[vsginny]

Creamy Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

Hey guys! It’s been WAY too long. Like... WAY, WAY too long. I’m still hanging onto this baby weight (and he’s 18 months old now!), so it’s time to bite the bullet and get back to keto. I’ve been back on the wagon for a couple of days now, and already seem to be in ketosis, which is awesome. When I have a recipe I particularly like, I’ll start sharing it here again. Hope you’re all doing well! Give me updates on your lives! :) (Sorry no photo for this one - dinner was late and I had no time to make it photogenic. It’s delicious though, I promise!)

This recipe is actually one I created myself by putting together components of other recipes I liked. I looked for one that was exactly this and surprisingly couldn’t find one - so I’m detailing it here so we can replicate it next time!

2 lbs./900g boneless skinless chicken breasts

16 oz./450g of your favourite salsa

1 block Philadelphia Original Cream Cheese (or you can substitute Light depending on your carb tolerance)

15g of your favourite taco seasoning (watch the carbs - there’s added sugar in a lot of the ones in Australia, much more so than in the US)

Shredded Mexican cheese (optional)

Tomatoes, avocado, onion and all your other favourite taco toppings

Lettuce leaves for lettuce wraps, or low-carb tortillas to serve (or just serve in a bowl!)

Add salsa to slow cooker, then chicken breasts. Season chicken with 15g taco seasoning. Cook on low 4-5 hours. Check internal temperature of chicken - it should be 165F/75C. If not, let it cook longer.

Remove chicken from crockpot when fully cooked. Add cream cheese to liquid in crock pot and let it melt (approximately 10-15 minutes). While that’s melting, shred chicken. Once cream cheese is melty, whisk slow cooker contents to make a nice creamy sauce. Add shredded chicken back to crockpot and stir to combine. Add shredded Mexican blend cheese on top (as much or as little as you like). Let it melt on top. Serve.

[vsginny]

I'm so happy for you and your family <3 <3 <3 <3

Thanks, me too! :)