Four seed mix

Contingent with the theme of my previous post on simple math I do the same thing with seeds.
I'm eating seeds for fiber and calories. To keep the math simple I mix them all together but only call them sunflower seeds.

My current 4-seed mix is Sunflower & Pumpkin half organic and half roasted no-salt.

( organic sunflower, roasted sunflower, organic pumpkin, roasted pumpkin )

But when I enter them into my calorie counting app I just called them roasted unsalted sunflower seeds.

At one point I tried throwing in the chia seeds as well but that didn't really work out well so I keep the chia seed separate now.

I've found that using a shot-glass is convenient way to eat them.

Put your shot glass on the scale, zero it, add seeds, record, eat

Simple math

When I'm tracking my meals I like to keep the math simple. Every label that you look at is going to be a little bit different one's going to tell you it's measuring a serving, another is going to tell you it's a cup, another's a half cup, another's a quarter cup, one's a teaspoon, or an ounce. That's just too much trouble.

The simple solution is switched to grams. You don't need to understand grams. You just need to be able to put it on the scale have your scale set to grams and enter the number it gives you. Everything converts over to grams. It's really simple.

What if you're mixing ingredients, then what, well I just made a batch of my three bean salsa, or spicy three bean soup, whatever you want to call it. Now I could take all the labels add everything up do some fancy math and try to figure out how many calories are in whatever but why bother. So in this case I had pinto beans, black beans,refried beans and salsa. The black beans had the highest number of carbs, fiber and calories so I'm just calling it black beans. I put three scoops into a bowl. My scale told me that was 200 g so I tell my calorie counter I had 200 g of black beans. The reality is the calories and carbs that I had were less than what was entered I'd rather them be less than more and it's not so dramatically less that it really makes a difference as far as my belly is concerned because it's less so simple math.

Leather wrapped thermos

When I got this thermos from a friend, it was used, the plastic outer shell was cracked open and the foam insulation was not pretty. I cut off the outer plastic shell and the foam insulation.

When I was done removing the outer shell it looked like some sort of alien technology.

I measured and cut but when I held the leather around the thermos it looked like I cut the leather too short.

After a night of trying to figure out a way to salvage the project I decided to just put the holes along the edge and sewed it up as is.

The sewing was slow and a little difficult because half the sewing was from the inside of the tube.

I was a bit surprised when everything fit.

Of course then I had to take it off again so that I could start getting ready to make the bottom.

I was very happy with how the project turned out.

To view this project from beginning to end, click this link to my Google Photo Album

Chia seeds

When I first heard of chia seeds the first thing that I thought was "are they the same thing used for a Chia pet. I don't know that answer but what I do know is they are tiny little seeds, so tiny you may not even suspect they were seeds.

When you eat them they crunch and have a nutty flavor, but they're so small you might end up with a few stuck between your teeth. I picked up a package at a local discount store for $3.

First I tried mixing them with sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds it was good at first, added a little different flavor.

Then I made the mistake of thinking "if I put in a little bit of water... but that just created a mush that I was able to eat, but other than the fact that I paid for the seeds, I was wondering why I did.

Then I tried mixing them with cottage cheese. That actually worked out pretty well. I had the option of chewing or not and it added that little bit of a nutty flavor. I even threw in some sunflower seeds and some pumpkin seeds still good.

Caution: I read somewhere on the web, don't eat too many in one day or you might get constipated. The suggested serving seems to be 3 tablespoons tops. But you can eat three teaspoons with breakfast, lunch, and supper.

When you mix them with something pick a container with plenty of room.

I also mixed them with yogurt. I added 3 tablespoons to a blueberry Greek yogurt. It was yummy.

The great thing about mixing chia seeds with yogurt or cottage cheese is you end up with a healthier food choice because the chia seeds add some much needed fiber and protein to your diet.

Remember to also be careful with yogurt and cottage cheese and as well as anything else you were eating. Too much of anything can lead to too many calories. So I also recommend if you're not already doing so, to make sure that you are logging your meals in a food diary.

I'm using the calorie counter by FatSecret to keep me on track. You'll find another post on my blog on setting up and using fatsecret.

Food Diary for Net Carbs & Fiber

In the app store it's listed as Calorie Counter by FatSecret. It's available for both Android and Apple devices. It's a Food Diary App that does a lot more than count calories. It can also help you track your net carbs, fiber, fats, and protein and a lot more.

At the very bottom of the Diary screen you will see a cogwheel named Options.

The default is Summary view change it to Detailed.

Tap options again and this time tap change columns

It will only show 4 items. Pick protein, fat, fiber, net carbs and tap okay

When you are logging your meals, the tabs for, Recently Eaten and Most Eaten are sorted by meals for example breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

So if you previously ate something for breakfast and now it's lunch time and you want to pick the same thing logged before. You can go back to your breakfast log, find the item under recently eaten, and pick it again. Then after you saved it to that meal you can then go back touch that item in the detail section and change it from breakfast to lunch

View in Google Photo Album

Talking with my blog . Speech to Text

I just discovered a nice little trick that allows me to Talk to my Chromebook to add posts to my blog or add updates. Plus I can then use the power of a real keyboard & mouse to edit and type os.

Open chrome, then open a Google Doc. Click to start typing and then click the Tools option on the menu and select Voice typing.

Then click the Microphone Icon and start talking. Whenever you want you can click in and do some editing.

When your ready, just copy and paste to wherever you want.

Looking for Zero Carb Drinks try Seltzer

I was recently at the store trying to find something I could drink that did not have carbs, sugar, artificial flavors or sweeteners. One of the items that I found in several flavors was Polar Seltzer.

The store was having a buy 3 sale so I picked Black Cherry, Orange Vanilla, and Ruby Red Grapefruit.

With my first taste, I found the seltzer overpowering, however I later discovered that if I just pop the top and stick it back in the refrigerator for a bit or overnight it's pretty much just a lightly flavored water.

So yes, if you're looking for a zero carbs option, I recommend trying Polar Seltzer, and checking the labels of other seltzers.