Low Carb Freedom

Cautionary Tales for Gastric Bypass Patients

I have always told people who come to this site to give low carb a good try before resorting to gastric bypass or lap band or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). Why? Because you will be on a low carb high protein diet after you have the surgery. In addition, it seems that you will also be in the hospital a lot more than you would if you didn't have the surgery. So says the latest study out of the Journal of American Medicine: Hospitalization Before and After Gastric Bypass Surgery.

Now, it only covers 1 to 3 years after the surgery, but everyone who is considering the operation should read this article. I also recommend the gastric bypass surgery blog, Living After WLS.

Great Low Carb Tortilla Chips -- Cape Cod All Natural -- At Christmas Tree Shops Now

I just found these chips a few months ago. Both of my kids preferred them to the Trader Joe's brand of low carb tortilla chips for some reason. I don't know, maybe because they were round and more expensive? Or they came in a real cute purple bag? Whatever the reason, they will be out of luck at the end of this year when the current supply runs out because they stopped making them a month ago.

I called the corporate office to find out why they were no longer available at my local Stop & Shop, and the marketing person said that they had stopped selling across the country, and were mainly selling only in New England, so they decided to stop producing them. As stated above, a lot of the leftovers went to Christmas Tree Shops.

So, while these were good chips, and at $2.99 were less expensive than most low carb offerings (but not the Trader Joe's chips, which are $1.99 a bag), they couldn't make it. This is quite sad for a lot of people. While I have a Trader Joe's around the corner and can get a steady stream, most people don't. And Trader Joe's doesn't sell online. I use the tortilla chips in place of crackers for cheese as well as for salsa. So, if someone knows of other good low carb chips available in other parts of the country, please post below to help out others.

	Cape Cod Reduced Carb Tortilla Chips	Trader Joe's Soy & Flaxseed Tortilla Chips
Serving Size	1 oz. (28g/10 chips)	1 oz. (28g or 7 chips)
Calories	140	130
Total Fat	6g	8g
Saturated Fat	.5g	1g
Trans Fat	0	0g
Cholesterol	0mg	0mg
Sodium	110mg	50mg
Total Carbohydrates	11g	13g
Dietary Fiber	2g	5g
Sugars	0g	0g
Protein	9g	6g
Ingredients	stone-ground corn, soy protein, vegetable oil (canola, sunflower, or soybean oil), sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, oat bran, salt.	stone ground yellow corn, soy grits, brown flaxseed, corn oil or sunflower oil, sea salt, water, trace of lime.

Premade Shrimp Scampi Review -- It is Low Carb

I just reviewed a great product that I found at Costco, carnitas, that had a simple ingredient list and it tasted just great. This SeaPak Shrimp Scampi also comes from Costco, it tastes just fine, but typing in the ingredient list, all I could think of was...... Shrimp Scampi is really easy to make with fresh butter, olive oil, garlic, parsley, and some white wine, why eat all of this other stuff when you don't have to?

It tastes OK, carbs aren't bad at 4g, pair it with some Dreamfield's Linguine and a nice white wine for a truly sumptious meal, but if you have the time, just make your own and skip the hydrogenated canola oil. Costco sells uncooked shrimp with the tail on that works just fine.

Update: I have to give the company kudos for NOT including rice or noodles with the meal though... that would make it unacceptable for low carbers. You would be paying for the ingredients that you wouldn't eat.

	SeaPak Shrimp Scampi
Serving Size	4 oz. (about 8 shrimp, 8 servings per container)
Calories	370
Total Fat	35g
Saturated Fat	6g
Cholesterol	85mg
Sodium	640mg
Total Carbohydrates	4g
Dietary Fiber	0g
Sugar	0g
Protein	12g
Ingredients	Shrimp, water, soybean oil, contains 2% or less of each of the following: partially hydrogentated canola oil, salt, lecithin, artificial butter flavor, beta carotene, citric acid, maltodextrin, garlic powder, onion powder, dehydrated red bell pepper, hydrolyzed soy protein, torula yeast, lemon peel, dehydrated parsley, malic acid, natural butter flavor, corn syrup solids, natural flavor, artificial flavor, lemon juice solids, autolyzed yeast extract, sodium bisulfate (as a preservative). .

Low Carb Carnitas

Man, oh, man -- being from the Northeast, I first found out about carnitas at a great burrito place in Cambridge, MA, Boca Grande. They used to make the best burritos (and I'm sure they still do), right in front of you, with big amounts of rice, beans... and carnitas! (And being a Northeasterner, I don't even know if the correct way to say it is carnita or carnitas.) Anyhow, Carnitas is pork, slow cooked in spice, and it literally falls apart.

When I saw the large carnitas package at Costco, in the prepared foods meat case, I practically flipped! This was perfect! Just make my own, with low carb wraps, cheese, and black soy beans (the lowest carbohydrate beans -- and they taste great!) Just skip the rice, or, if you are on South Beach, use brown rice.

However, this traditionally cooked carnitas was so good, I didn't even have time to put it in a burrito! I just ate it plain! My husband, on the other hand, preferred it in a burrito.

I'm in a quandary right now though. Last time I went to Costco, they didn't have it in my store. I called the distributor and they say it is sold through Costco and Sam's Club only. I have an email into Costco to find out if they are just out or if they have stopped carrying it. Please let me know if you can find it in your Costco or Sams Club! I have to make a special trip somehow and stock up!

	Del Real Foods Carnitas
Serving Size	4 oz. (32 oz. in container)
Calories	290
Total Fat	18g
Saturated Fat	8g
Cholesterol	130mg
Sodium	410mg
Total Carbohydrates	0g
Dietary Fiber	0g
Sugar	0g
Protein	33g
Ingredients	Pork, Water Solution (Salt, Maltodexrin, Sodium, Carbonate, Sodium Acetate, Sodium Citrate) Garlic.

Update: I have a love/hate relationship with Costco. They are making me write a note in the book, then I'll wait weeks and weeks or months for a response for them just to say -- we have discontinued the product. Nyah, nyah, and there is nothing you can do about it.

Thank you for e-mailing costco.com.

This is an automated message based on your choice of the subject line,
"Warehouse Product Information".

Currently, we do not have warehouse product information  through
e-mail.   We encourage you to visit your local Costco warehouse to obtain
this information.

To obtain information on products available via the web, please visit our Web site
at www.costco.com.

Thank you,
Costco Wholesale Corporation
customerservice@costco.com

Where I have been...

Reader Jonathan asks:

What happened to this blog? I read that this was supposed to be the #2 blog about low carb.

Yikes! It has been too long!

I've been helping my daughter's band, feeding them, making them practice, and setting up their website at www.undecidedyouth.com.

I've been doing a website for my church at www.cliftonlutheran.org.

I've been planning the House Management for the Peter Pan production of Marblehead Little Theater and doing a blog at http://prouty.blogs.com/mlt/.

I've been working....

And I've been gathering great low carb info for more posts... I PROMISE I'll get to it! I have a ton of posts to catch up on... Look for one a day...

Best,

Katherine