Ingredients
3C strawberries (about 3 pint. strawberries)
3/4 C water
1 box “SURE-JELL for Lower Sugar Recipes” Fruit Pectin
1/2 C Splenda No Calorie Sweetener, Granular

Bring boiling-water canner, half full with water, to a simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain jars well before filling.

Stem and crush strawberries; place exactly 3 cups of the crushed strawberries in 6- or 8-quart saucepot. Stir in water. Gradually add pectin, stirring until well blended.

Bring mixture to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn’t stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly. Boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in Splenda Granular. Skim off any foam with metal spoon.

Ladle immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with 2-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. (Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add boiling water, if necessary.) Cover; bring water to gentle boil.

Process 10 minutes. Remove jars and place upright on towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of lid with finger. (If lid springs back, lid is not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.)

Each tablespoon of jam contains about 1g of carbs.

Ingredients
1C fresh cranberries
Water to cover them
1C cold water
1 Tbsp unflavored gelatin (or one packet)
Sweetener to taste (I use 2 or 3 packets of Splenda)

Rinse berries and simmer on stove until all the berries are popped. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. You may strain the berries if you want a smooth sauce. In a microwave safe container pour the 1 cup of cold water and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Allow the gelatin to soften (about 1 minute). Microwave on high for a couple of minutes until the water is hot and the liquid is clear. It is not necessary to boil. Stir this into the cooked cranberries or the strained juice. Make sure it is cool to room temperature, then add your sweetener. Taste to see if it is sweet enough and then refrigerate.

Cranberries have 6 carbs per half cup. Total recipe has 12 carbs

Ingredients
Cooking spray
2 Tbsp. wheat (or oat) bran and 1 tablespoon soy flour, mixed together
1C soy flour
1/2 C sugar substitute (recommended: Splenda)
1 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 C heavy cream
1/3 C club soda
1/2 C blueberries (if not sweet, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar
substitute)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 6-cup muffin tin with cooking spray. Evenly sprinkle the pan with the wheat bran and soy flour mix, being careful to coat the sides of the cups also; this will prevent sticking. In a bowl using a wire whisk, mix all the remaining ingredients, except the blueberries, until well blended. Then fold in the blueberries and fill the 6 muffins cups evenly with the batter. Place on the center rack of the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the tops turn golden brown and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool before refrigerating. Serve warm with butter or cold with cream cheese.

Cook’s Note: In place of blueberries you can use raspberries, blackberries, banana extract and walnuts, lemon or almond extract and poppy seeds, cranberries, pumpkin, or other favorite flavors.

There’s no such thing as low carb french fries, but turnip fries make a nice substitute.

Turnip Fries Recipe
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Peel turnip, slice off stalk end bit
Cut into fry-sized wedges
Spray lightly with non-stick spray (olive oil is a healthier substitute)
Put in container or ziplock baggie
Sprinkle in choice of low carb seasoning, salt and pepper
Shake to spread seasoning
Spray cookie sheet with non-stick spray (or olive oil)
Lay out fries evenly spaced, bake for 10 minutes
Flip fries over and bake until golden brown

These are great with low-carb ketchup. Carb Options ketchup has less than 1 carb per Tbsp.

Many people believe bread is out of the question on low carb diets. False! The first thing you need to do is start making sandwiches with one slice instead of two. This isn’t a big deal. In many European countries (like Poland) they make their sandwiches with one slice anyway.

If you shop around, you can find a number of bread products that don’t heavily advertise “low carb” on the packaging, but they are still low carb. I prefer Wonder “Light” Wheat Bread which contains 9 grams of total carbs and 3 grams of dietary fiber for a total of 6 net carbs per slice. The price is very comparable to regular high carb bread. You can make two sandwiches for a total of 12 net carbs per meal.

Here’s a low carb lasagna recipe without noodles:

Ingredients for Meat Sauce
1 - 1.5 lb lean hamburger
3/4 C fresh tomatoes, chopped fine
3/4 C water
1/2 C fresh mushrooms, chopped
1/2 C Hunt’s tomato juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Garlic seasoning
Italian seasoning

Cook these items in saucepan for about 45 minutes.
Put a small amount on bottom of lasagna dish.
Split remaining in half.

Mix in Bowl the Following
1C full tilt cottage cheese
1 1/2 C ricotta cheese
2 eggs (beaten)
1C mozzerella cheese (you can substitute 1/2 C cheddar)
1/2 C parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, Garlic

Split mixture in half.
Put half cheese mixture in dish, layer half meat mixture on top, and then repeat.
Sprinkle with some parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

The carb count should be about 5 - 7g per serving. This really helps with Italian food cravings and you won’t miss the noodles!

A low carb diet doesn’t mean you should avoid fruits. The key is to choose fruits that require a high amount of energy to digest so you burn more calories during the digestion process. This is known as thermogenesis. The more energy required to digest a fruit, the more “thermogenic” or “thermic” it is.

Because you’re on a low carb diet, you’ll want to eat fruits that are thermogenic per unit of carbohydrate. In other words, fruits that are high in fiber and high in water content (HIFWAC).

HIFWAC Fruits

• Apples
• Apricots
• Blueberries
• Cherries
• Grapes
• Peaches
• Pears
• Raspberries
• Strawberries

Some fruits such as bananas are thermogenic, but they are high in sugar and low in fiber so thay are not recommended.

Non-HIFWAC Fruits

• Bananas
• Dates
• Dried Fruit
• Figs
• Raisins
• Watermelon

Rob Faigin uses simple math to refute the theory of cutting calories:

Consider this: whatever your current daily calorie consumption average is, let’s say that you increased it by an average of 400 calories per day for a year, without deliberately changing your activity level. Then let’s say you increased your average calorie consumption by another 600 calories per day for the following year. If you do the math, with a pound of fat equaling 3500 calories, this would mean that in those two years you should gain over 100 pounds, right? Not likely.

You would likely gain some weight in the scenario depicted above, but, time and again, studies have shown that a consistent linear positive relationship between calorie consumption and weight gain simply does not exist. Furthermore, when weight is gained as a result of overfeeding, there is a tendency to gravitate back to the pre-overfeeding weight following resumption of normal eating. Incidentally, the hypothetical presented in the foregoing paragraph describes an actual study carried-out by a German scientist. At the end of the second year he weighed almost exactly the same as he did before the study began! Where did the extra 365,000 calories go? Not to his waist, or his hips, or his arms or legs. Answer: they were “wasted” by the body as part of a million-year-old metabolic adaptation.

Similarly, if there existed an airtight mathematical relationship between caloric intake and weight loss, cutting daily caloric intake from 3000 to 1000 calories would result in a 60,000 calorie deficit and, correspondingly, a 17-pound weight loss in the first month - that’s possible (although much of it would be water and glycogen loss, not fat loss) - and would result in a 200-pound weight loss after a year. What if the person began the diet weighing 200 pounds, would he disappear?

Natural Hormonal Enhancement by Rob Faigin is quoted frequently on this site. The book contains over 1700 references to the world’s leading medical and scientific journals. From the back cover:

Recent research has demonstrated that aging, health, and body composition are more closely related than previously suspected, and hormones are the unifying factor. This realization presents the thrilling prospect of using one grand strategy to attack all three areas simultaneously - to arrest aging, while achieving super health, while at the same time enhancing lean body mass and permanently eliminating excess bodyfat. Natural Hormonal Enhancement advances this grand strategy in a detailed and concise form that the average person can easily understand and follow.

A book of unparalleled importance for every living person, Natural Hormonal Enhancement presents a practical program for combating, and even reversing, the physical degeneration and body composition changes associated with aging. And for athletes and bodybuilders, Natural Hormonal Enhancement provides the ultimate advantage in the quest for a championship physique and optimal performance.