My Diet: Secret Weapon - Stevia !!!!

 I finaLLy decided to write about my new diet. 90 days ago I eliminated most of the sugar from my diet and aLL the coffee creamer. My cups of coffee had been liquid candy bars essentiaLLy. I found a new sweetener caLLed Stevia. It is not a man made chemical, but a plant extract. It appears to have had wide acceptance in Japan.

I now drink coffee that is about 1/3 strength and sweeten it with liquid Stevia. On the road I sometimes use powdered Stevia mixtures. I recently found a Hazelnut flavoring from Folgers.

I drink alot of ice water.

I have been able to eliminate aLL the regular Dr Pepper and sugar based soft drinks from my life, so my caffeine intake has been drasticaLLy reduced. I sleep much easier now. I have had a few diet carbonated beverages at restaurants, maybe a half dozen times, simply because Fuddruckers has the most amazing drink vending machines with diet fruit flavored ginger ale I can't find anywhere else.

I have been able to reduce my meal size down to tiny portions. I stiLL eat almost the same things as before. Steak - soups - pizza - hard boiled eggs - tiny deli sandwiches of chicken or turkey with pepper jack cheese - V8 juice - ham salad - turkey jerky. That is the vast majority of what I eat. 

I don't let my wife cook for me veRy often.

I never get veRy hungry. I go to the refrigerator and get a teaspoon fuLL of ham salad. I eat one or two pieces of pizza and then save the rest for tiny meals. I cook up a pound of sausage and or ground buffalo and then use it to invigorate my soups and pizza over about a four to five day period.

I wiLL get a single hard boiled egg and season it with black pepper, garlic powder and salt.

I make a sandwich from a single slice of wheat bread, deli meat and a slice of pepper jack cheese. I rarely use Miracle Whip anymore.

The brand of turkey jerky is Jack Link's. Look for a green, white and black package. Cooper loves it, too.

The brand of frozen pizza is Culinary Circle. I have tried many of their pizzas and they are consistly of high quality, and cook repeatably to the same type of crust. I eat about 3/8 of a pound of pizza per meal. We purchased the largest electric toaster oven at Wal-Mart so as not to heat up the whole house. It cooks pizza unevenly, so half way through the baking process I rotate the pizza 180 degrees, otherwise the side near the back of the oven wiLL be over cooked and the front side undercooked.

When I have soup I eat one cup measured into a bowl. I wiLL prepare a huge batch of gumbo that wiLL last me 5 to 6 bowls.

I love Progresso brand Split Pea soup with Ham. I add sausage to it, and split it into two portions.

I weigh myself several times a day to see the natural ups and downs of my weight.

I target losing one pound every four days. I keep exact track of the date I reach a new "pound off" goal. I always caLL my mother, too. Yes, siLLy me.

So far I have lost 27 pounds in 90 days, and I can honestly say it has been fun and enjoyable. I haven't lost any flavor. I am excited for the future, I can already see myself reaching my final goal.

I have been told that I can't expect to keep losing weight at this rate (1/4 pound per day). I wiLL make adjustments as needed. I think a 90 day track record gives me aLL the confidence I need.

Oh, I almost forgot, I have a huge plate of french fries about three times a week at the diner to make sure I don't lose weight too fast. My one concession to added sugar is I put some in my salsa to eat with chips, but I doubt that I have this even one time per week.

I have actuaLLy calculated what day in the distant future I expect to reach my static final goal, based on my current loss rate. It is how much I weighed when I got married.

Thank you Stevia. I wish they would give a Nobel Prize to whoever did significant work to bring this product to market against the evil competitors who tried to squash it.