As an aside, here is the rough recipe for the dressing. Mind you, I'm largely ballparking this as I don't measure anything. When people ask me for my chili recipe, I usually shrug. I managed to write most of it down, but even so, I don't follow it. I throw whatever I think is a good idea at the time into it, and I never taste it until it's ready to be served. I know, that's trouble waiting to be had.
My fans are not deterred by my sloppiness: this stuff is to die for. Hell, it will probably kill you. If the spiciness doesn't, the next day's consequences have a chance. If that doesn't do you in, wait for your arteries to clog. You know you want to.
Maybe it's no wonder we both have weight to lose? For me, though, I'd rather have a small bit of Death Chili than a huge bowl of something healthy, because some things are what they are. Tasty and bad for you. I'm fine with a tiny bit of bad for me, and eating some salad to round that out sometimes.
Onto the salad!
Drummergirl's First HCG Friendly Salad Dressing
(aka "Random Crap In A Cup And Cross Fingers" dressing)
Ingredients:
-2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (I'm finding myself fond of Bragg's)
-2 tablespoon lemon juice
-.5 tablespoon brown spicy mustard
-1.5 tablespoon chopped green onion
-A dash of Bragg's Liquid Aminos
-1-2 drops liquid Stevia (I imagine this varies from brand to brand, but the stuff we have is really potent)
-Salt/pepper to taste (I also added some other seasoning salt mix I had)
A note on all ingredients: make sure there is no sugar in ANY item.
Preparation:
Prep is simple, throw it together and shake vigorously. I may even eat this!
The quantity is small, mainly because if I make a big batch, the green onions get a little brown. My suggestion would be to make a big container, and dole out smaller portions to add the onions to.
Support Groups
I was also thinking about support groups today. I heard that the wife of someone on my team is also doing the same diet. It made me think about if something like that would help my husband, some kind of support group. The problem is, we're not support group people.
When we did Weight Watchers a long time ago, part of why we didn't stick with it was the meetings. It was great that people came together to support each other, that they shared tips and ideas. However, there was so much feeling of validation, of "group hug!" constantly that it kind of turned us off from the whole thing. It felt kind of fake, as if no one were really talking about the challenges. We stopped going.
When I worked to lose weight, I didn't spend a lot of time with major support groups. Instead, I spent a lot of time in weight lifting communities, places where I could get tips, inspiration, and share my own successes. Support group? Perhaps. But a down to earth one for the most part.
After that, I ran a mailing list with tips and tricks, for eating, exercise, foods to eat, ect. I wrote lots of great articles, from the benefit of using a heart rate monitor to the joys of fruit. It helped focus me, to pass on this positive energy. This is the kind of support group that I feel can be very beneficial - it has a lot of room for the different ways people like to do things, without saying "this is the way to do it and that's it!" I don't think that's a good support group. I will say that if you're following a diet, yes, there may be one right way to do it. But that particular diet is not the One True Diet for everyone.
It happened with Atkins; people were fanatic in their devotion, and vocal in their criticism. It polarized people. HCG isn't really any different. Some people will say it's dangerous, some people will swear by it, some will swear by it to the point of aggression, some people will be supportive and thoughtful and encourage people to do what's right for them and give them resources. Every community has all of these types of people, I suppose. There's a trick to finding a balance between support and sounding crazy.
A diet like this simply would *not* work for me, and I would never want someone in a "support group" going off on me for that, attempting to correct me on my "facts" and how great it is. The only fact there is for me is: I lost 60 pounds with sensible eating and exercise. If that works for me, then that's that. If some other diet works for someone, same goes.
The internet is cool in that you can shop around for the kind of community you want, though. Having supportive people in your life is a must, whatever you do. I've been where my husband is to a degree - I've gone to restaurants where the only thing I can eat is a green salad with vinegar or salsa on it. I already have the tools to help. In a way, I'm really excited that now I can use some of the tricks I learned. On the other, I know this is going to be crazy some days. It's not a diet in which I can toss a high fiber granola bar in a bag and send him off to work.
I suppose my bottom line for support groups is, "Support networks are good, but taking fucking crazy people and feeding them 500 calories a day is a recipe for burning down the house." Stick with people with balanced perspectives, helpful advice, and a positive attitude. In life, these are always the best people to surround yourself with anyway.
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