Sugar – A Dangerous Love Story

Sugar is a big controversy. Everyone knows that eating candy, cakes, ice cream, loads of white bread and pure sugar and drinking sodas is not good for you. Most of us try to moderate our intake and many times we struggle with it. There’s always that donut with delicious icing that someone at work treated you, the ice cream with your friends, the tasty dessert cake after the nice restaurant dinner.

And then there’s the sugar in the syrup they put in your morning coffee  at the coffee shop, the hidden sugars in processed food that you have for TV dinner, the sugary breakfast flakes.
If you start looking at the labels of the food you buy you are gonna be chocked. All the carbohydrates that aren’t fibers, are becoming sugar in your body. If there is 40 grams of carbohydrates, they become 40 grams of glucose after being digested. No matter how slow they are.

Everyone know that you should avoid sugar, and still we seem so helpless when it comes to staying away from it. I’ve had countless encounters and discussions where the person I’m talking to states something in the realm of “I just can’t get of it, it tastes so good!”
It has nothing to do with education, IQ levels, knowledge or even common sense. It’s all in the habits and habituated feelings and thoughts around food. We feel like we deserve that extra piece of candy, cookie, cake or ice cream. Or we’ll tell our selves that the exercise we did/are going to to do gives us room for it. It’s deceptive, that white powder.

Maybe you won’t notice what it does to you. If your body is healthy enough and your systems are adaptable, you will have enough insulin to store away the sugar load and keep your glucose levels in check. The more sugar (of any kind) you eat, the more insulin is needed. The more insulin you have in your blood, the less sensitive your insulin receptors become, that’s the natural see-saw reaction in your body. When the receptors become less sensitive, you need to produce more insulin to lower your blood sugar, and so on. As long as your pancreas is healthy, this process is going to work fine, even though you will have blood sugar spikes and lows all day long. You might notice them, or you might not, since we all differ in sensitivity. The day your pancreas can’t produce enough insulin to keep the blood sugar in check your on your way towards diabetes.

“Well, why does that matter?” you might say. There’s medications and I’m certainly not there yet….
The big problem with diabetes is the high blood sugar levels, because the sugars tend to react with proteins and fats in the body, a process called glycosylation. When this happens it renders the molecule useless, because it’s chemical properties changes. As for proteins, which many times are receptors, enzymes and identification tags for different molecules, it can change how hormones, cholesterol and signal molecules are taken up and the effects they have. So you might change how sensitive you get to a hormone, and hence the body sees that as needing to produce more of it since the desired effects didn’t happen with the normal amount. This can lead to a downward spiral, exhausting the gland producing the hormone as an end result.
In the case of cholesterol the protein on the bearer molecule (LDL/HDL), can suffer changes and not be recognizable when arriving to the cells and thus not be taken up, which leads to higher cholesterol levels in the blood but cholesterol deficiency in the cells. If you are unlucky enough to take a blood test assessing your lipids at that point, you might end up on statins, lipid lowering drugs, just because they are on the wrong place.

The body recognizes the faulty proteins and the immune system cleans them up, so new ones can be made. Having a lot of glycosylated proteins means a higher demand for cleaning and pumps up the inflammatory process needed for cleaning, keeping you in a overall higher state of stress.
It’s a good idea to keep the inflammation in your body as low as possible, since it triggers a lot of reactions that can be damaging for the cells.

You can also experience joint and soft tissue problems because of the glycosylation of proteins. The changes in the proteins in your connective tissue render it less flexible and the subsequent inflammation can produce fibrous scars that are difficult to heal. The faulty proteins also work less efficiently in your cartilage and can result in arthritic changes.
One not uncommon problem among diabetics is trigger finger (it can happen to people without blood sugar issues as well, but the risk are much higher with poor blood sugar control). This is a disease where the flexor tendon to a finger, usually the third or fourth gets inflamed and swollen, so it can’t pass through the structures holding it and the finger gets stuck in a flexed position. No fun at all.

For me this means getting of the sugar, all of it. No candy, cakes, cookies, ice cream, breakfast cereal, bread, pasta, rice, sodas etc.
Of course there’ll still be some cabohydrates in my diet, through bell peppers, tomatoes, leafy green and cruciferous vegetables, with the meat I eat and the little fruits I consume. But compared to a normal diet (whatever that is nowadays) my sugar load is minimal.

We are all different and some people tolerate higher levels of carbohydrates than others and it is dynamic. It changes with age, hormones, stress etc.
But I’m sure that keeping away from sugar is beneficial for you. Start with getting of the white sugar. Have a sugar free month where you don’t eat cookies, candy, ice cream, cakes and go low on the fruit (especially bananas), choose low sugar alternatives to pasta and  potatoes (you can find some tips here) and make sure to cook your own food so you know your sugar load.
See what happens.
I was surprised by all the tastes that were coming back to me, after the sugar was gone. Heavy whipping cream is sweet!

Sugar is an addictive substance, it’s actually in the same realm as heroine, giving the same pleasure response in the brain, so expect some heavy resistance to start with. There might be withdrawal symptoms, cold sweats, nausea, bad sleep, tremor. No fun.
That doesn’t mean it’s bad for you to stay away from it, does it?
What would you tell a smoker that’s weaning off cigarettes? “Are you feeling bad? You better start smoking again then.” Probably not.

It’s all about getting to a point where you can choose what to eat, and enjoy the occasional sweet things you eat. Remember, I’m not talking about loosing weight, even though that might be a “side effect” of keeping away from the sugar. I’m talking about staying healthy and feeling well – hopefully throughout your life.
And don’t forget to add in the good fats as you take away the sugar/carbohydrates, you still need the energy. One gram of fat has double the energy of one gram of carbohydrates.
Here‘s a little go to list of how you can get started.

Low Carbohydrate Diet Might Be Better for Losing Weight and Improving Heart Health.

For a long time we have been told that the best way for us to maintain our weight or lose some is to go low fat and restrict our calorie intake. The calories in, calories out paradigm has been the harsh reality and for many people a source of constant frustration. No matter how hard they try, they can’t seem to make it.
Finally we seem to be finding our way back to a more varied way of looking at our metabolism and understanding what our bodies actually thrive of. It’s not only the calories, it matters what source they have. This is knowledge we’ve had for a long time, but in the well meaning attempt to make us “heart healthy” during the last 40 years, it has been lost. Normal, nutrient dense food (meats and organ meats, good fats etc) that we can easily cook on our own has been put to shame and we’ve been guilted by the medical society for not caring enough about our health. The more the “heart-healthy” advice seem to have been followed, the more sick we seem to get.
More and more evidence, both scientific and experiential, is showing that the human race might be doing better with lowering their carbohydrate intake.

The “Annals of Internal Medicine” recently published this randomized study – “The effects of Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diets“.
They followed 148 subjects for a year, randomly assigned to a low-carbohydrate or a low-fat group (119/80% completed the intervention). There were overweight, men and women, white and black, in the ages between 22-75. The participants did not have Diabetes or cardiovascular disease at the start of the study.
Both groups were tested for a multiple of markers in the beginning of the study and after 3, 6 and 12 months, at which time two 24-hour dietary recalls (one reflecting a week day and one a weekend day) were also collected.
They were given weekly individual dietary counseling sessions from a dietician for the first 4 weeks, then in small groups every second week for the next 5 months and after that in the groups monthly for the rest of the year.
They also got shopping lists, recipes, sample menus for a week, meal planners and guides on how to count macro-nutrients and read nutrition labels, as well as a low-carb/low-fat meal replacement a’ day throughout the study.

The low-carbohydrate group was instructed to eat a diet with less than 40 g of digestible carbohydrates/daily.
The low-fat group was told to have less than 30 % of their food intake from fat (less than 7 % from saturated fat) and about 55 % carbohydrates.
The low-fat diet follows the National Cholesterol Education Program Guidelines.
There was no specific calorie or energy goal, but the participants were instructed not to change their physical activity levels during the study. Both groups received the same information on dietary fiber (25 g/day) and dietary fats (including education on the different kinds of fats and emphasis on benefits of monounsaturated fats and avoiding trans fats).

After a year the participants in the low-carbohydrate group had significantly reduced in weight and fat mass and had also increased their levels of HDL-cholesterol compared to the low-fat group. The levels of triglycerides changed significantly in both groups, the change being bigger for the participants in the low-carbohydrate one.
The low-carbohydrate group also had lower CRP levels (an indicator of overall inflammation) and the estimated 10-year risk for cardiovascular disease (Framingham risk score) than in the low-fat group.

The levels of LDL-cholesterol or blood glucose and the blood pressure didn’t change significantly in any of the groups.

It seems that a low-carbohydrate diet is beneficial for weight loss, especially since people following this diet tend to lose mostly fat mass.
The cholesterol levels have been the main worry for the medical collective when discussing LCHF and other low-carbohydrate diets and this study actually showed beneficial effects on markers for cardiovascular health, especially improving the total cholesterol – HDL-cholesterol ratio.
That should make your doctor/internist/cardiologist happy.

The average low-carbohydrate diet usually aims for 20 % or less of the daily intake to be from carbohydrates, and in this diet the average intake landed on 30% over the year. So of course, we can’t extrapolate the numbers from the study to diets with lower carbohydrate content.
My personal experience in both personal and clinical life does gravitate towards that a the lower the carbohydrate (especially the refined, processed ones) intake, the better.
But if you can experience health benefits like the ones described in the study and not going to extremes, that is good news for us all.

In this study they did their best to keep the activity-level the same, to be able to asses the changes more correctly.
The best way of losing weight and keeping healthy is of course to combine dietary changes with being more active, especially in daily life.

I’m sure that there are more interesting studies to come on this subject, especially since the researchers and the medical society has become aware of the possible benefits of a low carbohydrate diet and need to keep up with the changes that people make themselves in their lives as they start reaping the benefits. Read more of how you can start today here!

Courtesy to: http://dgeneralist.blogspot.se/2013/11/the-low-carb-high-fat-diet.html

What an exciting future!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To the abstract: http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1900694

No Pasta! – What To Do When Going Low-Carb

“What do you eat when you don’t eat pasta, potatoes or rice?”

That’s probably the most common question I get when I talk to someone who eats a “normal” diet. They are mostly referring to what you have with the fish, meat, poultry or other source of protein on your plate. It seems to be the biggest challenge for most of us when trying to low carb. What do I have instead? How can I survive without the pasta, bread, potatoes/tubers, rice, quinoa and cous-cous that I usually eat? Won’t my food become super boring?

No worries, here are a couple of ideas for you, to start with!

Cauliflower mash instead of potato mash. You do it pretty much the same way as you would a potato mash.
Boil the cauliflowers until soft, pour out most of the water. Mash them with an immersion blender, add butter, cream and seasonings to your taste. I like to fry finely cut bacon in butter and add that too the cauliflower and then mash it all together, sometimes with additional butter and some cream. It’s delicious! Once you’ve had it, you can’t stop!

Zucchini pasta instead of the normal pasta. Take zucchini, slice it thin, most easily done with a cheese slicer, and boil it for a couple of minutes. Add your favorite pasta sauce, enjoy!

Cauliflower rice instead of white rice.
Take a cauliflower head, grate it coarsely so you get pieces the size of rice. Boil it in water with a bit of salt for about 3-5 min. Pour out the water, enjoy with sauce, meat, chicken or whatever you usually have with rice.
It’s possible to do sushi with it too, but that requires a little bit more thought in how to get it sticky. Check out Awesome Åshild’s recipe: http://awesomeashild.com/2014/04/07/super-easy-low-carb-cauliflower-rice-sushi/

Forget all about the rice, pasta, potatoes and other carby stuff.
Make a giant salad with leafy greens, cucumber, bell pepper, feta cheese/other cheese you like, sunflower seeds/pumpkin seeds/nuts, olives, ham/fried bacon and pour lot’s of olive oil on top.

You can just steam cauliflower and broccoli, let grass fed butter melt on top and savor it!

Make stuffed bell peppers in the oven. Fill them with cheese of your choice, some onion and mushroom and enjoy!

Wrap asparagus in bacon and fry in grass fed butter or coconut oil. Yummy!!!

Please share your discoveries as you try out this awesome way of living!

 

Carrot Cake – Low Carb & Gluten Free

Cake:

Carrot cake in the serving.

• 1,5 dl (5 oz) almond flour
• 1,5 dl (5 oz) buck wheat flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 0,5 tsp vanilla powder
• 1,5 tsp cinnamon1 tsp cardamom
• 0,5 tsp ground, dried ginger
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3 organic, free range eggs
• 1,5 dl  (5 oz) sukrin+ (3 dl (10 oz) Sukrin Gold)
• 4 dl (1 2/3 cup) finely grated carrots
• 1,5 dl (5 fl.oz) melted, coconut oil (deodorized if you don’t like the coconut taste)

Frosting:

• 200 g (7 oz) cream cheese
• 50 g (3,5 tbsp/0.5 stick) of grass fed butter, room tempered
• 4 tsp sukrin melis (or 2 tsp of sukrin+)
• 1 ml vanilla powder (or more if you like the taste)

Cake:
Heat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
Mix all the dry ingredients and the spices together in a bowl. Whip the sukrin and eggs so they become fluffy. Fold the dry ingredients into the fluffy egg mix and then add the finely grated carrots along with the melted coconut oil. Stir until smooth.
Pour mixture into a spring-form pan with oven paper on the bottom and the sides smeared with coconut oil or butter. Let it bake for 20-25 min on the middle rack. Take it out and let it cool completely. Meanwhile it’s time to start the frosting, see below.

Frosting:
Stir the butter and the cream cheese into a creamy frosting, add sweetener and vanilla powder to your taste. Spread the frosting on top of the cooled cake and dust with cinnamon.

You can use other sweeteners of your choice, but the consistency of the batter and frosting might change with them.
I prefer having more coarsely grated carrot, because I like the feeling of the carrot in the cake. I also add a little more cardamom and cinnamon in the cake batter because I enjoy the taste of the combination with the carrots.

Serving suggestion: Cardamom coffee or a chai tea made on half and half or cream.

Note: Sukrin is a sweetener made out of erythritol (a sugar alcohol that is almost zero-caloric and doesn’t raise blood sugar or affect insulin).
Sukrin+ has Stevia (“stevia glycoside”, a sweetener from the Stevia plant) added,  which makes it double as sweet as Sukrin.

Sukrin has very similar properties as sugar when baking and cooking.

Sugar – a No-brainer

There is this myth circulating that our brain only works on glucose, the sugar molecule in our blood.
Many times, when I discuss low carbohydrate/ketogenic diets with people one of the first arguments that come up is “but the brain needs sugar”. Is this true?

There are a couple of areas in the brain that can only run on sugar, they need approximately 30 grams of glucose daily. An amount that your liver easily can deliver by making glucose from mostly protein and to a smaller degree from fat, even without eating a single carbohydrate.
The other parts of the brain runs perfectly fine on ketones, the energy containing molecules that the liver makes from fat and protein when glucose isn’t available. In fact, the brain runs better on ketones than on sugar! Getting the energy out of a ketone body is a little less “dirty” than burning a glucose molecule. In this case free radicals are the “smoke”, and they react with surrounding molecules in a process called oxidation which gives rise to an inflammatory response. Making energy out of the food we eat will always create these molecules.
The body uses anti-oxidants like vitamin E and C, CoQ10, glutathione, that react with the free radical and neutralize it. Some of them, like glutathione can be recycled in various processes to be used again and others, the vitamins, need to be replenished through diet.

The less oxidative stress you put on your body and especially the brain, the better and smoother your cells will work.

Not only does glucose “smoke” more than ketones, it also has direct negative effects on how well the nerve cells work. Glucose have a tendency to react with proteins, a process called glycosylation. This changes the structure of the protein which many times rendering it non-working and the cells won’t recognize them.
One example is when glucose reacts with the tag protein on the LDL molecule, the transport molecule for fats and cholesterol, which makes it unrecognizable for the receptors on the cells, and they stay in the blood stream and can trigger an inflammatory response. Upregulated and dysregulated inflammation is the culprit in most of our modern diseases, diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, SLE and other degenerative diseases and it has a part in the development of cancer. Keeping inflammation to the minimum and only used when necessary to fight of infections and healing wounds, should be everyone’s highest priority. At least if you want to rank up your odds for a long, healthy, intelligent and also happy life.

It’s not just the brain that reap the benefits of a low carbohydrate/ketogenic diet, the heart and the muscles also run perfectly fine on the ketones and also enjoy the lessened oxidative stress. So, there’s nothing to loose on going low sugar!

5 simple ways of increasing your health exponentially

1. Eat real food.
Buy whole foods. By cooking fresh produce, you know what you are putting into your body. Make sure you find good quality produce. Go local as far as possible and try to choose vegetables that are organic and free from pesticides. When it comes to meat try to find grass fed, locally raised and butchered. Maybe there is a good butcher in your town, that can tell you about the farm where the animals have been raised.
When you buy fish, look for the species that are not endangered. (Here is one list that can help you choose http://www.seafoodwatch.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_regional.aspx)
You don’t have to go crazy about it, take one step at a time and maybe just starting out cooking your own food is a big step. That’s ok.
You can make it simple. There are an abundance of tips and recipes out there on the web.

2. Lower your intake of sugar and carbohydrates.
Avoid:

• Sugar of any kind, white or brown, syrups, honey etc. If you really want to sweeten something, use Stevia of some kind.
• Grains, especially processed wheat. Stay away from pasta, bread, tortillas etc. Most preferably, eliminate them from your diet.
• Starchy foods. That includes most of the things that grow under ground – potatoes, beets and other tubers.

Enjoy:

• Leafy greens like spinach, arugula and kale.
• Broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts.
• Asparagus, artichokes
• Cucumber, tomatoes, bell pepper etc

Sugar and carbohydrates are what raises insulin, and high levels of insulin will not only make you gain weight but also be more prone to inflammatory diseases, including heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.
Gluten has been associated with autoimmune disorders like Hashimoto’s thyroditis and Celiac Disease.

3. Eat a lot of good fats

• Butter – preferably organic from grass fed cows.
• Ghee – clarified butter.
• Coconut oil – organic, cold pressed. Contains awesome MCT – brain food!
• Olive oil – organic, cold pressed. Contains oleic acid, that has some nice anti-inflammatory properties.
• Avocados or avocado oil.
• Get fatty meats, like beef with the fat still around it’s edges. Chicken or Turkey with it’s skin and Salmon are other good sources.

Try David Asprey’s Bulletproof coffee for breakfast! (I do it with an egg yolk and cinnamon. Keeps me full til lunch!)

4- Drink water!

At least 2 liters ( 0,5 gallons) of clean water a day. More if you are working out or sweating a lot. (If you have a condition, like heart failure or kidney failure, that will make you retain water, you need to consult your physician about the right amount to drink daily.)
You body consist of approximately 60 -65% water and the cells need the right amount of water to function properly. The right amount of water keeps the electrochemical gradients between the outside and the inside of the cell in the right ranges and also makes many of the chemical reactions possible.
So enjoy your water!

5. Get out!

Go out, every day. Even if it’s only for five minutes. Anything is better than nothing. Take your shoes and socks of, go barefoot. Enjoy the feeling of grass or sand on the soles of your feet, the sun and wind on your skin. Hear the sounds of the birds and the wind in the trees. If you live deep in the city, find a park or an area with grass and a couple of trees.

The soles of your feet have as many nerve endings as the palms of your hands. Awakening your feet will awaken your nerve system and bring you more awareness. Being bare foot also awakens the muscles in between the bones in your feet and makes them more agile and flexible.
If you really, really don’t want to walk around bare foot, try the five fingers with thin soles. That will give you a bare foot experience without the fear of cutting your feet up or stepping in poo.

If you’re not used to being bare foot it’s going to be a little bit awkward to begin with. But trust me, it will make your experience of being out doors so much better!

 

 

 

Diabetes – when blood sugar regulation goes bananas.

I think most of you have heard about diabetes. It’s a disease where the body can’t handle sugar anymore, for various reasons. There are two main types of diabetes – type 1 and 2.

Type 1 is inherited and not dependent on lifestyle. It’s associated with an auto-immune reaction, where antibodies are directed against the cells responsible for producing insulin in the pancreas. They get destroyed and the body can no longer produce the hormone. To survive, insulin needs to be added through shots or infusions.

Type 2 depends on lifestyle factors and is therefore avoidable to a great extent. It starts of with something called insulin resistance – a condition where the normal signalling from the insulin receptors is jammed for various reasons.  Why this occurs is still not fully understood but research is pointing toward free fatty acids being a big part of the problem (1). There is also evidence showing that leptins and other hormones and substances from the fat stores in the body has a blocking effect on the insulin receptors.
When the receptors fail to react to the insulin, more insulin is secreted from the pancreas as a response to the rising blood sugar levels.  Eventually the insulin producing cells get fatigued and symptoms of high blood sugar start to occur:
* Frequent urination, due to high volumes
* Increased thirst and hunger
* Unwanted weight loss
* Fatigue
among others.

Not all people with insulin resistance develop diabetes, there is also a genetic variability of how much the pancreas can take.

The increased urination frequency is related to the osmotic pull of water with the sugar/glucose into the urine. Usually there are mechanisms to clear glucose from the urine, but when the levels rise it overflows the system.
Through this mechanism the body loses water, and water intake increases.
The body signals starvation, since the energy from the glucose can’t be used in the cells, fatigue ensues and hunger increases.

Usually insulin resistance has been present many years before symptoms of diabetes occur. This condition is asymptomatic in the medical sense, but when looking at it from a different angle there are some signals to be aware of.
Increasing weight/obesity, is a sign of high levels of insulin, since that’s the main anabolic hormone. Fat will be stored around the waist, because of these cells high metabolic activity and therefore easiness to recruit energy.  Sugar cravings, increased hunger and mood swings can be a sign of difficulties handling carbohydrates.

In traditional western medicine there are no really good ways to measure insulin resistance and when people are diagnosed with diabetes they have been on the downward slope for a long time, probably decades.

We know insulin is an anabolic and anti-catabolic hormone that closely regulates blood sugar levels but also controls fat metabolism. As long as insulin stays high, fat stores can never be utilized for energy and the body will keep storing sugar as fat and glycogen in the muscles. This is why people with decreased insulin sensitivity gains weight and the weight gain reduces the sensitivity even more.
The way out is lowering insulin, through lowering the carbohydrate. aka the sugar. When the insulin levels drops, fat stores are activated to get energy. And if the insulin levels stays low the body can switch over to run on fats. Insulin will still be needed to keep the metabolism in check, but not nearly in the same levels as when trying to clean the blood stream from glucose after a carbohydrate meal.

Cutting down on the carbs is the first and best thing anyone can do for their long-term health. Long before any symptoms occur.
It does not only lower the risk for diabetes but also for many other life style diseases. Many people also report an increased mental health and more stable emotional life. It’s clear that keeping your blood sugar levels low and through that your insulin levels low will be beneficial for you in many ways.

Sources:
1) Mechanisms behind insulin resistance: http://www.wjgnet.com/1948-9358/pdf/v1/i3/68.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes_mellitus_type_2

LCHF – Low Carbohydrate High Fat 101

As you can predict from the name you cut out most of the food containing carbohydrates exchange the energy source to fat instead.
What does that mean in real life then?

It’s pretty easy.

Eat as much as you want of:

• Meat, fish, poultry, eggs
• Butter, coconut oil, olive oil
• Vegetables growing over ground, like broccoli, kale, salad, asparagus.

Be careful with: 

• Alcohol, especially beer and other malt or sugar containing drinks.
• Dairy products, they contain a lot of milk sugar, lactate. Be sure to use the ones with a high fat content.

Avoid eating:

• Sugar in all ways, that includes honey and agave sugars.
• Starch rich foods. That is pretty much everything growing under ground, like potatoes and carrots, and also pasta, bread and rice.
• Fruits in any bigger amounts.

The good thing is that you should eat until your feeling full, no hunger required. You’ll still loose weight, if that’s your goal.
If you already have your ideal weight, you don’t have to worry, you’ll keep it, with some minor changes in you body composition probably.
As long as you keep your insulin levels down, by keeping your blood glucose levels down you’ll be getting all the health benefits from this way of living.

Does it sound difficult?
Here’s a simple menu:

Breakfast: Bacon and scrambled eggs with cheese.
Lunch: Salad with feta cheese, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, egg, tuna and olive oil.
Dinner: Minced meat burgers, with cheese topping and mayonnaise,  served with all the usual burger toppings but no bread.

Snacks (if needed): A handful of peanuts or other nuts. A hard boiled egg with mayonnaise. A handful of chopped sausage and cheese.

There’ll be more recipes and menu suggestions coming up!