Happy Holidays, and Best Wishes for 2014!

Hope you're all doing well and enjoying the holidays. Is Christmas really only a week away now? This month's kind of been a blur for me!
 
Holiday Eating, Low-Carb Style

I've read a few stories on other blogs about staying low carb over the holidays. To be honest, I don't find it too hard since I love LCHF foods more than anything and know what my blood sugar will do (and how awful I'll feel) if I indulge in holiday cookies, candy or pies. I realize that using sugar substitute is controversial and many are vehemently against it, but for people who want something sweet this time of year, it's definitely preferable to eating the real thing for anyone on a carb-restricted diet. The one holiday treat I could never resist were my own gingerbread cookies, which I stopped baking a few years ago when I started low-carbing. However, I'm thinking about making a low-carb version of gingerbread men Carolyn shared on her All Day I Dream About Food blog.  At only 2 grams of net carb per serving, I'm very tempted! I'd love to hear reviews from anyone who's tried it.

Changes

I'm going through a range of emotions about leaving my position as an outpatient dietitian at the veterans hospital at the end of next week in order to go into private practice. Yes, I'm definitely excited about getting to educate and counsel people using a low-carb approach, but I'm truly going to miss my patients. I care about them very much, and although I wasn't free to make as "radical" dietary recommendations as I would have liked,  I hope that my advice to cut back on carbs and replace margarine with butter will have at least a small positive impact on their health.

I've updated my website with information on the services I'll be offering as of January 2. I decided to offer a couple of low-carb classes in addition to one-on-one counseling. I may add other nutrition-related services as well at some point in the future if there's a demand. I've also updated the Links section with my favorite low-carb books and cookbooks, and I finally updated and reorganized the Research page that I don't think I've even looked at in over a year! That page is finally starting to look the way I envisioned it.

Low Carb Cruise
 
Looking ahead to the spring of 2014, I'll be speaking on the Low Carb Cruise in May. I'm thrilled to get to meet Dr. Eric Westman, Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt, Jackie Eberstein, Emily Maguire, Tom Naughton, all the other speakers, and of course Jimmy Moore. Sounds like a fantastic adventure with a balance of learning, socializing, and relaxing.  If you like cruising, definitely consider it. I'd love to meet my long-time followers as well as my newer readers!


Best wishes for safe and happy holidays to you and your families, and thanks for your continued support.

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