Doug’s German Sweet Potato Salad

Since you can’t eat potatoes on SB, I tend to experiment with sweet potatoes as a substitute. This German-style potato salad recipe, made with sweet potatoes is served warm, and is actually pretty tasty. Serves 4-8.

4 medium sweet potatoes, washed, peeled, and cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/2 medium onion, chopped
4 slices bacon, cooked crispy, crumbled
1/3 cup canola or light olive oil
2 T. cider vinegar
1/2 t. black pepper

Saute onion in oil until translucent. Boil sweet potato slices in lightly salted water until cooked just soft enough to divide a slice against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Drain well in
a collander and transfer to a large bowl. Add bacon, onion and oil to cooked sweet potatoes and toss to mix. Splash in cider vinegar while continuing to toss. Add black pepper to taste. Serve while still warm.

Alternately, for more flavor, saute the onion in the bacon drippings, then use the drippings in place of part of the oil.

Doug’s Real Whole Wheat Bread

Most store-bought whole-wheat breads are half whole-wheat flour and half regular processed flour, not good for Sugar Busters dieters. This recipe uses only whole-wheat flour.

Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a bowl and knead the dough on a flour dusted board.

4 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/3 cup luke-warm water
1-1/2 Tbsp. extra-light olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/2 Tbsp. non-fat dry milk
2-1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (1 packet)
4 Tbsp. wheat gluten

The last ingredient is very important, as it is what gives the dough elasticity. It is also known as “vital wheat gluten” or “wheat gluten flour”. You may have to check a few different
groceries or a health food store to find it. The bread won’t rise without it.

The dough should form into a smooth ball. Not too sticky or a couple more tablespoons of flour may be necessary; not too dry (it won’t make a smooth ball) or a couple more tablespoons of water may be added.

Place dough in an oiled bowl and put it in a warm, draft-free place to rise for about 45 minutes, or until it has doubled its volume. In the oven with the light on is a perfect spot. Don’t turn on the oven yet, though.

Next, lightly grease a 9″ loaf pan and turn the dough into it. Form the dough so that it is evenly distributed in the pan. Doing this will “punch down” the dough. Return the dough in the loaf pan to the oven for a second rise.

When the dough has risen again, pre-heat the (empty) oven to 350°. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove bread from loaf pan and place on wire rack to cool.

This recipe also works in a bread machine although the ingredients must be reduced as follows:

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup luke-warm water
1 Tbsp. extra-light olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. non-fat dry milk
2-1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (1 packet)
3 Tbsp. wheat gluten

Use the machine’s regular bread cycle. Makes a standard 1-1/2 lb. bread machine loaf.

What I might eat in a normal day:

Breakfast:

• Shredded Wheat & Bran, or Grape Nuts, or Fiber One, or bacon and eggs. Recently, I found a whole-wheat pancake mix that’s great (with sugar-free syrup, of course).

Lunch:

• Usually, a chef’s salad or grilled chicken salad with a no-sugar dressing I’ve made at home. Some commercially available dressings contain 1 gram or less sugar per serving, you just have to look for them. Paul Newman’s Newman’s Own Original is 1 gram sugar per serving, his Balsamic Vinaigrette is good, and most of the Cardini brand dressings are 0 grams.
• Sandwich with real whole-wheat bread. Most store-bought whole-wheat breads use half whole-wheat/half enriched flour – not acceptable.

Mid-afternoon:

• Apple or orange. Yes, there’s sugar in them, but you’re not eating it with anything else, so there’s not a problem. Bananas and raisins, however, are a still a no-no.

Dinner: Almost anything, keeping sugar and carbohydrate content in mind.

Some examples:

• Whole-wheat pasta with a sauce containing 1 gram or less sugar per serving.
• Mexican dish using whole-wheat tortillas.
• Chinese dish using brown rice (white rice unacceptable).
• Cheeseburgers with whole-wheat buns (or no buns).
• Broiled or baked chicken or fish.
• Steak, salad, and baked sweet potato (ironically, the high fiber content of the sweet potato makes it an acceptable food.)
• Grilled or boiled seafood and steamed veggies (no carrots or potatoes, though).

Dessert:

• Sugar-free Popsicle, or sugar-free Jello. There’s a no-sugar-added Klondike bar, too.

Evening:

• Cheese.
• Some dry-roasted or mixed nuts.
• A nice Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, or Shiraz (red wine, in moderation, is acceptable).

There are many more things you can eat besides these, my main point here is to illustrate, in a few examples, that you don’t have to starve on this diet. But, this doesn’t mean you can sit down and eat unlimited quantities of the foods that are acceptable, either. You are trying to lose weight, aren’t you?

The trick of this diet is not to eliminate foods from your diet so much as it is to find readily available sugar-free or complex carbohydrate substitutes for them. I like to make my own whole-wheat bread and pasta, even though some store-bought versions are acceptable, and have even made whole-wheat tortillas when I couldn’t find them at the grocery.

You can dine out and still maintain this diet (I don’t mean fast food). You just have to learn the few things that aren’t acceptable and try to substitute for them if you can.

What’s really neat is that we still observe the weekly pizza night. I make whole-wheat pizza dough and bring it to the pizzeria. Other than the sauce, most pizza ingredients are no-sugar. I just ask for light sauce. And it tastes great. (It also re-heats better than regular crust.)

Eating Out

New Orleans-area restaurants and businesses that support Sugar Busters:

• Byblos Market 2020 Veterans Blvd, Metairie, LA 70002-6317 (504)837-9777 has whole-wheat wraps for gyros, and sells them frozen as well.
• Copeland’s 1001 S Clearview Pkwy, Jefferson, LA 70121-1008 (504)733-7843 and other locations. The steaks are great, and they will substitute sweet potato french fries for the baked potato.
• Dorignac’s 710 Veterans Memorial Blvd, Metairie, LA 70005-2884 (504)834-8216 stocks the Sugar Buster-approved line of bakery items.
• The Galley Seafood Restaurant 2535 Metairie Rd, Metairie, LA 70001-5444 (504)832-0955 offers whole-wheat flour and other whole-wheat substitutes for Sugar Busters. The pecan catfish dinner, with sweet potato fries is killer.
• Piccadilly Cafeteria 2222 Clearview Pkwy, Metairie, LA 70001-2437 (504)454-6271 and other locations, has several selections in all categories that fit Sugar Busters. You’ll have to take the sugar-free Jello� if you want dessert, though.
• Rouse’s Super Market 5245 Veterans Memorial Blvd, Metairie, LA 70006-5122 (504)885-2022 has a section filled with SB items. They also feature several prepared SB entrees in the deli. Check out the wine department while you’re there.
• Zea Rotisserie Grill 1655 Hickory Ave, Harahan, LA 70123-2114 (504)738-0799 owned by the Semolina folks, has whole-wheat penne, wheat wraps, and many Sugar Buster items.
• Zuppardo’s Economical Super Market 5010 Veterans Memorial Blvd, Metairie, LA 70006-5121 (504)887-1150 has (had?) a 16-foot shelf filled with all SB-friendly items. They also feature prepared SB entrees and side items in the deli section.

Eat well and don’t gain weight! Even better than that, eat well and lose weight and lower your cholesterol!

How? you ask. Well, first, a little history:

Fighting– and mostly losing– the “battle of the bulge” for most of my life, I’ve been up and down the bathroom scale a half dozen times through the years. It didn’t seem like I was eating all that much, no more than other people, but the pounds would still accumulate.

I blame the invention of Doritos�, around age eight, for first contributing to my becoming a fat little kid. Well, maybe that and an early interest in cooking– I was the only kid I knew who watched the Galloping Gourmet. My mother said I could always take a leftover piece of chicken and whatever was in the cupboard and concoct something actually pretty good out of it. I have to admit I did like good food.

In high school, the acquisition of a ten-speed bicycle– which I rode endlessly, a pretty decent growth spurt — about 10 inches in a year, and the fact that Mom was on Weight Watchers and cooking only from their menus contributed to the loss of most of the weight I had gained since third grade.

After moving to New Orleans from the Midwest, and the exposure to a whole new, wonderful cuisine– not to mention the introduction to the college bar scene– the weight started gradually sneaking back. Again, no big increase in the amount of food I was eating, but the jeans kept getting tighter.

Throughout adulthood, the little roller-coaster of love handles continued. I learned never to throw away those old clothes– I never knew when I might fit in them again. I have jeans with waist sizes from 31 to 38 inches.

So, here’s the scoop. Recently, I’ve found something that not only works, but quite possibly is a way of eating that I may be able to comfortably continue the rest of my life. No gimmicks, no starvation, no odd-ball regimens, no shakes, powders, or bars, and no drugs. The diet is called Sugar Busters– you may have heard of it– and it’s key is the interesting way the body deals with sugar and carbohydrates.

In only four months, with only a few modifications to what I eat and when I eat it, I’ve lost over 30 pounds, and it’s still dropping. Shirts I haven’t been able to wear in years fit again, and I’ve moved from the second hole on my belt to the fifth.

(3/98 update – After 18 months, continuing to follow Sugar Busters, I am still maintaining at 35 pounds under my pre-diet weight.)

(8/99 update – Coming up on 3 years, and still maintaining at 35-40 pounds under my pre-diet weight.)

(12/2000 update – Over 4 years, and still maintaining.)

The premise is simple, if you understand what is sugar, and how the body responds to it. When you consume a meal, sugar and carbohydrates (which the body quite handily converts to sugar) cause an increase in blood-sugar (glucose) levels. The body’s response to this is to release insulin. A little-known side-effect of insulin is to signal the body to store fat.

Another hormone your body produces is called glucagon. Glucagon can, under the right circumstances, promote the mobilization of previously stored fat, but it is heavily supressed by – you guessed it – glucose!

Therefore, if you eliminate the consumption of sugar with other foods, and keep your intake of carbohydrates low, the insulin effect is foiled. It all has to do with something known as foods’ glycemic index. For a more technical explanation of this phenomenon, and the reasons whole wheat and brown rice are O.K. and white flour and white rice are not, please (I insist) check out the authors’ website at
www.sugarbusters.com, since I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV.

And it does make sense. All those times in the past that the pounds were adding up, there were abundant sugars and carbohydrates. Corn chips, potato chips, sauces, popcorn, french fries, most alcoholic beverages are full of them. A lot of foods considered healthy are full of them: corn, carrots, potatoes, beets, white rice, white flour. It’s important to realize that sugar does not just come from a bag marked Domino.

p.s. What I find truly interesting, now that I read the product ingredients and Nutrition Facts labels on everything I buy, is the “healthy” foods that tout low fat or fat-free on their labels. Check the sugar content of those products against the sugar content of their “regular” counterparts. You’ll be shocked at what you find. You’ll stop counting fat grams and start counting grams of sugar.