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Vet Visit, Weight Loss, and a New Blogger

Molly Goes to the Vet
Although my dog Molly has been on the cavity healing diet for awhile, I found out last week she didn't actually have a cavity, just some scratches in her enamel, which the vet said was probably caused by chewing on bones. The vet says she rarely sees true cavities in dogs. Molly had some gingivitis, but no bone loss or infection in her teeth. She now has a layer of dental bonding on the scratched tooth. We'll both continue on the cavity healing diet.

Weight Loss
This Christmas found me three pounds over my normal weight, and Molly at 64.5 pounds, her weight from three months ago. I know three pounds isn't much, but on my frame, it's enough to make slightly loose jeans tight. It's a step in the wrong direction, and if I kept gaining three pounds a week, I'd weigh 200 pounds by summer. Given how few women in my family weigh less than 200 pounds after age 30, that's a real threat. I knew what the problem was: too damn many dark chocolate bars. I gave them up (and stuck to my usual low-carb diet) and those three pounds are gone. Not only that, but my hair feels cleaner, I feel warmer, and my stomach feels better.

Dr. Davis's recipe for walnut mocha brownies is a pretty good substitute for the chocolate bars; however, for the next batch, I'm going to try adding another egg and using a little less almond meal to make them moister and less crumbly. As is, they're very filling: a one-sixth piece was my entire dinner tonight. Just as Dr. Davis promises, they don't stimulate appetite the way wheat products do. Tasty as they are, I won't want any more tonight.

Molly weighed in at 62 pounds today--down from 64.5 pounds last week and 70 pounds last summer. This week, I stuck closely to her low-carb, lacto-paleo diet of 700 calories per day. She may have unwittingly done some intermittent fasting over the holidays between our eating breakfast late, and then eating again around 3:00 when she let me know she was hungry.

New Blogger in the Blog Roll
I'm pleased to add Dr. Richard Feinman, professor of biochemistry, to my blog roll. Dr. Feinman founded the Nutrition and Metabolism Society and as a professional researcher, he's well qualified to take apart popular junk science studies promoting a high carb diet, and does so with a dry wit. If you haven't yet given his organic chemistry lessons a go, give them a try--they're here and here

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