Barley is simple to make. I get pearled barley at the grocery store, but I'm looking for a source of hulled barley which has even more fiber. You cook it much like you would cook rice, i.e boil it. It has a lightly nutty taste, a little more toward plain oats in flavor rather than like brown rice. The flavor moves easily toward sweet or savory, so add vanilla, splenda and cinnamon and you have breakfast. Add a dab of wasabi and some shoyu and you have dinner. The shrimp dish in my journal was all of 8 minutes prep. Run warm water over frozen shrimp, get pre-cooked barley from the fridge. Stir in a tsp of honey mustard (10 cals, 2 carbs), arrange shrimp, drizzle with 1T sesame ginger. Nuke for a minute-thirty. It also goes well in soups.

As I think about it, it does make sense that anyone who is losing fat is also in ketosis, so perhaps that's all it means. However, while on Atkins the last 6 months or so with no losses, I had to wonder if the fat that was being burned was just dietary and not mine. With BFL being lower on the dietary fat, I'm pretty darn certain that the ketosis is burning *my* fat. LOL

I get into ketosis fairly easy when I'm working out and eating right (40 carbs or less). I can go from Fruity Pebbles (carb-up) to ketosis in 24-36 hrs. When not working out, though, it's hard for me to stay in ketosis. I have to be really tight on the 20 g AND make sure my fat is upwards of 65%

I'll be interested to see if any one else tries the ketostix and what they find. As for me, for right now, I'm happy and this is working, so I'm sticking to it.

Cheers,

Friday