Hi-
I'm from the Milwaukee area. I'm looking for buddies to discuss restaurants, stores and low carb stuff. It would be great to get a group to chat. Angie

Hi Angie!

I am not living in Milwaukee right now (northwest chicago suburb of elgin) but I am originally from there and go up there all the time to visit friends and family! I would love to join your group if that is okay!

I have found some really good darielle pasta at the outpost in Wauwatosa and last time I was there it was on sale. Also, there is a cool little Indian grocery store across from Mayfair on north avenue and there they sell lots of nice spices and a frozen Indian cheese named paneer which is nice for more exotic dishes.

My hubby and I always bring a cooler up there when we visit (which will be soon, going to State Fair on Saturday!) so we can buy nice things to eat. It would be great to find out more places to go to buy atkins friendly items!

Good luck with your weightloss!

Hi-
I went to State Fair with my family on Sunday. It was hard to stay away from the cream puffs!!! I was strong. I had several diet cokes, but with all the sweets I think I did well. If you like fairs, try Washington County Fair. We went to it last week. It is much, much smaller, but the fair grounds are new and clean. It is cheaper and there are less people. Also, the people are very friendly. We hung out by the bunny barn and the owners took the rabbits out of cages and let our kids pet them. As you know, at State Fair park there are signs all over to not touch the animals. Do you have family in Wisconsin?
Angie

Hi Angie--

My wife (also on LC) grew up in Wauwatosa. We live in the Madison area, but go back to visit family pretty often. (We have a wedding there next weekend).

Funny you should mention the State Fair cream puffs...my wife comes from a long line of Milwaukee bakers, and her cousin (Margie) is the one who makes these and runs that stand! In fact, she made our wedding cake from an old family recipe.

Small world!

Hi guys!

It is interesting to chat with people who know all about cream puffs and bubblers, people just look at me crazy around here!

All my family is in WI except me and one of my aunts and her family. My hubby and I tried to get back but too hard to find a job up there when you are far away.

I seem to be missing the cream puff gene, I just don't care for them. My husband though already said months ago he is going to break his low carbing and eat one! For me the hard thing to resist is going to be the fried curds. Good for you for resisting temptation Angie!

Another fair/fest type thing I like is Irish Fest. that is so much fun, I think my hubby and I will come up for that too!

Hi-
Irish fest? I have never been there. This year we went to German fest. Hey, I was able to eat a brat. No bun of course. My husband was in Chicago recently. He went out to dinner at a Brazilian restaurant. He said that I should have been there. It was all you can eat meat!!! We don't have that in Milwaukee. Have you tried it?
Angie

Hi. I live in Milwaukee. We have lived here for three years now. We came up from Chicago.
I've never been to the county fair here, though my husband brought home a cream puff once (Someone from his work brought them in). It didn't have any chocolate so I was not even slightly tempted.
I still call them water fountains.
I took my kids to the Summerfest Kids day. I had a brat there - no bun - and a beer. It was fun.
I would be interested in a buddy. I have lost ten pounds but have really stalled. I don't do any fake sugar (Or real sugar, for that matter) or soy products so we might have less in common than we would hope.
Write back here if you are interested.

Irish Fest is a lot of fun, it's my favorite of the fests.

Have not been to that Brazilian Restaurant but I saw its website and it did look like a great place for low carbers!! We have been to Pegasus Restaurant in Greektown and a Thai place downtown that were both good for low carbing.

Hello and welcome Jen. I have stalled too right at the 230 mark and am avoiding fake sugars as much as possible too. Just don't want to take any chances.

I do eat soy products though yum yum! I just moved here from the soy captiol of the world in fact - Decatur, IL where if the wind blew right you could smell the soy all over!

Hi Jen
Wow vegetarian now eating meat. This must be a strange ddiet for you. I was used to low fat. I ate tons of noodles, fruit, bread and stargy vegtables. Now it is meat, oil, butter, eggs, nuts and cheese. These were all of the foods that I avoided before!!!! What made you change diets? Also, how do you like Milwaukee area compared to CHicago? I love Chicago, but I make my husband drive. Also, I hate paying for parking!!!!
Angie

Hi. I ate about the same diet you did. We had pasta almost every night!
A friend lent me her book, "Nourishing Traditions" which said - among alot of other interesting things about diet - that according to a major study, vegetarian women lived something like 56% as long as meat eaters. YIKES. So I started reading everything I could get my hands on about diet - I've read an awful lot lately!!
I started low carbing little by little. I felt pretty sick in the beginning, mostly from eating eggs. I have no problem with them now.
I love Milwaukee. The parks here are so great. Chicago is totally unaffordable when you have kids! And you're right about the traffic. It's really crowded there. It used to take half the day to grocery shop. I love how affordable parking is here!!!! We're much happer. Plus we have family here. Sorry, I didn't mean to go on and on. I've met alot of people who moved here from Chicago and are so glad they did.
Do you ever go to the Chancery? My favorite meal there is the French kiss burger - no bun - with none of the sides that come with it - instead I get a side salad with Blue Cheese dressing. It's so good! Where do you shop?

Hi guys!

Interesting talk here about vegetarians. Actually I am a vegetarian doing atkins. I think a lot of vegetarian eating habits tend towards major starches and carbs every day for every meal, at least that is how it was with me and a lot of veggie friends I had. I have heard that vegetarians do not live as long as meat eaters because they dont eat enough protein. I could see this, I didnt hardly eat any protein before and so I think this way of eating has helped me have a more healthy amount of it.

I also like Milwaukee more than Chicago. I guess because I know more things there after growing up there, all friends and family are there and it is more affordable. Am learning to like where we are now though, it is MUCH better than that city of soy we were living before!!!

My hubby loves the Chancery, the cheese soup they serve there.

Hi-
Interesting about veg. not living as long as meat eaters. That surprises me. I'm still caught up in the low fat stuff. I guess it makes more sense to me that meat would cause heart problems. I guess fatty meat and butter is better for a heart?! Strange stuff. As for shopping, I buy most of my stuff at the store. Brennens in Brookfield has lots of diffferent types of cheese. I eat a lot of Atkins bars. I have to stop. They are expensive and my weight loss is going slowly. However, I don't have that much to lose so it would be slow. I've lost a total of 4 pounds. I should really just keep them for emergencies. I like the taste of them... it would be better if I thought they were gross. Yes, we go the Chancery sometimes. I haven't been there in a long time. We go to Elmbrook Church and there is a Chancery very close. We take turns picking out places for lunch after church. I'll have to pick that for my next turn. My girls like chinese and usually pick that. However, I might need to drink tea that day for lunch and bring an Atkins bar. Ha
ANgie

I am afraid to try those Atkins bars. I might like them. Pkus they're full of soy, which I am avoiding.

I've never been to Brennens, I shop mostly at the Outpost in Wauwatosa. It was work to get my husband to believe it's worth the extra money.

Actually what we do to afford more organic and grassfed stuff- this may sound nuts - is buy most of our produce at a farm in West Bend. We order chickens from a farm in East Troy and we're splitting a 1/4 of a cow with a friend in October. Whew. I'm not sure if it's actually cheaper when you factor in the gas. My kids love going to the farms, though.

What restaurants do you go to for low carb eating. Chinese would be tough. Maybe you could get beef and broccoli w/o rice. It's probably still full of corn starch. What do you usually get?

I was shopping at the Outpost for a while. My dad died of cancer in April, 2002 at the age of 62. Another reason to stop Atkins bars. That sweetner must not be good for your body. Even if they say it is safe, who knows. I did some research on lymphoma and it has greatly increased and the cause in unknown. However, they think in may be caused by pesticides on fruit/veg. and hormones in meat. I live in Hartland/Delafeld area and it is a hike. Thus, I stopped. Shopping with two preschoolers can be a time comsuming task. How did you get involved in what your doing? Does the food taste better because it is fresh? I'd be interested in doing something like that. I have a friend that buys a cow and has it butchered. Says it is cheaper. However, she has gotten stuck with a "bad" or fatty cow. Then their family is eating poor tasting beef all year. My husband would shoot me. As for eating out, it is somewhat difficult. For example, I order a chicken sandwich and it comes with a bun and and fries. So I eat the chicken and the rest gets tossed out. Even if I order steak, the potato and side stuff gets tossed. Plus, I'm still hungry. I wish I'd get a deduction on my bill!! Or order it without the extra stuff and get it cheaper!!!

Angie

I am so sorry to hear about your father. How terrible. It is scary that such devasting diseases are becoming more common. How does anyone know what causes them? Diet, pollution, electromagnetic fields, vaccines have even been indicted. There is just no way to find out for sure. It seems like so many bad things are on the increase. My brother has had a rare immune disorder (Sarcoidosis) that becoming more common, my mom had a tumor on her hearing nerve (In her head!) called an acoustic nueroma that had to be removed. It was so rare, it was the last thing they suspected. Now it's all over the place (Cell phones?) Cancer is by far the scariest one to me! It is very common on my mother's side of the family.
She's had breast cancer but her prognosis is excellent. Knock wood.

I have a friend who is 100% committed to organics. She has Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and she's really had a huge impact on us and our habits.
The food does taste better, it lasts longer than store produce too. Plus it's fun to do.
Check out www.eatwild.com and www.westonapriceorg to find some local farms.

I hope our cow isn't a bad one. I've heard that the grass fed ones are less fatty. It's a cheaper way to buy organic beef which can easily cost 5.49 - 9.99 a pound. I don't know what conventional beef costs and don't want to. I'm afraid it might tempt me.
I wish they gave discounts for not eating their darn sides in restaurants. It hardly seems fair! But the high carb - esp grain stuff is so cheap. I think that's one reason it is so popular. It makes food go farther and costs little.
Whew, I'm sorry I went on and on. I guess I was thrown by hearing about your father. I really am sorry.