I struggled to stay lowcarb for about 10 days. Two weeks ago I went to the grocery store and literally could not find anything I could eat. All of the fresh meats, vegetables and salads that I typically eat were completely gone from the store.

The only thing I could find were frozen meals and carb-rich foods. I gained 10 pounds by eating that food so I definitely wasn’t happy.

I went to the store early last Sunday and luckily found everything I needed to jump back into the low-carb way of eating. I got fresh meats, vegetables, salad stuff. I started my week with a 15-hour fast from Sunday night to Monday afternoon.

I always try to do that when I’ve cheated really for several days in a row. I’m happy to report that fast and my strict low-carb eating paid off and I lost 11 pounds in the last 8 days.

I also can’t begin to tell you how much better I feel now.

Since we are all at home so much more these days, I’ve been looking at things I can prepare and eat throughout the week for lunch and dinner.

This first recipe is something I made on Sunday night and it lasted throughout the week for lunch. It features two of my favorite things ... avocados and cilantro. This is the perfect quick lunch. The addition of lime and cilantro brightens it up so much.

Dice up your avocado and add it to a mixing bowl with some cooked shredded chicken (I use a rotisserie chicken for this), red onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt and a little garlic powder. I also add some mayo to it so it makes this salad nice and creamy. You could also use Greek yogurt, but that is going to impact the carb count. Stir everything together.

Stir everything together. As you stir, the avocado will break down a bit and start to coat the chicken.

You can serve this with lettuce wraps, low-carb tortillas, low-carb crackers, by itself or hollow out the center of a tomato and fill it with this healthy chicken salad.

Avocado Chicken Salad

2 cups shredded chicken

2 avocados

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup diced red onion

1 Tbsp. fresh cilantro

2 tsp. lime juice

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Add all of the ingredients into a bowl. To store, press plastic wrap tightly onto the surface of the salad to keep the avocado from browning.

Spaghetti Squash Bake

If you’ve been following my column for very long, you know I have a lot of spaghetti squash. I cook it all the time in a myriad of ways.

This next recipe is simple and tasty and is something I’ve concocted over the past couple of years. This will make plenty of leftovers so you’ve got dinner options for a couple of days.

If you have never cooked a spaghetti squash I’m going to tell you the easiest way I’ve found. Cut it in half, scoop out all of the seeds and then pour olive oil on it and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook in the microwave for 25 minutes or until the shreds of the squash can easily be pulled out with a fork.

While this is cooking, brown a pound of hamburger meat. You can also substitute that with sausage, ground turkey or chicken or basically any kind of meat you’d like. After that is brown stir in 1 jar of Rao’s sauce and sprinkle in some shredded cheese.

In a separate pan, shred the spaghetti squash and combine the meat and sauce mixture. Sprinkle with more shredded cheese. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes at 375 degrees or until the top of the cheese is brown.

I serve mine with a side salad but this is a meal in itself and you probably don’t need to serve it with anything more.

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You can follow my weightloss journey online on Facebook at Kristi’s Low-Carb Journey. For those of you familiar with my weight-loss story, I won a nation-wide weight-loss contest sponsored by Atkins almost two years ago after losing over 120 pounds. The company flew me to Denver to shoot a commercial for them. I have shared that to my Facebook page so you can watch the commercial online there.