... to not know why the he'll to eat?

[Notagainmun]

I have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, put on meds and told to eat low fat, low carb, low salt, lo w sugar and to lose three stone. What in God's name should I eat on a daily basis other than veg?

[Topseyt]

Notagain, I am in the same boat.

I am currently just as confused. There seem to be some interesting looking recipes for low carb stuff in the food section on here though, so will be investigating further there.

I don't have a massive repertoire at present though. Will view any answers with interest.

[Seeyounearertime]

What have you been eating on a daily basis?

Weight can be lost by portion control and avoiding extras.
Low fat, low salt etc. That's more difficult and would need a dietician or at least a recipe planner. I'm surprised the gp didn't sort this?

[gamerchick]

Ask your GP to refer you to a dietitian, it's not easy to suddenly overhaul your diet for a lot of people.. Some things have to be learned.

[SilverBirchWithout]

Focus on unprocessed foods as processed food contains more salt and sugar. Do not add salt at table and during cooking; re-educate your palate. Read the food advice labels on processed foods you do buy.

Avoid red meat, stick with chicken and fish. The salt, sugar and fat is probably more important than the carbs. Although you will need to reduce portion size of potatoes, rice and pasta and other carbs. Homemade soup is tasty and filling.

[ateapotandacake]

There's some brilliant healthy eating blogs about that follow these sorts of diets- oddly it's sort of fashionable I think.
I like deliciouslyella.com/ it all seems a bit bland and weird but I've made a few of her bits and they're really good. There's tons of sites now though with loads of ideas.
What about a sort of sample daily menu of breakfast of scrambled eggs- when I'm low carb I have tomatoes or mushrooms alongside. If I'm in a hurry I have a boiled egg and a couple of pieces of fruit or I make overnight oats or just fruit and yogurt.
Lunch is a difficult one for me as salad is so dull but I find if I make a really varied one I can do it a few days a week (I add a grain like quinoa or black beans to give it some bite- leaves make me a bit nauseous after a few mouthfuls!!!). And lots of colour and protein too- cold chicken or canned fish or cold roast veg. I frequently take a small amount of couscous with a green salad, roast veg and low fat houmous and mix it all up.
I also have soup a lot made with lots of veg (buy low salt stock) and found by making really interesting recipes it was better than a boring mixed veg one. And I have leftovers a lot. And omelette- I have the luxury of being at home so make omelette for lunch a lot.
Dinners can be a nice bit of chicken or fish with some tasty marinade/herbs and veg on the side. Low carb isn't no carb so brown rice risotto or paella is yummy. Also a veggie stew- indeed any stew is pretty good.
Reading back at this its a miracle I'm not a size 10. My fella has recently found he is intolerant to gluten so we have had to adapt our eating, and I'm trying to lose baby weight.
If you fancy having a club I will join you- I've easily got three stone to lose too!

[MaidOfStars]

You eat lots of chicken or fish served with vegetables or veg-based sauces. Sweet potatoes are lower carb than regular. Lots of thick veg soups (not too seasoned).

[MaidOfStars]

Oh yeah, and eggs. Lots of eggs.

[PeaceOfWildThings]

Yes, get some meal plan sheets from a dietician.

In the meantime, swap all carbs to wholegrain, but still have smaller quantities. There's whole ranges of Uncle Ben, etc wholegrain pouches which are useful. Half a pouch would be one portion.

Natural yogurt with fruit.

Unsweetened wholegrain cereals with dried fruit, or one slice of wholemeal toast, sunflower spread... You could swap to oat and unsweetened almond milk to reduce fat (I've found that a huge benefit, and have given up cheese too.)

You still need fats, but fish, olives and avocados are better than cakes, chips and bacon. Never eat crisps.

The skins of potatoes are great, so scoop out the mash from baked potatoes and give that to the kids, you eat the skins and less potato. Also, eat the washed, scrubbed skins of root veggies.

Soups, salads, wraps, stews with lots of veggies, roasts with low salt gravy and not too many roasties (swap for skin on boiled baby potatoes and steamed mixed veggies) all good.

Get a 3 tier steamer! Trout and a range of steamed veg with lots of herbs was a staple of mine and really helped.

[catsrus]

I try to follow the mantra "eat real food, mainly plants"

That means no ready meals, processed food etc. The only processed food I eat is wholemeal bread - usually my weekend treat for breakfast with scrambled egg. I'm not really a breakfast person so have found just skipping it has transformed my eating, along with following the 5:2 way of eating. 5 normal eating days, 2 days of 'fasting' - very light eating. I lost 34 lb back in 2012 and have managed to keep all but 7lb of that off (I think I went down too low in my enthusiasm). You might find it works for you - lots of threads on it here. Some people can't get on with it but for others it's a real game changer, it has been for me.

[amarmai]

lentils , beans, whole grains are v nutritious, low fat and tasty when spiced . Blend them into dips and eat with veggie sticks. Great to bean up soups too.

[AlwaysHope1]

We pretty much follow this type of food as dh is diabetic. It was hard at first for both of us to adjust as he was diagnosed quite late, however it really is a better healthier way to live. You will need the help of a dietician if only to work out a plan as there's just so much of overhwelming information.

[DisappointedOne]

The salt, sugar and fat is probably more important than the carbs. Although you will need to reduce portion size of potatoes, rice and pasta and other carbs.

I'm sorry, but if the medical advice is to eat low carb, then these things should be off the table, not just reduced in size.

[DisappointedOne]

OP - cauliflower is a brilliant substitute for rice and potatoes - roast or mash for a potato substitute, grate/food process raw and microwave for rice.

Fajitas with wraps replaced by iceberg lettuce leaves (works well with sandwich fillings too). Peanut butter and celery.

[gamerchick]

Proper peanut butter though like Sunpat and not shops own which has palm oil and shit in.

[ShamelessBreadAddict]

Re the pp who recommending Ella Woodward; most of her recipes are not low carb or low sugar. She uses a lot of starchy veg and naturally occurring sugars (maple syrup, honey, dates etc). Just wanted to point that out in case this makes deliciously Ella unsuitable for the OP. Agree the GP could refer you to a dietitian. Low carb and low fat sounds hard and I'd be concerned about how much protein you would then be eating. I have heard a lot of good things about a lchf (low carb, high fat) diet, but think you need to discuss with an expert.

[sleepwhenidie]

notagain, that sounds a really tough adjustment to make in one fell swoop. Almost impossible to sustain cutting out sugar, fat and carbs - the sense of deprivation and misery will be overwhelming. Personally I think small changes, made gradually and that you can stick to will be a more realistic plan - with the end goal being as cats says - eat real food, not too much, mostly plants . Give us some idea of what you eat in a typical day now and maybe we can come up with some suggestions to start off?

[Topseyt]

Sleep, that is what I have been thinking too, being in almost the same boat as the OP, just not yet on medication.

I need to cut out as many carbs as possible. However, realistically I don't think I can just suddenly do it.

I am pretty sure I can do low carb, but not no carb. I will have to go from there.

[ateapotandacake]

Shameless i had never noticed that- I only make the savoured stuff and not much of that but I will definitely look again thanks for the heads up!

[MaidOfStars]

gamer I've never label checked PB. Is branded stuff definitely better?

[sleepwhenidie]

Try things like switching as much as possible to whole food carbs (beans, lentils, chickpeas, root veg) to start, keep white/starchy stuff to max one portion a day. As a general rule avoid anything that comes in a packet. Identify what two or three 'unhealthy' things you really love and keep just those whilst cutting out the stuff you don't feel so attached to. With sweet stuff You may not feel soattached to biscuits or cake but chocolate is more of a big deal, so have a few pieces a day or a bar once a week and enjoy it. When it comes to carbs I can take or leave pasta, potato, rice for example but I love bread. So I have 1 or 2 slices granary bread with breakfast or lunch, maybe a portion of wholefood carbs with lunch or dinner, one meal, ideally dinner, without any carbs other than veg...these changes will make a big difference and then you can get stricter if you need to.

[blobbityblob]

Breakfast I have two eggs scrambled in the microwave.

I guess you have to go for a piece of fish or a chicken breast and loads of salad or veg. We use spray oil to fry and bake a lot of things.

I have weightwatchers fat free yoghurts which I think have sweeteners in rather than sugar. The toffee/vanilla ones aren't too bad.

Don't health food shops and amazon sell those carb free noodles? Might be worth a try. I think they were called zero noodles or something but might be pricey. Made of plants.

When I have done low carbing in the past I think we used to stuff marrow with ratatouille. That wasn't too bad. Oh yes and lettuce wraps. I think it's a hairy biker recipe where they use sheets of leek to make a lasagne - if you just do it with a tomato vege sauce and no cheese topping, that might work.

[MaidOfStars]

Made of plants

As opposed to regular noodles?

[blobbityblob]

Are you laughing at me Maid? They are though aren't they those zero noodles - made of the root of some plant I think which is how they're low carb. Normal noodles are made of flour and egg - ok the rice ones probably aren't.

[MaidOfStars]

Are you laughing at me Maid?

I was joking with you whilst imagining noodles made of something not plant-based, steak perhaps

Ooops, have now realised that I had forgotten about egg noodles, which aren't entirely plant-based. Ah well. *dunce cap

[TitusAndromedon]

It's fallen out of favour now, but I would look at the Dukan Diet if I were you. I lost a lot of weight for my wedding following the plan, which is basically low fat, low carb, low sugar, etc. I will admit that some of the food wasn't hugely exciting, but I think there's a recipe book and there will be loads of recipes online as well because it was extremely popular.