Help me to eat less bread/carbs please.

[Sunshinenotrain]

Hi,

My diet has been pretty shocking since Christmas. I am eating far too much bread/toast/bagels/ rolls all with butter and or mayo depending on the toppings not enough veg. This is for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Also in between having pasta and tomato puree.

i do try to stick to wholemeal bread but enjoy a plain bagel and crumpets! My weight has been rocketing because of this and every night I tell myself tomorrow will be a healthier day, but it doesn’t change.

I know that carbs in moderation is fine, but looking to try and cut most of it out for a few weeks to get back on track. I just don’t know where to start!

Any suggestions for meals would be great. So far I have porridge and fruit or yoghurt and granola for breakfast.

lunch scrambled egg with no butter? Maybe some cherry tomatoes with it. What else though?!
I work until 6pm and by that time I’m usually starving and end up eating the crap I’ve mentioned earlier.

So what do all of you who are healthy eat on a daily basis?

Thanks

I love bread, but have given it up. I often have yoghurt, mixed with grapes, apple, frozen fruits, a drizzle of honey and flaked almonds for breakfast.

I have rice cakes with a thin spread, ham, tomato, chicken, tuna or whatever, at lunchtime.

Breakfast: two scrambled eggs with tomatoes and spinach OR Greek yoghurt with berries and nuts. Coffee. Water water water
Snack if needed: apple with some peanut butter and more water
Lunch: salad leaves with avocado, cucumber, celery, smoked salmon or ham, Parmesan shavings, mixed seeds, olive oil and balsamic vinegar OR large bowl of soup with ham cheese and ryvita. Water
Snack if needed: a few nuts or a square of very dark chocolate
Dinner: chicken breast or salmon fillet with loads of veggies. Water

and that’s it….

Starchy carbs are basically sugar so a meal plan that contains high fat, high protein and relies on veggies for carbs is ideal. Sugar is an addiction so a meal plan is 100% recommended just to talk yourself out of those cravings. After a couple of days the need for sugar is gone and you can settle moré easily into a ‘long term ‘ eating plan. Honestly I’m a huge sugar fiend and I really had to fight my day 3 cravings but beyond that I happily stuck to a ‘basic’ plan of eggs or Greek yoghurt for breakfast (with toppings), soup/salad/lentils/pulses for lunch and I tend to swap potato/rice/pasta for extra veg in the evenings.

I snapped two weeks ago for similar reasons and have swapped very bread heavy lunches for big salads, avocado, boiled eggs, hummous, smoked salmon, chicken, mackerel etc and I feel a) much less sluggish and b) so much fuller through the afternoon. No more 4pm snack slump.
Buy a big box of eggs, a big bag of salad, bottle of interesting dressing and some meat/protein elements and you're sorted for the week's lunches.

Carbs in moderation is not fine.

The only healthy fruit is berries, they will give you all the vitamins but far less sugar.

Even milk contains sugar.

If you don’t buy it you can’t eat it.

There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate. Essential oils and fats? yes. Essential proteins (amino-acids)? yes. Essential carbs? No, no such thing.

Eat eggs everyday.

Work out your calorie requirements OP from calorie calculators online! Then try to ensure you have 35% of your calories through protein! I find this keeps me fuller and you are getting more food for your calories too.

I typically have 1 slice of whole meal toast in the morning topped with eggs, chicken sausages, chopped tomatoes. Or sardines

Batch cooking really helps so you have some healthy options prepped and ready to go.

Having some options to grab and go like protein yoghurts, fruit, nuts, lentil crisp.

Lots of water and movement if you can get your steps in!

Avoid all the usual 'go to's' by not buying them in and remember it will be tough at first because you are breaking habits!

Try to avoid getting to a point of hunger where you press the 'fuck it' switch and eat all the things you shouldn't!

Just take one week at a time :)

You've got this. X

Why are carbs in moderation not fine?

Have carbs but the wholewheat/wholegrain versions, and in moderation. That plus filling food with protein and fat & plenty of green veg and keeping active will see you right.

I started to split this into breakfast / lunch / dinner but you just eat what you fancy whenever!

Eggs / bacon / avocado / spinach / mushrooms / tomatoes / sausages
Yoghurt / berries / nuts / coconut flakes
Antipasti meat and cheese
Omelettes / beans / chicken / chorizo / peppers
Salad leaves / cucumber / celery / radish / tomatoes / peppers (base salad)
Top with boiled eggs / avo / bacon / chicken / salmon / prawns / halloumi / feta / olives / coleslaw / cottage cheese
Roasted Mediterranean veg
Homemade vinaigrette is easy

Also if you want to get more motivation the book "Why we Eat Too Much" explains really well why we get stuck in a carb craving cycle and helps to break it mentally.

Carbs are an important part of our food culture and they give you energy, which you need. Giving them up is faddish, expensive and probably not great for the environment (if you swap spuds for salmon etc)

Just choose a portion size that fits your energy expenditure, or fit your energy expenditure to your portion size!

What got me into a "carb craving cycle" was not eating starchy carbs at all doing Fast 800 for eight weeks. It's just not realistic for me to never eat carbs, particularly when cooking for others all the time and travelling with work, and doing lots of exercise. Cutting out whole food groups just makes me want them, when I never crave or binge anything normally.

If you have a snack, always add protein. Ie, chunk of cheese with an apple, (Fern Britain taught me this in This Morning many moons ago).

Drink water has you could be mistaking hunger for thirst.

I just halved things then added more veg, fats and protien to stay full. I mean literally halved my refined carbs. So if i used to eat a sandwich with two slices of bread. I now have one slice of bread plus some salad with whatvever the sandwich filling is on the salad. Or where i used to have 100g of pasta, i now have 50g and the rest is made up with med veg. I use cauliflower and chickpeas to replace half the rice I would have eaten.

Omlettes with onion and tomatoes are very filling..

And a few nuts are a nicer snack than a pack of crisps.

I respectfully disagree. What about fibre? Super important factor in dietary health, nay, "essential" and pretty much only found in fibrous vegetables, fruit and wholegrain carbohydrates. Yes there's some fibre in strawberries and green/leafy veg but you'd need to eat a couple of kilos a day to get your recommended 25-30g fibre in which given many people struggle with 5 a day as is seems nuts. Much more sensible to eat some complex carbs like beans, pulses and gasp perhaps a sensible portion of wholemeal rice/pasta/bread/cereal every day but not go mad on it IMO.

I read the book 'How to eat' and it's completely changed my outlook. I've lost stones since I've realised that whole grain doesn't just mean processed whole grain bread etc but actually eating whole grains several times a week eg salads with quinoa, soups with bulgar, pearl barley, lots of chick peas, lentils, oats etc. Basically whole food. I don't crave processed carbs at all now and enjoy the odd time when I eat them.

Swap to whole meal carbs only (bread, pasta, rice). Breakfasts could have porridge, yoghurt, fruit, muesli, shredded wheat, or eggs and mushrooms? Lunch soup and salad. Dinner meat, veg, sweet potato or brown rice

Oh wow, thanks so much for all the helpful replies. No bread had so far today! I am hungry though. Hopefully it will pass in a few days of carb detox

If you're hungry eat! Otherwise you risk making bad choices. Have a healthy / low sugar snack now.

Soups - tasty and can make lots of types.

Salad.

Use alternative rice for rice dishes - broccoli rice, cabbage rice etc to cut out the carbs.

Fajitas or wraps instead of bread.

Smoothies are filling and healthy.

When I want (need!) to avoid bread I go with porridge for breakfast with fruit/berries/seeds.
Lunch this week has been roasted sweet potato, cauliflower and butternut squash with a little curry paste, warmed up with some toasted seeds and crumbled feta - v filling and tasty.
Dinners are fish or chicken with green leafy veg and sometimes one of the rice/pulse packets heated up.
I adore bread and all bread related products but sadly it all seems to go on my peri-belly.

Eggs. Poached chicken breast with homemade sauce. Baked salmon. Mozzarella salad. Chickpeas. Soup - minestrone especially is full of veg. Miso soup with kimchi stirred in. Or veg pesto soup.

How are you getting on OP? First few weeks can be hard.

Eating a savoury breakfast really helps break the glucose-spike cycle.
I have eggs (omelette with 2 eggs + extra egg white with spinach and mushrooms) and a slice of seeded rye toast and butter. Or sometimes full-fat Greek yogurt with a few berries and nuts.

Protein and fat to keep you full and satiated and break the sugar cravings.

Only eat sweet things after a meal

Eat veggies first / add a veggie starter (can just be raw carrots or a salad)

Up your fibre - whole grains, beans, lentils

Read Tim Spector’s books or follow on Insta

follow the Glucose Goddess on Insta. She has a book too, but all the tips are on her IG

Good luck!

Today we had soup with falafel instead of bread. For dinner we had sausages with one of those pouches of ready soaked grains (Merchant Gourmand) that you stick in the microwave for a minute, with lots of veg. I love my toast for breakfast but can't be doing with any more bread after that.

Thanks again for all your help.

@jelly79 I’m struggling with what to make just now but I things will become easier when I do a decent food shop over the weekend and buy some more veggies. I’m quite fussy with veg and don’t eat a lot of seafood apart from prawns and tuna. Also trying to cut out all red and processed meat!

So chicken and veg for dinner it will be and maybe use quorn mince.

I had porridge and banana for breakfast a slice of wholemeal toast with scrambled eggs and some beans for lunch. No butter in the eggs or toast so it’s a slight win! Eggs are definitely becoming a staple food. Going to make some soup over the weekend to freeze that I can use for lunch.

I am more motivated now, thanks to all the great suggestions. Hopefully my jeans won’t feel as tight in a couple of weeks.

Thanks again😊