To expect shops to sell no-carb fast food alternatives?

[FlamedToACrisp]

My adult stepson wants to try the Atkins diet, but the 'meal suggestions' he's come up with are simply things like pork chops with veg but no potatoes and no gravy. Well, yeah, if he ate 6 pork chops and 3 huge plates of veg, he might not be hungry... but he wouldn't stick to that for very long!

He'll eat pretty much anything, but he doesn't like cooking, there's no way he'll spend hours researching what is and isn't no-carb, and I'm not wasting space in my tiny kitchen for peculiar ingredients I'll never use to make normal food, nor will I cook everything from scratch for him.

Unless I'm making dinner for us all, he normally eats lob-it-in-the microwave-lasagne type foods, followed by bags of crisps.

Surely there must be no-carb gravy granules and no-carb versions of a pie or sausage roll? All I can find is cauliflower rice - what else is there?

Help!

adult stepson

adult stepson

adult stepson

Eggs are a great budget option, he can microwave himself scrambled egg instead of a ready meal. Or learn to make an omelette.

Also, what on earth is the point of swapping normal fast-food for low-carb fast food? Fast food is crap whether it has carbs in or not!

If he’s eating what you say right now he probably will get a great effect by dropping his carbs (doesn’t have to be to zero or even Atkins level).

Eggs for breakfast - scrambled or omlette. Yoghurt if not.
Ploughman’s lunch but without the wedge of bread. Or a salad. Or a lower carb soup.
Meat and veg at dinner (no potatoes).
Absolutely no baked goods or sweets.

You can make a reasonable wrap by whisking 2 or 3eggs and cooking like a really big flat omelette in a big frying pan. I add salad and ham and roll up like a wrap for lunch. Put a bit of onion or mixed herbs in when you whisk the eggs up. Jerky is a good low carb snack. Lots of boiled eggs in the fridge. Another good snack is grated cheese put in small mounds on a baking tray and cook in oven for a few minutes, or grill (bit not on actual metal grill). Cheese melts into circles and cools into crispy deliciousness. If you are on Facebook there are loads of low and no carb recipe groups, members are very helpful

He will end up eating lots of cheese, ham, eggs, cooked chicken,cooked breakfast with decent sausages etc

Carb free lunches -

Little picky bits like ham, cheese and crudities.

Chicken salad.

Chicken and roasted veg

Bacon and eggs Pre cooked.

If all hes come up with so far is pork chops and ready meals, hes got no chance. There is so much info on lo carb on the internet.

But if he cant be arsed researching or cooking then whats the point?

And anyway, pork chops are a luxury we can't afford more than once a week

So not only are you taking responsibility for and cooking this grown man’s food but you’re paying for it too?

Iceland do boneless cooked chicken breasts. I think they are £1.50 or £2.00 for two in a pack.

For lunches on the go he could use them with salad, veg. He can buy steam fresh bags maybe?

Boiled eggs keep for a couple of days so he could make these the night before also.

Frittata is another good one, just pan fry or roast some peppers peas or whatever and then add the meat and eggs to bake in the oven. It won't break the bank either.

Does he work? Can he pay for his own meat and veg diet? Chops and veg isn't exactly taxing cooking so if he can't be arsed to do what is a minimal amount of thinking, prep and cooking, I'm not sure that there's any helping him really.

The reason that there's no 'fast food' versions of chops and veg is because that is the fast food and/or low effort version. You can get the veg ready chopped up, fresh or frozen but that's about it, because what is easier than sticking some meat in a pan or oven tray with some butter until it is cooked to your liking? Slosh of cream and some peppercorns if you want sauce with it. Or maybe mix some cheese and cream cheese and stick under the grill to brown.

Anyway, ready made microwave meals are quite expensive and not filling at all so a meat and veg diet isn't necessarily going to cost more.

Oh, he'll be happy to pay for his special diet food - he's buying his micro meals and crisps now!

Thanks for the great suggestions. I'm hoping this will encourage him to cook for himself more, too. DH will be under orders not to offer to do it for him!

He can steam/cook frozen vegs in the microwave, add some ham or other preserved meat if he wants to. Eating more vegs can only be good for him.

Could you get a pork joint and split it into portions? You can get a decent size one for less than 4 pounds

If your SS needs to lose weight and is struggling to make the right choices he probably has an issue with food. Food addiction is unfortunately very real and not widely known. 62% of the UK population is over weight or obese and that stat is only getting higher. The way he views food needs to change. You wouldn't just tell a junkie to smoke less crack and expect them to sober up. He needs support and that means the whole household needs to get on board, if you're buying things he shouldn't eat you're enabling him. Yes he's a grown up but again, this isn't as simple as him choosing to make the wrong decisions. There's a few decent YouTube channels made by personal trainers that discuss food addiction in depth and what steps need to be taken. A quick Google will probably find you some of their content.

My adult stepson wants to try the Atkins diet

He'll eat pretty much anything, but he doesn't like cooking

At what point does a grown adult who wants to eat differently from the rest of the family have to research and cook for himself?

Also, don't most veg have carbs? He needs to cook for himself because he needs to measure and count carbs, surely.

I'd offer IF you ate cooking something le meat and two veg, he can have the meat and veg. Otherwise he fends for himself.

'Scuse typos

A low carb sausage roll is called a sausage

He doesn’t need to go no-carb - he needs to stop eating microwave lasagne and crisps, and eat a sensible, balanced diet - cut down on fat, cut down on processed food, eat more fruit and vegetables.

Has he considered My Fitness Pal, @FlamedToACrisp? It is really easy to,use, and he can decide how much weight he wants to lose each week, and set a daily calorie limit - and it has a huge data base of individual ingredients and foods - including microwave meals, fast food etc - and of exercise too. You can put in your own recipes too, and it will give you a calorie count per portion.

He can use the app to track his intake, and if he does exercise during the day, that adds extra calories to his total for the day. It means he can still have crisps or microwave meals - as long as he adjusts his intake for the rest of the day.

When I put my mind to it, I lose weight using MFP - it works really well for me. I tend to go on the app in the morning, and put in whatever is planned for dinner that day, then I know has many calories are left for lunch (I don’t eat breakfast) and snacks. If I was going over my total for the day, I could adjust the plan - change my lunch, for example, or reduce the portion size of whatever carbs were going with dinner - and get back under the daily limit.

I found it really eye-opening to see how the quickly calories added up, and I think it is a good tool to learn where the hidden calories are, so you can make better decisions.

I wonder whether this would be a better option for your son, as it is much easier to fit in with a normal diet, and it doesn’t involve cutting out any food groups, which makes the planning easier.

WTAF? Why the fuck should anyone else cater to an adult's laziness? Why the hell are you waiting on him like a skivvy? He won't cook, well, tough shit then. Get he just eats crap and stays fat. Utterly ridiculous to be pandering to adults like this. What a slug.

Why doesn’t he just learn to cook healthy good instead of cutting carbs and eating junky microwave meals?

lots of folks eat kale instead of rice/pasta

Suggest he goes to Slimming world

Try cutting out the pastry from the pie and the sausage roll as a start. Loads of pointless carbs there.

There are plenty fast food Keto friendly recipes
That doesn't just restrict him to just pork chops and veg 🤨🤨🤨

scrambled eggs or quick poached in the microwave with bacon, omelette with various fillings, pre cooked chicken/meats

Tuna,fish,salmon, mince meat is very versatile, can be used in plenty low carbs. Recipes