Pre-Christmas Low Carb Bootcamp - the questions thread

[BIWI]

From previous experience, the first few weeks of Bootcamp chat threads move very quickly, so having a thread dedicated to questions means that you stand more chance of getting an answer quickly!

So if you have any specific questions, post them here.

How about drinking boiled water? Lots of people claim it's very soothing. Add a slice of lime or lemon and you have flavouring with very few carbs as well.

Stock cubes/bouillon are perhaps more savoury/satisfying, but they are a processed food and do contain carbs, so as a regular drink they're perhaps not the best idea.

Ingredients of an Oxo cube:

Wheat Flour, Salt, Yeast Extract (Yeast Extract, Salt), Maize Starch, Flavour Enhancers (Monosodium Glutamate, Disodium Guanylate), Colour (Ammonia Caramel), Flavourings, Beef Fat, Autolysed Yeast Extract, Dried Beef Bonestock, Sugar, Onion Powder, Lactic Acid

Per 100ml of Oxo as prepared by their instructions = 0.9g carbs. 100ml isn't very much, so you'd quickly add a fair few carbs to your day if you have 2 or 3 drinks of this.

shesgotbeef hot drinks wise do you like fruit teas? There are loads of different flavours out there and the carbs are negligible. Also coffee with double cream, before I started this woe I used to have 3 heaped spoons of sugar in my coffee and couldn't stand the bitterness without it but now 6 months later I happily drink it without any sugar. The cream somehow takes away that bitterness and makes it quite mellow and comforting, start off with it weak and slowly increase the strength. I drink tea without sugar now too but still don't enjoy it as much so I don't have it very often.

When I'm following LC but in between bootcamps I also sometimes have a cadburys highlights hot chocolate, I have the caramel one and it's 4.7g carbs per mug although I don't put in as much as the instructions say so it's probably a bit less than that for me, I use a splash of cream in it to make it more indulgent too. It's full of sweeteners and processed yuck though so not something that should be an everyday occurrence, more of a treat once in a while and it's not bootcamp friendly due to the sweeteners.

Shesgotbeef - I have a coffee with cream in it, or coconut oil whisked into it. I even put a drop of cream in tea if I have a tea craving - a bit weird but better than no cuppa sometimes. I'm trying to restrict caffeine a bit though, so only a couple of cups or tea or coffee per day.

I also like Rooibos tea, and can cope with it without milk (I used to drink it with milk but weaned myself onto without….which I can't manage with real tea). I much prefer it to other naturally-caffeine-free teas.

I have Rooibos with a slice of lemon. I love the Dragonfly Earl Grey Rooibos. Tick Tock do a green tea version now which is less bitter than normal green tea and really refreshing.

Have you tried just slowly cutting the sugar? That's how I did it years ago. No fancy sweeteners then just yakky saccharine so I just cut a few grains at a time until I found I didn't much like it any more. You could change to a sweetener as damage limitation and slowly cut that. Its about long term changes really isn't it? Not just 10wks BC.

I can second the tick tock green rooibos tea. It's much more mellow than other green teas plus doesn't have any caffeine.

It's also nice with a teaspoon of coconut oil stirred in (instead of breakfast occasionally when you are a bit further into low-carbing)

On this subject, I'm on bc lite...have got my cups of tea down to 2 or 3 at most ( and I don't take much milk) - would I be better with ff milk for this rather than semi???

Shesgotbeef I drink Mighty Leaf Chamomile Citrus or one of their other herbal teas. They are very expensive so I usually end up getting them for a birthday or Christmas present and eking them out for as long as possible. My work canteen charges 40p for a cup of tea though so 35p per tea bag isn't too bad in the grand scheme of things that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

FF milk definitely better

Are stomach cramps normal with low carb diet? I've felt like crap from mid afternoon onwards yesterday and today. Must be too much veg please don't say drink more water...

Thanks Biwi can't believe I actually had to ask that dense question!! have I learnt nothing about fat???!?

shesgotbeef I don't like most herbal teas but I really like Living Sweet Chai and Yogi Choco teas. Both taste sweet and pleasantly spicy and the Choco one tastes vaguely chocolatey.

are there any low carb muffin / biscuits recipes to be recommended? I found some online that use almond flour. I only ask because I am finding breakfast a real hassle. Not ready to eat at 6am when I have to get up and by the time I do feel like it I have to be out the door so eggs / bacon / yoghurt etc not really an option. Any ideas?

Try keeping a supply of hard boiled eggs in the fridge (they keep for over a week). A couple with mayo make a good quick breakfast.

Mushrooms can be eaten raw. With mayo, of course.

Roll up lettuce and thinly-sliced sandwich meat with plenty of mayo.

Shesgotbeef, I like Teapigs Livorice and Peppermint tea. Expensive, but OTOH very strong, so each teabag makes 2-3 mugs. Also Pukka Peppermint and Licorice tea. Slightly less strong than Teapigs.

fairylights I make little egg muffins to eat in the car. My last batch was mushroom, bacon and gruyere. So I whisked 8 eggs in a jug, added a gulf of cream, salt and pepper. In a pan I fried chopped mushrooms and some chopped streaky bacon in butter. I then poured the egg mix into 12 silicone muffin tin liners (in a muffin tin) and added some bacon and mushroom mix and gave it a little stir. I the grated some gruyere on top, put them in the oven for 20 mind at 180C. I store them in the fridge and in the morning I hear a few up in the microwave and I eat them in the car in the way to work. The past two days I've not been hungry at all until lunchtime after eating 3 of these at 7.30.

Glug of cream - not gulf!

I heard tell of salted caramel tea, but have yet to actually find it. It was being raved about too.

cor

I need to find me this

I NEED that tea in my life!!!!

Me too Chester, am hunting it down

If all else fails they have an on-line shop but I don't know what they charge for postage. I rather fancy the gingerbread one.

It's worth a try - just remember the artificials/processed nature of them!

is there any reason that the bootcamp is 10 weeks? can it be done for fewer weeks?

Anyone got a low carb recipe for cooking red cabbage. I don't much like it raw and got home with one at the weekend only to realise that my normal recipe (with apples and dried fruit!) is not very low carb. Suggestions welcome.