Week 1 - January Low Carb Bootcamp: and we're off!

[BIWI]

Evening everyone. I hope you're all ready, prepared and raring to go!

Here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness:

for you to enter your starting weight

Have a good look at the tabs at the bottom, as there you will find the rules, the list of allowed veg and lots of other really useful information.

I've also started the questions thread , so if you have anything you need to ask, that's the best place to ask it. The chat threads move really quickly in the first weeks, so this thread is the best place to ask your questions.

And this time around, I thought it might be useful to have a thread to post about good/interesting low carb products that you come across:

Here

Good luck!

Attikus, the coleslaw recipe sounds great, I'll give that a try too. I've been buying coleslaw, but am aware it's a bit carby, so should probably make my own. I don't have a food processor though

lurking tomorrow BIWI will start a week two thread and we start chatting there.

You can add you weight to the spreadsheet as well.

Wow, great to think we are at the end of week 1!

Today I've had :

B: 3 x bacon rashers, 2 x fried eggs with mayo
L: was out at a country pub, so I had the roast beef without Yorkshire or potatoes. The verge it came with was roast swede and shredded Brussels sprouts woohoo, so I had lots of that and avoided the carrots and parsnips. Had a coffee with cream after which made up for missing the trimmings!
D: will be pork joint currently in the slow cooker, with stir fried LC vegetable, potatoes for the rest of the family.

On my way for a swim. Planning to do 750m which will be my longest for a while.

Food today
B: poached eggs and bacon
Lunch was a bit of a disaster. Went out with friends in an area we don't know. Wrongly assumed we'd end up in apub for lunch so could have roast & veg. Ended up in an cafe with the most ask array of cakes, pastries, sandwiches etc etc. Had the soup which was gorgeous, but tomato, so definitely too carby. But there was literally no other option
Snack: a little goats cheese
Dinner will be pork belly and cauli cheese I think.

Have drunk masses of water to try and make up for soup.

Knuckling down for a really strict week after a few innocent transgressions over this weekend.

Ask array = amazing array

Celeriac fans - DP has agreed to try it again and I've promised him I'll canvass opinion of how to get chips/cubes of it crispy? It's always brown but not crispy

mrskoala

Coleslaw

125g white cabbage (less than 1/4 of a cabbage)
75g carrot (1 medium-sized carrot)
25g shallot (1/2 a banana/echalion shallot)

Slice white cabbage thinly
Grate carrot finely (don't use the largest holes on the grater)
Chop shallot finely

Add oil and wine vinegar - roughly 3 tablespoons oil and 1 tablespoon vinegar, and salt and black pepper. Stir everything well together. Leave for half an hour or so. Just before serving, stir in a tablespoon of mayo.

This will make 2 portions

About 6g carbs per portion, depending on how carby your mayo is

I dont have a food processor, I use a hand grater/knife.

I think it's very hard to get anything crispy like potatoes. Although possibly deep frying might work?

Don't try and think of celeriac as a potato substitute (or a chip substitute, to be more accurate!) It's a different vegetable.

With this WOE I think it's much better not to try and look for direct substitutes, as you'll inevitably be disappointed. But try and enjoy things for their own reasons.

Today's food was

Brunch: 4 rashers of fried bacon and 2 fried eggs.
Dinner: cold today pork with coleslaw, brussel sprouts and a few peas.

Lots of decaf coffee.

nowitsenough - if you have a grater, you can make coleslaw. Make sure that you grate the carrot and shallot as finely as you can, and slice the cabbage as thinly as you can. Easy!

Badger - I have never get celeriac crispy. You can make mash out of it then fry it as a sort of hash, but it doesn't work like a roast potato (well, it roasts, but not with a crunchy outside and a soft middle.)

I had liver and bacon last night, with swede mash and a small spoon of onion stuff. Fabulous. I am out tonight so a LC supper beckons.

What are the best low carb veg? We tend to often have carrots, swede and Petit pois, I know pass and carrots are quite carby. How about leeks, green beans?

Why don't you go on the spreadsheet and read the list of allowed veg?!

Swede mash is not good. Nope nope nope.

I know BIWI and I don't mind it not being a substitute. It's stupid DP Bless him he has eaten my mostly lazy low carb for a year now and barely complains!

Well, MY swede mash is not good.

Sorry I didn't see a list of allowed veg??! I'm on my phone, so maybe that's why I can't see it?

Swede Neep mash is lush

I use a potato ricer, loads of butter, plenty of salt and some nutmeg

I think with swedes they need much more cooking than potatoes. I cut them into fairly small chunks and boil them til really soft, otherwise they are a bit toothsome for mash. A ricer is a good idea but I still use a normal masher and they are fine.

Veg - lots of lovely stuff around at the moment. I am eating plenty of swede, celeriac, greens, kale and sprouts. It is good hearty food with lots of butter so it doesn't feel diet.

Finished the week with a bowl of cauliflower and broccoli cheese with crispy bacon bits (feel a bit sick now )

I love swede mash. Agree that it need much more cooking than potatoes. I tend to use my hand blender rather than a masher. Loads of butter and a wee splash of cream
Haven't eaten anything since my mountain of pancakes earlier but have made scones for the dc and wasn't even tempted! Have a gammon in the slow cooker so will pick at that later.
Tried and failed to make courgette crisps earlier. Think I had the oven too high

Probably not enough water today but I'll have a couple of pints later.

Apparently swedes are tough this year because there wasn't a hard frost before they were picked. The answer is to freeze them before cooking apparently. ( according to my mum anyway). Or use Aunt Bessie's swede and carrot mash which is 3.5 carbs.

Today's food

B - eggs mashed with butter.
L - mushrooms, pancetta, mozarella and tomato with some swede mash
P - fajitas with lettuce wraps, guacamole and cheese.

I put my swede in the processor after steaming well, it does take a long time to cook and I hate chunks in it, loads of butter and it comes out sweeter and fluffy - still can't eat a load of it though. Roasted green beans are the closest I've come to fries, they crisp up quite well without the smell which comes with roasting broccoli - if you don't mind the smell, broccoli stalks crisp up nicely too. Celeriac chips or roasts are more like a fondant I find.

Today I had an avocado with salt and drizzle of olive oil, bacon and egg for lunch and roast pork, crackling and buttery cabbage/leeks and some roasted green beans for dinner. Looking forward to weigh in tomorrow morning.