What I eat in a day ideas for low carb but not keto.

[ReeseWitherknife]

I have ibs/digestive issues which are getting worse over the last few years. I’ve had endless tests but nothing found. I have tried everything to help (meds, diets, low fodmap etc) but again nothing has helped.
My friend lost 5 stone on the keto diet and says as a great side effect it also helped her IBS. I’ve since found lots of people online mentioning that low carb has really helped their gut issues.
I would like to try this but do have a carb heavy diet so will find it tricky to start. I am also dairy free so won’t be able to have any cheese, cream etc so I don’t think full-on keto would work for me but I would love to try low carb in general.
For those low carb can I ask what you eat in a day to give me some inspiration?

@ReeseWitherknife when I started low carbing, a million years ago, it was to lose weight. What I wasn't expecting was for my IBS to clear up. So it sounds like it would be worth trying for you

OK - here's what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast - none as I'm doing intermittent fasting. But if I wasn't, I'd probably have had a couple of boiled eggs.

Lunch - full fat Greek yoghurt with some berries

Dinner - Asian beef salad: steak that was marinated in fish sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, lime juice, garlic and ginger, and then flash fried for a couple of minutes to brown the outside but keep the inside pink.

Served on a bed of chopped baby gem lettuce, sliced radishes, cherry tomatoes, chopped spring onions, with Bare Naked Noodles (only 1.1g carbs per serving) that had been coated in the remains of the marinade.

Topped with some chopped salted peanuts.

Another day as an example:

Lunch - tin of tuna fish with some finely chopped shallots and full fat mayo

Dinner - roast chicken: roasted on a 'trivet' of shallots and carrot, with a glass of red wine poured into the roasting tin. Chicken seasoned with olive oil, sea salt, black pepper and some dried oregano and thyme.

All the juices and roasted veg then blended together to make a gravy.

Served with celeriac mash, with a spoonful of Dijon mustard mixed in, and some leeks pan-fried in butter.

Come and join us on Bootcamp - we're starting a new one on Monday - people often post their daily menus as an inspiration to others!

Lunch - full fat Greek yoghurt with some berries

I had that today, plus lasagne, salad and a pear. I don't understand how people aren't starving on these kinds of menus. I'm not fat either, BMI less than 21.

Sorry not really relevant to the post and my lunch today was not at all low carb, it was cooked for me.

Usually I have a substantial lunch of lentils or chickpeas plus another protein, e.g. eggs , fish ,chicken and salad. Followed by yogurt and berries and some nuts. I don't do low carb but I do reduce carbs, especially refined carbs.

I have a bit of a formula when putting meals together. Legumes, protein, veg and steer clear of pasta, bread and potatoes. I do find I need to eat much larger quantities than when I eat carbs though.

Thanks BIWI great inspiration. I will definitely go over to boot camp thanks.

Thanks LeanishMachine I will definitely cut down on the refined carbs.

I found the best thing for my IBS was to leave proper gaps between meals and not snack! Meal content didn’t seem to matter so much. However, I’m trying to cut out sugar and reduce carbs, but not go full-on low carb/keto, and today I had Greek yoghurt, berries and a splash of cream for breakfast, then went out for lunch and had squid salad for a starter and pork belly, sweet potato mash and tomato ratatouille for a main. If I’m hungry later I’ll have olive oil oatcakes and cheese.

Today has been reasonably low-carb, but basically I’m cutting wheat products, sugar and trans fats rather than going properly low-carb.

I don't know if I'm low enough carb to inspire you but yesterday I ate:

Breakfast - chopped fruit with crushed seed mix and chia seeds

Lunch - whole meal wrap with houmus, tomato, seeds, mixed garb salad

Snack - nectarine and fig

Dinner - courgetti, tomato sauce, runner beans and salad
More chopped fruit with some peanut butter

Today I ate:
Breakfast - fruit, kale and chia smoothie

Lunch - fried mixed veg and chestnuts with scrambled egg

Snack - fig and orange

Dinner - falafel and salad
Chopped fruit and peanut butter

Garb salad = herb salad

@LeanishMachine

Lunch - full fat Greek yoghurt with some berries

I had that today, plus lasagne, salad and a pear. I don't understand how people aren't starving on these kinds of menus. I'm not fat either, BMI less than 21.

Sorry not really relevant to the post and my lunch today was not at all low carb, it was cooked for me.

Usually I have a substantial lunch of lentils or chickpeas plus another protein, e.g. eggs , fish ,chicken and salad. Followed by yogurt and berries and some nuts. I don't do low carb but I do reduce carbs, especially refined carbs.

I have a bit of a formula when putting meals together. Legumes, protein, veg and steer clear of pasta, bread and potatoes. I do find I need to eat much larger quantities than when I eat carbs though.

It's because you're eating so many carbs that you're hungry! A low carb diet keeps your key hormones (insulin, grehlin and leptin) balanced, which keeps your blood sugar levels balanced - which means you're much less hungry.

If you're eating lentils and chickpeas, as well as fruit and pasta (i.e. your lasagne) actually you're not really eating low carb enough for this to take effect though.

I was honestly not hungry - and I didn't have breakfast either.

I don't usually have lasagne, as I said, it was cooked for me. I run 50 miles pw and compete at a decent standard for my age, no serious or even serious ish athlete is training low carb. I'm not over eating with a BMI less than 21, I don't need to eat less.

Well no, evidently you don't! Nor was I suggesting that you should!

All I was pointing out was the impact of a low carb diet on your appetite, to counter your assertion that you couldn't see how someone could eat 'as little' as I had and not be hungry.

I’ve been eating low carb for 3 weeks straight now and I honestly think I would struggle if I couldn’t have dairy. It’s what keeps me satisfied, but I guess with things like coconut milk and plenty of interesting oils to drizzle on your food it could be done.

Sample few days at the moment:
B: egg, bacon and brocolli
L: salad, turkey, cottage cheese, mayo, olives
Tea: steak, cauliflower cheese made with cream, spinach
Snack: raspberries and cream

B: avocado, blueberries, almond butter, coffee with cream
L: 2 eggs scrambled with cheese, homemade coleslaw, tomatoes
Snack: almond butter
D: sausages, garlic mushrooms with cream

@Snowpaw

You don't have to give up dairy on a low carb diet though. It's only if you find it's impacting on your weight loss, which it does do for some people

[quote BIWI]@Snowpaw

You don't have to give up dairy on a low carb diet though. It's only if you find it's impacting on your weight loss, which it does do for some people[/quote]
I know but the op has indicated she’s dairy free, that’s why I mentioned it

@ReeseWitherknife

I have ibs/digestive issues which are getting worse over the last few years. I’ve had endless tests but nothing found. I have tried everything to help (meds, diets, low fodmap etc) but again nothing has helped. My friend lost 5 stone on the keto diet and says as a great side effect it also helped her IBS. I’ve since found lots of people online mentioning that low carb has really helped their gut issues. I would like to try this but do have a carb heavy diet so will find it tricky to start. I am also dairy free so won’t be able to have any cheese, cream etc so I don’t think full-on keto would work for me but I would love to try low carb in general. For those low carb can I ask what you eat in a day to give me some inspiration?

I am on low carb to help pcos (so 50g net carbs per day). I don’t really ban anything as such but I do try and control the carbs.

For breakfast - Parsi style omelette with green chillis, mushrooms, a tiny bit of onion, sometimes a tiny bit of tomato. Sometimes I might add a hashbrown. If I don’t feel like eggs I’ll have home made low carb bread (I make it with almond flour using Wholesome Yum’s recipe) or a tiny amount of oat porridge with nuts and seeds.

For Lunch - I try to skip it where possible. If I can’t then this is the meal I try to eat plain meats with lots of low carb fruit and veg like berries and green veg. Poached chicken with brocolli, spinach, and kale is my fav.

Snacks - peanut butter or cheese with apple slices (I weigh the apple to make sure it fits into my macros) or raw nuts and cheese.

Dinner - I prefer portion controlled Indian food. Eg home made spinach sabzi (Gujarati versions are often more adaptable for home cooking) with 1-2 small rotis made from a mix of almond and wholewheat flour

@GrumpyHoonMain which recipe do you trust for the roti please?

I had the same IBS problem. I was bloated all my life and didn't even know what normal felt like. I am low carb now but I did want to mention to you that I stopped eating all fruit and veg (but carried on with white flour products) and it cured the problem within about 3 days. Nobody had recommended a low fibre diet - all the doctors, all the years, just said 'EAT MORE FIBRE'. The truth is, fibre is a carb. We don't need carbs. So we don't need fibre.

Whether you feel it's healthy or not to entirely cut out fruit and veg long term is another matter, but it might be worth a few days of your life to experiment with. I only have to have a little bit of fruit or veg to set me off. I spent over 40 years feeling like digesting things was a war inside me, and now my digestive system is mostly so relaxed it's practically asleep.

I guess what I'm saying is that low carb and low fibre are not the same, and if you go straight to low carb, you might still miss the problem. Good luck. It's wonderful when you find the answer. I'm about a year in, and I still marvel at how wonderous it feels every day!