Week 6 - Jan 22 Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

As ever, here is the Spreadsheet of Fabulousness

We're now in the last three weeks. It might not seem that there's much time left, but there's still a chance to lose as much as half a stone if you're really disciplined!

Hopefully you've all settled into low carbing by now. People have been posting some really great recipes, which should not only be appetising, but also persuading us all that low carbing is a joyful and satisfying way of eating for all the family.

One of the things that always thrills me - genuinely - is how many other benefits (beyond weight loss) there are from low carbing. For me, it was the sudden absence of my IBS. What about you? How have you found that low carbing is helping your general health?

Next week's challenge is a bit of throwing down the gauntlet - all those of you who are lurking! Post something about how you're feeling about low carbing/Bootcamp. Anything!

I hope you all have a good week

Well done on resisting the dodgers @SpottyBumPony!

Made my second meal tonight from the Keto Kitchen book we talked about earlier, Mediterranean Chicken.

Basically it's roasted chicken thighs, on a bed of cauliflower rice.

Once you've processed the cauliflower into 'rice', you add the zest and juice of 2 lemons, 2 thinly sliced cloves of garlic, dried oregano, halved cherry tomatoes and sliced black olives. Then you add melted butter to it.

You roast the chicken first, then put it on top of the cauliflower rice (along with any juice from the chicken) and bake it again, till the cauliflower (and the chicken, obviously!) is cooked. When you serve it, you garnish with finely chopped fresh parsley and fresh oregano, and the zest of another lemon.

It was very tasty, but I was a bit about the quantities - it was supposed to serve 6, based on one chicken thigh per person. Both DH and DS1 had 2 thighs. I only had one, but could easily have eaten a second one.

There's loads of cauliflower rice left over, and it was very, very tasty - so I think if I was going to make it again, I'd definitely do it with more chicken.

That sounds lovely @BIWI. I'll definitely try it.

B: Coffee x3 (out with friend)
L: Packet of cooked bacon. Coleslaw & poached chicken in LC wrap
D: Beef thai red curry with green beans & cauli rice

Tomorrow I am planning to do beef tacos with mine done in lettuce wraps.

I'll post the full menu later @NigellaAwesome

Recipe, I mean!

I slipped off the wagon with a big slice of bread and a brownie, and I think I am having to restart the fat adapting process again which seems to contribute to low mood (being ill doesn't help!). I'm hoping it will motivate me to avoid big carbs in the future because i can't feel like this every time I deviate!

@Jezzballs2000 it sounds like you're blaming the climb back onto the wagon for feeling bad. It's far more likely that it was the fall off the wagon that caused the pain, not the remounting...

If I had a slice of bread and a brownie now I'm certain I'd feel really sh*tty and it would be related to the sugar and gluten, and I'd have a carb hangover for a day or two making me feel rough.

Remounting the wagon is the cure, not the problem!

@BIWI that does sound good!

Glad my inner pep talk helped some of you. I'm such a sugar fiend I have to be strict.

I'm also an "I'm bored" eater @SpottyBumPony. The tricks I've played on myself are (1) go for a walk, even 15 mins round the block; (2) brush my teeth; or (3) go to bed! The last one is especially good for winter evening grazing. Coziness is better than munching on crap.

Mediterranean Chicken, with Lemon & Oregano recipe by Monya Kilian Palmer (Keto Kitchen) serves 6

Ingredients

6 large chicken thighs (approx 170g/6oz each)
600g (1lb 5 oz) cauliflower florets*
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
2 lemons
100g (3 1/2 oz) cherry tomatoes, halved
50g (1 3/4 oz) best quality black olives, pitted and sliced
30g (1 oz) unsalted butter
salt and freshly ground pepper

To serve:

salt flakes
small handful fresh oregano leaves, roughly chopped
small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
finely grated zest of 1 lemon

• this was 2 medium-sized cauliflowers

Method

• Preheat oven to 220C/200C fan/425F/gas mark 7

• Season all sides of the chicken thighs with salt and freshly ground pepper, and place them skin side up, in a large, deep roasting try. Place in the oven for 20 minutes

• In the meantime, blitz the cauliflower florets in a food processor. Transfer to a large bowl and stir through the dried oregano, sliced garlic and the finely grated zest of 2 lemons. Slice the lemons in half and squeeze over the juice. Stir in the cherry tomatoes and olives

• Melt the butter in a small pan over a medium heat, then pour it over the cauliflower mixture. Season with salt and stir well. (The butter may solidify, so do this just before the chicken's 20 minutes are up)

• After the chicken has been in the oven for 20 minutes, remove it and reduce the temperature to 200C/180C fan/400F/gas mark 6

• Use tongs or a slotted spoon to remove the partially cooked chicken thighs from the roasting tray and set aside. Tip the cauliflower mixture into the roasting tray and toss it in all the juices

• Return the chicken thighs to the tray, nestling them into the cauliflower mixture. If any juice ran from the chicken while it was set aside on the plate, drizzle this over the cauliflower too. Return the dish to the oven for 20-25 minutes for the chicken to sufficiently cook through. If in doubt, use a thermometer probe to check the thickest part one thigh. It should read 72C/161.5F. Give the cauliflower mix a stir halfway through to avoid the cauliflower on the edges burning*

• To serve, season the dish with salt flakes, roughly chopped fresh oregano, chopped parsley and the finely grated zest of the third lemon

• I turned the grill on for the last 5 minutes of cooking, to make sure that the skin was crisped up

Calories - 480
Carbs - 4.3g
Protein - 33g
Fat - 36g

Great to see so many enjoying the nsv that this woe of eating brings.
I have had a terrible few weeks and my eating has been bad. I now feel bloated and fed up with no energy.

I put it down things that were going on in life until yesterday when I was so hungry again I remembered that I reduced my metformin (taken for insulin resistance) thinking I didn't need it due to this woe. I realised that how I am feeling (constantly hungry and tired but restless and anxious) is exactly why I started taking metformin so I have increased it back up and am determined to start from scratch again.
I have set myself goals and using mfp for accountability.
I can't control the stuff going on in life but I can control my eating and how that makes me feel.
I have also from April reduced my work hours so hopefully I can have a bit more time to focus on my mental health.

Also for accountability I have put all the weights I missed in the spreadsheet.

Dh (61) got his bloods done a couple of weeks ago: all the results were "good" except for his lipids which were "satisfactory", with the advice to look at his diet and re-test in 2 years.

He's having a call at lunchtime with the nurse to find out what the dietary advice is. I've asked him to find out what the ratios are but he's said she'll be the expert and he'll just listen to her advice.

I'm dreading the outcome.

@prettybird are you worried that the 'expert' nurse will recommend low fat (especially animal fat)?

Yup ...reduce your fat and salt. I seem to recall that that was in the diet sheet he was given a few years ago.

You never know, I might be pleasantly surprised

he's said she'll be the expert and he'll just listen to her advice.

Share your frustration with this kind of approach @prettybird DH threw off T2 diabetics through low carbing but has a wobble anytime he talks to any medics who are still tuck in high carb low fat, I spite of all the evidence against it. Sigh.

I'm a nurse and I advise low carb for patients who I feel are receptive to it. I always advise cutting sugar for cholesterol as well as diabetes and I never say low fat, just healthy fats (not processed, trans fats).
Unfortunately, the NHS website doesn't back me up!

Well done @RagzRebooted I wish you were a nurse near me It's really easy to criticise health care professionals, but when mainstream advice remains stubbornly static, it must be equally frustrating for those who have taken on board alternative approaches.

Bad day yesterday with an allergy flare up and felt atrocious. Not helped by major carb slippage because I felt so tired, unwell and overwhelmed by a work situation. So no excuses today, back on the LCHF train for the next few weeks and I hope I haven't blown week 6 apart.

I also hate the very loose way in which a Mediterranean diet is interpreted (by some individuals).

Sardines with a tomato salad, drizzled with olive oil; feta, Greek salad with feta, olives, tomato, cucumber with an olive oil dressing; local lamb cutlets with fresh veg. All good Mediterranean.

Maccaroni cheese, baklava, creme brulee, croissants - still Mediterranean but not so good

@venusandmars

Well done *@RagzRebooted* I wish you were a nurse near me It's really easy to criticise health care professionals, but when mainstream advice remains stubbornly static, it must be equally frustrating for those who have taken on board alternative approaches.

When we have diabetes training, the specialists always recommend low carb and they do for their own patients, it just hasn't filtered through to the general health service. But it's getting closer.

It's my FIL's 80th today and we have all been invited round for 🎂

Any ideas of what I could bring with me to feel I am celebrating and to help me avoid having cake? I have time to go to M&S or Tesco

OK.
Wish me well. 'D' F due here tomorrow for a short stay. He has a... (searches to find the right word) 'challenging' personality and I can already hear the comforting call of the carbs...
I know I'll manage LC at meals easily, but whilst prepping the temptation to down the cooking sherry and end up face-down in a packet of ready salted will be strong. I'll make preparations by having some nice dry champagne in for when he's gone up to bed.....
Bless you all. See you on the other side!

@Wilkolampshade how short is short?

@NigellaAwesome 😅 oh my goodness, less than 48 hrs!!! I even stipulated when he could turn up and when he could stay till... He's already sown the seeds of chaos by booking a train to arrive at the wrong station..
Luckily all meat is low carb as it looks like I'll be spending the next few days biting my tongue....

@NigellaAwesome Faced with birthday cake, I would pick a quiet moment, press a hand to my tummy and tell the host that I wasn't feeling so well at the moment, could I possibly have a slice to take home to feed the birds.

The key seems to be to genuinely not want to eat any. The least hesitation and out come all the ' go on, treat yourself, one won't hurt, a little of what you fancy does you good'. Good luck

Hope it all goes well @Wilkolampshade

Stay strong, remember how much better you feel with this WoE