Week 2 - January ’26 Low Carb Bootcamp

[BIWI]

Morning all! Spreadsheet as per:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gsWvWpGzTSJld1avBi9-uLJveFZes9Qa2ORKthPMl8E/edit?gid=1415293539#gid=1415293539

Very glad to see that there are some great results already!
On the last thread, there was mention of pulled pork - there’s a really good recipe in one of the Fast 800 books, which I shall search out. I may already have posted it in one of the recipe threads, so I’ll check that too.

Evening all. Thank you for the new thread. A 4.5lb loss for me. Leftovers of the salmon tonight! Order of low-carb bread on the go. The pulled pork sounds fab I shall try that at some point this week. Failed on the water today despite telling myself this morning that it was a priority. I will try again tomorrow. Well done, everyone on the fab losses.

Well done everyone! I had halloumi and leeks this evening which was delicious (I think this was @Almahart 's recipe from a couple of years ago, if so thank you!)

I've made an egg bake from the Fast 500 for lunches this week, but am looking forward to the flax and almond bread as of next week - sure this is on many of the other threads but sharing here in case helpful

www.thelondoner.me/2014/03/mums-low-carb-bread.html

I made the salmon laksa tonight, which went down very well with DH and DS2. I gave them ordinary noodles but I had mine with the cabbage, as per the recipe.

A couple of minor niggles:

• recipe calls for 425ml of coconut milk; there’s 400ml in a can, so I ended up having to open a second can to use a pathetically small amount! In hindsight I should have realised that an extra 25ml would really not make that much difference. If I make it again, I will just use one can
• shredded cabbage instead of noodles is a good idea, but I think I’d pre-cook it first, so it’s more like the texture of a noodle. It was a bit too hard/crunchy

Welcome (back/!) @ACrackerAQuackerAndADanishCharm - hope you manage to get the diabetes under control.

Thank you @BIWI! Hopefully my glucose levels will improve quickly and more importantly I need to reverse the root issue of insulin resistance asap. Mostly I just want to feel well, which I always do when I am eating low carb. I've said it before but I really need to get back to low carb for life.

I was planning gammon with cauliflower cheese for tonight, but then DS ended up eating elsewhere, so DD and I had leftover bolognese from yesterday.

I’d be happy to eat the pulled pork just with a fork, no need for a wrap. The DCs like those part-baked baguettes, so I’ll get some for them. Shop bought bread doesn’t agree with me, so it’ll be no problem resisting that.

DCs with their dad tomorrow, so I’ll make the salmon laksa, and use the cauliflower for the Thai soup.

Plenty of veg, but definitely not enough water. I realised that, for some strange reason, I tend to put my water bottle away for winter,. Anyways I've it out now and just take a few sips every so often, so that should help.

For those of you who might be struggling with the water, it being winter and cold, try drinking hot water. Boil the kettle, as if you were going to make tea or coffee, and pour the water into your mug over a slice of lemon. It’s very soothing and can be easier to drink than cold.

The salmon laksa recipe comes from The Diet Doctor, which is a really useful website. They published this article:

https://www.dietdoctor.com/weight-loss/successful-mindset

… which is a really useful piece to read.

Made the salmon laksa but wasn't as impressed as I thought I'd be...........halved the quantities as it's just DH and I, and for me it needed more of a kick so might try again but use the "right" quantity for the spice mix and up the veg content. DH had noodles with his and was impressed (but to be fair he'll eat anything!). Scales have inexplicably gone up again this morning but I'm not too worried as totm and I know this works............

Chicken and ham pie tonight with cauli mash, I'm not feeling hungry at all during the day at the moment but trying to at least snack on peppers/cucumber etc to get my veg up.

Have a challenging weekend ahead so need a strict plan - going to see DH's family which is stressful in itself (that would be an entire thread!) for him and consequently me so there's the temptation to self-medicate! Airbnb so we can sort ourselves out on Friday night, Saturday morning and Sunday morning but day out in Glasgow with dinner out as well. We are booked into this restaurant for dinner (not ideal but I've talked everyone out of the original Italian) which looks lovely I just need to make good choices and not reach for the wine.......
https://www.madras-cafe.co.uk/menus

On another note - do we think the cauliflower soup will freeze? I'm tempted to make a batch this week so it's ready when we get back on Sunday night for an easy tea - DH can have part-baked baguette to bulk it out.

All my updates seems so long - sorry all!

To help with fluid intake I'm enjoying lots of fresh mint tea- literally just mint leaves and boiling water. It's surprising delicious and warming. I know cafes etc usually serve it with sugar but it really doesn't need sweetening.

Veg box arrived with some great ingredients, including a big cabbage, so I'll be joining you all in making the salmon laska. Tonight will be roasted veg with harisa spiced chicken thighs, later in the week will be sausages with leek and celariac mash, and another night Jamie Oliver's mushroom curry - without the mango chutney.

There were also parsnips, but I'm feeding dgc later in the week so they and dh can have parsnip mash and I'll have some more of the buttery leek and celariac.

I got a Korean cookery book for Chrismas, in advance of a foodie trip to Seoul later this year. I'll use some of the cabbage to make kimchi and then also some kind of spicy fish stew.

Family supper tonight isn't easily adapted for LC so I'll eat something different and have made more spinach curry (this time with added cauliflower) which I'll have with fried chicken. It's not very high in fat but I've bought some nice cheese which I'll have instead of pudding.

Making good progress with the never-ending frozen spinach.

Found an unopened box of buttermint teabags at the back of a cupboard, a real blast from the past! Hope they're as good as I remember! Not as healthy as the fresh mint tea you're making though @cathyandclaire .

Fellow Korean food fan @venusandmars, I made rose Tteokbokki as my last hurrah meal before bootcamp. Rice is the thing that I'm missing most, can't make gimbap 😔 Lots of soups/stews/side dishes/bibimbap (without the rice layer) type options though, I just need to experiment more!

2lb off, which is OK given my age and hormonal status. Plus I've just realised that my usual full-fat yoghurt (Llaeth Y Llan) is WAY more carby than I'd realised. I thought that yoghurt was, well, yoghurt, but apparently not 😳 Lesson learnt 🙈

Edited to say how envious I am of your Seoul trip. I'm aiming for 3 or 4 years time, with a fair and fortunate wind.

It's Almahart here under a name change (by mistake)

Just wanted to say that it's worth looking for a discount code if ordering from srlsy low carb. I found one that gave 30% off.

Dinner last night was a tofu and aubergine curry made with a spice kit. I hope the carb count in it was okay, but tbh I didn't check as was running out of food options before online delivery today. I did like the combo, it was good

@LCagain I lived off that Londoner low carb bread for years...it keeps well, and is very tasty, but only works well as toast. So a couple of years ago I discovered a more bready loaf that uses vital wheat gluten, milled flax seeds and oat fibre, and I have switched to that. I do it in the breadmaker, and you really wouldn't know it wasn't regular bread.

Recipe here. I don't bother with the Xanthan gum, or the topping, use oil instead of ghee, and a tiny squirt of honey instead of the sweetener (it gets digested by the yeast anyway). Obviously one for next week, but I highly recommend!

I should do this, I do it in the summer with mint or lemon balm from the garden. I can't bear peppermint teabags but do like this. I also drink plain hot water as soon as I get up every morning, it is really comforting. At work I am using either fennel or rooibos teabags, one black coffee a day (can't tolerate too much caffeine) and the odd cup of black tea without milk. I try and load most of my fluid intake into the middle of the day.

Meals today:

B: Boiled eggs with asparagus soldiers to dip (I slightly overdid the eggs so my soldiers buckled under pressure)

L: Chicken leg with green salad and a piece of cheese

D: Will be pan-fried fresh mackerel with coleslaw

@PunksVersusBrats Korean food is quite new to me and my current challenge is that I don't yet understand what all the dishes are, beyond some obvious classics. Hence the cookery book, so that I can learn what is in each dish, what the different specialist ingredients are and how it differs from other Asian food cultures. I want to make the most of my time in Seoul rather than mindlessly ordering and eating things and having no idea how to recreate them back home. It's my food project for the year - aiming for one new dish a week. And becoming familiar with the range of products in the Asian supermarkets. I already think there will be some things I'm avoiding!

Which book @venusandmars? I started with this one (also a present) and went from there. I also use Christieathome and Koreankitchen and Koreanbapsang websites a lot, although not yet with my LC head on.

And I've made @DryWhiteagainW's thai green cauliflower soup. Dead easy, tasty on its own but I'm going to add some prawns when I reheat it tomorrow.

Paneer and spinach curry for dinner 😋

Hey @BIWI is it too late to join. I put myself on bootcamp 1st January I just forgot to sign up. Am I able to be added to spreadsheet and I can add my starting weight and yesterday’s weigh in?

Wanted to ask also, can I replace the cream in coffee with whole milk? I much prefer the taste and have lots of fat elsewhere in my diet (everything cooked in butter, fatty meats, cheese, cream in sauces)

@Bex5490 you’re very welcome! Just head over to the spreadsheet and add your name to the bottom.

You can use whole milk, but beware the carbs. Here’s a post from last week’s thread:

Carbs in milk, per 100ml:

whole milk 4.7g carbs (3.7g fat, 3.6g protein)
semi-skimmed milk 4.8g carbs (1.8g fat, 3.6g protein)
skimmed milk 5g carbs (<0.5g fat, 3.6g protein)

100ml isn’t a lot! to help you visualise this, it’s 2/3 one of those small tins of tonic.

Also, bear in mind that although the carb counts for different types of milk don’t vary much, the fat content does - and so you should be choosing whole milk wherever you’re using milk.

Carbs in cream, per 100ml:

double cream 1.6g carbs (50.5g fat, 1.5g protein)
single cream 2.2g carbs (19.1g fat, 3.3g protein)
clotted cream 2.3g carbs (63.5g fat, 1.6g protein)

Maangchi is my favourite Korean cook! Her videos are so funny but very informative.

We make gochujang stew as a staple but I've stopped almost all fiddly cooking as I just do not have the capacity for anything extra anymore, so we don't really have anything much that takes the effort of learning, these days.😔 Enjoy your delicious Korean cooking and exploration!

Repeats for breakfast and lunch (spicy scrambled eggs, tuna mayo salad, yogurt) and I’ve made Shepherds Pie for dinner- mash for DS, Cauliflower mash for us. Will serve with greens.

I stocked up on frozen cauliflower rice as I was next to a Food Warehouse earlier; none of my regular supermarkets stock it and it’s a convenient rice replacement. I split the bag and sauté in butter from frozen (don’t steam it!).