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Low-carb diets

Summer Low Carb Bootcamp - The Questions Thread

506 replies

BIWI · 29/04/2013 16:18

If you have any questions, just ask them here. From experience, the chat thread moves so quickly, posters' questions often get missed.

Picking up on some that have already been asked today:

Can we eat dairy in Bootcamp?

Yes you can, but be aware that for some people dairy can impede weight loss. Butter is fine - you don't have to worry about that, and yoghurt is apparently better tolerated than milk, cream or cheese.

Cheese is a great low carb food and it's lovely to not have to worry about being able to eat it on the basis of it being a fat.

Milk can become quite carby quite quickly, so if you're having several cups of tea/coffee a day, you need to keep an eye on this. If you can, it's best to have your tea/coffee black - or to substitute cream (double) for the milk.

Cream can be used in cooking (always double, as it has a higher fat content), but again be aware that it might be an issue for you.

The best way to find out if it's a problem for you is to keep a food diary, and then you will be able to see the impact of dairy on your weight loss.

OP posts:
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MrsHerculePoirot · 31/08/2013 22:20

Not sure about soy flour sorry I've never used it - maybe holland and Barrett, online or if you have a big Asian supermarket near you?

I sometimes buy the pre cooked chicken, the sugar in it will negligible if you are just buying the roasted stuff as opposed to flavoured stuff. It is better to cook your own, but if you can't face it, you'll be fine.

The fantastic thing about this woe is tht you don't need to count anything. I think some of the books sugget between 20-40 g of carbs in the induction phase, but I have never counted. Getting your head around the fat thing is difficult, stick with it and see what the scales say on weds - you may well be amazed!

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Purple2012 · 31/08/2013 22:34

Thank you. I will update on Wednesday. Nervous but kind of excited. It is great that I am not wanting to snack. It feels weird. I had a huge salad and frittata for tea, I kind of wished I could have a bread roll but that was more habit.

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Purple2012 · 02/09/2013 13:50

Well, my book arrived. Not what I was expecting. I was hoping for a book with a list of foods and rough quantities. Does anyone know of a good book and a good recipe book?

The book I got said you do need to be aware of calories but I really want to stop calorie counting.

I know from reading links etc on here that I shouldn't have too much cheese. But should I restrict anything else?

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WillieWaggledagger · 02/09/2013 14:56

what book did you get purple?

are you not following the bootcamp rules in the spreadsheet here

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WillieWaggledagger · 02/09/2013 14:56

bravo so far by the way

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Purple2012 · 02/09/2013 15:19

The book is living low carb. I haven't had internet for a while and its quite difficult using MN on phone. Internet back now though so may be easier. Just eaten chicken for the 4th day in a row. Major achievement for me.

I can't open the spreadsheet. The link takes me to a Google mail page and wont let me put my password in.

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WillieWaggledagger · 02/09/2013 15:47

ok, here they are

1. Eat three proper meals a day.
"You must eat breakfast. It doesn?t have to be a lot, and it doesn?t have to be absolutely first thing, but you must have something. For the rest of the day, if you?re eating enough food and you are in ketosis then you shouldn?t be hungry between meals. But if you are hungry, eat something. (Hard boiled eggs make a great snack).
After the first two weeks of Bootcamp we will relax this, but these two weeks are critical in terms of helping you switch easily to a low carb way of eating - and if you start to feel hungry, it makes things much harder! Eating this way will ensure that your blood sugar levels are kept stable, which will mean that you are much less likely to experience hunger.
A typical high carbohydrate diet can mean that snacking is a routine part of your day. Once your blood sugar levels are stable, by eating low carb, you should find that you no longer want to snack. But the rule of thumb here is ?if you are hungry, eat!?. (Just make sure you are only choosing low carb snacks, of course!)"

2. Avoid processed food.
Focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals - meat/fish/eggs. Things like sausages, ham, bacon, pre-prepared burgers etc should be avoided as much as possible. You can have them, but just not every day. Avoid foods marketed as low carb, eg. Atkins Daybreak bars.

3. Eat lots of fat.
Eating fat will not make you fat. Honestly! But it will keep your appetite satisfied, and it sustains your body?s energy requirements perfectly. Fat does not provoke an insulin spike, unlike carbs which do (a lot) and protein (a little). Fry in butter, add butter to vegetables, eat salad with a home-made vinaigrette dressing (not made with balsamic vinegar though, as this is too sweet), add mayonnaise where you can (just check the carb count on your mayo first). Eat fattier cuts of meat ? e.g. pork belly, roast chicken with the skin on and/or eat the fat off your lamb chops. Absolutely no low fat/light foods of any kind!

4. Make sure you are eating vegetables and salads with your food.
This is where your carbs should come from, and this is non-negotiable. But choose only those vegetables that are on the allowed list. Make sure that you focus on eating those vegetables that are 3g carb per 100g or less, and this will ensure that your carb counts are kept low. You don?t have to weigh/count carbs ? this is one of the great joys of this WOE (way of eating), but if you?re new to low carbing it can be helpful to weigh your portions of veg in the early days, just so that you know how many carbs are in the sort of portions that you like to eat.

5. Be careful about dairy (apart from butter, which is unlimited).
Dairy can impede weight loss for some people. If you are still drinking tea/coffee with milk or cream, try to restrict yourself to max 2 cups per day. There are a lot of carbs in milk, so if you are having several cups of tea/coffee per day, you will quickly rack up your daily carb count (e.g. 1 medium latte contains more than 12g carbs!) You may eat cheese but again, don't overdo it. Full fat yoghurt is the best way to include dairy in your diet - but beware, it does contain carbs. Total Full Fat is the best

6. You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day.
The more weight you have to lose, the more water you should drink. This is from www.low-carbdiet.co.uk/. Water is essential to weight loss for those who eat low-carb. The minimum consumed in a day should be:
Your Weight----Litres
140lbs-----2.5
160lbs-----3.0
180lbs-----3.0
200lbs-----3.5
220lbs-----3.5
240lbs-----4.0
260lbs-----4.5
280lbs-----4.5
300lbs-----5.0
320lbs-----5.5
340lbs-----5.5
360lbs-----6.0
380lbs-----6.5
400lbs-----6.5
High levels of ketones in the blood stream can lead to a reduction in ketone production, therefore being well hydrated could aid in keeping the levels low and ketone production ongoing. Consuming enough water can have many other positive side effects: aids your kidneys with the processing of protein, reduces the retention of water, helps with preventing constipation, and reduces the levels of ketones released by your breath, which in-turn will reduce breath odour. However, drinking a lot of water can mean that you also need to keep an eye on your electrolyte balance. You need to make sure that you are consuming sufficient sodium and potassium. On a low carb diet we can eat more salt, so make sure that you are cooking with salt and adding salt to food, if you like it. Good, low carb, sources of potassium are spinach (raw), avocado, mushrooms, courgettes and asparagus, as well as salmon and yoghurt.

7. No alcohol.
Alcohol is the easiest source of fuel for the body to burn, so it will always use this first before it starts to burn any fat - which is why you need to restrict it, especially in the first two weeks of Bootcamp, when we are encouraging the body to stop using carbs for its source of fuel and turn to fat-burning instead. If you really can't do this - at least try and restrict it to the weekend. Vodka with soda is the best thing to drink. Or Champagne, red wine or dry white wine.

8. No fruit.
Really. Seriously. Honestly. None at all. Zilch. Nada. After Bootcamp you will be able to introduce certain fruits, but at this stage fruit is simply too carby. We are also trying to break the addiction to sweet things, so cutting fruit out is part of this process. If you are getting all your carbs from vegetables and salad, you will be getting all the nutrients and fibre that you need.

9. No nuts/seeds.


10. No sugar or artificial sweeteners.
Sugar is an obvious ?no no?, but artificial sweeteners are also an issue. One of the aims of this way of eating is to eat pure and natural foods, so including sweeteners is not recommended. Some people find that artificial sweeteners can impede their weight loss, and there is some suggestion that your body can respond to sweeteners as if they were sugar, by releasing more insulin - and therefore laying down fat. Given that the aim of Bootcamp is to help us lose our sweet tooth and addiction to sweet things, then it is a good idea to avoid sweeteners altogether in this first two weeks.

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Purple2012 · 02/09/2013 16:04

Thank you. I will do all that.

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ImATotJeSuisUneTot · 02/09/2013 21:13

My skin is really bad - zitty. Is this normal, something I just have to work through?

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MrsHerculePoirot · 02/09/2013 21:33

imatot I think so, I think sometimes some people experience that, and then their skin clears up and they are glowing. I wonder if it is toxins getting out before the clear healthiness!

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CorrieDale · 02/09/2013 21:42

This is probably a really stupid question but when people refer to dairy making them stall they mean their weight loss stalls, yes? And not that they become constipated?

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MsIngaFewmarbles · 02/09/2013 22:32

Finished my first week and have lost 6.5lbs Shock

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MrsHerculePoirot · 03/09/2013 06:38

corrie yea it refers to weight loss stalling - although tbh many of us use it too often eg when we've been losing evey day then don't for 24 hours!!

msinga well done that's fab!

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DwightFry · 03/09/2013 09:38

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WillieWaggledagger · 03/09/2013 10:08

dwightfry - well done so far

  1. do you need to cut out dairy entirely or can you just cut down? you mention the cost of chicken and fish - are you eating fillets or have you tried cheaper cuts like chicken thighs, cheaper whole fish etc? tinned tuna in olive oil is pretty good value (though prob not to be eaten every day). do you eat red meat and pork? you can get some good cheap cuts, like non-lean mince (often hidden on the bottom shelf in the supermarket), shin beef, breast of lamb, pork belly etc (though i realise these are less suitable for eating cold in salads)


  1. are you still finding you need to snack between meals? perhaps you should add more fat to your main meals - olive oil, butter, mayonnaise etc


  1. does it have to be something that doesn't require cooking? otherwise you could have spinach/other green veg/mushrooms cooked with butter, add mayonnaise (homemade if you can if you are keen to avoid artificial ingredients). salad with plenty of homemade oily dressing (i mix olive oil, white wine vinegar and dijon mustard)?


are you drinking enough water?

it's great that you're experiencing benefits other than weight loss. exercise is good for overall health but won't really have an impact on weight loss, so i wouldn't worry about that too much. tbh, the weight IS coming off - you have lost nearly 3lb in nearly 3 weeks, which while it's not a dramatic loss is actually a good, sustainable rate. low-carbing isn't a quick fix, though you do often see high (and highly-motivating) losses in the first week due often to the reduction of glycogen stores.

you don't have a lot to lose really which may also account for a slower rate of loss than some people report.

are you enjoying what you are eating?
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DwightFry · 03/09/2013 11:36

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WillieWaggledagger · 03/09/2013 12:21

yy to slow cooker - i do curries and stews and joints all the time. i tend to do the same recipe but without the flour or root veg, and substitute shallots for onions. to thicken any sauce i reduce on the hob once it's cooked, so instead of gravy you end up with a slightly thinner jus, but I like that anyway

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holmessweetholmes · 03/09/2013 15:57

Does anyone have any fab, easy low carb packed lunch ideas? I started my new job today and was seriously unimpressed with the canteen food! I'll check out the recipes thread too - maybe there are some cold lunch ideas there...

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ImATotJeSuisUneTot · 03/09/2013 16:51

Will you have access to a fridge?

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holmessweetholmes · 03/09/2013 17:55

Ooh- not sure. Probably. I haven't fully investigated the kitchen area yet! I have ice packs anyway though.

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colette · 03/09/2013 19:40

Any recipes for spare ribs and pork chops please - Dh brought enough for about 8 mealsHmmSainsburys had reduced the chops to 70 p for 2 chops and £1.50 for spare ribs for whole family.
thanks

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captainmummy · 03/09/2013 19:45

Holmes - my dp takes salad with meat (sausages/bacon bits/cheese/fish) every day in summer with coleslaw and lots of mayo. In winter he tends to take a flask of creamy soup. I've also done him a cream-cheese/egg 'wrap' with ham or cheese inside, before. There is a recipe on the recipe thread for crustless quiches, and mini muffin/frittata-type things.

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holmessweetholmes · 03/09/2013 21:58

Thanks Captainmummy! I like the idea of frittata. We have chickens, so using eggs is good (although I'm using most of them for breakfasts atm!)

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Purple2012 · 03/09/2013 22:36

I am trying to think of something different to salad and chicken before my recipe books arrive.

Would asparagus and spring onion cooked in cream cheese poured over chicken be a good low carb meal?

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captainmummy · 04/09/2013 13:27

That sounds fine Purple.

Do you eat eggs? Cream cheese pancakes are a good meal -1 pancake = 1 egg to 1oz cream cheese , mixed well and fried like a pancake. I use it as a vegetarian meal, wrapped round broccoli or mushrooms, covered in cheese/cream sauce and baked.

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