Talk to be about your low-carb diet

[Croissantsfordinner]

What benefits did you experience, how long have you been doing it for and what do you eat in a day normally?

Weigh loss meals

Coffee

Green tea

Water

First meal
12pm - omelette with spring onion, tomato's and cheese

English tea

6pm Covent Garden soup

@Croissantsfordinner I’ve been low carbing (mostly - I do have periods where I don’t!) for over 20 years now.

Apart from weight loss, which was the original motivation, I now very rarely suffer from IBS or thrush, both of which were conditions I suffered from regularly. (It has to be said though, that coming off the pill also helped with the thrush).

My days are usually:

Morning: just coffee, with full fat milk. Very rarely have breakfast, as I’m just not hungry, but if I am, then it will be something like boiled eggs or full fat Greek yoghurt

Lunch: eggs are my go-to - boiled, hard-boiled with mayo or an omelette, with ham/cheese/mushrooms. Sometimes might have bacon and fried eggs. I may have leftovers from dinner the night before.

Dinner: all kinds of things! Last night we had Monya Kilian Palmer’s sesame chicken with broccolini which I served with cauliflower ‘hash browns'. Tonight we had paneer curry with cashews - I had mine just with yobhurt but without rice, whereas DH and DS2 had theirs with rice and naan.

I make salmon or pork fillet stir-fries - marinate the fish/meat in garlic, ginger, soy and lemon, with some Chinese 5 spice and serve on a bed of stir-fried veg (usually onion/shallot, mange tout, cabbage, baby sweetcorn) and then mix through full fat coconut milk. DH/DC get theirs with rice or noodles; I’ll have mine with konjac noodles, or I make egg-fried ‘rice’ using cauliflower.

Another favourite is roast pork, which I serve with charred hispi cabbage or braised red cabbage, swede and/or celeriac chips, pan-fried buttery leeks.

Meatballs (mince in the processor with onion/shallots, garlic, red pepper, olive oil - no breadcrumbs to bind, just make it into meatballs and then bake in the oven, drizzled with more olive oil), in a garlicky tomato sauce.

Sausages (good quality/high meat content ones, as they’re the lowest carb) with roast vegetables - onions/shallots, peppers, courgettes, cauliflower, broccoli, garlic and tomatoes)

Cauliflower cheese (sometimes make this with other veg as well and might also add bacon); cheese sauce is simply double cream with lots of mature cheddar grated into it. Whole lot then baked in the oven.

Aubergine, cut in half, flesh slashed with a sharp knife, then roasted in the oven with lots of olive oil. Served with whipped feta, and a green salad with a vinaigrette dressing.

Aubergine and courgette, sliced and griddled, then layered with a tomato sauce and mozzarella, topped with grated cheddar and Parmesan and baked in the oven. Again usually with a green salad.

Does all that help?!

@BIWI you helped me so much last August when I was just starting my weight loss diet and was considering low carb/keto 😊 Your advice was brilliant and I’m really enjoying the change. I didn’t really go back to my thread months later so can I just say here, thank you for your help ❤️

@Croissantsfordinner I do a combination of keto/low carb, depending what’s going on. I deliberately took some time off over Christmas but I still stuck pretty much to low carb foods most of the time. I didn’t go all out but did have a few things that wouldn’t normally fit into my diet. After Christmas and New Year, I went straight back to my diet.

The thing that shocked me is the loss of fluid. Every month my feet and lower legs used to puff up. And my tummy often felt bloated. Switching to low carbs has TOTALLY resolved the problem. It’s actually quite startling.

I’ve lost 3 stone so I thought maybe that was why. But at Christmas when I reverted to having some potatoes and sugary desserts, I noticed my ankles and feet puffed up again. When I went back on my diet in January, puffiness vanished again!

I feel lighter, less bloated, and not so sluggish or fatigued. Obviously I don’t know what is due to weight loss and what’s due to low carbs, but I didn’t feel as good when I had a couple of higher carb days over Christmas. It’s really opened my eyes to the fact that sugar is horrendous for my body in many different ways. I never used to take much notice but I really should have done as the difference for me is huge!

I lost 5 stone on keto and have maintained on lowish carb. Just gone back to keto for lent.

Benefits are I am healthier, blood pressure us down a bit, I walk faster and stop to rest far less. I feel happier.

I have scrambled eggs and prosciutto for breakfast.
Then lunch is generally salmon and salad and prawn cocktail or chicken caesar salad without the croutons.
Evening meal is salmon and broccoli, or sausages, lamb, chicken , beef and Broccoli or cauliflower.
Too much 90% chocolate is probably why I maintained on low carb rather than continuing to lose. It is now hidden and I get DH to give me a square or 2 each day.

Thank you @SpidersAreShitheads

None of Covent Garden Soups are low carb. Most have potato, sugar and/or flour in them.

Replace with a gorgeous steak or roast chicken, broccoli, green beans, cali cheese.

It depends how many carbs you’re allowing yourself @getahhtmapub - their mushroom soup or classic chicken recipe are both around 13/16g carbs for half the pack.

I've done keto on and off for 15 years or so. I'm completely addicted to food/sugar and also am a binge eater so do fall off the wagon but use it generally to control my hormones and appetite. I feel much more even keeled on keto, clear headed, more productive in other parts of my life too.

Possibly the only advantage of the starting and stopping is that I'm an absolute pro at sugar withdrawal now. My body has gotten used to it to the extent that I've gone from 5 days of feeling rotten, to 12 hours of headaches before I'm switched over.

The first week is hard, then it gets easier and easier.

Tricks I have found.

If you are having a hard time and tempted to give up. Give yourself permission to have an 'anything as long as it's keto' meal. Forget about balance and vegetables and just gorge on cheesy meatballs or a rotisserie chicken or a big plate of eggs and bacon.

Learn to enjoy a hot drink. I've had fun finding a d experimenting with herbal teas and have been able to convert to black coffee with double cream which feels very indulgent now.

Meal ideas.

Breakfast - usually skip in favour of coffee or tea but maybe one it twice a week will have buttery/cheesy scrambled eggs with or without bacon.

Lunch and dinner are interchangable for me.

Chicken and bacon Caesar salad. (Dressing is anchovies, mayo, vinegar, mustard, parmesan, garlic)

'everything but the bun' burger. As it sounds. Pattys with melted cheese, served with coleslaw, fried mushrooms, spinach, fried shallots, tomato salsa etc.

Creamy chicken and bacon bake. (Mushroom and garlic sauce with cream. Poured over the bacon wrapped chicken and cheese added last minute.) Served with fried cabbage and briccoli.

Lemon cream baked salmon.

Meat/prawn stir-fry made with garlic, soy sauce and sesame oil.

Roast vegetable salad with goats cheese.

Any shop bought kebab grilled. Served with yogurt dip (full fat yogurt, diced cucumber, olive oil and lime/lemon juice, pepper) chopped tomato, green salad with chilli sauce drizzled over the top.

Mixed veg and bacon soup.

I avoid any shop bought soup as they tend to bulk them out with thickeners. Fine in an emergency or as a one time thing but a bit carby for me when there are much nicer things I can eat with those numbers.

Homemade is so much tastier anyway. It's worth having a look there may be some exceptions.

Oh yes, I do agree that home-made is much, much better @Cerialkiller! But we don't always have that option, so it's worth knowing which brands/variants might be sufficiently low carb.

Low carb doesnt mean no carb

I eat largely a low carb diet (when concentrating) and aim to have around 50-70g of carbs per day, largely from veg, grains, pulses and legumes. I also eat dried fruit. I will eat the odd bit of potato too.