Low Carb People - what do you eat for breakfast?

[Earlybird]

Need some ideas to get me started please.

I usually eat at the same time as the children and might just have the protein part. Or I will make one of my favourites.

We always eat together - I either make something that is low carb for all of us or I just avoid the carb element of the meal and have extra veg/salad

Great posts by BIWI I also recommend "Why we get fat" by Gary Taubes (or just read the reviews on Amazon). You'll never want to eat carbs again.

No carb is find for kids I think

See here:
www.robbwolf.com/2010/04/16/kids-paleo-and-nutrient-density/

Low carb is also known as the paleo diet which sounds faddy & gimmicky but it links well with the science of Taubes book.

I was a size 8 before low carbing so use it for health rather than weight loss. I love being able to eat meat and fats and not worry. I'm never hungry although I do have to plan meals a bit more (snacks outside the home are trickier if unprepared).

I feel healthier for no eating carbs and shit when I do eat them.

I'm hoping supermarkets will start stocking nitrate free bacon & sausage and I'll be eating that for breakfast every day. Eggs are a big part of breakfast though, you're right.

Large mushrooms filled with bacon & eggs is nice, or with spinach.

Ham/mushroom omelette
Scrambled eggs
Red pepper halved & filled with chicken or bacon pieces and an egg, baked until the egg sets. Bit of an odd one that but nice nevertheless

Someone should do a low carb lunch place in various places in cities. With a nice name etc.

Like that Leon food place but with low carb; nice sashimi (not dried old stuff), wraps without bread and salads.

Two boiled eggs!

Although to be honest I'm not entirely on track at the moment. I want to lose a stone in time for the summer so I need to pull my finger out soon and get back on it.

Thanks all am going to have a read. I'll report back! This will be a massive change for me as I live on tea with sugar and cereal....

And you'll have to change your name to something lower carb

I tried low-carb for two months.

For breakfast I ate an egg or a few soya nuts.
Lunch I had a salad with egg or tofu.
Dinner was tofu or quorn with vegetables.

I got plenty of exercise and drank lots of water.
I didn't cheat once.
I felt really terrible with no energy and I was really weak.
At the end of two months I'd lost nothing and looked exactly the same, just felt awful. I won't be doing that again in a hurry.

Doesn't look like you were eating enough, or enough fat, happybubblebrain.

How much did you weigh/how much were you trying to lose?

There is no reason for anyone to feel weak or have no energy if they are eating low carb properly.

Hi, I was eating enough because I had big enough portions for lunch and dinner,. I weighed just over 10 and a half stone and I wanted to get to 9 stone (I'm 5.6 in height), but I lost nothing It was the only diet I ever managed to stick to because I wasn't very hungry on it, but its pretty pointless if you don't loose any weight and feel terrible.

No carbs is such a limiting and unhealthy way of eating, which didn't even work in my case. This was about 3 years go and I've never been on diet since.

Anyway, now I have come to the conclusion that diets are a mugs game and I'm far happier just accepting being a big chubby and enjoying my food.

ACtually happy eating carbs is the unhealthy way to eat.

Im with BIWI you werent eating enough, not enough fats either.

Well, that height and weight gives you a BMI of 24, which is in the middle of the desirable range - so you would have been hard pushed to go too much lower than that.

And it's not just about portion size - you need to eat protein and fat as well as keeping it low carb, and it doesn't look like you were eating much fat, which is critical for weight loss. No fat would also explain why you had no energy.

It's also low carb, not no carb - you're supposed to get your carbs from green veg/salad.

Good point Kelly

Hmm....

My DH got diagnosed with diabetes by accident, but it was such a shock that made me research this a lot, I would also recommend the Gary Taubes "why we get fat", I cut out all refined carbs, so eat only protein and veggies with occasional fruit and after only a week myself and my permanently tired DH are feeling miles better then before. I am a great believer now that the carbs are a real killer for us. I no longer have craving for sweet stuff, only occasionally some nice smell of bread of something like thing will bring memories but I am no longer that weak to fall into carbs trap again.
However I do find it hard on kids though, I got DS 4 and 2 and feels as if am depriving them if do not cook them rice or pasta or potatoes for them and just offer them healthy meal with plenty of veggies and meat or fish because even though it is a good meal they are picky and would take along time to try anything like that while brea or potatoes is a natural choice for them. Help what I should I cook for kids?

The traditional English breakfast which I have is bacon and eggs adn that is hugely better for children than a load of carbs and sugar and additives which are in most cereals. I don't follow any specific diet but I just eat non processed foods (yes I know some bacon has stuff added but it's a lot less than many other processed foods so am happy to compromise on that). I do eat a very small bit of heated up brown rice with meals but I agree with tweety that the diet most people eat is pretty bad for you.

There is a book on pre diabetes/diabetes called Sugar Nation (which is a bit technical in places as he worked for Men's Health and a bit too much about diabetes which I don't have) which is good and see sites like radiantrecovery.com. Certainly just about all good psychiatric clinics recommend diets which are balanced and regular meals and cutting out sugar/sugar substitutes (as they just prime your addictive bits) and white bread etc.

It does seem to me that a good diet keeps you happier and keeps you fitter. Most of the diseases which are more modern seem to result from our diets today.If went back to how we used to eat we would be healthier and also happier. If you can also get the exercise and sunshine of our ancestors and 8+ hours a night sleep you're nearly home and dry.[ Caveat many of our ancestors were murdered or starved to death so I am not suggesting times were then better of course but the diet was when there was food was]

Absolutely, Xenia. Dr Briffa's books talk a lot about the 'hunter-gatherer' approach to eating. Basically, anything that can have a brand easily slapped on to it is probably worth avoiding. And not just because they are processed foods, but also because there are often hefty/rich manufacturers/industry bodies behind them, pushing for the profit margin.

Whereas meat, fish, veg - no processing and no vested interests.

tweety - your children can probably eat/cope with more carbs than your DH, but avoid as much processed stuff as you can - white pasta/rice/flour/sugar. Cut out as much sugar as you can generally and definitely avoid artificial sweeteners. Although fruit is OK, avoid giving them too much fruit to snack on, and encourage them to eat cheese/seeds/nuts as snacks if you can. If you're giving them fruit juice, dilute it half and half with water.

.... and it is in no way 'natural' to add potatoes/rice/pasta to a plate - we have just come to feel that it is!

Scrambled eggs. With salsa or cheese or with bits of pepperoni for a change. I microwave and it's done in 1.5 min.

Herrings milts. Fried in butter. Every day.

I've found this thread really interesting.

FIL was type 2 diabetic and DH is possibly heading that way. He already has high blood pressure. He thinks his diet is very good and in reference to the Diabetes UK website it is - high fibre cereal with semi-skimmed milk for breakfast, fruit for snacks throughout the day, salad for lunch (with pulses, couscous etc) and I cook fresh meals every evening using low fat, healthy ingredients and lots of vegetables. We almost have some form of protein either meat, fish or pulses. Would he benefit from a low carb diet?

I lost 2 stone on Slimming world a few years ago, but am back up to my starting weight again and have just rejoined...I have always thought that I needed some carbs in my meals in order to fill me up, but am interested to read that it's the protein and fats that might better do that job and the carbs that might be making me gain weight! So I may well give this a try.

My 3 DDs all have coeliac disease, so are gluten free. Is a gluten free diet, albeit one that contains carbs in the form of g-f bread and pasta, rice and potatoes healthier than a similar diet containing gluten?

Sorry for all the questions - am downloading the Briffa book onto my kindle for reference too!

I think low carbing is perfectly suited to diabetics, tkband3 - its aim is to keep your blood sugar levels stable.

Looking at your DH's diet, it's the classic high carb one - lots of stuff designed to send his blood sugar spiking and then crashing down quickly afterwards (especially if he's snacking on fruit all day).

Low fat is not necessary, as you will see from the Briffa book - but unprocessed meat/fish plus vegetables is definitely the way to go.

And you will fuller for longer if you eat protein (and fat) rather than carbs. After you've eaten carbs, your blood sugar spikes, and then drops - and it's then that you feel hungry again. The more your blood sugar levels are peaking (and dropping) the more you will want to eat - with the consequent weight gain - as well as the fat that is laid down by the production of insulin!

I don't know anything about gluten-free, I'm afraid, but if your DDs end up eating the same diet as you and your DH then it won't do them any harm.

(NB I am not a doctor, and if your DH is going to change his diet then you need to be very careful about how you do it, and make sure you monitor his blood sugar levels very carefully!)

BIWI do you have a view on how many grams of carbs is good in a day? (for low carb)

Not really, Marsha!

Although I've read a lot of the different plans, I've never really followed any of them to the letter.

The thinking behind Atkins is that you start off in induction, the strictest phase, eating no more than 20g carbs per day, and you get those carbs from veg/salad stuff. Then after that you gradually increase the carbs that you eat until you reach the point that you start to put weight on.

The reason I've never done it is because I can't be bothered with all the faff of weighing and counting. So I just avoid things such as:

potatoes
pasta
rice
bread
cereals
sugar
fruit
pulses

and base my meals round good quality, unprocessed protein.

Everything that I've read (and the different forums I've used) all suggest that everyone is different. Some people can happily tolerate 100g carbs per day whereas others have to be really strict and stay around the 20g mark.

And it also depends why you're doing it. If you're doing it to lose weight, then you will have to be more mindful of your carbs every day. If it's about ongoing, healthy eating then you probably have a bit more latitude. For example, once I have shed enough weight to be happy, and need to maintain rather than lose, I hope to be able to re-introduce pulses occasionally, as well as some fruits.

Sorry if that isn't helpful.

No that is really helpful thanks!

I find it easy as I don't think about it too much. I don't think of it as a 'diet'. Just a way to eat. I might check something like mushrooms or balsamic vinegar as I have no idea and don't want to blow out on eating something that is really carby without realising.

I eat loads of eggs, protein and lots of green vegetables.

And then I avoid the same things as you. So am pleased .

Also I imagine I eat than 20g but less than 60g.