The Unbelievably Good Low Carb Diet Thread

[QueenStromba]

The previous thread was getting a bit full so I thought I should start a new one while we could still link between them.

had a weigh in, 0.4 kilo down from yesterday, yay!
behind on water intake schedule today so need to get some more in now.
lunch will be: salad, egg, cheese, anchovies (only 1 small)
dinner will be: salad, omlette (2 or 3 eggs havent decided) with maybe prawns or tuna in it and more cheese

Hello! Well I've lost a pound of the 3-4 I put on this weekend on holiday :)
So far this morning
Breakfast: Greek yoghurt, a few raspberries and blueberries, hazelnuts and almonds
Snack: a few salted almonds
Lunch:pate, blue cheese, celery and green salad
Dinner: Probably salmon, cauli mash, broccoli, creamy leeks for tea

hi people, can anyone advise tips on how to cook spinach? have got some of the frozen stuff (balls of it) and would like to cook it as per creamy/blue cheese - is it just a matter of bunging it in a pan with the cheese? having it with courgettes and an omlette.

also - where to find almonds (salted or any variety) which dont cost the earth! just went to buy a pack but put them back when realised they were £3.09 for a crisp pack size bag!

Mmmm, lunch is lovely today! Am working from home so had the chance to do something a bit more interesting than salad, so sliced up two large flat mushrooms and sauted them in butter and groundnut oil, then added double cream, tarragon, a little blob of english mustard and a (slightly bigger) blob of full-fat Philadelphia, salt and black pepper. Served them on a big pile of baby spinach - delish!

Creamtea - I would put it in the pan with the cheese and let it defrost and cook that way. I LOVE spinach (see above ) and use it loads, in everything!

Re: the almonds - they are quite expensive I agree. But I find that I only eat a very few at a time so the bag does last a good while. I buy the unsalted ones and keep them in my car to snack on as my job involves lots of driving. I like them but not enough to eat tonnes in one go iyswim?

I have a giant tub of salted almonds I bought from Costco. Enough for the next year, at least. I hive off little tupperwares of it to keep on my desk.

That frozen spinach - it's easiest to blast in a microwave to defrost (the lumps are like concrete if you just put them in a saucepan and you'll be hacking at them for ages). Then you can drain off the liquid before adding butter, salt, pepper and grated nutmeg. Yum.

I've just eaten a tub of tuna mayo with iceberg lettuce wraps - very tasty.

I bought a huge bag of salted almonds in Morocco because they're much cheaper than here I decant a few into a small tupperware and they are usually enough to take hunger/snacky feeling away. In general, I find I trough nuts if they are available but if I only have 5 or 6 to hand then that is all I need to eat.

Re spinach, make sure you buy the frozen whole leaf rather than chopped as I find the chopped is in really tiny bits and a bit annoying.

I eat fresh in salad but frozen is great in omelettes (I defrost in microwave too) and general cooking. It's good in soups. Last night I did a Thai chicken coconut laksa type soup and used frozen spinach in it even though I had fresh in the fridge. I keep wondering if a homemade spinach pesto would work although not yet attempted it - whizz up with parmesan, olive oil, garlic and a bit of lemon I guess.

Hello Hello Hello FN Hilly here.

A little tip for people who are finding that they are flagging and feeling hungry and likely to cave in before ketosis has kicked in, or for days when you just feel all sugar-cravey.

Get some good quality 70% min. cocoa solids chocolate. Break up a few squares and melt in the microwave, then stir in some double cream and some splenda to taste. Depending on how much cream you used is, you can either heat it a bit more for a lovely warm goo like proper italian thick hot chocolate which you can drink immediately, or if you use less cream you can stick it in the fridge and let the chocolate set which will give you a thicker consistency spoonable sort of pudding. If you want you could also melt a bit of unsalted butter with the chocolate so that when it is mixed with the cream and chilled it will go quite firm/thick like a ganache/truffle.

This will keep well in the first for about three or four days of the cream is fresh enough, and it really is useful to just grab a couple of spoonfuls if you need a sweet hit and feel like you might cave in and hit the biscuit tin otherwise.

If you find you are craving clean fresh tasting stuff like oranges, you can use the juice of one lemon or one lime, or a mix, stirred into double cream and splenda. The acid will help set the cream so you end up with a sort of thick syllabub which has the fat content needed to satiate your appetite but still has a nice sharpness to it, and very few carbs.

thanks everyone, it is the chopped variety i have some think i will put some in the omlette as well in the side dish. and am a costco member so will go there at the weekend to stock up on almonds :)

am also working from home today, so just had a lucnh which felt so naughty! salad leaves, then small bit of tuna, blue cheese, hard boiled egg and big blob of coleslaw - how 'allowed' is coleslaw? looked ok on the label, about 2.6g carbs per 100g

Hi all, well done to all the losers. creamtea I'm not sure how allowed coleslaw is as it does contain carrot but I have been eating Lidl's cheese coleslaw this week. It is 3.8g per 100g and 50g is enough really.

Is cheap ham no good then? I can't always afford good ham so sometimes get cheap ham and count the carb content.

I find Lidl and Aldi quite reasonable for nuts.

DD is still not well, she is now pooing water (sorry TMI) so is not at nursery which means I can't get to the gym. I did manage a run yesterday while DH was home on his lunch. I had a sneaky early weigh today which showed a 1lb gain so I'm thinking that must be the weekend catching up, but I am still in ketosis so will see what official weigh in says in a few days

Oops, I posted this on the last thread, I hadn't realised there was a new one.

I really need a pep talk .

Not sure what is going on, but I have fallen off the wagon, in a fairly major way. I start the day thinking 'today I will stick to it' - I am fine for breakfast & lunch, then come 4.30 I crash and burn - yesterday was particularly bad - shortbread fingers (about 4 of them) at 4.30, 2 hot cross buns at about 8pm, a fair bit of cava, and then chocolate at 11 before I went to bed. I actually feel ashamed typing this.

What is even worse, is that it hasn't really shown up on the scales - so far - so in a way I know when I am in mutinous form, I somehow justify it to myself that it's not so bad as I haven't put that much on - then I get worse. In no time at all I end up with 3kg overnight gains. I have been hovering around 89 kg since about the end of January, so I need to do something to:

a. Get myself back in control
b. See a discernible loss from where I am at the moment.

Any words of encouragement?

I find that the cheaper coleslaws are fine as they are mostly made of cabbage, with just a hint of carrot. Always go for the full fat version too, as the low fat ones tend to be higher carb as they use more sugary mayos - at least I think that is the case.

Beryl - how about you set yourself of a target of one week fully back on the wagon?

I would set myself a goal of 3 days on the low carb plan again, measure yourself, think how much better you felt in yourself while not full of stodgy carbs and drink water!

If that doesnt give you a kick up the bum, then have a look outside - the sun is shining, its hot and Winter is gone. Check out the slinkies in their beautiful dresses. That is what inspires me to keep going.

Ooh hilly hello! I hope you are well (I assume you are who I think you are if not ignore me )

angry well done on that brilliant continual weightloss.

beryl please don't feel guilty. I munched what seems like half a bag of thorntons toffees the other day - they were bloody delicious. It is hard to avoid temptation sometimes when easy carb pickings surround you. You musn't flagellate yourself.

I feel that I have lost some weight this week - i will weigh myself tomorrow I think to have a look. I have replaced my smoked salmon addiction with macadamia nut. God damn those bastards in sainsburys whosell 60g bags of salted macadamias which are delicious. They are very low carb - 3g for a VERY filling bag, and only costs a quid, but bloody hell they are nearly 100% fat and the bag is 500 cals, which I think takes the piss somewhat.

I am going to make that whipped cream ganache stuff (easier to buy choc and cream rather than rhubarb, I am avoiding shops at the moment as I am sick of running the gauntlet of the crisps aisle) and also really like the look of the tuna, creme fraiche and almond fishcakes.

This diet is rather expensive, but some of the meals I am having are so tasty (pate, blue cheese, smoked salmon, eggs florentine) and is so much better than pappy sandwiches and pasta all the time.

I agree with India Knight when she says that she used to eat pasta all the time, and now very rarely eats it because she finds the texture strange. I had one tiny bit of dd's macaroni last night, and it tasted like slime. Strange.

I ate some Green and Black's dark chocolate just now, about 10 small squares. Will that have kicked me out of ketosis?

I've lost 7lbs in 8 days so far.

I don't really understand about how sugar works in all this. I get the no-carbs = burning fat thing.

Hello all - Another 2 pounds off this week so 8 pounds in all for first two weeks. Feeling very positive.

Getorf = I made delicious home made chicken tikka and sag paneer can post recipe if you like. Very uncarby and IMO nicer that from the takeaway!

yes please londonone I would love those recipes!

tonight we had salad and kebabs, with chicken.

I am just not very hungry this evening though, so if I am peckish later I may stew some rhubarb that I bought today... or more than likely make my now famous choc mousse.

I may be stretching it a bit to call the chicken tikka a recipe!

I used a dessertspoon full ot waitrose tikka marinade mixed with double cream and marinaded the chicken for a few hours and then chucked it all in a pyrex for 30 mins at 180. You could make up some extra sauce if you wanted it more than of a curry.

Sag paneer
Toast some 1 tsp cumin seeds in a dry pan then remove and crush. Fry off some chopped shallots in oil add a chopped clove of garlic, teaspoon of ground coriander, the cumin, teaspoon garam masala and as much fresh chili as you like. Contiue browning until the onion is nice and soft. Chop your paneer into small pieces approx 1-2 cm cubes and add to the onion mixture, Continue over a low heat until paneer in slightly browned (1-2minutes). At this point I tend to just add my frozen spinach and leave it over a low heat to defrost and cook through. You could defrost separately and add after if you want. I use the chopped frozen spinach. You could add some cream at the end if you want a creamier texture.

BelfastBloke cutting down on sugar stops your bloodsugar from giving you highs and lows of energy and hunger. So you stay on an even keel without getting attacks of the munchies.

There is something complicated to do with insulin storing fat in your fat cells so the lower/less insulin you produce the more fat you burn. Google 'Briffa insulin' for a proper explanation.

HTH (from a fellow Gooner!)

Love your style londonone that works for me!

When you make it, does the paneer melt? I only like it if melted into my spinach, dont like it in chunks. I did make it once before, with cream, but didnt put enough spices in, so it was a bit bland.

Will give it a go.

BIWI was it you who said they had seen photos of a lady on another forum at exactly the same weight but one pic was on low carb and the other low fat? If so could you tell me the thread title or posters name by any chance if you can remember it? I am now registered on the site but can't find anything and I am really interested to see these pics.
Thanks

Cheers, Gooner.

Does that mean that the occasional bit of dark chocolate doesn't necessarily throw you out of ketosis - it just means that it's more difficult to resist further temptation?

I think so, BB The science confounds me, but I know that one bit of chocolate can lead to another one...