What can I replace carbs with?

[WoodBurningStov]

I've put on 5 stone in the last 8 years, mostly due to lifestyle change, menopause and illness.

I saw my GP last week and she's suggested cutting out carbs. I have a fairly healthy, varied diet, so lots of veggies, fish, meat etc, but I do eat a lot of carbs, pasta, rice, bread, potatoes etc

What can I use that isn't a carb? Things to replace pasta in a spag bol for instance, or rice in a curry, whole meal pitta for lunch with a salad, baked potatoe with tuna.

Plus what do you have for breakfast? I have a smoothie now (home made, with fat free yogurt and fruit), or maybe eggs and bacon (no hash browns or toast), but by 10 am I'm ravenous. The same with lunch and tea. I've tried the protein with veggies, but again, 2 hours later I could gnaw my own arm off

Different coloured tomatoes and different coloured peppers, mini cucumber, spring onion, brown onion, red onion or a combo, olives, beetroot, sometimes seeds, different leaves such as rocket or spinach, a sprinkle of blue cheese as it’s crumbly, lots of pepper, a low calorie salad dressing plus some low calorie salad cream. The smallest amount of both, then I add various combinations of eggs, tuna, salmon, ham, chicken.
Sometimes I add peas or pomegranate seeds, it is truly massive, not mumsnet massive.
I don’t actually use lettuce as I dont find it has much flavour.

I find cutting out carbs very difficult. But have learned to eat less of them, rather than none of them. My favourite alternative with bolognese is that I roast a whole red pepper or two, cut in half and fill the halves with bolognese, put cheese on top and then grill/bake. I should point out that I don’t put peppers in the bolognese itself or it’s peppers overkill!

I then have them with a salad - raw baby spinach leaves with cucumber and red onion works well.

I've just been lower rather than NO carbing for the last ten days. Weight is falling off but I have felt hungry between meals as next mealtime approaches.
It is something you have to adjust to.
I eat lots of fat ie full fat milk dressings oil in dishes but I am absolutely cutting out sugar

So no fruit except a few raspberries or blueberries, no cakes, biscuits no sweeteners or added sugar honey
And I'm avoiding nuts as snacks too. No snacks of ANY kind. Unlimited tea and coffee but no cappuchinos or hot chocolates.

Have a normal meal three times a day, eat everything you normally eat but with no sugar fruit or extra bread and no snacks of any kind or alcohol....and see how you go.

Salad ingredients here have been : beetroot, avocado, pistachio nuts, cheese cubes, spring onions, roasted red peppers, chorizo, crispy bacon, tinned salmon...wild rice, boiled egg. Even boiled potato, small amount.
Just not all at once!

I forgot avocado.

I've varied breakfast between porridge with milk and raspberries, wholemeal toast with an egg or cream cheese or a Greek yoghurt with some pistachio nuts and blueberries, and tbh I am always starving by 1pm ....it's just the way it is at first. But then lunch is delicious!!!!

You can boil a cauliflower head and then mash it with seasoning and olive oil for a rice etc alternative. It's not the same but it isn't bad.

What's so evil about normal rice? Brown basmati is delicious and contains fibre and protein as well as carbs. Cauliflower is a lovely veg but it's obviously not going to be the same to make "rice" out of.

You just replace them with more of everything else.

Instead of curry and rice, you have a larger serving of curry without rice.

Instead of stirfry and noodles, you have a larger serving of stirfry without noodles.

Instead of soup and bread, you have a larger bowl of soup with no bread.

I've just come to reject the whole assumption of a carb "base" to various meals. Obviously if you had so much more of the other food that you ended up with the same calorie content as the carbs, then it wouldn't be any use. But you can actually add quite a bit before getting to that point. A typical vegetable stir fry might be about 200 calories which most people would serve with 300 calories worth of noodles or rice. So you could increase the veges by 50 or even 100% and still come out leaner.

Not only that but it's more enjoyable to eat, too. If calories have to really count because you don't want to many of them, why get them from boring things like rice and pasta, when you could get them from interesting, satifying things like meat and veges instead?

It's not a question of evil, it's just very calorie-dense is all. If you want to lose weight, you need to reduce your intake of such things.

If you don't need to lose weight, have at it.

brown rice isn’t a barrier to weight loss, and it’s not a simple waste of calories. Yes you can get more volume from cauliflower but the rice has more fibre and is more satiating, it even has protein in it. No one should be demonising things like brown rice and carbo-phobing people away from eating perfectly healthy Wholegrain carbohydrates and that it will hamper weight loss, when it doesn’t. Moderation is key really you have to be able to live in the real world for a long period of time. Volume eating can be combined with small portions of carbohydrates day to day. It’s not more enjoyable to eat cauliflower rice than it is brown rice really or people wouldn’t be trying to find ways to mask the taste 😂

This thread is so confusing tbh as people are talking about getting value for calories so would rather use their calories on very high calorie foods like olive oil, nuts and chorizo than eat brown rice or bread, but for the same calories you can eat a whole slice of bread for the same calories of one tablespoon of olive oil or a very small portion of 5-8 nuts.

I suppose there are different ways to skin a cat so to speak. I don’t eat a low fat diet but I don’t use up 300+ calories of it on oils, butter, fatty meats and nuts a day either. Balance!

The whole point about low carbing surely is that you don't count calories, you just cut out starchy and very sugary foods. And it's much simpler to understand and institute.

And you can eat brown rice and brown bread once you are maintaining rather than losing.

However it is not for everyone.

There are other ways to lose weight.

The whole point for me is that carbs are not boring and an absolutely delicious and balanced part of a meal.

And protein and fat on its own is not filling for me, not without starchy fibre to go with it.

Of course most people trying to lose weight have to count calories and enforce portion sizes with low carb. Most of us have got where we are because our full signal is highly inaccurate as to the amount of food we need and we are bad at portion control.

With a lot of calorific protein/fat filled food I could eat three times or more the portion size and still not feel full. Salmon or mackerel I could eat until it is coming out of my ears. Ditto cheese, nuts and avocado. Even chicken, the recommended portion of chicken breast is about 100g - 23g protein. I can easily eat twice or more in a sitting. It's just not satiating for me unless I have a careful amount of the protein element with a whole starchy carb as well.

I think lentils are fabulous for replacing the rice or pasta. Just make a big pot of puy lentils and keep them slightly Al dente. Use stock, white wine, bay leaf, chopped onion etc to give them lots of flavour. Keeps well in the fridge and then you serve a portion with your main meal in the evening.
You can also buy gluten free pasta made from pea or lentils. It's expensive but if you are desperate for a pasta and sauce experience it does work.
But definitely go down the pulses and beans road. They are good for filling you up and are nutritionally great

The whole point for me is that carbs are not boring and an absolutely delicious and balanced part of a meal.

And protein and fat on its own is not filling for me, not without starchy fibre to go with it.

I completely agree. Whenever I've tried low carb I feel completely unsatisfied all the time. They did a study a few years ago testing which food fill us up the most and for longest and the winner was boiled potatoes.
I eat potatoes and rice all the time and they are just as important and enjoyable as any other part of the meal.

Same and I have had no instances of sugar crashing either, I’ve not had the shakes and can go a few hours between meals quite easily

Don't give up carbs. Give up grains and processed sugar for a while. Also processed food.

So no wheat, oats, rice and sugary stuff.
Carry on eating fruit and all veg including potatoes (not chips or crisps though)

Replace those grains with veg and pulses like chick peas and lentils.

If you are adding a lot of high fat into your diet I would assume that in terms of fat loss, it’s slower. The rapid drop in weight is initially wafer. I believe in energy balance ie calorie deficit is what causes weight loss. Also I think people are replacing carbs with far more calorific foods to get taste so at some point your may end up having to count calories. Low carb you hold less water and sodium in your body, as each g of carbs hold onto 3G of water. I did look into it and low carb diets cause dehydration and loss of electrolytes which is what people assume is ‘keto flu’ having withdrawal from carbs, its that your body is less hydrated and your electrolytes are unbalanced. I don’t want to be tired and have headaches, so I eat a balance that’s all and yes, count calories

Did your doctor say cut/ cut down? Ie is it a medical condition? We need some carbs even just a small amount for energy and our metabolism. Make sure you have something daily beit brown bread, smaller amounts of pasta etc. I lost a stone last year from doing this and also not eating after 8/ only eating eg frozen grapes/ frozen yoghurt (killer for about two weeks then gets a bit easier!) Best of luck op, carbs are my fave food group so I know how you feel!!

I don’t think the fad diets work long term, it needs to be a sustainable lifestyle. Personally I would not want to give up my slice of toast at breakfast. Smaller portions and balance works for me.

A slice of bread would make me feel hungry and give me cravings, same for rice. Cauliflower, nuts, butter and cheese dont do that to me, so this is how I personally balance my foods.

This is real sensible advice. Lo carb works in some situations but it’s hard to keep going on it. Being more aware of carbs is more sustainable.

portion size, I was eating same as husband and creeping up to 14 stone, I’m now 12 st 4. Partly by having a smaller portion than him.

More veg, I do a lot of coleslaws with red cabbage, carrot, spring onion, courgette, red pepper and a lime, coriander, chilli dressing. With some chopped salted peanuts. Or with a lemon, o,I’ve oil parsley dressing.

Greek yoghurt with berries and nuts and seeds is very filling and a lovely breakfast

Also eggs