I am not very good at this lark, but trying to reduce carbs in my diet. Had carrot spaghetti rather than wheat spaghetti tonight - very enjoyable, but think it has as much carbs, oh well. Make myself some Syn-Free (on a Red Day) mini quiche during the week. Eating them with veggie soup. Thought I would share the recipe - I think its pretty adaptable though. Hoping for some hints tips and ideas on the low carb theme from anyone to try and inspire me! Makes 12 muffin-size quiches 6 eggs bunch of spring onions cottage cheese with chilli and red pepper 1 medium pot (I buy Asda £1 a pot on offer) round ham slices "Fry light" Spray the muffin tins with Fry Light Use 2 slices of ham, cut half way across, to line each muffin hole Beat the eggs, cottage cheese, and spring onions together Spoon/pour into the muffin tins Bake for approx 15-20 mins at 180 degrees Centigrade You can sprinkle with cheese (low fat?) before baking to make them more cheesy Nom Nom
I made this the other day for my friend (who is a carb avoider) and swapped the cous cous for Quinoa (she said that was fine, but I don't know if it really is). Anyway, it was super scrummy! I skipped the honey (it made no difference) and did the Halloumi in the George Forman. http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipe/halloumi-broccoli-tabbouleh-honey-harissa-dressing Now you are going to tell me it's packed with Carbs and she was just being polite!
Hmm....never had quinoa. Interesting. I guess you could do it with whizzed up cauliflower too. I'm impressed Julie. Thanks
I love quinoa! I want to start growing it if we get the place in Spain. Jac, try courgette spaghetti if you haven't already. I love it and it contains far less sugar than carrots.
I'm on Slimming World online. I've lost 6Kg so far - 6 more to go. It's very much low carb, low sugar eating. I find it takes a week to get my brain used to it - then I feel fine (unless I succumb to a sugar bing then my poor brain has to go cold turkey all over again!) SW have some great recipes - my favourite is bean burgers. Tinned beans (any kind, I used a mixture) one egg, spices, garlic and seasoning all squidged together and baked or fried in 1 cal spray
I find it really helps when low carbing, which I have been doing successfully for nearly four years now - to shift away from the 'low fat' mindset we all subscribed to in the past. If you try and cut fat while low carbing, you will be starving hungry and end up breaking your diet. Successful low carbers nearly all eat a lot of fat. So my tip would be to forget the 'fry light' and the 'low fat' cheese and indulge in some nice butter and any cheese you fancy. Otherwise it is just another low calorie diet
32 grams of carbs for a single meal is quite a lot for a carb avoider! So yes, she probably was being polite
I have been snacking on nuts and seeds. And some dried fruit mixed in which is not so good. Oh....and Stilton on slices of apple And....hummus with carrot and apple and celery sticks. definitely help satiety. I know the SW quiche are low fat but very tasty and satisfying too. Going to try making them with Stilton or feta. I find Fry Light is a good lubricant. For cooking! I use a lot more rapeseed oil these days. Unfortunately OH is back next weekend so it will be back to more carb based meals but I have enjoyed a bit of experimenting with Sophie. She just fills up on bread if needed. just can't get away from meat or chicken with veg or salad which is a bit boring. Not keen on fish but smoked salmon sale for tomorrow's tea.
I would like to throw my tuppence in. My husband lost 58lbs on a low carb diet. He had sausage, bacon, eggs, slices of meat, fried mushrooms and low carb veg for breakfast. And he puts butter on his veg. I never believed it would work, but the weight fell off him. His cholesterol went down, as did his blood pressure. Not bad for a man in his 70's. I joined him (except I have vege sausage and vege burger) and the weight fell off me so much I began to worry. You should not feel hungry on a low carb diet. I used to be hungry by 11.00am and have a snack, eat my lunch, the start picking at 4.00pm and have supper around 6.00. I don't get hungry between meals now. I would echo what Pippa says about a "mindset". Initially you need to be very disciplined to get your body into keytosis, which is how you loose the weight, but once you have adopted a low carb lifestyle it is easy. I think this would be a good time to point out that you can still drink red wine as it is low in carbs
Whew! I don't follow a low carb diet, but I do try to focus on hitting certain daily targets with proteins and fats. Anything extra I need comes from carbs. Proteins and fats satiate you far better and for longer than carbs do, so you end up eating less overall. I find this really noticeable on certain occasions - if I eat sweets, I'm always hungry shortly afterwards. If I'm going to the gym, I often have a full fat Greek yoghurt for breakfast. One day, I had run out so had one of J's Activia yoghurts instead. By mistake, he'd picked up the low fat ones. Normally, my Greek yoghurt will keep me full until lunchtime, and even then I won't be very hungry. On that day with the low-fat yoghurt I was starving by 11am. I compared the nutritional panels. They had almost identical calories and protein values, but the difference came in the extra calories in the Greek yoghurt coming from fats, and in the Activia one, from carbs. I don't believe that carbohydrates deserve to be demonised the way some people do, but certainly diets high in carbohydrates can encourage over-eating. Of course, you have to differentiate to some extent between simple carbs (sugars - cause a very quick spike in your insulin levels, which then rapidly fall again, leaving you hungry), complex carbs (starches - still cause a spike and then dip in insulin levels, but is more gradual) and fibrous carbs (generally undigested and important for a healthy digestive system). But, in general, if you concentrate on getting plenty of protein and a good amount of dietary fat (because dietary fat is not synonymous with body fat), then make up the difference to your TDEE with carbohydrates, you can't go too far wrong.
@snowbunny, wish I had read you yesterday (know I couldn't as you have only just written!), I am having a colonoscopy tomorrow and have had to have low fibre food and no vegs, fruits, etc and am starving already. I have to starve properly from lunch today for the next 26 hours, I could have had a full fat Greek Yogurht to keep me going!
Oh, sorry for being tardy with my reply! Drink lots of water to fill you up (albeit briefly). I find hot water is more satiating than cold. 26 hours of starving - eek! Good luck!
Thanks @snowbunny, will certainly drink more water and hot, thanks for the tip, I feel a little better now about the prospect of no food!
Hope the colonoscopy goes well for you. I had one last year (having failed the good old 3 window test). It was nothing like as unpleasant as I had been led to believe. When you take the jollop the night before and in the morning arm yourself with a good book and prepare not to leave the loo for quite some time. Invest in some gentle wipes. Even the jollop isn't that bad. Lots of water is the way to go. I had my colonoscopy early afternoon and half an hour later I was sat in Costa indulging in coffee and cake. Normal service was resumed with in hours They found a couple of polyps and removed them during the procedure, which I didn't feel. For some reason people always like to tell you how awful things are, I try to address the balance, but I am always truthful.
Good luck @Stacia My husband has these repeated every two years due to failing the poo sticks test years ago , he has to have polyps removed like @Karen . He is the brave( or foolish ) one who opts for no sedation , he says its not anything to worry about so loads of luck to you .
Might be worth mentioning, for anyone wanting to reduce carbs and cant live without bread , that Burgen soya and linseed bread is extremely low carb , is filling and delicious too , sold in most big supermarkets
I have just taken my first glass of the goo and waiting for the explosion. Everyone has been saying how dreadful it is, so reading your post was so helpful and reassuring - I am very grateful
