My new low carb life

Hi all

I plan to revamp my old eating habits and eat more low carb

so please feel free to make suggestions as once I cut out bread, pasta, rice and potato I start to struggle , so far I have this in mind

my diet before was fairly healthy , I think I just relied on bread and cereals too much


Try to combine a carb with a protein

Ideas for breakfast

Eggs with one slice rye toast
Cereal and fruit
E.g. Oat flakes , All bran , Porridge , Unsweetened muesli
Yogurt and fruit
Low carb pancakes and fruit


Ideas for lunch

Apple and tuna salad with 2 oatcakes

Fatburner sandwich...made with either pitta pocket
or 2 thin slices rye bread
Fillling suggestions ...........
Hummus and lettuce
cottage cheese , cucumber and chives
smoked salmon and low cream cheese
Chicken and tomato
tuna and cucumber
egg, cottage cheese , spring onion

sardines on rye toast

smoked salmon pate on 2 slice rye bread


Ideas for dinner

Half plate veg, quarter plate protein , quarter plate carb

white fish
chicken
quorn
cauli mash
couscous
low carb vegetables from list
wholewheat pasta and brown basmati rice occasionally
Ill still use slim and save chilli and spag bol sometimes for convenience

Ideas for snacks

Fruits which are low carb
Raspberries
Blackberries
Cranberries
Strawberries
Casaba Melon
Papaya
Watermelon
Peaches
Nectarines
Blueberries

Try to combine fruit with seeds and nuts

Jelly
sunflower or pumpkin seeds
yogurt with fruit
oat cakes and hummus or peanut butter or cottage cheese
dried fruits
celery /carrot sticks and hummus

Please feel free to add suggestions because Ive pretty much ran out of ideas now

Im not a great cook and I dont like spending ages preparing food , I like meals I can throw together in a few minutes.

The wok and the microwave are my friends , I dont like to use the cooker if I can help it

Im not cooking for a big family so dont have to consider what anyone else eats and I pretty much like anything , so Im not fussy

Thanks for reading

Oh Ill be having a look around online and other forums and adding more ideas as I find them

I have some low carb cook books but find them a bit overwhelming , they tend to be American and talk about foods I dont even recognise, and they always add about 12 ingredients to every meal , too much !!

Useful links

A good GL / GI table http://www.shaklee.com/pws/library/products/wm_gi_gl_tables.pdf

Have a look online at Patrick holforlds GL DIET

That's very healthy way to eat

thanks , i actually have his book , well one of them , and completely forgot

ill take a look at it , I struggle to read books though , short attention span and tinnitus , bad combination!!

Ill flick through the lists

Lol I'm going to do diet chef for a few weeks after this then slowly up the calories to maintain. I've read that you can source there products from super markets

Found some good lists here

The GL Diet For Dummies

Dieting needn’t mean that you have to resort to bland food or strange food combinations! The Glycaemic Load Diet is a low-carb diet plan that makes healthy eating easier than it has ever been.

Handy Tips to Reduce the GL

Having some handy tips and pointers when trying to lower your glycaemic load means that you need never get it wrong. Here’s a helpful list of things to remember.

Eat small or moderate portions of starchy foods such as bread, potatoes, pasta, and rice.

Include lots of low-GL fruit and vegetables at every meal. Aim for a minimum of five servings of fruit and veg per day. Lightly cook veggies for the minimum time or eat them raw. Fresh, frozen, or canned fruit and veg are all fine.

Make more of pulses including peas, beans, and lentils in soups, salads, and as a meal accompaniment instead of pasta or rice. Pulses, including dried or canned, count towards your five-a-day fruit and veg.

Always include a protein-rich food as part of your meal to reduce the GL. Chose fromlean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, low-fat dairy foods, soya products, or quorn.

Adding acidic foods such as balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, vinaigrette, or pickles (for example, capers and gherkins) to your meal reduces the overall GL. Adding a little monounsaturated oil such as olive or rapeseed oil, or a little Parmesan cheese or reduced-fat cream to recipes also reduces the GL.

Cut right down on highly refined snack foods such as sweets, crisps or corn chips, cakes, biscuits, and pastries made from white flour and sugar. Instead, choose nuts and seeds, or dried fruits such as apple rings or apricots. Instead of milk chocolate, snack on a couple of squares of dark chocolate with over 70 per cent cocoa solids.

Starchy Staples: Helpful Low-GL Alternatives

Use this table to find out which starchy foods to avoid, and discover tasty low-GL alternatives. Keep it handy, so you’re never left wondering if you’ve made the right choices!


Bread
Low GL
Pumpernickel, rye, sourdough, soya and linseed, barley and sunflower, granary, seeded breads and pitta breads
Moderate GL
oat cakes, rye crackers
High GL
White, wholemeal, French stick, rice cakes, cream crackers, bread sticks

Cereal
Low GL
Whole oats, oatmeal, porridge, no added sugar muesli, bran sticks, semolina, quinoa
High GL
Sweetened cereals, rice based cereals, bran flakes, wheat biscuits, shredded wheat

Pasta
Low GL
Egg-based pasta, mungbean noodles
High GL
Overcooked pasta and pasta ready meals requiring re-heating

Rice
Low GL
Long grain, wild, and basmati rice. Bulgur or cracked wheat, couscous, pearl barley
High GL
Short grain, sticky white rice

Potatoes
Low GL
Baby new potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, celeriac, swede
High GL
Large floury white potatoes, French fries, mashed potato

Low-GL Seasonal Fruit and Vegetables

Good news: on the glycaemic load diet, you can indulge in hundreds of beautiful, scrumptious fruits and veggies. Check out this guide to what’s in season when.


Spring Rhubarb, grapes, limes, passion fruit, sharon fruit, lemons, grapefruit, avocado, Leeks, cabbage, watercress, new potatoes, spinach, aubergines, radishes, rocket, spring greens

Summer Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, cherries, nectarines, melon, Asparagus, baby carrots, fresh peas, tomatoes, runner beans, lettuce, cucumber, courgettes, peppers mange tout

Autumn Blackberries, apples pears, gooseberries, damsons, plums, elderberries, greengages, plums Pumpkin, onions, fennel, wild mushrooms, squash, turnips, red cabbage, celeriac, swede

Winter Satsumas, clementines, cranberries, mandarins, tangerines, pears, pomegranates, Brussels sprouts, chicory, cauliflower, kale, celery, mushrooms, purple sprouting broccoli

Yay that's a great list plus eating protein with the complex carbohydrates slows the glucose release. Think thats in Patrick's book

Loads of really healthy yummy food

Thanks for this thread Phoenix. I can't add anything as I don't know enough about low-carb lifestyle. But I am interested in learning and will be keeping my eye on what you find out.
Great thread x

Yeah apparently its good to have a complex carb with a protein

cereal with seeds
egg with rye bread
yogurt with fruit
celery with hummus
sardines with toast

might struggle with cutting out coffee , not following it to the letter , got to have some pleasure left in life

Ill be updating the first post as I find stuff out and also adding useful links as I find them

Dandelion coffee is lovely and I prefer it

You shoud try some mmmmmm

What!! stop swearing lol

never heard of it , im off for a google

It's mentioned and recvommended by Patrick holford. Really nice me and my mum prefer it than normal coffee and it's caffeine free.

That's a great list Phoenix. I'll referring to it when I start refeeding.

Thanks ladies , ill be adding to it over the next few months , until I feel like Ive got a plan for me that I feel I can use for life

I will probably do this for 6 days out of 7 and treat myself one day a week to a few naughties , luckily I do like healthy food , otherwise it would be a bit of a chore , I find it can be more tasty than fast food , but I think a burger and chips or some chocolate cake every now and again isnt going to kill me In fact I think its healthy to treat yourself , otherwise you end up feeling deprived and resentful , and being a natural food rebel the temptation would just be too much

Need to find out what the heck Quinoa is, what to do with various lentils and pulses to make them enjoyable , and some other stuff Ive never tried , I find that I avoid things that arent familiar to me but once Ive made something a couple of times and providing that a) it was easy and b) I liked it, then it soon becomes a regular in my diet , its just getting over the fear of the unfamiliar

Im also investing in a 3 tier steamer again, had one years ago and i was eating very healthily then, I didnt have a cooker for 3 years , I kid you not !! But with a steamer and a microwave somehow i managed and actually my diet was probably healthier

lots of steamed chicken and fish with vegetables and no means of cooking pizza, burgers and chips (not that i eat much of that anyway) but its definitely something i need to return to

I dont know why I ever sold it to be honest , I think its because I found myself in a relationship with a partner 2 kids, my sons girlfriend and a step son to cook for , not to mention 4 mindees I was cooking for every night

I think Id struggle to do that with a 3 tier steamer (no kidding !) and looking back all I did was cook , and hated every minute of it actually , its really not something I have ever enjoyed , but needs must , blimey my house was hectic back then and the last person i ever thought about was myself

things are much different now , Im single , my oldest moved out and so now its just me and my lovely 5 yr old son and all my mindees go home for dinner now ....bliss , I can finally put myself first and get healthy

The main reason I gave up smoking and now want to be a healthy weight is for my son , I think when you choose to have a child later in life you have an obligation to be as healthy as possible and be around for them as long as possible , my 20 year old had a young mum , full of life and my little one deserves the same

wow sorry to ramble feeling a bit philosophical this morning and of course it might have something to do with the diazepan i just took for my bad back he he

I think Ill go for a lie down now

Complex Carbohydrates

Complex carbohydrates as natural starches are found in:
bananas
barley
beans
brown rice
chickpeas
lentils
nuts
oats
parsnips
potatoes
root vegetables
sweet corn
wholegrain cereals
wholemeal breads
wholemeal cereals
wholemeal flour
wholemeal pasta
yams.

Quinoa is ok it's a nutty taste can use instead of couscous that kinda thing

I like these ideas for the future, I know I will need a big list as I never intend to go back to carb addiction and am thinking of setting up a carboholic group - but with just one step...........dont have them!

This is the kind of diet I want to live by Phoenix. It's very healthy and balanced and doesn't contain trigger foods of any sort

Ill save the trigger foods for saturdays

Nutrition and health advice for a healthy lifestyle | Patrick Holford

The only thing that concerns me about his plan , is the supplements he suggests

I would have thought a healthy eating plan would provide you with everything you need so why the need for a multi min and vit and the others he suggests

For optimum nutrition

To understand this u need to read his nutritional bible

Oh dear , I cant really be bothered lol

well Ill be happy with good nutrition Im not training for the olympics