Support and ideas for those on low-carb diet

Don't wait to go and see the doctor- go before the week-end- and don't let family coming put you under pressure- they are coming for YOU, not your perfect lawn. housekeeping or cooking. Take care x

Thanks GJ. The thing is that on Monday she stopped one half of the elements (is that the English?) in the BP tablet I have had for about four years and I doubt she would want to stop the whole thing immediately. The dizziness is definitely better though and I was up to 102/65 this morning! I don't know how long these things stay in your system, but if my BP stays low I shall definitely be asking to come off the medication altogether....
In other news, the duck ragù was delicious.

So gald to hear this, on both counts Mamie - been wondering how you are today. Take care- and (ahahah I am the worst culprit here... so I know I am probably wating my time) don't go too crazy about making things perfect for our visitors- as said, they are coming for YOU... x

(she says, rushing off to put flowers in the guest bedroom- and ready to finish the kitchen floor and tackle the lounge, before cooking dinner ready for guests arriving mid afternoon... having just finished cleaning the patio of all the bird seeds, etc, etc, etc.. hmmm).

Trying to get as much done as we can in advance, but with four children and six adults it will be anything but perfect!
Enjoy your visitors.

We have been eating spaghetti squash with squash sauce - aka ratatouille. I never thought I would get away with it, but with the addition of shelled broad beans or black beans, and a good dollop of red wine in it, the males find it filling enough. I'm just adding things to the ratatouille to vary it, really. A few slices of chopped bacon one night, a bag of frozen seafood another.

We are going away tomorrow and will be eating out every night, so I shall probably put loads of weight on, but as there are at least a dozen more spaghetti squashes still out there at least I know I can lose it again fairly quickly.

OK .. need to talk spaghetti squah.

Picked my first from the allotment a couple of weeks ago. Cut it in half, removed seeds etc.. brushed on a touch of oil and baked in oven for 45 minutes as per recipe on Internet.

Using a fork I scooped out the spaghetti threads inside. They were soggy and horrible. Couldn't eat it. Gave it to the chicks.

Now I've the rest of the crop ripening so want to try again.

How do others cook these things please?

Sorry, can't help with that Anya, think it is Jane Rowena who grows it? We are having a bumper year for squash though. I am in the UK and have left OH making huge quantities of vegetable curries, soups etc
We have had lots of visitors this summer so haven't posted here for a bit, but have found the low-carbing fairly easy to sustain, though sometimes we have had to say to our guests, "today is low-carb, please feel free to collect and cook you own potatoes".
We even pushed the boat out one day and had a chocolate mousse filled gateau from the patisserie. It was very delicious but a small slice was enough!

I'll PM her Mamie

Your point about occasional treats is very valid. Next Wednesday I'm taking GS1 out for his 9th birthday treat - home made scones, with clotted cream and jam. That's what he's asked for.

There a lovely cafe in Moreton in Marsh that make delicious ones, so we'll keep him company and have one too.

Actually it's about the only thing I can bake with any success but I've thrown most of my flour out, and anyway it's a day out in the Cotswolds. .

My rare treat is a small vanilla ice cream or a bowl of porridge with Greek yoghurt and a drizzle of honey.

I tried eating scones on a day out just over a year ago and spent the rest of the afternoon crippled with stomach cramps. I haven't dared touch them since.

I haven't grown spaghetti squash for a few years but I'm sure they were OK baked in the oven. It was a long time ago though.

Use when at least 6" long, preferable more. Two large 8 or 9" ones do three of us easily.

Prepare well in advance. Cut right down through from top to bottom, remove seeds from centre (but really they are actually quite nice if some are left in) place on a baking sheet with a little water added, it sort of steams it a bit. Bake for roughly 45mins at perhaps 180C - a bit imprecise I am afraid. Remove, leave to cool a little, then take a fork and, holding a half in one hand (they should be a bit floppy) make downwards strokes with the fork, the flesh will come away in narrow spaghettini-type strips. When you can't get any more out with the fork, use a spoon to scoop out the remaining fibres.

Drain it well for quite a while. I mix in a little olive oil and salt and pepper, then reheat - I use a microwave, maybe steaming it you don't use one. Althugh I think I have heated it in an oven before now. It's slightly sweet, lovely.

It really does need the draining and reheating, then even maybe a bit more draining. Maybe the reheated in the oven method would suit you more, as it would dry it out a bit, just make sure you add a little oil first.

Thanks Jane I can see where I went wrong - no draining or reheating. My microwave blew up a couple of months ago with a spectacular flash and bang and a nasty burning smell and I haven't bothered to replace it yet, so the oven sounds good to me.

I'll try again tonight. I have to get this right as we're inundated with lovely big spaghetti squashes! We've interplanted them between the sweet corn and that seems to work for both.

I made courgette and rocket soup - delicious, with chicken stock and a little yoghourt, but as DBH said looking slightly concerned, before he tasted it, 'I think Shrek would like it'.

They did like it but I was left to finish off the remnants for my lunch. As we had a couple of tbsps. of spaghetti squash left, I added it to the soup. I was just taking my first mouthful when DBH walked in.

'You do know you have just created every child's fantasy for Halloween, don't you? Snot soup!'

Stuffed bakes courgettes tonight - I bake the courgettes first so that I don't get wet and watery and still crunchy cases for the fillings. DBH started to complain that he would never eat such a huge meal, until I reminded him that there were no carbs whatsoever in it, then he finished the lot. It really wasn't all that big, I had just put them on smaller plates!

Am trying to go wheat free for a while and found an interesting recipe from Jamie Oliver using gram flour and lots of seeds I think, in the Sunday Times magazine of 23rd August. I tore out the recipe, and have only just managed to buy the gram flour. Now ………. I can't find the recipe! Any chance any one still has that magazine please? If so, could you maybe pm me, or maybe put the recipe on this thread. I think it was for a kind of bread, but may have been more of a tray bake, like flap jacks.

I had never heard of gram flour, but am keen to experiment. I feel SO much better not eating wheat and carbs; more energy, less arthritic pain, sleep so much better.

I don't have it, sadly, but I use gram flour a lot, for a sort of flatbread with herbs, mainly, and in place of a proportion of GF flour to give it some colour. The bread I make is called farinata, does that sound familiar?

allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/15905/farinata.aspx

I wouldn't use the rosemary in such quantity unless you really like it, but what made me think of it is that I know this bread is also made with various seeds in other parts of the world. Definitely best eaten fresh, but it freezes well. I'm quite intrigued as to the Jamie recipe now!

We are still eating our way through the spaghetti squashes Anya and tonight I tried a different method. I didn't use any water in the pan when I roasted them, and I roasted them for an hour and a half. There was far less water, but some discoloration where they had caught a little. It didn't affect the flavour though, no burnt taste. There seemed to be less squash though. I shall try no water for one and a quarter hours next time.

Tomorrow we will have red cabbage and apple baked with pork chops on top. You know it's going to be winter soon when you start making recipes like that and the lettuce doesn't get picked as often.

I have been putting a few windfall apples in the ratatouille (I make ten pints at a time) - it's wonderful, it gives it a real depth. I wish I had thought of it before.

thanks janerowena - have checked out your recipe but alas it's not the one I'm after. I had never thought of putting apples in ratatouille - must have a go too.

The farinata looks great JR. Will try that.
We have just arrived in the south for our hols, had a dip in the Med and followed it with my chickpea flour biscuits and cheese for lunch.
Last night we ate in a chain hotel (really cheap) restaurant and had beef brochettes with courgette gratin and ratatouille (bit deja vue lately but still). The waitress noticed we hadn't eaten the potato or bread and when we explained why she made us a special dessert plate of cheese, green salad and prunes.

I'd quite like that!

Great low carb choice here for breakfast. Fresh apricots (yes know they've got sugars but nearly always have fruit in morning - but no other time) and cream. Then a lovely selection of 'cold cuts' and a recent decent cup of coffee.
Going to try the local lobsters at lunchtime

Fabulous, I love lobster.
We are on our way home from hols so it will be steak and salad in a Courtepaille.
Did quite well with food on hols, my chickpea biscuits were good for filling a little hole after a vigorous swim in the (rather cold) Mediterranean.

Just read a really interesting article in the September BMJ Mamie, so thought I'd share. If you'd like a copy of the full article, I could get DH to scan and send to you.

Title is: How dietary guidelines are out of step with science.

Which basicall says that those guidelines are produced with little scientific evidence back up, and with scientific evidence existing, as per low carb diets, deliberately ignored. Why, obviously because of conflict of interests and research being funded by big food producers. What a surprise!

Quote from the article:

Low carbohydrate diets

Another important topic that was insufficiently reviewed is the efficacy of low carb diets (...) no systematic review of the literature from past 5 years. The report says this was because, after conducting 'exploratory searches' (for which NO detail is provided) of the literture since 2000, the committee could find 'only limited evidence on low carb diets and health, particulalry derived from US based populations.

(...) yet many studies of carb restriction have been published in peer review journals since 2000, nearly all of which were on US populations. These include nine pilot studies, 11 case studies, 19 observational studies, and at least 74 randomised controlles trials, 32 of which lasted 6 months or over. End of quote.

So why? The article concludes:

It may be time to ask our authorities to conven an unbiased and balanced panel of scientists to undertake a comprehensive review, in order that the dietary guidelines are more transparent, with better disclosure of the conflict of interest, and that the rigorous scientific evidence is reliably used to rpoduce the best possible nutrition policy.

Nina Teicholz

and I personally add and insist on NOT LINKED AND FUNDED BY BY FOOD CORPORATIONS.

Thanks GJ, I had seen that one as I follow Dr Aseem Malhotra on Twitter. The article that Anya linked to about the GP Dr David Unwin and the work done in his practice was fascinating and I found this one interesting too.
healthinsightuk.org/2015/09/29/time-for-diabetes-uk-to-unplug-ears-and-respond-to-chorus-of-disapproval-demanding-u-turn/
We are still enjoying the way of eating and have added in very small portions of carbs a couple of times a week so that we maintain the same weight now. I couldn't quite persuade my doctor to take me off the BP tablets completely but I am now down to half of one tablet to see what happens over the next three months!
I absolutely agree about the need for full disclosure of conflicts of interest in studies.

Read your link with interest Mamie - as we know Dr Unwin I always follow his research with interest and he's my SiL and BiL's GP.

It makes so much sense that I can't believe the slow uptake, except of course as GJ mentions, those with vested interests. Or perhaps those who think this is Atkins - which it is not.

My carbs come from fruit, usually berries, (only for breakfast) and those contained naturally in vegetables (though we don't count potatoes as vegetables, they're on our high carb list). Initially we stuck to low carb veg, mainly brassicas, onions and salads, etc.. but now we include a full range, even root vegetables like carrots, beetroot and those sweeter vegetables such as tomatoes, sweet peppers, sweet potatoes and even occasionally peas. On the odd occasion we do have potatoes, but not pasta, or rice, or bread.

I have a glass of wine or two if I am out, or we have guests, and if someone has gone to the effort of cooking us a meal, or basking a cake, we will eat whatever they put in front of us with pleasure and return to our own régime when we can.