Support and ideas for those on low-carb diet

I had the Awful Warning about pre diabetes several months ago. I was not a happy camper as I walk usually 10,000 a day, eat brown rice/pasta/bread and generally ate a healthy diet,. I had to admit I'd been eating more cake/chocolates and have cut those out. My GP confirms the pre diabetes is due to age and auto immune problems rather than 'lifestyle' but whatever it's due to I have to ' do something' This thread has been inspirational and for the first month post AW I kept to a low carb diet. We then had a longish holiday and several weekend breaks when I let things slide. My jeans are now tightish again and I'm going to try and get back to slightly smaller portions and less carbs because only a month made a big difference to how clothes fitted and less tummy. My weight didn't change (I'm weighed regularly at hospital) but my shape did.
Anya - I do hope your insurance company gets organised and you can find a suitable rental property before too long.

This is really helpful information about eating quinoa, it may not appear to be low in carbs but your body uses it in different ways, it behaves like eating protein and veg and is good for diabetics. Far better than couscous.

www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/weight-loss/4-reasons-the-quinoa-grain-can-help-you-lose-weight.html

Anya I am so sorry to hear about the fire. Will you be out of your home for a good while? I always find staying away from home difficult when it comes to food, especially when you're not in control of the cooking.

We're just getting started with the lchf approach as we use up food that doesn't work with the diet. So it's a bit mix and match at the moment as we find out what store cupboard bits we need.

Our main meal yesterday was Shakshuka with feta cheese and loosely based on this recipe

Shakshuka

I wanted to do it in the oven and although the taste was good, but the sauce didn't thicken up quite enough. What do you use as a thickener instead of cornflour?

We had it with a bag each of mixed vegetables you steam in the microwave. The mix was green beans, baby carrots and sweetcorn which was not ideal, but that's some more space in the freezer now.

That looks like the huevos rancheros that I make an awful lot of. I simply don't add too much tomato, and if it is too thick, I cook it for longer to reduce it. Most sauces and gravies really don't need much thickening with flour, an egg or some cream or add lots on onions and veg then blitz it, and lots of reducing will do it.

It is very like huevos ranchers stillhere but with slightly different flavours like the garlic. The problem I had was no being able to reduce the liquid because of doing it in the oven, but I could always drain the tomatoes next time. I am not very confident with a frying pan or a skillet, but I might try it that way. Just need to make sure I have something else to cook if it doesn't turn out well!

I'm reading lots at the moment to get ideas for eating a the different times of the day and finding out I am always a couple of items short for recipes. Starting from scratch means our regular shopping list will change quite a bit and some items which I think will become staples like coconut and almond flour are not even available where we shop. We've made a start and enjoying the challenge.

Blodwyn I do know what clean eating is because I had been reading about going back to basics when it comes to food. It's very big in the USA and I think it's because organic food has never really had the same high profile we have in the UK - probably because of the power of the agricultural industry over there.

I was interested to read you have continued to eat fruit. We've been thinking about doing this too, although being careful with our choices and quantity.

What does everyone one else do about fruit? How do you include it in your diet?

Estimate the work will take 3-4 months Wilma

I eat fruit for breakfast - usually berries in season when I can, but anything really with a dash of double cream to slow down digestion. Yes, they contain sugar, but it's intrinsic sugar and I feel breakfast is best for fruit as it gives you a chance to work it off during the morning.

Found Gram flour (chickpea) OK for thickening, and it's gluten free. Remember this isn't NO carbs, just much, much fewer than usual. Worked fine on the sauce for cauliflower cheese anyway and as stillhere said, many sauces can be reduced or thickened in other ways. I use ground almond to thicken curries.

I've been a bit better today as DD is away with family until tomorrow. Not as 'good' as usual but much better than lately.

Anya what a bother. How did the fire start? We had two floods in two years and that was hard going towards the end, but we did end up with work done to the house so it looked nice eventually. We were able to stay in the house, but whilst it was drying out it the sight of the state things did get us down a bit. Our insurance company was Norwich Union and it was great. How are you getting on with your insurance company? I suppose it's early days yet, but I hope you are not have a hard time with them. Your DD being away will give you a chance to relax a little bit, having the house to yourself. {{{HUGS}}} I have some summer fruits to use with Greek yogurt which will be a treat. I am used to eating a banana at breakfast time, but I won't be doing that now.

We had huevos rotos. I started with a large splash of olive oil, then added bits of chorizo, red pepper, baby squash that we found lurking when we cleared the plant, a few of our own new potatoes and then lots of eggs broken in at the end.
We have two bits of fruit at lunch, currently apples and pears. For a treat we add a date. When we have strawberries and raspberries in the garden we eat those, but OH has to be careful as too soft fruit much triggers IBS. We get lovely peaches and apricots in the market in summer. I think France still tends to be much more seasonal in what is available.

I usually have one piece of fruit a day, as a snack. It's usually a pear, an apple, a very small bowl of raspberries or strawberries or a small bunch of grapes. Nothing bigger than my fist I suppose, and generally smaller. As I grow them all I feel I have to eat them! However I shan't bother during the winter.

I just discovered the enormous tub of Greek yogurt opened Monday night has to be eaten within 2 days, so I waiting for some summer fruits to defrost.

I think we will have a piece of fruit as a snack. I love bananas, but that's not a good idea so it will probably be apples or pears and at the weekend berries or grapes as a treat. We've really never bothered about portion control with fruit, so it will be something we need to keep a close eye on. I could eat berries and grapes until the cows come home.

Me too - in fact I was just thinking I need to go down and inspect the raspberries. I can usually rely on DBH to eat most of them, with yoghourt, but in his absence I think I shall start to freeze them so that I can use them to sprinkle on things for Xmas. Plus I have some very late-ripening strawberries that are almost ready, which most definitely will not end up in the freezer! (Malwina, in case anyone is interested) They are incredibly sweet, so maybe not wonderful sugar-wise, but a very deep red so maybe that acts in their favour!

I guess people will have seen these reports in the press today.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/30/low-fat-diets-slammed-major-new-report
It is amazingly warm here at the moment so we are back on the mixed salads at lunchtime. Tonight OH is cooking a duck regù with courgetti. Last night I did a Madhur Jaffrey chicken in lemon and coriander dish with a vegetable curry we had frozen from the summer crops.
Enjoy your Friday evening!

And here is a report on another study:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11963385/Cut-out-carbs-not-fat-if-you-want-to-lose-weight-Harvard-study-finds.html

It is interesting how much coverage there is now, after so many years of the low-fat message.
I think the important thing though is that low-carb as a way to lose weight does work, but it really has to be a "way of eating" in the long term to keep the weight off. The most helpful advice I have seen about maintaining weight when you have arrived at your target is to slowly re-introduce small quantities of carbs and stop if weight increases.

With DBH away for a couple of weeks, I thought I would be tempted to eat all sorts of things that he frowns on, but find I really don't want to! Although a box of mini-magnums did find its way into my shopping. I thought I would be baking - but no.

stillhere I'm sure it will be nice to give yourself a little treat while DH is away.

I've been experimenting this morning and tried Rose Elliot's microwave bread recipe. Won't be doing that again. It was very easy to make, but the result was like a heavy scone texture. I actually had trouble swallowing it because it was so dry. It's supposed to rise (1/2 teaspoon of baking powder), but I didn't notice any lift (I even tested my baking powder afterwards!). It made a square of about 5/6 inches that was an inch high at most. I sliced it horizontally to make two slices and we both tried about a quarter of a slice with some butter. DH didn't mind it (he will eat virtually anything though except melon!), but I couldn't finish my piece . It's all in the garden now for the birds. The ingredients cost about £2, so it's not at all cost effective. Actually the cost wouldn't be so important if the result was tasty. I know eating bread daily isn't sensible, but as a healthy treat it would be nice.

Walked GS1 and GS3 into town for the Chocolate Festival and managed to resist. I think I felt saited just by the overwhelming smell of melted chocolate everywhere.

I decided that my daily treat while DBH is away would be one small bar of galaxy chocolate, with my afternoon redbush. However I do remember walking into a large branch of woolies many years ago, and feeling sick at the mere sight of a wall of Easter eggs.

DBH would hate my current way of eating, I am relishing the chance to be dieting again.
Breakfast was an apple, lunch was two globe artichokes with a side helping of a little butter, tonight will be a bowl of ratatouille. I am willing on the last globe artichoke to fatten up quickly!

I think very dark chocolate is fine. I have had about four desserts in the last year and they have all been something exquisite in dark chocolate from the patisserie (our local one is in the top 20 in France).
Tonight we are having a beautiful piece of beef we brought back from England with roast squash and spinach.

That's not enough to survive on still there's not enough protein. Did I read somewhere that you are vegetarian?

"I know eating bread daily isn't healthy"

!!!

'course it is.

Especially if it's wholemeal.

Well that was entertaining. We had about six power cuts while finishing cooking and dishing up (gas hob, electric oven). Had to make the gravy and serve the dinner by candlelight.

Well I'm sticking to my very simple and manageable regime.
I don't buy, so don't eat pasta, bread, rice, potatoes, cake, biscuits, sweets.
I do have all sorts of veg (including carrots) and lots of fruit (especially berries).
Red meat (usually a sirloin steak) once a week. Lots of fish, eggs, yogurt and cheese.
No weighing of the food or of myself and no counting calories or points.
I've done this for 8 weeks and have lost 8" from the belly area - measuring at waist and hipbones. No idea about weight loss.
I still enjoy a glass of red wine 4-5 times a week.