Support and ideas for those on low-carb diet

Wilma one of the stalls was a chocolate fountain. The GC each chose a plastic beaker with marshmallow at the bottom third and then filled up with strawberries. Then they could choose warm melted white or milk chocolate or a bit of both.

(Actually they both ate the chocolate smothered strawberries but left the marsh mallow )

Oh she pops up every so often talking about treacle sandwiches. Not sure why.

Who is this jingl character that keeps telling us to eat up our carbs

Wilma spot on! If I 'm tempted I'll give in too so my way of coping is to avoid temptation!
Last week I ventured back to the gym and I know that will be a terrific motivator!

Like that idea Merlot

mcem that sounds perfect. Topping sounds good merlot. How are things going Wilma?
Just lost a post in another power cut. What are EDF doing?
I had left the matches and torch in the kitchen and goodness it is dark in deepest Normandy.

I discovered to day that chopped hazelnuts and grated carrot make a lovely crunchy topping for cauliflower cheese.

I didn't type healthy jing, I typed sensible because I am trying to reduce the amount of carbohydrate I eat. Wholemeal bread is high in carbohydrate and not high enough in fibre for it to be suitable for the LCHF way of eating.

Very romantic Mamie

mcem glad you have found a way of eating that suits you.

I will be trying not to eat chocolate at all, so I know a chocolate festival would have been my undoing!

still I agree with Anya about the protein. We're trying to have some protein at every meal, although we're still using up food we have in the house, so we're not 100% low carb yet.

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.

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.

Especially if it's wholemeal.

"I know eating bread daily isn't healthy"

!!!

'course it is.

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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 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.

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.

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.