Support and ideas for those on low-carb diet

We adapt recipes rather than use a particular book, but tend to do a lot of Indian, Spanish and Middle Eastern recipes. We are maintaining rather than losing weight now so have added things like chickpeas, beans and root veg back in.
Today is egg and bacon breakfast, soup for lunch and dinner will be roast duck with roast vegetables (carrot, baby turnip, onion) and braised chicory. I shall stick a lemon up the duck's bottom and de-glaze the pan with a splosh of limoncello.

Thank you Anya, Mamie and everyone else with suggestions on this.
According to the Atkins website I could do with losing 6lb, so looking forward to trying it out. I definitely eat crap carbs galore when stressed...

Only dilemma (albeit a nice one?) is that I've lost a stone since leaving very stressful job so clothes already too big, losing more will need a complete new wardrobe than I really can't afford!

Will have to get sewing machine out , just need to summon up some enthusiasm from somewhere....... Wish you could buy it!

I am doing James Martin's slow-roasted pork with apple and peppers. It smells wonderful... It's meant to be for eight, so I have kept all the veg and halved the meat. Poor DBH&Son are now on a low carb diet whether they like it or not.

DH hopefully won't notice.......

DS has, I saw him going out of the door last night clutching a big handful of Jaffa cakes! When at Uni his diet is pretty carb-heavy. He wants to cut back on them but it looks as if he is finding it hard. I tried to give him eggs this morning but he had already been down and had cereal, he had forgotten the diet already.

Oh dear! DH loves his potatoes, biscuits, etc and I'll stop buying them so I'm not tempted. He'll probably have a not-so-secret stash in his car boot after a day or so!

DBH seems fine, but then he has no need to diet at all, and has a huge bowl of porridge in the morning. DS has a small beer belly - very small. I did tell him that beer was what he needed to cut out, but he seems to think that cutting back on bread, biscuits and cake rather than beer is what would suit him best.

Best not buy any more Jaffa cakes, then!

That's the answer Jane don't buy them! Our bread bin is empty, has been for two weeks now. I did have a tiny slice of the Simnel Cake I made for the family who came to dinner last night, then put in back in the tin and sent it home with them.

It's two weeks today since I started and I've lost another 1.5lbs this week. It's the easiest eating regime I've ever tried and I'm feeling fitter, more positive, sleeping better, my hands ache less and my digestive tract is in good working order!

Off to buy some ostrich steaks for tonight.

Anyone who's wondering about trying this low carb, high fibre diet, go for it

Made carrot and coriander soup for lunch.
Tonight we had cold duck, green salad and a salad of pearled spelt, cold roasted veg from yesterday, preserved lemons and pistachio nuts. There will be enough of the spelt salad to add feta, beetroot and toms for lunch tomorrow.

Leeks and carrots, bay leaves, herbs, now in the pressure cooker and aroma suggests that the soup will be tasty.

First day of the holidays. Couldn't be bothered to cook the meal planned for tonight so sent DH round the corner for a Chicken Shashlik. No carbs and totally wonderful

I'm not sure how bad chickpeas are, but I made falafels only using half chickpeas and half grated beetroot, with lots of minted drained greek yoghourt and salad with olives and tomatoes and feta.

I imagine there's carbs in chickpeas and in beetroot (it being sweet) but sounds delicious and healthy

That's what I had to keep telling them!

It was different. I think I shall stick to normal falafels in future - the chickpeas are a good source of protein so I forget that they are also carbs.

I did it to wind them up actually - because of course they are deep pink. I keep on scaring them with threatening to do the sitting room in pink one day when they are out. I like to keep my males on their toes.

You can't have chickpeas or beetroot in the first, strict phase of the diet but they are fine later on.

I am finding this very very hard. And I'm afraid Mamie I just am not, and neither is OH, able to cut out carbs totally as it makes us permanently starving and make us vulnerable to snack attacks.

So we are trying very hard, to cut carbs drastically but not totally. So today we had a small portion of basmati al-dente rice- with the vegetable and lamb (only a small amount of lamb, mainly ratatouille veg) and boiled chicory. Yesterday we had the same stew with chopped green cabbage and a very small portion of pearl barley. We are cutting down carbs slowly but surely- and sugars too- although we never have sugary drinks of any kind, and don't drink alcohol when on our own. Still having 2 squares of 70% Lindt with sea salt in the evening- and I am continuing to have porridge with linseed and sunflower seeds in the morning. If I didn't I'd be starving by 11 ...

I've lost 1 kg in last 10 days- and that will do me- hopefully will manage to cut more carbs- but for health reasons cannot go for high protein. But thanks for the inspiration- I'll keep reading for ideas.

It sounds as if you are doing just fine Granjura. We never cut carbs out completely, having small portions of low GI carbs like pearl barley or chickpeas a couple of times a week and (our own) muesli with full-fat yoghurt and a small slice of spelt toast with butter every day for breakfast. We have lost weight gently over 15 months as we also didn't think drastic loss was a good idea. As you will see from my earlier posts, wine and fruit were always there. However when we felt hungry we would have a lump of cheese rather than carbs. I think very dark chocolate is fine too. Gradually we found that our appetites shrunk and portion sizes got smaller. We have also found that after a winter plateau we are losing weight again as we have started heavy work in the garden.
You absolutely don't have to do anything drastic and if you are losing weight then it is working!
On Mumsnet they say, KIKO - keep on keeping on....
Tonight's dinner here is shepherd's pie with cauliflower mash!

I can understand it must be very hard if you cannot have that extra protein to stave off hunger pangs. I've just have my favourite lunch which is 3 quails eggs wrapped in a little smoked salmon. I find that keeps me going all afternoon.

Tonight it's scallops, bacon and spinach. A recipe I rediscovered when delving through my old recipes in search of inspiration.

I can't cut carbs out altogether, with DBH&Son here for a while, but I can when they go back.

Tonight we are having chicken curry, they will have theirs with rice, I shall have quinoa.

I have cooked them each a pile of sausages as snacks, I thought that might satisfy their carb cravings. Apparently not. I caught DS making a triple-decker for lunch - pork and sausages in the top layer, crushed falafels and salad in the bottom layer. I wish they gave better nutrition information at school!

Great and thanks for support.

This was in reply to your 'can't have chickpeas or beetroot' in first phase post- which seemed to indicate much more drastic carb cutting than your last post.

I couldn't imagine getting back to a size 12, I have to say- don't think it would actually suit me. I have friends who lost huge amounts of weight (and yes it sounds like sour grapes, LOL) and they really did look haggard and actually unhealthy- few can do this well- but I am sure YOU look fabulous. I'd love to get back to a comfortable 14, or 16 even (now 18/20) but never look 'fat' just strong and bulky. When I go to doctors they are always amazed to see I weigh a lot more than they expected, due to being fit and strong.

Can't wait for better weather to get more encouragement to go out more and feel less hungry for carbs.

Merky bucket ;)

It's hard to cut back on carby veg, isn't it. And where is the line drawn? I suppose it could also depend on how much of any one veg you eat. 1 small carrot could equal a whole pepper?

Cutting beans and chickpeas out is tough on vegetarians, too. It limits their choices drastically.

Sweet potatoes... sob...

How bad are butternut squashes?

Butternut squash

This is my favourite 'go to' site for nutritional information Jane

Thank you, anya. I used to have a very handy little book but DBH took it to school so that he could look up the meals there, and it has never been seen again since and we can't remember what it was called.