A new low-carb support thread for 2016

Mamie you sounded slightly offended when I called you a 'purist' - I hope I didn't cause offence? It's just that I feel you got where you are by sheer determination and will power and not falling at the first fence (or later ones) by just giving in when faced with hard choices.

It's all too easy when faced with something 'yummy' to let your stomach overrule your head and I that, to achieve all you and your DH have, must have included a great many instances when you simply said 'no, I'm not going to eat that'.

..and I ^ know ^ that.....

(sorry omitted 'know')

The physillium from Holland and Barrett that I bought turned everything purple when it was used in baking. I think Amazon may sell it on line, there are lots of brands there to choose from. Had a thought while I was in the shower, Soya Beans are also known as Edamame Beans and I am sure that is what was on the packet.

Never used them in baking Pippa so that sounds a bit yucky!

Goodness Anya no not at all offended. Just concerned to point out that we have continued to eat lots of things that would horrify real LCHF purists. Just think of all the Cava I was swilling in Spain when you were having your dry January.
I think what helps us that we are just not subject to the same temptation here. The only time I am really concious of saying no to something I would really like is when I am out and about in England. It isn't that lovely food isn't available here, but you have to go and look for it. No cafés with delicious cakes on offer.
The fruit is very tempting in season, but I just eat that!
And OH's health is very much the focus; we could see that adding Type 2 to high blood pressure and arthritis would make life very difficult.

Still Mamie to go from a rather 'cuddly' size 16 to where you are now has certainly meant to big change in attitude and eating habits. I know it was lead by your concern for DH but you are an inspiration to us all.

Just a thought....are we, as women, more inclined to make changes in lifestyle like this for others rather than just for ourselves?

The thing is that I felt awful being a size 16. I had always been slim and put the weight on with the menopause (which lasted 10 years for me) and the change in my job that took me from prancing about at the front of classrooms to sitting at the back observing. Then the move to France and huge lifestyle changes didn't help. I just feel that I have got myself back now and can feel "bien dans ma peau" again.
OH is the one who has really had to stick to it and he has lost 30kg. You can spend your life going from one specialist to another in France and he hates that. Our neighbour has diabetes and is very frail. He goes to dialysis three times a week, has innumerable operations to find veins and has a special nurse coming in every day to give injections. Didn't want that.

Anya, the physillium takes the place of the binding powers of gluten and stops cakes and bread being crumbly. It actually has very little taste but does become like glue if added to water, careful handling required.

Like Mamie, we have very little that can be classed as temptations here, the cakes are usually covered in honey and far too sweet or artificial cream (remember that from the 60's?). Very little preprepared food, a cooked chicken maybe, but no ready meals. The bread is made with corn, and goes stale in hours. Perhaps that is why I enjoy trying out recipes and ingredients?

anya, the changes we have made and continue to make are for my health only. DH only has a wonky knee. However being the sort of person he is, we do it together. And he is a tad slimmer which is a bonus.

Wouldn't want to make it sound as if we can't get wonderful cakes etc. Our local patisserie is in the top ten in France and their stuff is fabulous, I just don't go in unless it is Christmas or something very special. I do notice how much people graze in the UK now, with Costa and places full of people drinking enormous coffees and eating cake. It is still a quick black coffee at the bar here!

Xanthan gum powder does the same job as physilium, without the discolouration problem. Half a teaspoon to 3 cups (12oz) of whichever flour you are using. It is available on Ebay. It made a noticeable difference to the cheesy buns, less crumbly. It can also be used as a thickening agent for sauces etc.

After about a month of being fairly strictly low carb I have lost no weight and my blood glucose is still 4.6 (normal). I suspect portion control is the problem, so I am wondering whether to go back to carbs in MM's alternate day fasting, which worked well for me in the past. Pre-diabetis is not a concern for me but I had thought I would give LCHF a try for weight loss. Any advice would be welcome please!

So far today porridge with ground mixed nuts

Lunch or dinner - rainbow trout wrapped in prosciutto with a caper sauce - although I might change that as not desperately keen on capers. Having that with mushrooms tomatoes and French beans

Stuck for lunch/tea at the moment.

Can you give us an idea of what you are eating, Shysal?

Thanks for your reply Mamie
Example;
Breakfast - 1 egg, 2 rashers of bacon, slice of cheesy bun.
Lunch - homemade celeriac and veg soup, sometimes a bag of pork scratchings/crunch, 120 cals.
Dinner - some kind of meat or fish dish incorporating courgetti or cauliflower in one of the variety of forms mentioned on this thread (love it! )plus runner beans.

I do sometimes snack on a buttered cheesy bun or try a low carb recipe. I think that is probably my downfall! I am not a lover of strong flavours so enjoy rather basic meals.

I walk 10-15,000 steps a day and do 4 mainstream exercise classes a week. Have had the tendency to gain weight all my adult life, need to lose another 1.5 stone for a normal BMI, having lost 2.5stone on the MM alternate day fasting a year or so ago, then reaching a plateau.

I know any weight loss diet works if you stick to it strictly, but the temptation to cheat is always there!

Blimey shysal you should be a skeleton! It's got to be portion control. Unless Marie can think of something else.

Decided what to have for lunch. Scrambled eggs smoked salmon and mushrooms and tomatoes.

Shysal I wonder if you are eating enough! Are you having the good fats? Oily fish, avocado, olive oil? Are you drinking plenty of water? Have a look at the Diet Doctor or the Mumsnet low-carbers. My expertise doesn't extend that far, but I think they would be saying you need to be eating enough otherwise your body thinks it is starving and hangs on to everything.

Thanks Mamie, I will have another look at Diet Doc and MN. Eating low fat foods is a hard habit to break, so I will try harder. I only ever drink water and rarely feel thirsty, so will up that too.

There is a Mumsnet thread about "why am I not losing weight" in the low-carb section. I don't view any of it uncritically because I think we maybe do have to be a bit more cautious as we get older, but I think most people would say that low-carb, low-fat won't work.

Just to reassure you ShysalI am having the same problem Lost nothing for the past 2 weeks. More water, more fats and less carbs seem to be the answer. Good luck.

If I ate what you ate Shysal I would be skeletal!

I succumbed to half a slice of carrot cake with my cuppa yesterday afternoon at the Royal Academy after walking VERY briskly there from Victoria. The cake was unnecessary and I shouldn't have given into temptation, but....it was yummy!

Then after the exhibition we went to a Turkish restaurant where I did eat a couple of pieces of bread and shared a bottle of white wine with DH. Starter was a salad of walnuts, mint, leaves, cucumber and a dressing of pomegranate molasses (whatever that is, but it's SUGAR and carbs!) Main course of various veggies including artichoke hearts, broad beans and lots of others. Healthy and yummy.
Dessert was four apricots stuffed with cream cheesy thing and sprinkled with pistachio nuts.

So there were carbs but nowhere near as many as usual when I eat out!

Today is a Fast Day and I've eaten nothing so far. Dinner will be cold chicken and a mixed veggie salad. I get very cold on Fast Days

Shysal you're doing brilliantly with the eating and the exercise. I don't do a fraction of what you do, and I have loads to lose. Whatever exercise you do, you're benefitting your heart and cholesterol too, even if you can't see much in the way of quantifiable results.

:-)

Rowantree that meal sounds delicious. Especially the apricot thingy. We had a tuna and egg salad for lunch and tonight will be cold chicken and leftover roast vegetable salad. Then off to keep-fit, though I have had a morning of barrowing rubble....

We had leftover chicken too, with a hastily-thrown-together salad with lots of mixed seeds hurled onto it, and a lime juice and olive oil dressing :-D

I want to eat more healthily and avoid my beloved cakes and chocolates more than I do. However I do feel uneasy about including what sounds like gunk to my food: Xanthan gum (or however it's spelled), the husk thing and other unpronouncable cauldron ingredients. Doesn't sound like 'real' food.... or am I making a fuss over nowt?

No I don't add any of those things either (not that I would find them here anyway). I don't have any artificial sweeteners either.