A new low-carb support thread for 2016

Comme une vache (normande) qui pisse?
Onwards and downwards really - all the way to the bottom of Spain next week.

I intentionally ate what I wanted over the holidays because I was not enjoying the lchf experience and wasn't going to be miserable at what should be a happy time. Also, we were staying with my Mum and Step-Dad and didn't want to put them to any trouble.

After a good chat I think we've got a plan now though for how lchf can work for us, so from Monday we're trying again.

One of the big changes we will make is to think of low fat as healthy fat. I have a lot of weight to lose and our previous attempt at lchf really just added a lot of fat to my diet. I didn't gain weight, but I didn't lose any either. Considering everything else we ate, I believe the extra fat was filling in the calorie gap created.

Our mission will be to find low fat food that is not high in carbohydrate, especially sugars. I am on the lookout for a vegetarian low fat low carb yogurt, so any suggestions welcome!

Does anyone have experience of making their own yogurt?

Happy New Year btw!

Whereas I unintentionally ate what I wanted Wilma

Yes , I've made my own yoghurt.

Anya

What was home made yogurt like? Was it worth the effort? I have found several websites with recipes that don't require a yogurt maker, so I think I will have a go.

Morning Wilma and Happy New Year.
Yes I have made yoghurt for many years. I heat the milk and boil until reduced by a third. Leave to cool until you can stick a finger in and count to ten. Add about half a cup of live yoghurt and leave in a warm place overnight. I have only made it with whole milk though.
What fat will you use to cook with? I guess one of the oils will be the lowest fat. What kind of meals are you planning? Would it help to post here, so we can add ideas?

Hurrah! Off the BP tablets completely.
So after two years of this way of eating (one year losing, one maintaining lower weight), I have lost 18kg, seen cholesterol levels come down (was never on medication) and BP come down as my doctor slowly reduced the medication (I think she was as pleased as I was this morning).
OH has lost 30kg, come off statins and got completely out of pre-diabetes.
Somebody pass me that smug emoticon....
And explain why some people think this is not a healthy diet?

I bought a yoghurt maker very cheaply from Lakeland and leave it on overnight. No effort at all. I use up left over milk (skimmed) and add dried milk powder (skimmed) a couple of spoonfuls of sugar (needed to activate the yoghurt I think) and hair a small tub of organic, live yoghurt.

Stud it up and leave. Simples.

Well done Mamie that's great news. There's a thread on here somewhere about BP and someone on it, nkt medically qualified, insists that the food we eat has no effect on health in general or BP in particular. Your the proof that we are what we eat.

Why do some people think this is an unhealthy diet?

Because they have been fed the falicy that carbs should make up 50% of our diet (great if you're a marathon runner) and fats are bad. But also many people just don't realise the realtionship between sugars and carbs, eat way too many carbs in the first place, and equate carbs with energy. They also think this is a no carb diet because they don't understand that there are carbs in fruit, veg and nuts and seeing only potatoes, bread, pasta, rice, etc as a source of carbs.

No hair in my yoghurt ... that ought to read 'half'

Stud = stir and your= you're

Fat finger morning.

Fab news Mamie - we definitely need a smug emoticon!

Thanks for all the information about making yogurt, especially as one of you uses a machine and the other doesn't.

Mamie I will probably carry on using olive oil for cooking, although I will still keep butter on hand in case I need to use it. Thanks for the offer with recipes.

I agree Anya that the use of carbs is deeply ingrained in the way we eat in this country and I can't help but think it must have its roots in farming. I certainly didn't understand how carbs and fat were used by the body until a few years ago. I much prefered to lose weight with eating plan like Slimming World. If my FiL wasn't insulin dependant diabetic, I doubt I would have bothered researching lchf eating. I don't want my DH to develop diabetes later in life like his father and he's approaching the age where it kicked in. I doubt if many people understand about carbs and fat. Years ago they probably didn't need to either.

Bravo Mamie- thought about you today as I've been (as you say) - pissing for Romandie ;)

Just done another meal in the tagine. I put lamb, onions and garlic in a spice mix (raz al hanout, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, saffron) then layered it in the tagine with dried apricots, almonds, courgette, aubergine and squash. No added liquid (though the veg were our own from the freezer and still a bit frozen) and cooked it on a low oven for four hours. Served with yoghurt.
Obviously you could leave out the meat for veggie version.
It seems to have a depth of flavour that you don't get from ordinary cooking.
Followed by lump of Roquefort.

I'm still losing weight, slowly but steadily. I didn't put on any weight over Christmas, because discovering that I am coeliac a year ago meant that I could refuse all kindly-meant offers of mince pies and sausage rolls, and pretty much any event I went to had an awful lot of pastry. As I had to stick to meat, cheese and salads for the most part, it was wonderful

I was wondering how you were stillhere. Sounds good! We don't have a problem with any of the above as we seem to have gone very French after ten years here and celebrated with snails etc
We did have some lovely things from the patisserie and the GDs queued happily with me for twenty minutes while we waited to collect our three chocolate mousse on Christmas Eve.

DH has been finding it hard to do without bread completely - especially with his beloved scrambled eggs.

I now make spelt bread using the dough setting on the breadmaker then baking it in the oven for the normal time. This gives a much better result than doing the whole thing in the breadmaker.

We then slice and freeze the loaf so there is no waste and we can treat ourselves to a slice of toast for Sunday breakfast.

No good for coeliacs unfortunately but I no longer get IBS symptoms if I stick to spelt flour.

We make spelt bread too (slow rising method all by hand not breadmaker) and have a slice as toast for breakfast. Here in France we get Type 150 which is wholemeal and 110 which is lighter. Love it and very happy to have it back now we are not losing any more weight.
I have made spelt pastry for the occasional chicken pie and like that too, though it needs hardly any liquid added, which takes a bit of getting used to.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201601/medium-272786-2016-01-082023-10-15.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201601/medium-773500-2016-01-082023-11-50.jpg

Must admit finding Lidl's high protein rolls makes such a difference to us. Being able to eat bread in any form means we'll find it easier to eat lchf this time. The Lidl FB page gives this nutritional information -

Lidl High Protein Rolls
Ingredients:
Water, Linseeds, Wheat Protein, Soya Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, Sesame, Soybean Meal, Sunflower Seeds, Wheat Bran, Oat Fiber, Yeast, Salt, Colouring Spice Extracts (Curcuma).

Nutritional Information:
Typical Values per 100g:
Energy 1194kJ/268kcal
Fat 13.4g (Of which saturates 0.4g)
Carbohydrate 8.5g (Of which sugars 0.5g)
Fibre 12.4g
Protein 26.7g
Salt 0.99g

A roll weighs about 115g and costs 29p on offer, or 39p normally. Bargain.

They're very popular with diabetics because it gives so many of them a chance to enjoy bread again. Our Lidls now has 2 large baskets full every day now.

merlotgran I found a picture of half a roll with scrambled egg for you. Maybe you have a shop near you?

PS MamieI could smell the wonderful aromas from your tagine from here!

Wilma - your point about farming and carbs. In 'days gone by' firstly there was less (much less) choice of food and it was very much a case of you ate what was available. And yes, bread and potatoes formed a large part of the diet. But everyone (nearly) worked it off physically.

Mamie well done on getting off the BP tablets by losing weight! What a great achievment. I need to lose a lot, my BP is high and I have other health problems.

My trouble is I'm a vegetarian - I eat dairy. I tried low carb before but couldn't keep to it for long, I ate a lot of celery with Philly cream cheese.

When I ate out it was usually an omlette.

I'm not a great cook and want quick meals, so does anyone have any good easy low carb veggie recipes please.

seacliff I'm afraid that you're in for a tough time if you don't like cooking, are vegetarian, want quick meals, and low carb

I'm not veggie so can do quick low carb meals e.g. steak/fish & salad; also enjoy cooking so can prepare slow-cooked meals which involved meat/fish and vegetables.

My sister is a vegetarian and steers clear of low carb as it's just too time-consuming. She either does 5:2 or counts calories.

Thanks Riverwalk, that's what I suspected. I did have the Rose Elliott book, but for me I just found it too difficult, although it obviously works well for meat eaters.

WK thanks for info about the Lidl bread- will look out for it next time over in France.

Riverwalk I don't think this is the case at all- making lots of simple meals made with veggies and pulses and some cheese and eggs, if just ideal for low-carb, I'd say.

Wilma is veggie and low-carbing, she may be able to help. I think it is the "quick" bit that is difficult there. I do lots of curries, tagines and casseroles which can easily be done without meat or fish, but I find it hard to think beyond cheese or eggs for a quick meal.