A new low-carb support thread for 2016

Kippers for breakfast
Roasted chicken with peppers -can't remember the rest of the recipe but it will involve vegetables
Snap with tuna salad mamie but mine will only be tinned tuna
Glorious day. DH off for heart consultation - follow up on heart attack and I'm on the South Downs walking the dog after a spell in the garden. Thats after the boring bit of stesm cleaning the wooden floors, and ironing.

Good morning, I'm new on this thread. I started low carb eating on Monday and would you believe it had an afternoon tea (booked weeks ago) Tuesday.
Starting again today.
Do you think I should be aiming for low carb or no carb?

I would say low-carb Nana3. No carb is very hard to do and my personal feeling is that taking it a bit more slowly and gently is better for us as we get older.
We cut out sugar, flour, potatoes, rice, pasta, couscous etc to start with. You also need to limit veg grown below ground and fruit. No fruit juice.
Remember to drink plenty of water, have plenty of protein and some good fats. The Diet doctor link in my original posting is helpful.

I am considering adding Chickpeas to my diet, for a bit more variety, have looked on Diet doctor for any hints but they don't appear ( even as Garbanzo beans which is the American name). How will these effect the weight loss?

We only did the no carb because of DHs blood sugar count. It is drastic. Now we are on top of it we will start introducing other stuff , but definiteky no sugar

We have always eaten chckpeas, but have those and other beans only about once a week.. It will slow down the weight loss a bit I guess, but I agree they add variety.

Anya recently mentioned having a slice of Manchego - I thought at the time, wonder if that was a thin slice or, as in my case, a thick slab! I love the stuff.

I've just finished the piece that I bought yesterday, approx 200g, and feeling a bit of a glutton now. But I had to eat something as about to have a chilled glass of rosé and didn't want to drink on an empty stomach

I blame this warm and sunny weather!

My daughter invited me to her cake club, couldn't resist, not the cake but being with her for the evening. I had a sliver of about 8 cakes (there were more than 30 there). It's beginning to feel like everyday I have to start again. Sugar and carbs are absolutely everywhere in my life.

Oh dear Nana3 let's hope for a cake-free day!
I love Manchego. It is hard to find here, but when Lidl have Spanish week we stock up on that and the very nice Mahon cheese.
Riverwalk I agree it is hard to resist the rosé at the moment. I sat on the terrace in the sun with a glass of fizzy pink while OH barbecued last night.
Think it will be barbecued lemon chicken with salad tonight, with fizzy water. I promise.

Chicken salad left over from yesterday. for lunch

Porridge sprinkled with ground mixed nuts for breakfast

Seared prawns and scallops with sugar snap asparagus and beans also left over from yesterday. For supper

Off to my son's in a while as it is youngest GDs birthday. Having lunch at Giraffe at Lakeside ( school closed for polling)
Menu at Giraffe is excellent. Lots of choice for LCHF eaters. I shall probably have Shakshouka.
Also lovely day here and promise of warmth.

My OH and I are on day 4 of low carb diet. Irritability has set in! It is anybody's bet as to which one of us will be alive at the end of the week! Pass the bouillon!

Do we really put 4oz of butter and 4oz Parmesan in mashed cauliflower? It is for four people. I know I have to kick the habits of a low fat diet.

Cheesy cauliflower mash is my absolute favourite low-carb food! I don't put anything like that amount of butter in mine! I use about an ounce, but add a dash of single cream or milk if a bit stiff. That amount of cheese seems about right. Like you aquagran, I find choosing low-fat is a hard habit to break.

Thanks Shysal, I will try your recipe.

I don't put anywhere near that much butter and cheese either, I would say about an ounce of each. I make saffron mash too, with some saffron strands melted in a splash of milk.
Are you following a diet plan aquagran?
For anyone who is interested there is a new low-carb bootcamp starting on Mumsnet next week.
We forgot to get the chicken out today so after finding some minced lamb in the freezer, tonight will be moussaka instead. I use mozzarella and feta instead of a cheese sauce.

I have posted on here that my weight has not gone down much since starting low carb eating, so last week I decided to try and kick start the loss. I followed exactly blog.slimmingsolutions.com/all/the-1-week-diet-the-egg-diet/ and lost 8 lb. This week I have returned to my usual eating pattern and put on 2lb but will try to be a bit stricter in future. The crash diet wasn't actually low carb and it included a slice of dry wholemeal toast on 3 days, but I chose it to keep myself 'regular' as it included fruit and salad.

I have stuck to carb free for main meal but have porridge for breakfast, and one crispbread at lunch time, and have only lost 8lbs in about 10 weeks. I can see why you did the crash diet Shysal as its so frustrating not to lose much weight. My aim is to remain low carb for rest of my life so not sure a crash diet will really change my food/drink habits. When I weigh 8.8 (am 9st)I will get blood sugar checked again to see if it's working. Trouble is am off to Cornwall for a week and DH will be scoffing pasties, fish and chips, cream teas And I'd win no prizes for will power!

Yes Mamie, I am following the Diet Doctor meal plan, although we didn't fancy the egg pizza last night, so had chicken stir fry instead. Tonight it is garlic chicken and cauliflower mash, but I will follow the recipes posted on here.

Ah that makes sense aquagran. Will be interesting to hear how it goes.
Lazigirl we both lost about a pound a week, with a few pauses.

Lazigirl they do say if you lose 10% of your body fat you are well on the way to normalising your blood sugar. I lost 18lb on the 8 week reverse bs diet and am now on low carb and 5:2 mixed. I continue to lose weight but a little more slowly than before. I have however stuck religiously to the diet and feel energised, sleep better and never need an antacid tablet. I too shall probably stick with this way of eating.

Just to say what a lovely thread this is where everyone is supportive and helpful with recipe ideas. It really encourages me to keep plodding on, not sure how well would have coped alone. Thank you everyone

Cauliflower mash...yum! Anybody ever frozen it, or was there never any left?

I've been sugar-free for the last 6 weeks - it's been a bit of a learning curve and a process of discovery. You can't cut out every bit of sugar all at once but I've learned to read labels on everything I buy and gradually got rid of everything in my fridge and cupboards that contain sugar. I'm shocked to discover how much "hidden sugar" is in everyday foods.... in packet soup, in ketchup, sauces, mayonnaise even in my favourite spice blends.... We are getting hooked on sugar without knowing it!
The great thing about my new diet is that I never feel hunger pangs anymore - I feel full for much longer and really don't crave anything sweet anymore. Added bonus is not feeling so tired, sleeping better and losing weight! Yeah!!!

I did a new take on cauliflower cheese by adding fish as I felt I needed a bit more protein that day. Honest it tasted great.

I used haddock and popped it in the oven for a few minutes while I steamed the cauliflower lightly (please note Rowan ) and made the cheese sauce as per usual but substituting flour with cornflour (sp?) (need less, no gluten) and added a healthy dash of Dijon mustard.

Then I layered half the sauce over the fish. added the cauliflower, topped that with the rest of the sauce and some grated cheese and popped it back in the oven. I served it with steamed broccoli for extra veggie value.

Welcome desistew2
That sounds really nice Anya. I love haddock.
We are having a barbie again - lemon chicken and "riste d'aubergine" a sort of aubergine and tomato stew that we buy from the organic supemarket.