Thought we needed a shiny new thread for the New Year.
The thread is intended to support people who are already on the diet or want to start losing weight / gaining health benefits by low-carbing.
Here is a simple explanation of this way of eating and how it works.
www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
You do not have to count calories, weigh anything, exercise furiously or feel hungry.
You do have to cut out sugar and sugar-substitutes and avoid starchy foods like potatoes, bread, rice and pasta.
You need to eat lots of vegetables (especially those grown above ground) and protein which can be cheese, eggs, meat, fish etc. You can eat olive oil, butter and other natural fats. You can eat limited amounts of fruit, dark chocolate and some alcoholic drinks in moderation.
You need to avoid anything labelled low-fat and most processed food and drink.
Here is a link to the Mumsnet low-carb bootcamp thread, for those who want to lose weight more quickly than the diet adopted by most people on the existing Gransnet thread.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/low_carb_bootcamp
Here is a link to the original Gransnet thread - though there is absolutely no need to plough through it before you start. 
www.gransnet.com/forums/dieting_and_exercise/1214778-Support-and-ideas-for-those-on-low-carb-diet
We aim to help each other by offering ideas, recipes and support. Welcome aboard!
Yes size 16 to size 10, but definitely not a purist! We have wine, spelt toast, fruit and our own muesli fairly regularly. However we do avoid puddings apart from special occasions. The thing is we don't have the temptation here, we don't eat out or pass delicious places to eat coffee and cake when out and about.
I would definitely succumb to Turkish flatbread and an apricot purée.
Rowantree it's a good question about how much carb is allowed on a low carb diet.
If you are a purist like Mamie you will be spectacular results. I think she went from a size 16 to a size 10????
If you 'cheat' too much you'll get nowhere very little satisfaction.
On the other hand, if you cut the middle ground then you'll get somewhere.....it might just take longer. We're only human after all 
Thanks Pippa, will try the new bread recipe.
Today I made a loaf from the cheesy bun dough. It took nearly an hour to bake, but is quite nice toasted. Looks a bit pale on photo, and I used red cheese, but better in real life.
Hello Mamie, yes, still here but DBH has had severe depression and been off work now since last June. I was so grumpy and low and upset and worried, I stayed away from here in case it rubbed off on others. He's very slowly getting better.
Planting season is in full swing, but today has been rained off - as was yesterday and the day before. I can't complain, our winter in this area has been non-existent. We are weeks ahead of our normal times - I have already picked my first asparagus. We have had very little frost and no snow, yet others in our area have had far more rain. Daffodils are a distant memory, tulips are in full swing and the cerinthes never stopped, nor the erysimums. The roses stayed evergreen and the heating has barely been on - fantastic as we are of course a lot worse off currently.
One of my favourite veggie sources of protein is those little black beans, turtle beans. They don't seem as high on the carb side as some others. However, any starch I have now tends to be just a handful at a time, whether it be beans, quinoa or brown rice, it is now an addition rather than the main constituent.
My biggest problem when eating out now is lunchtime, unless I can find somewhere that does a light salad. I can no longer have a quick sandwich, and whey protein is hidden in all sorts of places. So poor DBH gets hauled into vegan cafes. They have all been excellent, but he has taken to disappearing for ages under the pretext of a quick visit to B&Q, and I know that he has really gone out for a coffee and a carb fix that doesn't involve strange breads, seeds and sprouts.
Good to see you back stillhere, had wondered if you were OK. How is the planting season going? Bit late and soggy here.
I hadn't realised how long it was since I looked in here until I had to read back so far and saw I had missed a request for a spinach and lentil fritters recipe. I made it up - but something like this.
1 cup red lentils, boiled for about 10 minutes in a cup and a half of water, ADD
4 cups spinach, AND
1 clove of garlic, chopped
cook a minute
Add spices - harissa or Moroccan mix of some sort. Fresh herbs such as coriander or parsley if liked. If mixture too wet, add a few breadcrumbs or flour.
Mix, form into small balls, dip into a beaten egg followed by flour - I use chickpea - flatten a little in the hot oil, fry on both sides until browned.
Serve with a dollop of yoghourt or sour cream, with a little lemon juice added.
I have been very good until last week. That was when it hit me that I hadn't had hot cross buns or chocolate at Easter for the first time in my life. We were away at Easter, it didn't seem to matter as much at the time, but on my return, it did. I tried making home-made GF buns - even the birds turned their beaks up. Tesco had some for sale - probably the only ones they couldn't shift. I bought two packs and have been eating two a morning for breakfast over the past four days. I can't eat much chocolate, so I am still working my way through a dairy-free bunny.
However - now that I can't have wheat OR dairy, my big problem is sugar, I really crave it. Dried fruit didn't work, I would just eat it all. I ate eight mini meringues coated in coconut cream in one sitting. Fruit ice lollies didn't work. So I have one little 'free from' cake a day. The weight is still slowly dropping, my face is slimmer. My scales are broken and they are staying that way, because DBH was getting a bit obsessed about his weight and a bit too thin, I thought. We are now eating pretty much the same meals as each other - masses of roasted veg, just different sauces and dressings and spices, and varying the protein. Lots of ratatouille from the freezer. Lots of stirfries. Last Saturday DBH cooked, and he said for the first time it didn't enter his head to use potatoes. We had venison steaks, red cabbage with redcurrant jelly, and turrety rounds of butternut squash and aubergine that he had griddled.
But the best thing is - I had thought that I would be saddled with a double chin for ever. It would appear not.
Lazigirl, I would agree with all the advice from Anya and Mamie Although you have had a shock you can do something about it now.
Although I went yearly to my GP, for the past 30 yrs, I was never offered a blood sugar test and diabetes was never mentioned. It was only when I saw a young locum in February , that I had a blood test and diabetes was diagnosed. I refuse to have it,and since then have lost 10% of my body weight. I am 71 and it has been a big challenge but I am getting there. So do not give up ever.
Thanks
That diagnosis can be frightening I agree Lazigirl but more and more GPS are flagging up pre-diabetes which is good as it gives you the chance to do something about it.
Actually a walk of a couple of miles sounds pretty active!!!
Mamie is correct, it is harder to lose weight if you've not much to lose, but it sounds good to me. You must be doing something right
Stick with it.
It is idyllic sometimes Lazigirl but basically if we didn't flog ourselves to death garden, cook and eat I would suffer from terminal boredom. . There is very little else to do in the French countryside and winters can be very trying. The French don't do much convenience food either, though the charcuterie had a huge queue the day that cooked pigs' ears were on offer. 
I wonder if conventional LCHF would be easier? I think it is harder if you don't have much weight to lose and maybe "just" cutting out sugar and the starchy carbs would work better? Think my weight loss was only a pound a week with several pauses over the course of a year.
It sounds idyllic at your house Mamie, like a French Good Life, with delicious home grown food . All mine comes from M&S. Although I am trying to avoid becoming diabetic I have struggled with the 8 week low carb diet because it is so difficult when eating out, away from home and so on. I have had to modify it, ie with porridge oats at breakfast, and crispbread lunch times and trying where possible low carb evening meal. The ideas on this thread have been brilliant and have learnt lots of ways with cauliflower! I still have beer at weekends, which is my Achilles heel, but have lost 7lbs unfortunately has taken about 7 weeks. My BMI is in normal range so is it possible that this is one of the reasons why I am so slow to lose weight - or am I making excuses?
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