Low Carb Dinner/Lunch ideas

GrayD

Hi All,

A quick question,

I am making up small meals for dinner and lunches in work so they are ready to heat up and eat and not going buying chicken rolls, fast food or whatever...

Here's the catch...

Whats is good? I am trying to loose a bit of weight...

So far I've been getting chicken, turkey or some type of beef and mixing it with a little pasta or rice, loads of veg and a probably tomato sauce, maybe curry for taste.

Now I read that rice and pasta are NOT good, and I should not eat them. All carbs.
I started using loads of green veg and mushrooms but these are all carbs and I should eat them.
And in general sauces are bad...

What sort of a meal should I be eating. A small chicken breast isn't very much at all for a meal on its own, even if I'm loosing weight I still need to function and you'd get pretty sick of trying to eat a try chicken breat every meal.

I've looked around a lot but I'm not getting it, everything seems to be full of carbs and bad for me if it tastes any tiny bit nice or helps to make a meal!?!?!

g'em

Moved to Nutrition & Diet

corkcomp

GrayD wrote: »

Hi All,

A quick question,

I am making up small meals for dinner and lunches in work so they are ready to heat up and eat and not going buying chicken rolls, fast food or whatever...

Here's the catch...

Whats is good? I am trying to loose a bit of weight...

So far I've been getting chicken, turkey or some type of beef and mixing it with a little pasta or rice, loads of veg and a probably tomato sauce, maybe curry for taste.

Now I read that rice and pasta are NOT good, and I should not eat them. All carbs.
I started using loads of green veg and mushrooms but these are all carbs and I should eat them.
And in general sauces are bad...

What sort of a meal should I be eating. A small chicken breast isn't very much at all for a meal on its own, even if I'm loosing weight I still need to function and you'd get pretty sick of trying to eat a try chicken breat every meal.

I've looked around a lot but I'm not getting it, everything seems to be full of carbs and bad for me if it tastes any tiny bit nice or helps to make a meal!?!?!

whatever about rice / pasta you should NOT avoid eating salad / vegetables with the chicken because of their carb content, and especially not green vegetables .. i think green veg like brocolli and green beans etc are one of the few things you can eat as much as you want of without any negative consequences

EileenG

Eat lots of veg. Anything green or leafy is fair game. Avocado, asparagus, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, bokchoy, cauliflower, chard, cucumber, celery, celeriac, dandelion, endive, fennel, green beans, kale, leeks, mushrooms, spring onion, peppers, olives, spinach, radish, rhubarb, pumpkin, aubergine, courgette, mangetout, spinach, beansprouts, beet greens, watercress are all really low carb.

You can make almost anything that you normally make with carbs, and eat it with some of those veg instead. Mashed cauliflower made a great substitute for rice or pasta.

Look at the thread about protein recipes, I've just given lots of suggestions for main meals.

neuro-praxis

It is absolutely possible to lose weight healthily while still eating carbs, just watch your portions, and the kinds of carbs you eat are important.

Wholewheat pasta and brown rice are good. Bread is not great because it is hard to limit it to a slice...we tend to eat tons of the stuff.

cozmik

neuro-praxis wrote: »

Bread is not great because it is hard to limit it to a slice...we tend to eat tons of the stuff.

Speak for yourself. It's a complete fallacy to suggest bread is harder to portion control than other foods.Anyone eating tons of bread most likely has an eating disorder and should think about having counselling.

neuro-praxis

No need to go overboard there cozmik. Bread has been identified as a trigger food by lots of food specialists as in, a food that a lot of people find hard to stop eating. It's not at all a fallacy - it is excluded from the WW Core plan for that very reason. I'm not disputing its nutritional value.

No need to go carting us all off to the psych ward for eating too much toast! The chances are, if bread is part of your diet, it is likely that you will snack on it, as well as have it in meals. Pasta and rice, however, will probably get confined to your meals. That's all I'm saying.

cozmik

neuro-praxis wrote: »

No need to go overboard there cozmik. Bread has been identified as a trigger food by lots of food specialists

A person who has a healthy relationship with food does not have "trigger foods" but people suffering from eating disorders do.

g'em

I think brandishing bread-lovers as having eating disorders might indeed be taking it a tad too far - E.D.s are pretty serious, and it makes me a little uncomfortable to see it trivialised like that (that's very much a personal opinion though).

I think it's possible to be overly fond of bread without having an E.D.

cozmik

g'em wrote: »

I think brandishing bread-lovers as having eating disorders might indeed be taking it a tad too far -

I notice you have a habit of twisting peoples words. NOWHERE have I branished "bread lovers" as having eating disorders I happen to love the stuff myself but that doesn't mean I'm going to eat tons of it everyday because that isn't normal behaviour.

anniehoo

cozmik wrote: »

Anyone eating tons of bread most likely has an eating disorder and should think about having counselling.

Errr....???

I think you're taking Neuro praxis "eating tons" a bit too literal there Cozmik!

cozmik

anniehoo wrote: »

Errr....???

I think you're taking Neuro praxis "eating tons" a bit too literal there Cozmik!

Oh you do? Well I take it to mean excessive amounts if you must know, but if that's not what is meant by "eating tons" then maybe you could enlighten us as to how that phrase should be interpreted :rolleyes:

Davei141

What a load of rubbish being spouted by cozmik. People who eat a lot of bread have eating disorders? LOL. Its very easy to get into a habit of having bread with breakfast (poached egg on toast, sambo for lunch, slice or 2 with dinner and some tea and toast at night. Thats about 8 slices right there easily enough and if you think thats an eating disorder i agree with g'em, your trivialising eating disorders. But i suspect your just going off on a rant :rolleyes:

Go on cozmik, give us an example of how many slices your "eating tons" involves.

g'em

cozmik wrote: »

NOWHERE have I branished "bread lovers" as having eating disorders I happen to love the stuff myself but that doesn't mean I'm going to eat tons of it everyday because that isn't normal behaviour.

Take it easy cozmik, I'm not trying to twist anything. I'm not interpreting what you said as "those who like bread", I intended "bread-lovers" to mean those who eat a lot of it, as neuro-praxis described.

neuro-praxis (from how I read her post) said that we have a tendency to eat more bread than we probably should - a couple of pieces of toast for breakfast, two or three pieces of bread in a sandwich, and maybe even another slice of toast before bed would be commonplace in an Irish diet. That's not really 'tons' literally, but it's 'tons' colloqially.

So please, clarify yourself, what do you constitute as 'tons' of bread because while eating six or seven slices of bread is probably too much, it isn't anything even approaching an eating disorder, it's bad food management.

Macha

OK, this is one of my favourite low carb dinners. I call it Scramblette:

1 small onion (red or white)
Olive oil
various veg, like chopped pepper, celery, spinach, etc
2 eggs
cheddar cheese
chopped ham

Start frying the chopped onion in the olive oil in a small saucepan/frying pan. After a few minutes, start adding in the veg, depending on how long it will take to cook. You can put the lid on now & leave it for a few mins.
Add in the chopped ham & cheese (both optional) and then crack in the eggs.
Stir so that it's mixed, add salt and pepper.

Yum! Easy, quick, tasty, cheap, low-carb, helps use up left-over veg. What's not to like??

cozmik

g'em wrote: »

That's not really 'tons' literally, but it's 'tons' colloqially.

You don't say.. :rolleyes:

g'em wrote: »

six or seven slices of bread is probably too much, it isn't anything even approaching an eating disorder, it's bad food management.

You call it bad food managment I call it over eating....

Question

How many slices of bread per day is too many?

Answer

The average adult will require two to four slices of bread each day. Always look for the densest, grain-based breads you can find as they have the lowest glycaemic index, meaning they are digested more slowly than white and wholemeal breads and hence are more likely to keep you fuller for longer after eating them.

For non-bread eaters, flat and mountain breads or wholegrain crackers or beans are all good, low-GI carbohydrate choices that you can use as an alternative source of carbohydrate in your diet.

http://health.ninemsn.com.au/asktheexperts/expert2.aspx?id=272755

Imho if you have a healthy relationship with food it's not at all hard to limit yourself to a slice or two of bread a day.

Davei141

cozmik wrote: »

You don't say.. :rolleyes:



You call it bad food managment I call it over eating....



http://health.ninemsn.com.au/asktheexperts/expert2.aspx?id=272755

Imho if you have a healthy relationship with food it's not at all hard to limit yourself to a slice or two of bread a day.

"Healthy relationship with food" means only having 1 or 2 slices of bread a day does it? Will you ever run and jump with your nonsense.

cozmik

neuro-praxis wrote: »

No need to go carting us all off to the psych ward for eating too much toast!

And there was no need for you to be so dramatic! There is nothing wrong with a bit of counselling.

neuro-praxis wrote: »

I really am in serious combat with atrocious habits, eating tendencies and emotional eating.

FYI Emotional eating is common trait of those who have eating disorders.

Macha

cozmik wrote: »

FYI Emotional eating is common trait of those who have eating disorders.

cozmilk, will you stop insinuating that everyone who has bad eating habits, or emotional eating has an eating disorder. You're not saying it, but you are all but saying it.

There is a world of difference between disordered eating and an eating disorder. And G'em is just trying to do the right thing to clarify that distinction. It can be upsetting for people who actually have an eating disorder, for the word to be thrown about so flippantly.

cozmik

I did not in any way indicate that I think everyone who has bad eating habits, or emotional eating has an eating disorder.I suggest you read my post carefully. Read all the words. I took the trouble to write them, you might take the trouble to read them.

g'em

The only person who can diagnose an eating disorder is a medical professional.

There will be no more discussion on what does or does not constitute an E.D.

Back to the topic at hand.

Macha

cozmilk, you really should drop your bad attitude.

Low carb dinner recipe:Jamie Oliver's chicken in a bag

1 chicken fillet
some wine/stock
carrots, mushrooms and any other cut in half
herbs, garlic-chopped up.
olive oil/butter

Mix everything together in a bowl.
Take out your tinfoil and tear off two fairly long sections.
Place them on top of each other and fold over the edges to create a bag, leaving one end open.
Tip all the ingredients into the bag and throw it in the oven for about 25 minutes.

Macha

Got another one!
Pizza Chicken Melts:

2 small chicken breasts
1 tbsp olive oil
50g cheddar, grated
a few cherry tomatoes
2 tsp pesto
green salad

Method:
Preheat the grill to high.
Put the chicken breasts between cling film & whack them til they're thin (rolling pin or back of a frying pan).
Heat the oil in the aforementioned frying pan and cook chicken for 2 minutes on each side.
While cooking, mix the cheese & tomatoes together.
Spread the pesto on top of the chicken & add the cheese/tomato mix
Put under the grill for about a minute until the cheese has melted.
(You can put tinfoil around the frying panhandle to stop in melting/burning.
Serve with green salad.

AND, I have the nutritional info:

Per serving:

315 cals
37g protein
1g carbs
18g fat, 8g saturated
0 fibre
0.68g salt

neuro-praxis

cozmik wrote: »

And there was no need for you to be so dramatic! There is nothing wrong with a bit of counselling.

FYI Emotional eating is common trait of those who have eating disorders.

cozmik I understand that you are now feeling defensive but if you want to quote my food diary and offer advice, why not do it in that thread rather than in this one?

FYI I've been to counselling, and it was a deeply positive experience, but as anyone who tends to overeat is aware, counselling doesn't just make habits of overeating disappear. Day-to-discipline is still required to beat it. Counselling can get to the bottom of why you overeat, but it can't actually stop you from doing it, more's the pity.

What's more, binging (a very unhealthy practice) is part of the habitual life of most people. Most people, from time to time and sometimes regularly, binge on food and alcohol. It's a product of multiple factors - a major one being access to excess.

A common binge food for the average person is bread. Therefore, if you are overweight, you've probably eaten your fair share of bread to get you there. It is also a food that is craved regularly.

Therefore when trying to drop weight or control what you eat, taking it easy on the bread can be a good idea. What are you so upset about? I feel I am talking common sense.

Edwardius

Here's a flourless pizza recipe. used the recipe in the link and threw some rashers cheese and basil on top, think it took about half an hour in total but it was feckin' delicious. I'd use this as a treat more than anything else. You could power a city with the calories in it!

Ingredients:
Crust:
2 Cups Almond Meal/Flour
2 Eggs
2 Tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tsp salt

Sauce:
1 Can Tomato Paste
1-2 Cups Water (To desired thickness)
1 Tsp Dried Oregano
1 Tsp Garlic

Toppings:
Whatever you want!
We used fresh shredded swiss and mozzarella, chicken, bacon and onion!

Instructions:
Crust:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees f (this part needs to be translated from american)
2. Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. This should give you a ball of “dough”. If your dough is too “mushy” (like mine was), continue to add almond flour until you get a good consistency.
3. Make a pizza sheet or baking tray non-stick. This is VERY important if you want your pizza slices to come off in one piece.
4. Press your dough on the sheet nice and even about 1/4 inch in the middle and 1/2 inch at the edges.
5. Put crust in the oven for 15 minutes. It should look slightly golden brown when you take it out.

Sauce:
1. In a saucepan, combine all ingredients. Use water to desired thickness. We like ours pretty thick. Feel free to add more spice if you want it, too.
2. Simmer on stove for approximately 15 minutes.

Toppings:
You will want to pre-cook any meat going on your pizza. Veggies can go on fresh and raw, or cooked depending on your preference. Your favorite cheese will do, but I recommend the 50/50 mix of mozzarella and swiss that we used. It melted perfectly and tasted great!

Put it all together:
1. After crust comes out of the oven, spread sauce evenly over crust.
2. Add your cheese and toppings evenly on top of sauce.
3. Put back in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 15 more minutes. Cheese should be evenly melted.
4. Slice and enjoy!

cozmik

neuro-praxis wrote: »

What are you so upset about?

It pisses me off when people blame the food for being overweight. Blame your right or left hand for the inability to put down the fork, spoon, knife, glass, or whatever conveyance is used during your gluttony.

wasabi

cozmik wrote: »

It pisses me off when people blame the food for being overweight. Blame your right or left hand for the inability to put down the fork, spoon, knife, glass, or whatever conveyance is used during your gluttony.

Simplistic, much?

For low carb lunches if I'm not in the mood for salads I'd often go with some sort of stew or curry (any of these can be low carb if you don't include spuds etc), make a load for dinner and box some up for lunch next day and some for freezer etc.

Ideas:
Green thai curry:
http://www.forkncork.com/content/showthread.php?threadid=531

Peperonata:
http://robbwolf.com/?p=22

Loads of stuff:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/category/recipes/

Macha

Actually, does anyone have a favourite low-carb recipe book, or can recommend one?

It would be handy to just have one good book to reference when you're out of ideas.

wasabi

Most of the stuff in Berardi's Gourmet Nutrition book is lowish in carbs.

There's also a lot of stuff in that Cook with Jamie Oliver book (it is meat-tastic), aside obviously from the risotto section... for training days only

EileenG

taconnol wrote: »

Actually, does anyone have a favourite low-carb recipe book, or can recommend one?

It would be handy to just have one good book to reference when you're out of ideas.

The Long term low carb lifestyle by Carolyn Humphries www.amazon.co.uk/Carb-Long-Term-Lifestyle-Mediterannean/dp/0572029667/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1225833848&sr=8-1. This is a great book, tasty recipes, mostly scaled for one person, and using real ingredients, the sort of thing you have in the kitchen or can buy in your local supermarket. All those American recipes that call for "fat-free oil" and "carb-free sugar" really piss me off.

neuro-praxis

cozmik wrote: »

It pisses me off when people blame the food for being overweight. Blame your right or left hand for the inability to put down the fork, spoon, knife, glass, or whatever conveyance is used during your gluttony.

Well, I guess you're annoyed with somebody else then, because I've never said the existence of food is the cause of anyone being overweight.

Thank goodness food has you to stand up for it!

El_Dangeroso

Cleochatra's blog is a wonderful resource of low carb recipes:

http://www.cleochatra.blogspot.com/

(scroll down and the recipes are indexed in the menu bar on the right)

She is a culinary genius of the tastiest order and walks the walk.. she's lost 86lbs since starting this year..

Her flaxseed crackers are a saviour for those missing 'crunch' on a low carb diet.

peanuthead

EileenG wrote: »

The Long term low carb lifestyle by Carolyn Humphries www.amazon.co.uk/Carb-Long-Term-Lifestyle-Mediterannean/dp/0572029667/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1225833848&sr=8-1. This is a great book, tasty recipes, mostly scaled for one person, and using real ingredients, the sort of thing you have in the kitchen or can buy in your local supermarket. All those American recipes that call for "fat-free oil" and "carb-free sugar" really piss me off.

Just bought a copy now. Got a used one for like £2!

peanuthead

EileenG wrote: »

The Long term low carb lifestyle by Carolyn Humphries

Hey

Have a question about this book, kind of directed at EileenG as she really seems to know her stuff but anyone can answer really.

I just got the book in the post yesterday and was reading it. It says how phase 1 is practically no carbs at all, but only to stay on phase 1 for 2weeks as any longer can damage your health. Ie been off carbs the last 3 weeks now. Have lost about 2lbs which isnt alot, but I dont have much to lose either (Im 5ft 5 and 8stone 10lbs) Should I skip the first phase?

Thanks

EileenG

Phase 1 is usually about 20g, which sounds low, but it actually adds up to a low of green veggies. You know the side salads in McDonalds? It's ten of those a day, more if you subtract fibre. So you won't damage your health on phase 1, but it can be a bit restrictive if you are eating with friends.

However, you can definitely skip phase 1 and go straight to a more relaxed low carb diet. In general, if you avoid sugar, bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and processed food, you are fine.

What are you eating? You'd normally lose more than 2lb in 3 weeks when you switch to low carb, even if most of it is water.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Have a bit of basmati rice with your meals. Has a lower GI than normal rice & I think it's far nicer anyway.

If you're eating turkey and loads of veg as well it's not goign to have any substantial effect on your weight loss, especially if you're exercising too.

peanuthead

EileenG wrote: »

Phase 1 is usually about 20g, which sounds low, but it actually adds up to a low of green veggies. You know the side salads in McDonalds? It's ten of those a day, more if you subtract fibre. So you won't damage your health on phase 1, but it can be a bit restrictive if you are eating with friends.

However, you can definitely skip phase 1 and go straight to a more relaxed low carb diet. In general, if you avoid sugar, bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and processed food, you are fine.

What are you eating? You'd normally lose more than 2lb in 3 weeks when you switch to low carb, even if most of it is water.

Well for the last two weeks my diet has more or less been like this:

Breakfast: More often than not I wouldnt have breakfast. I know thats bad, but I just never seem to make time for it. Whenever I do it would be a banana and a cup of black tea.

Lunch: Usually a tuna salad: tuna, beetroot, chickpeas, onion, peppers, sundried tomatoes. Sometimes chicken and veg(carrots and peas) And occasionally (once a week) spaghetti bolognaise (which I know would have carbs in it alright)

Dinner: Meat and vegetables. Meat could be anything ie: beef, lamb, chicken, steak, fish. And I usually fill the plate with vegetables.

During the day I would try to drink about 2 litres of water, but I dont always. I don't snack most of the time, but when I do it would be on a special K bar, or on one chocolate digestive. Some days I might eat a whole chocolate bar.

Admittedly, I suppose I don't have enough fruit in my diet. If I get hungry I would have a bowl of vegetables or something like that.

I would drink tea during the day, bus usually green tea or peppermint tea, and occasionally regular tea with milk.

I dont really drink but when I do I would have a glass or two of white wine, which I have swapped for red wine since reading the intro in the book.

EileenG

Your diet isn't as low carb as you think!

Eat breakfast. It really does help. Go for something like a mushroom omlette or scrambled eggs. It will keep you going and avoid the need for Special K bars or chocolate biscuits (the devil on low carb diets).

Tuna salad is fine, but you are filling it with a lot of high carb veggies like beetroot, carrots, peas and sundried tomatoes. Try going with a big green salad (buy a bag of washed salad leaves or baby spinach) add some avocado, spring onions, bell peppers, and dress it with a vinegar and olive oil dressing.

Meat and vegetables are fine, as long as the veg is mostly green or leafy or salad. Carrots, parsnips, onions, peas etc are normally too high carb for the early days. You add those back as you get further into the diet. I eat huge amounts of broccoli, cauliflower (mash it and you can use it instead of rice or pasta), green beans, runner beans, cabbage, brussels sprouts, kale, spinach, beetroot greens, celery, fennel, asparagus, aubergine, mushrooms, leeks, watercress, courgettes etc.

Try going for berries rather than regular fruit at first, but if you grow your own or pick it wild, you can eat as much of that as you like. Avoid fruit juices, smoothies and dried fruit.

You can snack on sugar-free jelly, very dark chocolate (over 70% at least, the darker the better), have whipped cream in your coffee, nibble on nuts and seeds.

peanuthead

EileenG wrote: »

Your diet isn't as low carb as you think!

Well, just after posting m last comment, I had a proper look through the book, and like you say, I just assumed that so long as I cut out bread, potatoes, rice, pasta then I was doing no-carb!!

I had no idea that some fruits/veg had carbs. Ill take this advice!!

Thanks!!

EileenG

For general health, then cutting out the bread and rice etc is fine. But for weight loss, especially at the start, it pays to be pretty strict for a couple of weeks then to add back in some of the better carbs, and see what your personal level of tolerance is.

Many athletes do a system where they'll have six pretty strict low carb days, then they'll have one day where they eat low fat, high carb, concentrating on the root veg, fruit and whole grains that they'd normally avoid.