Going Low Carb

Candy_Girl

RHJ wrote: »

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Back to the OP - No it's not expensive it's just a diet that requires more prep and thought as it can get boring easily if you are not prepared... herbs and spices are your friend, stock up also on nuts and berries for snacks.

You don't really need to buy a cook book as Google search will give you enough recipes, try facebook also if you're on it.

RHJ

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ford2600

Rob I eat lchf, more out of curiosity than anything at start but 12 months on I wll keep it up to a certain extent.

On cost, steaks, chicken breasts, lamb chops are expensive cuts and when grilled you can lose some of the nutritional benefit.

For meat get to know a good butcher and buy the cheapest cuts of lamb, and beef. Lamb neck cooked slow with onion garlic stock salt pepper and a little spice is outstanding. By slow I mean 4-10 hrs at a low heat circa 100C.

If butcher is any good he will leave cuts aside for you. Cook the bones and all, marrow slow cooked is very tasty and full of good fats.

Lambs liver is cheap and a nutritional motherload.

Having said that, I eat meat 3/4 times a week and eat 60% fat. Calorie for calorie with nearly any food olive oil is great value even for decent quality. I buy it in 5 L drums. It probably accounts for 10-15% of my total calorific intake.

Coconut and a little butter are also mainstays of diet with nuts, avacado etc.

Eggs to me are key. Huge variety in how to cook them and great nutrition without being expensive.

Don't worry about ketosis for now, if at all, and be sure to keep decent fruit in diet.Bring veg way up. Buy whatever is cheap, fry in coconut and cover with olive oil and some salt and it becomes an enjoyable part of diet while keeping fibre niacin etc etc in diet.

Above all listen to your body and fcuk the lads selling you something. You will know best.

Good luck

ford2600

Just to add find a fish wholesaler, buy what's cheap learn to cook chowder, fish stew galician style or whatever. Even paella with a little rice, adding chorizo for fat and flavour.

Seafood mix is fine for stews/chowder

Lux23

I only have a tiny little fridge/freezer so I find it difficult to buy in bulk, for instance my local butcher does 5 chicken fillets for a fiver, however I have to cook it all at once because there's no space to freeze it. If I had the money, I would definitely invest in a mini freezer. A friend has one and she can cook meals in advance and freeze them, would be really handy for a low carb diet.

papu

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

<50g carbs = restrictive.
<150g carbs = not restrictive.

And I don't know why you don't regularly go below 50g yourself.

I've been trying out this <=50g carb for 4 or 5 days a week for the past 2 weeks and it is pretty restrictive .

You do need to think and plan ahead your meals but it is very possible.

Just try to reduce it as much as you can , even 100 or 150 would be a good starting point , no point jumping into the deep end and giving up because it's unsustainable and too much work.

Alf Veedersane

papu wrote: »

I've been trying out this <=50g carb for 4 or 5 days a week for the past 2 weeks and it is pretty restrictive .

You do need to think and plan ahead your meals but it is very possible.

Just try to reduce it as much as you can , even 100 or 150 would be a good starting point , no point jumping into the deep end and giving up because it's unsustainable and too much work.

Exactly.

Good podcast on carb intake here (credit again to conzy on the linkage) and the it's all in the calories and macros vs low-carb debate.

Well worth a listen.

CaptainAhab

Here is an article on low-carb diets recently published in the New York Times - the science appears to be getting some traction.

I cannot link direct as I don't have the post count but you will find it by searching 'A Call for a Low-Carb Diet' and 'New York Times'.

papu

CaptainAhab wrote: »

Here is an article on low-carb diets recently published in the New York Times - the science appears to be getting some traction.

I cannot link direct as I don't have the post count but you will find it by searching 'A Call for a Low-Carb Diet' and 'New York Times'.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/health/low-carb-vs-low-fat-diet.html?_r=0

The Study http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1900694

TLDR; latest study from NIH (150 participants, 1 year) shows low carbohydrate dieters lose more than low fat, with no restriction on calories, lipid profiles improve.

interesting part of that study

By the end of the yearlong trial, people in the low-carbohydrate group had lost about eight pounds more on average than those in the low-fat group. They had significantly greater reductions in body fat than the low-fat group, and improvements in lean muscle mass — even though neither group changed their levels of physical activity.

While the low-fat group did lose weight, they appeared to lose more muscle than fat.

“They actually lost lean muscle mass, which is a bad thing,” Dr. Mozaffarian said. “Your balance of lean mass versus fat mass is much more important than weight. And that’s a very important finding that shows why the low-carb, high-fat group did so metabolically well.”

Alf Veedersane

Just as a point of note, the participants not having diabetes or CVD is not the same as saying they were metabolically healthy which is likely to be a big factor in the effect of a low carb diet.

Underpaid Mike

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Just as a point of note, the participants not having diabetes or CVD is not the same as saying they were metabolically healthy which is likely to be a big factor in the effect of a low carb diet.

Are you saying low carb is only effective for people with diabetes or CVD or am I reading this wrong?
If thats what you are saying then you dont really understand the science behind this diet at all

Fluxfan

I'm confused by this thread! I always thought chickpeas were a good healthy option? I often cook a stirfry with a mountain of them in it, as a pasta or noodle replacement. thought I was doing the right thing. Also eat a lot of mixed beans in salads etc - again thought it was a good way to fill up. Am I wrong in this?

I see a lot of people above mentioning herbs and spices? I'm not the best cook and have no idea what and how to use them, what to even buy in the supermarket. Anyone got some pointers that could be used here for those of us less blessed in the chef department?

Alf Veedersane

Underpaid Mike wrote: »

Are you saying low carb is only effective for people with diabetes or CVD or am I reading this wrong?
If thats what you are saying then you dont really understand the science behind this diet at all

No, I wasn't saying that at all.

I said that not having CVD or diabetes doesn't mean someone is necessarily metabolically healthy.

Someone who isn't will get a therapeutic benefit that someone who is might not.

It will work to varying degrees depending on metabolic health as opposed to only being effective for certain people.

Underpaid Mike

Fluxfan wrote: »

I'm confused by this thread! I always thought chickpeas were a good healthy option? I often cook a stirfry with a mountain of them in it, as a pasta or noodle replacement. thought I was doing the right thing. Also eat a lot of mixed beans in salads etc - again thought it was a good way to fill up. Am I wrong in this?

I see a lot of people above mentioning herbs and spices? I'm not the best cook and have no idea what and how to use them, what to even buy in the supermarket. Anyone got some pointers that could be used here for those of us less blessed in the chef department?

This is not a diet based on whats "healthy/not healthy"
This is a diet where you limit or eliminate all starch and sugar, both are quickly absorbed by the body and generate body fat at an annoying rate (from experience).
Ive tried and failed a few times on this diet until I succeed specatularly at the start of this year. I lost around 3 stone in 5-6 months. Down from 18 stone to 15 as a 6ft3 man. I will credit 80% of my success to using myfitnesspal. It logs everything you eat and tells you how much protein, carbs and fat you are consuming. Determine what you should be consuming every day, catalog it and you will be well on your way. If you are not losing 2lbs+ a week at least from the start you are doing somethign wrong. This rate will slow to 1-2lbs after a few weeks. It has an iphone/andoid app too so you can simply scan a foods barcode and it will tell you whats in it. Also learn about calculating net carbs from food labels and grow to love the taste of olive oil and bacon as they are now your new best friends. Keep carbs below 20g for the first few weeks and you will be laughing.

Finally on chickpeas 1 cup of chickpeas has 350 calories, 53 grams of carbs and just 60 grams of protein. DEFINITELY not suitable for a low carb diet

As a comparison a 3 egg omlette, including 3 slices of ham, lots of spinich and cheese has the same amount of calories but just 2-3 grams of carbs. Thats the "trick" of this diet. Eating loads of the appropriate foods

Underpaid Mike

PS for your spices and herbs question take a look at this

http://i.imgur.com/XRbTqkz.jpg

Should steer you in the right direction. Do what I do, throw random stuff on whenever cooking and take note of what you like and dont like. Wont take long for you to get good at using herbs and spices after a while

Betsysquared

Hi underpaid mike. I have just started a LCHF diet and am down 5 lb after week one. I find breakfast and dinner fine but struggle at lunch. Could you post a few lunch ideas?? I don't want to over so eggs in case I get sick of them, I have them with rashers for breakfast each day.. Dinner is meat with mushrooms and broccoli or green beans and full fat philly. Lunch is a salad with salmon or cooked meat and nuts.
Thank you and well dine on your weight loss. Very impressive and inspirational

Underpaid Mike

Betsysquared wrote: »

Hi underpaid mike. I have just started a LCHF diet and am down 5 lb after week one. I find breakfast and dinner fine but struggle at lunch. Could you post a few lunch ideas?? I don't want to over so eggs in case I get sick of them, I have them with rashers for breakfast each day.. Dinner is meat with mushrooms and broccoli or green beans and full fat philly. Lunch is a salad with salmon or cooked meat and nuts.
Thank you and well dine on your weight loss. Very impressive and inspirational

Ah nice work. What I will say is unless you read and put a bit of effort into mixing things up and tracking what you eat on an almost scientific basis, this diet (or any most likely) wont work.
I got 99% of my inspiration and knowledge from reddit. Specifically from 2 forums
http://www.reddit.com/r/keto/
http://www.reddit.com/r/ketorecipes/
Both see dozens of new posts a day with everything you would want to know about low carb. Plus loads of stuff you wouldnt want to know.

I stopped doing low carb over the summer and probably gained 10lbs since May. I have been weight training all that time so a decent amount of that is muscle. I started low carb again on Monday and will now push to get to my final goal weight which should take about 3 more months. Cant wait.
As an example of what I ate today

Breakfast - 3 eggs, 3 slices of ham, 40ml double cream. Microwaved along with coffee and double cream x2
Lunch - Spanish meat platter along with a variety of hard cheeses
Dinner - Steak and as much brocolli as I can eat

My breakfast rarely changes because I love eggs and ham/bacon.
Lunch options would be tuna salad/Stir fry from night before/burritto bowl/carvery burger or other meat with loads green veg
That would be the case if I was buying lunch, if I was making my own then literally the choice is endless.

D'Agger

I'm finding for dinners that I'll make alot of plain steak / chicken dishes with brocolli & sweet potato

However, I enjoy beef & chicken stir fry dishes from the butchers near work which I'd normally have with tilda basmati rice. Should I be looking at other alternatives or is rice deemed okay?

At this stage I've pretty much cut out bread, sugar is the next thing to get rid of - been drinking tea alot lately - need to revert to green tea so I'm not taking in sugar!

Underpaid Mike

This works for me (might not work for everyone)
2+ liters of water a day and at least 3 cups of coffee. Both natural appetite suppressants. If I want something sweet its coke zero (can drink as much as you like but you will have a large dentist bill at some stage) and 95% cocoa dark chocolate.

For dinners and lunches it means you really have to preplan and not just see what happens on the day as I used to do. Buy in bulk, cook like an industrial chef and make numerous portions always at hand so you never need to stray because you cant face cooking. Also absolutely no cheat days. If you do then it takes 3+ days to get back into ketosis and begin to burn fat again.
Alcohol was a huge issue for me, loved nothing more than a few random pints a lot during the week. Instead ive moved to whiskey and ice or even gin or vodka and diet coke. Word of warning though hangovers are chronic when you dont eat carbs

This is a bit sciency but its by a doctor and its brilliant. Came across him after watching his Ted talk which I think everyone should see

http://eatingacademy.com/

Betsysquared

Hi again.

So I am still ploughing away at low carb, doing fine. Currently have an almighty sore throat and am putting it down to just being a bit run down from the diet. However, sore throat I can cope with, I have had quite bad insomnia for the last three or four nights. I go to bed exhausted at my usual time and wake up about 4 or 5 hours later and can't sleep for an hour or two. The of course I am back asleep and its time to get up! Also, I am having quite vivid dreams and have songs on repeat in my head when I wake. Anyone have any idea? Is it the lack of carb?

Miss Lizzie Jones

RHJ wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I have to recommend this book.

500 Low Carb Recipes by Dana Carpender.

I have it and it was my Bible when I was low-carbing.