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Low carb diet
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15-01-2008 2:10pmVery new to the low carb diet ! Just wondering what foods would be considered low in carbs?
Cereals - which would be best - wheetabix, special k, ready brek?
Bread - is brown bread low in carbs, the nutty stuff?
Meat - is red meat OK?
Would this be a decent low carb day:
Breakfast - 2 slices of brown bread, fried egg
Lunch - 2 chicken fillets, salad (lettuce, egg, onion, cucumber, cheddar cheese, sweetcorn), nuts, apple or banana.
Dinner - chicken / turkey / red meat, veggie (carrots, peas, beans)
Snack throughout the day on nuts and fruit0
Comments
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rockdrummer wrote: »Very new to the low carb diet ! Just wondering what foods would be considered low in carbs?
Cereals - which would be best - wheetabix, special k, ready brek?Bread - is brown bread low in carbs, the nutty stuff?Meat - is red meat OK?Would this be a decent low carb day:
Breakfast - 2 slices of brown bread, fried egg
Lunch - 2 chicken fillets, salad (lettuce, egg, onion, cucumber, cheddar cheese, sweetcorn), nuts, apple or banana.
Dinner - chicken / turkey / red meat, veggie (carrots, peas, beans)
Snack throughout the day on nuts and fruit
Yeah its not too bad though if it was *really* low carbing your looking for i'd ditch the bread and the fruit. To me what you described is more of a moderate carb plan really!0 -
None of these are low carbs (or even low GI). If its low GI your looking for porridge is a great option
http://www.weetabix.co.uk/brands/ready-brek/ready-brek-original/Ready brek Original contains the following ingredients listed in order of amount used.
Wholegrain Rolled Oats (60%), Wholegrain Oat Flour, Calcium, Niacin, Iron, Pantothenic Acid (B5), Vitamin B6, Riboflavin (B2), Thiamin (B1), Folic Acid, Vitamin B12.
rockdrummer- just look at packs in supermarkets, all the info is right there. Look at the "per 100g", any number for carbs is the % in it, and the lower the "of which sugars" the better. e.g. readybrek is 58.5% carbs, 1% sugar, then check hte ingredients, there is no sugar added, so the 1% sugar is naturally occurring in the oats, which is fine.0 -
rubadub Quote:Readybrek is not actually that bad, expect it is a complete rip off! and not low carb, best eaten in the morning. Just get oats though, better, cheaper and less processed.
Phew, I HATE porridge! And before I get an onslaught of replies saying that's stupid its probably the one food I have hated since I was a child and although I will eat it when necessary (if I am on a hiking trip for instance) I always eat it through gritted teeth. After a few days of eating I start to gag at the thoughts of it. But I know its a superfood and is so good for you.
I am intolerant to wheat so ready brek really is the only thing that I like and fills me up for a few hours. I usually have it with linseeds, sesame and sunflower seeds with some raisins.0 -
How Strange wrote: »Phew, I HATE porridge! And before I get an onslaught of replies saying that's stupid its probably the one food I have hated since I was a child and although I will eat it when necessary (if I am on a hiking trip for instance) I always eat it through gritted teeth. After a few days of eating I start to gag at the thoughts of it. But I know its a superfood and is so good for you.
I am intolerant to wheat so ready brek really is the only thing that I like and fills me up for a few hours. I usually have it with linseeds, sesame and sunflower seeds with some raisins.
Try my recipe for oat pancakes.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055002535
You could also make oat quick pizzas with them
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055123152
A more recent recipie here (omit the wheat flour)
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055216686
I see no reason why oat flour cannot be subbed for wheat flour in any recipies. If anybody has healthy(ish) cake/muffin recipies please let me know, I miss my cake!
Also readybrek is essentially porridge, rolled oats, oat flour & vitamins. Maybe if you half blended up the porridge oats and cooked it then it might be more similar. Readybrek is good enough, just overpriced.0 -
rockdrummer wrote: »Very new to the low carb diet ! Just wondering what foods would be considered low in carbs?
Cereals - which would be best - wheetabix, special k, ready brek?
Bread - is brown bread low in carbs, the nutty stuff?
Meat - is red meat OK?
Would this be a decent low carb day:
Breakfast - 2 slices of brown bread, fried egg
Lunch - 2 chicken fillets, salad (lettuce, egg, onion, cucumber, cheddar cheese, sweetcorn), nuts, apple or banana.
Dinner - chicken / turkey / red meat, veggie (carrots, peas, beans)
Snack throughout the day on nuts and fruit
Here's a good book with many sample recipes that also extols the ridiculous health virtues of a diet restricted in carbohydrates.
Good Fat: With 100 Low-carb Recipes
The Paleolithic Diet is a very healthy low carb diet. Atkins (when done correctly! You must read the books) is decent too. My personal favourite for low carb diets is the Eades' book
Protein Power
The title is a little off-putting, the book however is excellent science written by two MD's. It's not sensationalist, everything is written just as humble fact. They advocate blood tests showing how the diet reduces Tryglyeceride/HDL cholesterol ratios (the main indicator we have for potential illness), something low fat diets do little for. They've a few other books too:
The 30-Day Low-Carb Diet Solution
The Low-Carb Comfort Food Cookbook
If you're willing to up your carbs a bit (40% of your calorie intake, with fat and protein making up 30% each) then The Zone would be the way to go. It's the one I'm easing myself into. I was on a kind of Paleo diet mostly for the last while, but ketosis isn't conducive to heavy training. I like that this allows me to have a more normal breakfast like muesli now and then. That is of course, muesli supplemented with almonds (for the monounsaturated fat) and either eggs or salmon on the side for protein.0 -
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"Brown" bread is no good - you need to make sure it's wholemeal. Most brown bread is just made from good old white flour with added colouring. Even at that, as somebody said, bread can never be described as low-carb.
If you can't stand porridge try oatcakes - you can get them in tescos (look on the cracker shelves) and I'm sure in other supermarkets. I usually have a few of these with cheese for breakfast - all the benefits of porridge and none of the horror of trying to force down steaming bowls of glue first thing in the morning0 -
Thanks for the replies and info. lads.
I kinda new that bread and cereals were not low carb, just wondering if I was to eat them which would be the best. Currently my diet is made up mostly of carbs at the momet - sandwiches, cereals, potatoes - typical Irish diet !!
I think if I was to go completely carb free I would be starving all the time - can be very anal when it comes to food !
I know its a changes in lifestyle / diet etc but I think it would take time and experience to know what exactly to eat and when !!0 -
Are Heinz baked beans OK?0
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rockdrummer wrote: »Are Heinz baked beans OK?
As low carb? I dont think so tbh the sauce usually has sugar as one of the main ingredients.
If you went carb free, its really just a matter of sorting out your portions of protein and fats to compensate, but it does take a bit of getting used too.0 -
rubadub, thanks for those recipes. I'm going to try out those pancakes at the weekend.0
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I wouldn't consider beans to be OK. Beans themselves contain some carb but there are sugars in the tomato sauce as well.
I followed a low-carb diet for about 2 years, and lost 2 stone in the first sixmonths of that, which I kept off then through a high-protein diet and exercise. Unfortunately, I then slipped from the diet. However, I've recently started back and I've already lost 7 lbs. This however, is not just due to low-carb eating, I'm also exercising as well.
One of the keys to a low-carb diet is putting yourself through an induction phase. (This is common to Atkin's as well as the Idiot Proof Diet and others). In this you limit yourself to about 20g of carbs a day. This regime effectivly kickstarts your metabolism and once your weight loss is underway, you can start to reintroduce some carbs in a controlled fashion.
Carbohydrates are addictive and you will crave them when you give them up. But protein is extremely filling and after a period of about a week you will find yourself adapting.
I'll give you an example of what I would eat during the course of a day - this was yesterday's menu
Breakfast - Some cold meats, two pieces of cheese and half an avocado (Other regulars include a hard-boiled egg, a rasher, grilled mushroom etc)
Snack - a handful of peanuts
Lunch - A big salad of romaine lettuce, parmesan shavings, chicken breast, cherry tomatoes and a low-sugar dressing (I like salads, but somedays I will have grilled vegetables and meat of some form, or a homemade curry)
Dinner - salmon fillet served with a broccoli, leek and cabbage mix. This was followed by a small amount of homemade pate. (I also love home-made burgers, served with some bacon, cheese or egg)
Throughout the day I drank 2 cups of green tea and approximately 3 litres of water.
Atkin's diet book is worth a read. I know a lot of people think it's excessive, but there is some sensible advice in there too. He was one of first people I'm aware of to put forward the idea of carb-rich eating causing insulin resistance and sugar-craving. I used Atkin's first time out. I just modified the diet to remove half the frying he recommended.
Another diet book that will give you tips and pointers is India Knight's Idiot Proof Diet. This is a low-carb diet but done in a more approachable fashion than Atkins.
Collins publish an excellent Carb Counter book which gives you the carb content of everyday food.0 -
As low carb? I dont think so tbh the sauce usually has sugar as one of the main ingredients.0
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Atkin's diet book is worth a read. I know a lot of people think it's excessive, but there is some sensible advice in there too. He was one of first people I'm aware of to put forward the idea of carb-rich eating causing insulin resistance and sugar-craving. I used Atkin's first time out. I just modified the diet to remove half the frying he recommended.
I am sure the atkins book is good I never read it. I have only read the anabolic diet e-book. That recommends about 30g of carbs a day with a carb refeed once a week after the induction period. The net intake of carbs is total grams of carbs-grams of fibre.
I do agree that overly processed carbohydrates are addictive dudara, but i do think that there is some room in the weight loss for good healthy carbs i.e. porridge or loads of vegetables.
@Rubadub, i am not sure if the OP is using low carb in the sense of actual *low* carb, and honestly i do agree that sometimes the quanity of sugar we talk about eg 4/6g of sugar in a moderate diet is really not that bad, but for the purpose of low-carbing it would make a difference!0 -
I do agree that overly processed carbohydrates are addictive dudara but i do think that there is some room in the weight loss for good healthy carbs i.e. porridge or loads of vegetables.
I wholeheartedly agree. Lots of green leafy vegetables to provide plenty of fibre. Later in the low-carb regime, you can reintroduce carbs. It makes sense to use wholefood, low-GI carbs here.ali.c wrote:@Rubadub, i am not sure if the OP is using low carb in the sense of low carb, and honestly i do agree that sometimes the quanity of sugar we talk about eg 4/6g of sugar in a moderate diet is really not that bad, but for the purpose of low-carbing it would make a difference!
Such a small amount of sugar will make a difference in the initial stages of a low-carb diet. It's easy to think that a small bite won't make a difference, but if you do that on a regular basis, you'll just sabotage yourself. Later, once weight loss is established, you can relax a little bit.0 -
I wholeheartedly agree. Lots of green leafy vegetables to provide plenty of fibre. Later in the low-carb regime, you can reintroduce carbs. It makes sense to use wholefood, low-GI carbs here.Such a small amount of sugar will make a difference in the initial stages of a low-carb diet. It's easy to think that a small bite won't make a difference, but if you do that on a regular basis, you'll just sabotage yourself. Later, once weight loss is established, you can relax a little bit.
That was my point if someine is not low carbing but eating a healthy moderate diet then i really dont think 4/5g is going to make a difference. if you are low carbing and eating approx 30g of net carbs a day its going to make a difference!!0 -
There is not as much sugar in a tin as some would think. I sometimes strain off the sauce and add spices. Beans are very cheap, esp. supermarket brands. Also you can just leave the sauce there and not eat it all, i.e. put a spoon in and tip it at the side of the bowl so the sauce pours off.@Rubadub, i am not sure if the OP is using low carb in the sense of low carb, and honestly i do agree that sometimes the quanity of sugar we talk about eg 4/6g of sugar in a moderate diet is really not that bad, but for the purpose of low-carbing it would make a difference!0
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So far today:
Breakfast - 2 slices of brown bread and scrambled egg
snack - 2 oranges and 2 kiwi's
Lunch - chicked fillet + salad (lettuce, onion, broad beans, cucumber, sweetcorn) + small white roll, banana and weight watchers yoghurt.
Will be going to gym for one houre this evening.
Havent decided what to go for for dinner yet.
Have drank 1 litre of water so far, 2 cups of cofee, and 2 cups of black tea (the herbal kind)0 -
@Rubadub, i am not sure if the OP is using low carb in the sense of actual *low* carb, and honestly i do agree that sometimes the quanity of sugar we talk about eg 4/6g of sugar in a moderate diet is really not that bad, but for the purpose of low-carbing it would make a difference!
I also maintain that the main reason Atkins works so well for some people is that it is VERY restrictive, so people get bored of the same old food and naturally eat less.
I could make an T-Z diet, you are only allowed eat foods whos name starts with T-Z. Or the smarties diet, you must eat 3 smarties a day, at 11am, 3pm, and 7pm- on an empty stomach Though I do accept the Atkins is more than just restriction.0 -
I wont be able to knock carbs out altogether - but if I vastly reduce them as much as possible it should have an effect? combined with gym !
I try and go 3 times a week - for an hour and do vigorous aerobic exercise. half hour on bike and half hour on threadmill, or ski bike !
I weigh 86KG and am 32 - want to get down to a reasonable weight 70 - 75KG !!
Do ya think im going the right direction?0 -
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I also maintain that the main reason Atkins works so well for some people is that it is VERY restrictive, so people get bored of the same old food and naturally eat less.
A low-carb diet is actually not that restrictive, once you get creative. In fact, I think it forces you to come up with new combinations of food. I got a recipe the other day for red onion and feta 'muffins' (using egg to set the muffins) which I'm looking forward to trying.
/note to self - go buy a muffin tin.0 -
rockdrummer wrote: »So far today:
Breakfast - 2 slices of brown bread and scrambled egg
snack - 2 oranges and 2 kiwi's
Lunch - chicked fillet + salad (lettuce, onion, broad beans, cucumber, sweetcorn) + small white roll, banana and weight watchers yoghurt.
Will be going to gym for one houre this evening.
Havent decided what to go for for dinner yet.
Have drank 1 litre of water so far, 2 cups of cofee, and 2 cups of black tea (the herbal kind)
More vegetables is the key. You can develop a taste and experiment with textures/added flavours. I used not to eat vegetables, now I can't get enough of most of them. For dinner, personally I like a big meal. Steam up a rakeload of broccoli and carrots, green beans etc (I mean what would normally do for a family) then throw a pasta sauce or not too sweet chinese sauce on it, then some kind of meat, say a diced chicken fillet in there too and you're ready to go. Fills me up and only has about 40g of carbs in it (for meal that weighs the guts of a kilo).
Also maybe instead of two pieces of fruit for a snack, have one and some cheese, a glass of milk, or a boiled egg.You are right, I actually forgot that the thread was specifically about "low carb", and had "low calorie" in mind. I aim for low carb myself but certainly not "no carb".rubadub wrote:I also maintain that the main reason Atkins works so well for some people is that it is VERY restrictive, so people get bored of the same old food and naturally eat less.rockdrummer wrote: »I wont be able to knock carbs out altogether -rockdrummer wrote: »but if I vastly reduce them as much as possible it should have an effect? combined with gym !rockdrummer wrote: »I try and go 3 times a week - for an hour and do vigorous aerobic exercise. half hour on bike and half hour on threadmill, or ski bike !
If you like them then don't be afraid of weights. More muscle means more lean mass that will be burning more calories, i.e. greater metabolism. With the (likely) increase in protein in your diet you'll probably find it easy to achieve some gain initially.rockdrummer wrote: »I weigh 86KG and am 32 - want to get down to a reasonable weight 70 - 75KG !!
Do ya think im going the right direction?0 -
Thanks for the replies everybody... Very useful information.
I'll have to get used to eatin alot of vegatables...0 -
You know that ultimately it's all good for you.
At the start, watch out for the kind of vegetables you eat. Generally anything that is dense and grows underground should be avoided for a while. Also take care with peas and beans.
You can eat lots of salad vegetables, mushrooms, spinach, broccoli, leeks, cabbage, onions etc.0 -
You can eat lots of salad vegetables, mushrooms, spinach, broccoli, leeks, cabbage, onions etc.
Cauliflower, mange tout, green beans/haricots/sugar snaps, cucumber, courgettes, artichoke, asparagus, black beans, bok choy, sprouts, cabbage, eggplant, peppers, radishes, tomatoes, bean sprouts, scallions, lettuce, celery, raw carrots are all great.
And try to minimise (as dudara said) most beans, corn, potatoes, parsnips, peas, turnips, cooked carrots.
Favourable fruits are: All citrus fruits, pineapple, plums, watermelon, nectarines, peaches, apples, pears, rasberries, strawberries (basically all berries), grapes.
Unfavourable fruits are: Bananas, cranberries, dates, figs, raisins, mango, prunes0 -
Just an update for those thinking of low-carb dieting. After 2.5 weeks, I've dropped 4 kg, or nearly 9 lbs. Most of the weight loss was at the start, probably due to some water loss and quick start. It's slowed in the last week, but I was expecting this as I've significantly upped my activity level.
Will keep you updated.0 -
Just an update for those thinking of low-carb dieting. After 2.5 weeks, I've dropped 4 kg, or nearly 9 lbs. Most of the weight loss was at the start, probably due to some water loss and quick start. It's slowed in the last week, but I was expecting this as I've significantly upped my activity level.
Will keep you updated.
Congrats, i am not sure its for everyone though, i tried it and after 2 days i was violently ill, it really didnt seem to agree with my tummy. May just give it another go in a couple of weeks!0 -
Just an update for those thinking of low-carb dieting. After 2.5 weeks, I've dropped 4 kg, or nearly 9 lbs. Most of the weight loss was at the start, probably due to some water loss and quick start. It's slowed in the last week, but I was expecting this as I've significantly upped my activity level.
Will keep you updated.
Often people don't get enough protein, and just increasing that to 30%-40% of your calorie intake will often increase your lean body mass (muscle) even if they are somewhat sedentary.
I wouldn't worry too much about the water loss, excess carbohydrate causes fluid retention. Just be sure to drink plenty of water, more protein means your kidneys have to work a bit harder. The odd kiwi/tomato now and then in the transition phase is good, as until you get used to it, potassium levels (something to do with them binding with glycogen) can be lacking.0 -
Congrats, i am not sure its for everyone though, i tried it and after 2 days i was violently ill, it really didnt seem to agree with my tummy. May just give it another go in a couple of weeks!0
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ApeXaviour wrote: »Do you mind if I asked for an example of your meal plan? It could have been just a coincidence. I just think it odd that a diet consisting largely of vegetables (as all good healthy low carb diets should IMO) would disagree with one's stomach.
A good healthy low carb diet does have vegetables but limited to under 30g net carbs a day.
I cant remember the exact meal plan i followed but it included the following foods
Eggs, celery, brocilli, chicken, lettuce, green beans, beef, peanut butter and whey protein. I'd say i was getting about 3 -4 cups of green vegetables on the both days equivalent to about 20g of carbs the rest was made up from the rest of the stuff in my diet.
Indeed it could of been a concidence but when i went back to eating a more moderate carb diet following that. I wasnt even at home when it happened :mad:0
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