Low carb diet

ali.c wrote: »

A good healthy low carb diet does have vegetables but limited to under 30g net carbs a day.

Aye that's quite restrictive one, but still... equivalent to half a kilo of broccoli per day (if broccoli was your only source of carbohydrate).

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.

Sounds pretty good. Some almonds, and a dash of olive oil (monunsaturated fat is quite necessary to vary your macro nutrients), some fish and you'd be quite near ideal.

Indeed it could of been a concidence but when i went back to eating a more moderate carb diet following that.

That's what I'd describe my current diet as. I try stay away from grain derived food, potatoes, rice etc. Get my carbs from fruit and veg.

Unless you're following a specific plan, the basic idea for a healthy low carb diet (imo just a healthy diet) goes: Lean meat, fish, vegetables, nuts, some fruit, little starch and no sugar.*

*this I got from the dietry recommendations of Crossfit

I've been low carbing for the past seven years, and definitely don't find it restrictive. Once you get the hang of cooking without adding processed carbs, it's pretty easy. The basic principle is to replace any bread, pasta, rice, potatoes etc with green veg. Most things work well if you do that.

I often make lasagne using sliced aubergine instead of pasta, and I just mash some cauliflower anywhere I'd normally use potato. I've got tons of dessert recipes too, mostly based on cocoa powder, gelatin and cottage cheese.

An excellent book is "The long term, low carb lifestyle" by Carolyn Humphries. Lots of good recipes, generally for one person, and genuinely low-carb.

I mentioned this on another thread but I'll go into a bit more detail here. This is personal change, I know it doesn't work for everybody. I really believe the low carb diet really improved my gut.

Okay, so before I suffered heavily from heartburn (suspected ulcer), and I'd "go" maybe 3-5 times per week. My diet consisted mostly of pasta, rice, cereal, a decent about of meat and the odd piece of fruit. What it lacked in incredibly was vegetables. So when I switched to low carb, I had replace all the pasta etc with something to fill my stomach. That something was mostly veg, but also included a slight increase in meat, oil, nuts etc. I put it down to the veg, but almost immediately my ahem... frequency went to twice per day. And if you'll forgive my candor, were a good bit more pleasant.
Now the only way my toilet expeditions become unpleasant is if I drink a good bit of beer. This also has the effect of temporarily returning my heartburn to it's pre low carb state. I find switching to (my preference is dry) white wine doesn't effect me to nearly the same degree as the beer, especially those gorgeous belgian ales.

That's my personal experience with as much detail as i thought necessary. Maybe it'll help you, or maybe you're built different.

I cannot understand how a diet that can give you constipation, and means you cant eat wholegrains, bananas,carrots or beans. Sorry doesnt sound too healthy too me. I pity your colons and kidneys to be honest. It doesnt appeal to me as I love fruit and I am not the best meat eater but I cant get my head round not eating wholegrains.

EileenG wrote: »

The truth is that most people don't eat whole grains. They eat processed stuff that claims to be whole grain, but whole porridge oats is the closest most people come. Cheeries are not whole grains.

I took part in a five year study of low carb diets (yes, I've been low carbing even longer than that) and they regularly analysed my diet for deficiences. There were none, and that didn't take my multi-vit or fish oil into account.

Green vegetables have more fibre, vitamin C and general nutrition than fruit, and between meat, nuts, eggs and seeds, you get lots of B vitamins. Of course, all the fat soluble vitamins are very plentiful, which is good news, particularly for women, who need lots of vitamin D and K for strong bones and to maintain fertility.

If you do the diet right, then constipation is not an issue. I sometimes do CKD, where I have one or two high carb days a week, and then (in spite of all the wholegrains), it does become a factor.

Fair enough, i maybe dont know enough about it, and my mind cant accept a life with little fruit. I also couldnt live without porridge. What ever works I suppose and any diet where you have to eat lots of veg and non processed food cant be so bad.

g'em wrote: »

3-4L of water a day and copious helpings of veg and the problem persists.

Even with wholegrains (some us do know what real wholegrains are Eileen ) back in my diet the situation hasn't improved greatly so now I'm at a complete loss. Back to the drawing board...

G'em, I suffer from the same problem and it is extremely frustrating.

I've avooided wheat for about 5 years and I pay the price if I sneak a slice of bread here or there or have some beer. But since the beginning of January I've been so disciplined. No wheat at all. I have prunes with my breakfast, a couple of cups of green tea in the morning, water throughout the day - all the things that usually kickstart my system and NOTHING.

I drink water, I try to eat as much fibre as one person can be expected to eat - dark veggies, chickpeas, pulses, beans. As I'm trying to lose a few pounds I restrict my carb intake in the evening time and eat more fish or chicken with lots of veggies. I've been eating the odd slice of rye bread at the weekends which claims to have fibre.

I eat a green apple or two every day.

And I'm stumped. The first half of January was very good but after that its been bad. I started using oat bran in my breakfast a couple of weeks ago and that really upset everything so I've cut that out now.

If anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it.

I've really resisted the notion of low carb and thought that eating rice or a couple of spuds with your dinner is fine but after reading this thread I decided to see how I'd get on with a low carb diet.

For the last few nights I've had a tiny portion of carbs with my dinner, a large portion of protein (chicken or fish) and a huge portion of veg.

And the result is a non bloated tummy. Amazing. And I always feel full after my dinner but I don't get that over full feeling from eating too much potato or rice (basmati, jasmine or brown - never white).

So I'm going to keep it up. To the low carb bridage - you have a new convert.

g'em wrote: »

lol, the non-bloaty tummy really is the *best* side effect of low-carbing isn't it?!?

I'll be really interested to see how you get on in light of the... ahem.. digestive problems that we were talking about above. I'm still a little the worse for wear, and even senakot won't help anymore.

This is WAY more info than I should be giving about myself on the intarweb

Hey G'em, things seem to have righted themselves over the last couple of days.

I don't eat wheat but eat spelt. I've had humus (the nice mcdonells one, not the processed ones) for lunch over the last few days which always works for me. But don't eat it every day as its too much for your system. I also love it, its yummy. I've also eaten broccoli over the last couple of nights for dinner along with carrots.

I don't use senokot anymore as a doctor told me it will give you a lazy bowel and imo mine is lazy enough as it is! For desperate times/desperate measures situations I sit myself down on a quiet evening with a bottle of prune juice mixed with orange juice to take the taste away. I also eat prunes every day.

There is this really good herbal medicine brand called Jan de Vries (or something close) and they do a good bowel tincture. It's made from flowers and plants. Sometimes I also buy this and put it in water. I've also tried Ortisan fruit cubes but they taste foul.

Apologies to all other posters for my frankness on such a private topic.

g'em wrote: »

I wonder... is it a wheat intolerance? I often think that all those intolerances are often in people's heads but now I'm not so sure. Maybe when I do carb up I'm doing so with entirely the wrong things?

Hmmm...

It's quite possible. Ireland has a very high proportion of coeliac disease compared to the rest of Europe. However, being wheat intolerant does not mean you are a coeliac.

I was diagnosed as a coeliac a while back and have naturally followed a semi-low-carb diet for years. The amount of "badness" that disappeared from my system was amazing.

With regard to the constipation, I usually have one of three cures

• A handful of peanuts
• A really stron double espresso
• A few sugar-free sweets (you know the ones "warning - excessive consumption may cause laxative effects) - 2 or 3 of the M&S ones always seem to do the trick for me