Low-carb ideas?

[MillicentLake]

Hello,

trying to wean myself off of favorite items like baked potatoes, Coke, corn, snack chips etc.

Two weeks in -- most lunches are salads, most dinners about 3-4 ounces lean meat and a vegetable such as wax beans. Snacks are dill pickles, dry popcorn (I know it's a carb but better than potato chips), olives, almonds, and some cheddar cheese. Probably more cheese than I should.

I'm not fanatical, just trying to remove sugar & starch from my diet to see how I feel. Does anyone else have ideas for low-carb finger foods, snacks, and light meals? How bad is a turkey sandwich on light bread with mustard; I miss turkey but can't envision eating it plain.

Is it worth it? I do feel lighter in the midsection and am starting to feel a relative indifference to food. Not that I'm not hungry, but since I can't have what I want, I just "eat to live."

[ReneeG]

SteveRuff wrote:
Along this line I had the opportunity to use my new Veggetti a couple of nights ago. I don't mind admitting I was skeptical to say the least. Took a large zucchini and using the "wide" end I made a bowl full of zucchini "spaghetti" strands. It worked perfectly, much to my surprise. I topped it with my regular spaghetti sauce and the result was a success. Oh...I sprinkled the zucchini strands with a small bit of EVOO, some garlic powder, and sea salt then microwaved it for 1 minute. This took the crunchiness out of it and made it much more like real noodles. IMHO this far out shined the spaghetti squash as a substitute for noodles.

I've heard of this and am skeptical too, so your feedback is valuable. Thanks!

[SteveRuff]

Along this line I had the opportunity to use my new Veggetti a couple of nights ago. I don't mind admitting I was skeptical to say the least. Took a large zucchini and using the "wide" end I made a bowl full of zucchini "spaghetti" strands. It worked perfectly, much to my surprise. I topped it with my regular spaghetti sauce and the result was a success. Oh...I sprinkled the zucchini strands with a small bit of EVOO, some garlic powder, and sea salt then microwaved it for 1 minute. This took the crunchiness out of it and made it much more like real noodles. IMHO this far out shined the spaghetti squash as a substitute for noodles.

[Gonzo42]

Lost and kept off 30 lb with Atkins diet guidelines. Their lo-carb cookbook is really tasty.

[lasparrot]

I follow a plant based diet with limited bread, white potatoes, starchy vegetables. We eat tons of fresh veggies with a simple hummus for snacks (chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice). Fruit smoothies with almond milk, and for a treat cocoa. We also eat some nuts (walnuts, almonds,etc.) every day. Tons of fruit, and vegetables galore. Also beans/legumes every day (protein, fiber). If we stick with this we feel great and even lose weight.

I've found recipes for gluten free brownies (no flour, just beans! and no added sugar, just fruit to sweeten). The internet abounds with recipes! Try fatfreevegan.com - some recipes there without too many carbs.

I know that veggie & fruit have carbs, but they are also packed with fibre, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other healthy things. And your body does need some carb to survive - especially your brain!

[Happytraveler]

The only diet that ever worked for us is the Fitbit One and MyFitnessPal App. The Fitbit app and Myfitness Pal works together. Actually you can eat anything you want as long as you count your calories. The Fitbit is neat because it tracks your steps. The more you walk the more extra calories you can eat. If you ride a bike you can get the Map my Ride app and it works with the other two. My husband lost 50lbs. and I lost 20. We are both on maintenance now.
Actually most of our dinners in the evening were Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice with a salad. This way it was easy to count the dinner calories. We would eat a candy bar, ice cream, cookies etc as long as we counted the calories.

[NYCgrrl]

When I was doing lo carb start up I began eating bread-less sandwiches with large leaf lettuce (Boston or Romaine are my favs) substituting for the bread wrapped around the filling. Almost 8 years later and it's still on my menu and my preferred method to eat a sammy.

Another aficionado of mashed cauliflower. I've served it at Thanksgiving buffets along side a similar looking crockpot of mashed taters and people confuse one dish for the other.

I also use spaghetti squash to replace pasta at times. Doesn't really taste like the wheat based yummies but a good imitation at least better than the lo carb pasta I've sampled.

Yessss to building your spice collection up. I choose Asian as a cuisine I wanted to explore first and was fortunate enough to find a blog that gave a tutorial on how to build a Chinese pantry of condiments and spices. Now I'm up to Indian with my primary interest being Goan cuisine (I wuv fish and seafood!). The more interesting and complex the seasonings the more I use em which gets rid of the problem of buying expensive spices that wither and die on the shelf from disuse.

Here's a blog I read from time to time that has some great low gluten and low carb recipes:

http://yourlighterside.com/
She's funny and we used to post on the same forum (HGTV before they lost their wittle minds)for several years.

HTH!

[SWMO]

For sweet snacks fruit is the obvious choice. Fructose is sweeter and requires less to sweeten and it is the sweetener in fruit, so if you can't completely shake the sweet tooth, that is the way to go.
It's hard to beat nuts for a snack.

[fchammer1]

When you just gotta have popcorn:

Ingredients1 head cauliflower or 1 head equal amount of pre-cut commercially prepped cauliflower
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt, to taste
Servings: 4


Directions:

1
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2
Trim the head of cauliflower, discarding the core and thick stems; cut florets into pieces about the size of ping-pong balls.
3
In a large bowl, combine the olive oil and salt, whisk, then add the cauliflower pieces and toss thoroughly.
4
Line a baking sheet with parchment for easy cleanup (you can skip that, if you don't have any) then spread the cauliflower pieces on the sheet and roast for 1 hour, turning 3 or 4 times, until most of each piece has turned golden brown.
5
(The browner the cauliflower pieces turn, the more caramelization occurs and the sweeter they'll taste).
6
Serve immediately and enjoy!

[fchammer1]

When you just gotta have pizza, you can cut the carbs with:

Cauliflower Pizza Crust
Ingredients:
½ head cauliflower, coarsely chopped
½ C. shredded Italian or Mexican cheese blend
¼ C. chopped fresh parsley
1 egg
1 tsp. chopped garlic
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place cauliflower pieces through the feeding tube of the food processor using the grating blade: Pulse until all the cauliflower is shredded.
2. Place a steamer insert into a saucepan and fill with water to just below the bottom of the steamer. Bring water to a boil. Add cauliflower, cover, and steam until tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer cauliflower to a large bowl and refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until cooled, about 15 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
4. Stir cheese blend, parsley, egg, garlic, salt & pepper into cauliflower until evenly incorporated. Pour mixture onto the prepared baking sheet; press and shape into a pizza crust.
5. Bake in preheated oven until lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

[rolling_rhoda]

Cauliflower with ranch dip or dressing. Celery with Laughing Cow cheese
Sugar free pudding or jello. Handful of grape tomatoes
One square of dark chocolate

Deli meat roll ups:
Roast beef with creamy horseradish. Cracked pepper turkey with Grey Poupon
Sun dried tomato turkey + chipotle mayo. Ham, cream cheese, thin slice of dill pickle

Zucchini, bell peppers and onion -- toss with a bit of olive oil, garlic, salt and either grill or oven roast
Frozen broccoli with cheese sauce
Grill zucchini, sprinkle with Parmesan and chopped walnuts

Frittata, omelette or scramble made with big handful of leftover veggies and bacon bits
Deviled eggs, tuna salad or chicken salad
Treat boiled or sautéed zucchini like pasta, add red or white sauce and meat

[magnusfide]

Congratulations on trying to eat better. It sounds like you have it surrounded. Just try different spices from different ethnic cuisines would be my suggestion.

[Texas_Roadrunn1]

We follow a low carb diet, have mentioned on this forum before that I make the cauliflower "mashed potatoes". We really like them and feel like we are having potatoes. The secret is to not over steam the cauliflower and to add the appropriate amount of fat free half and half. I warm this with a little
Smart Balance butter in the microwave, then pour through the feed tube of the food processor. This makes the "potatoes " creamy and fluffy. We also eat the Dannon Light and Fit Yogurt for our dessert. We top it with sugar free cool whip and add various fruits, toasted almonds or pecans, or toasted coconut to the different flavors. I add 1 1/4 tsp cocoa powder to the vanilla. We think it is quite good. Fresh cherries and toasted almonds are a great addition to the cherry flavor. The combinations are endless.

[kayakcrazy]

Read the labels (carbs only). Like one slice of white bread is 30 grams of carbs, one slice of flax bread is 12 grams (please note that flax bread is really dry to eat but much better if you toast and lightly butter. Use spaghetti squash with your favourite spaghetti sauce instead of the real pasta. Plan your meals to have no more than 60 grams of carbs per meal (X3 a day) and 20 grams of carbs 2X a day as a snack. Don't miss meals or skip snacks because you'll get very hungry and eat too much. DW and I drink the sodas made with Splenda but some people can't use these sweetners. Add lots of your favourite activity and you can be like me and lose 82 pounds. Best thing I ever did. Good luck!

[ReneeG]

My husband and I follow a semi-Paleo diet. We eat a lot of fruit, veggies, use a lot of almond flour and coconut flour. We use gluten free Udi brand bread sparingly and wraps for sandwiches using Romaine lettuce leaves and for burgers which is very satisfying. When camping I make oven baked sweet potato fries drizzled with olive oil, sea salt, and rosemary. We grill fish fillets, steak, chicken with veggie Kabobs and salad. We'll have barbecue chicken over gluten free english muffins, topped with bagged coleslaw and dill pickles on the side. There are lots of recipes out there for cookies made solely with almond flour, but I'll throw in chopped dates, chopped pecans, semi-sweet chocolate chips. Almond flour muffins and molten lava cake using coconut flour. We like taco salad too, and will have the tortilla chips, but just a few, instead using salsa, sour cream, and diced avocados with the ground beef and cheese for flavor.

[rjf7g]

I lost 75 pounds beginning April 2004 doing the South Beach Diet. I am about 25 lbs over my lowest weight right now and still mostly stick to phase II and III foods with an eye on the "Eat This, Not That" strategies. For snacks, I eat nuts (almonds most of the time, lightly salted cashews when I am craving salt), fresh fruit, 2% Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp Cheddar, and Fiber One bars. I eat a lot of grilled chicken salads and play around with romaine lettuce wraps but don't have the luxury of packing lunch most days. Check out the whole wheat sandwich thins, pocket breads, etc. The trick is to have the % of fiber >> % of carbs. Mustard and most other condiments do not have a lot of sugar - Heinz does a reduced sugar ketchup.

Eat This, Not That has been a great resource - http://eatthis.menshealth.com/home