My low(er) carb journey as a veggie

[AnnieC]

I get protein and fat from eggs, cheese, butter, nuts, cream, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado, quorn, pulses.....not a problem.

Hi Purple Kat I"m brand new to this forum. I am keen to see another veggie here and to see what you eat and how you manage. That said, because i am trying out very low carbs (around 40), i am being pescetarian until i go back up to about 100. Though if i get into ketosis, i will try 90 or whatever my carb limit thingy is.

Enough about that. I think you are just starting out with the low carb thing aren't you. I started off doing 100 carbs a little while ago (as an experiment), about 6 weeks and did it for four before going lower. I didn't need to go lower, just wanted to experience ketosis. At 100 the food was very good. I ate plenty of fruit and vegetables which i think is key whatever sort of diet you follow or number of carbs you follow (save the fruit thing).

When i go shopping, i stock up on nuts, seeds, fruit and veg, lentils and legumes and chickpeas, preferably the dried sort since the canned varieties may have added sugar. I buy yummy cheese, make my own yoghurt and continue drinking full cream milk. I am definitely into whole foods and cooking my own foods. A pressure cooker helps with the dried stuff. I used nuts, seeds, cheese (especially feta and parmesan) to flavour foods.

I cut out bread, pasta, rice and oats as that is what low carb seems to be really about, not to mention sugar which i cut out back in January when i started my weightloss journey. However, with the hummus i was making, i found that a heated pitta bread was the most yummy way to enjoy hummus so i have that sometimes. Sometimes i have porridge for breakfast too. I think with these foods you can have them but not often and in very modest portions e.g. half a pitta bread, not a whole one.

I found adapting to 100 carbs very easy. Going lower was a bit more tricky at first but now i am doing well on it. Though i don't want to live on this forever as i would like to eat the odd piece of toast again, miss my lentils, don't want to eat this much fish forever and so on.

One thing i would say which applies to any diet, is i cannot understand people messing about with fake desserts. For me sugar and sweet foods are the biggest problem and so long as one is seeking to make them and thinking about them all the time, they will hold you back in your weightloss and always be there ready to tear you down and take you back to scratch. Of course if you don't have a sweet tooth, then you won't have an issue. Since quitting sugar back in January, i am so happy, ;loving my food, eating so well, enjoying cooking, enjoying shopping, and just feeling great. That said i don't have diabetes so i know that those who do, have greater challenges than me. For sweetness, i rely on fruit and i love it. I stew fruit for an alternative and love to eat with natural yoghurt and sometimes added seeds.

Just wondered why you are doing a low carb diet as you are not diabetic and you don't say you need to loose weight...the two reasons most people do low carbs

 

[Enclave]

@Sunspot .. Watch out for Parmesan cheese .. It's not vegetarian .. There is one that is but it's a powder.
Chickpeas, pitta bread and lentils would spike my bs through the roof .. Again we are all different so test .. Test . And test again.. I find I can use a little cornflower to thicken gravy .. Quinoa and pearl barley are good for me.
I can eat Mackie's chocolate ice cream made with full cream .. Just a small bowl and served with almonds berries and sometimes double cream ... Still steadily loosing weight .. Feeling good .. More energy than ever.
My diet before being diabetic was vegetarian, lowish carb with very low fat ..(the wife nagged me to have more fat in my diet.. Olive oil, cheese, full fat milk.. But I was taking my diet advice from the dr at that time) . My weight got to 21 stone .. I felt rotten, and then got T2diabetes .. So by (allowing my wife to take control of my diet, as I had nothing to loose) reducing the carbs a little more and adding the fat .. Woosh the weight has gone down in the 16 stones now in 7months. My bloods have all comeback normal .. The first time in many years, as I have heart problems I was worried about fat in my food .. But it's now all normal !!!
I do keep saying to the wife she should make a cook book of what I eat, as it's all very tasty and keeps my bs low and weight also lowering, but she says she is to bisey inventing dishes to write about them. Fair comment as she is also an editor of an online garden magazine.

 

[Avocado Sevenfold]

@Enclave Sainsburys do an Italian basic hard cheese which can be used like Parmesan and is suitable for vegetarians. (It used to be veggie, was not veggie for a year, but is recently back with a new supplier and is veggie again)


http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp/...0gGJnVrazdOGfyfSwveZbhY5dr5SfIT1GE1eM6EDJQKBK

 

[Enclave]

Thanks avocado .. Sadly live many miles away from sainsburys .. And so never looked at their hard cheese .. I did love the powdered cheese .. But cannot get it now.

 

[Avocado Sevenfold]

Thanks avocado .. Sadly live many miles away from sainsburys .. And so never looked at their hard cheese .. I did love the powdered cheese .. But cannot get it now.

That's a pity. I would post you some, but it might go funky in the post

 

[Enclave]

I do order some food from a well known online ordering site .. But as our post is a bit hit and miss then would not trust ordering things with a short shelf life.
But good to know that there is a veggie one out their .. Will have a look in all the shops near me for it. If I remember rightly the powder one is vegan .. As the wife is more vegan than veggie .. She won't eat milk or products containing milk. But will cook it for me)

 

[Sunspot]

Just wondered why you are doing a low carb diet as you are not diabetic and you don't say you need to loose weight...the two reasons most people do low carbs

Hmm i'm not diabetic but i have been on a diet all year and i haven't reached my goal yet so i am still in weight loss mode.

I decided to try low carb because i was on another forum and this guy was an absolute low carb maniac and for a long time i was skeptical about it. But over time i read more and ultimately decided to try it. I 've learnt something and now i'm not frightened of it anymore and am just seeing what its like.

Now i realise that they way it can work for me is to give myself a fat holiday every year for about two months when i am in maintenance. Beucase when i'm not doing low carb, i have to be careful about fats, don't i. Or i will get fat again. I mean i don't have to low low fats but i can't eat much cream etc.

 

[Sunspot]

" Watch out for Parmesan cheese .. It's not vegetarian .."

I'm not a strict vegetarian. I do not feel its necessary to be extreme about it to make my contribution. I just feel its enough to try to avoid eating meat for the most part. I don't think they actually kill an animal in order to make cheese so its acceptable that its a byproduct. That said, i generally avoid most byproducts. I'm probably more the type of vegetarian along the lines of what Peter Singer recommends. That said, i am not quite sure where he stands on parmesan cheese per se.

Also if we're talking parmesan, i think its pretty much nearly all cheese that uses rennet.

 

[Avocado Sevenfold]

" Watch out for Parmesan cheese .. It's not vegetarian .."

I'm not a strict vegetarian. I do not feel its necessary to be extreme about it to make my contribution. I just feel its enough to try to avoid eating meat for the most part. I don't think they actually kill an animal in order to make cheese so its acceptable that its a byproduct. That said, i generally avoid most byproducts. I'm probably more the type of vegetarian along the lines of what Peter Singer recommends. That said, i am not quite sure where he stands on parmesan cheese per se.

Also if we're talking parmesan, i think its pretty much nearly all cheese that uses rennet.

You are incorrect.

https://www.vegsoc.org/cheese

This link is to a good site with lots of useful resources....

https://www.vegsoc.org/definition

 

[Enclave]

Sorry sunspot .. But I understood the thread to be about being a veggie as it's titled :
My low(er) carb journey as a veggie

 

[Sunspot]

I'm getting a bit confused. I thought a lot of people on this thread were not vegetarian. But i posted and am interested in this thread because i'm new at low carb and always interested in seeing how others approach low carb in case there is something i can use. I would prefer to avoid eating fish but i do not feel quite the same away about fish as i do about domesticated animals. My concerns are primarily with domesticated animals and their welfare.


From wikipedia about rennet. I didn't know much about it evidently. So i'm trying to find out some more. I'm finding it hard to find out exactly what i want to know but i will keep looking. btw i don't live in Britain.
"By 2008, approximately 80% to 90% of commercially made cheeses in the US and Britain were made using FPC.[1]"
Fermentation-produced chymosin (FPC)

Of course i realise that if i'm eating fish, i'm not a vegetarian when i'm not eating, fish, i'm a vegetarian. I don't think its helpful to get into a debate about it though. I'm not interested in meeting anyone's definition. I have my own values and standards. But thanks for alerting me to the rennet situation.

 

[Avocado Sevenfold]

@Sunspot I thought this thread was to discuss a vegetarian, low carb diet in a diabetes context.

Frankly, I have found some of the things you have posted today inappropriate for a diabetes forum. To suggest on the bolognese thread that someone adds sugar to their sauce, for example.

Eating hummus with pitta bread may be ok for you, but if you had diabetes you would understand that most people would find they would have to test such food as it is high carb and would affect blood glucose levels. I would hate to think a newbie would stumble upon such advice. They are confused enough.

re the "fake desserts" - my tuppence worth is that, until you have diabetes, you do not appreciate the value of such foods. Some very clever and creative members have gone to a lot of trouble to create recipes and even websites dedicated to low carb desserts, cakes and confectionery. You do not have diabetes so can eat what you like. If you had this chronic, incurable disease, you might feel differently.

 

[Avocado Sevenfold]

Good luck . I'm a vegetarian- no meat , fish or honey although I will have milk if it's in a product- and it's hard work lowering the carbs but possible if you find good alternatives and monitor your levels.


I miss pasta so bought some "slim pasta" last month after wanting to try it for years. The texture was interesting but it was a nice taste and a product i'd try again although i'd not use it regularly.

Have you tried courgette ribbons in place of pasta? Yummy.

 

[Sunspot]

@Sunspot I thought this thread was to discuss a vegetarian, low carb diet in a diabetes context.

Frankly, I have found some of the things you have posted today inappropriate for a diabetes forum. To suggest on the bolognese thread that someone adds sugar to their sauce, for example.

Eating hummus with pitta bread may be ok for you, but if you had diabetes you would understand that most people would find they would have to test such food as it is high carb and would affect blood glucose levels. I would hate to think a newbie would stumble upon such advice. They are confused enough.

re the "fake desserts" - my tuppence worth is that, until you have diabetes, you do not appreciate the value of such foods. Some very clever and creative members have gone to a lot of trouble to create recipes and even websites dedicated to low carb desserts, cakes and confectionery. You do not have diabetes so can eat what you like. If you had this chronic, incurable disease, you might feel differently.

Sorry to have the thread hijacked but i feel i must respond to this.

Firstly i'm sorry if i've given wrong info.
Secondly, what's the difference between a pinch of sugar in a kilogram or more of bolognese sauce and a can of tomato sauce which would contain a lot more than that. If you understand GI and GL, you wouldn't think that a pinch of sugar is a problem but if there's something i've missed about it, could you pm the explanation?

About the hummus and pita bread, i can't quite remember where i posted that but i think the diabetics concerned had spoken about eating bread. I didn't think i was telling anyone to eat bread but i can't remember the details of my post or the thread so its hard to respond over here where i can't check easily. Also from what i have seen elsewhere on diabetic websites, bread per se is not an issue particularly when you think about eating it with some so low GI as hummus. Hummus and bread together will be a reduced GL so it shouldn't spike your blood glucose anymore than a pinch of sugar in a the bolognese sauce would.

As far as i'm concerned there is no essential nutritional value in sweet foods such as cakes and the like and the whole world would be better off without them. We didn't used to have them now most of the diabetes in the world is caused by eating a lot of these types of food and i have found them very detrimental myself and its why i avoid the love of them and their pretenders which i don't think can be much superior. But that's my two bobs worth and i don't want to debate it any further. I would just say that just because you are diabetic, doesn't invalidate my opinion on this. Eat it if you like.

 

[Enclave]

Yum . Thanks Avocado .. I will tell the wife to try the courgette ribbons in place of pasta .. Should work for lasagne .. I do miss lasagne

 

[Avocado Sevenfold]

Sorry to have the thread hijacked but i feel i must respond to this.

Firstly i'm sorry if i've given wrong info.
Secondly, what's the difference between a pinch of sugar in a kilogram or more of bolognese sauce and a can of tomato sauce which would contain a lot more than that. If you understand GI and GL, you wouldn't think that a pinch of sugar is a problem but if there's something i've missed about it, could you pm the explanation?

About the hummus and pita bread, i can't quite remember where i posted that but i think the diabetics concerned had spoken about eating bread. I didn't think i was telling anyone to eat bread but i can't remember the details of my post or the thread so its hard to respond over here where i can't check easily. Also from what i have seen elsewhere on diabetic websites, bread per se is not an issue particularly when you think about eating it with some so low GI as hummus. Hummus and bread together will be a reduced GL so it shouldn't spike your blood glucose anymore than a pinch of sugar in a the bolognese sauce would.

As far as i'm concerned there is no essential nutritional value in sweet foods such as cakes and the like and the whole world would be better off without them. We didn't used to have them now most of the diabetes in the world is caused by eating a lot of these types of food and i have found them very detrimental myself and its why i avoid the love of them and their pretenders which i don't think can be much superior. But that's my two bobs worth and i don't want to debate it any further. I would just say that just because you are diabetic, doesn't invalidate my opinion on this. Eat it if you like.

Refined sugar is not a good addition to a diabetic's dinner.

Your bread post on page one of this thread.

It's about having choice and a sustainable lifelong diet for good blood glucose control. Low carb cakes are higher in nutrition than regular.

 

[Avocado Sevenfold]

Yum . Thanks Avocado .. I will tell the wife to try the courgette ribbons in place of pasta .. Should work for lasagne .. I do miss lasagne

I have not tried making a lasagne yet. The Hairy Bikers used leek instead of pasta sheets when they made a lasagne.

This is a lovely recipe for courgette spaghetti with (Parmesan free) pesto sauce. It is supposed to be raw, but I heated it in the wok for a bit.

COURGETTE SPAGHETTI WITH PESTO AND ROASTED TOMATOES (VEGAN)

http://ahouseinthehills.com/2013/09/02/zucchini-noodles-with-pesto-and-roasted-tomatoes/

 

[purplekat]

Wow, so many responses! Thank you so much for all the suggestions, I wouldn't have thought of things like using courgette or leek where normally you use pasta.

Thanks also for the tip regarding drinking lots of water prior to getting my blood tested, I will make sure I do this.

On my tablet just now so only a short thank you post, but I should be on the pc later - I'll get that lentil and walnut loaf recipe posted for you

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[Enclave]

We did try the leeks for pasta sheets .. It was not to our taste .. But will try the courgettes next time. As you know it's very important for our food to be super tasty as we have had to give up on most easy carbs.

The leeks did work for filling with ricotta and spinach with very finely chopped shallot in a cheese sauce .. Served with a super fresh salad ...and finely shredded mustard and mayo coleslaw
I think she left them whole(leeks) .. Topped and tailed with the inner parts removed after blanching .. Then the filling was piped in and placed in the cheese sauce .. Popped in the oven until piping hot .

I must add it looked amazing and for me tasted even better than it looked ..

 

[Scimama]

As far as i'm concerned there is no essential nutritional value in sweet foods such as cakes and the like and the whole world would be better off without them. We didn't used to have them now most of the diabetes in the world is caused by eating a lot of these types of food and i have found them very detrimental myself and its why i avoid the love of them and their pretenders which i don't think can be much superior. But that's my two bobs worth and i don't want to debate it any further. I would just say that just because you are diabetic, doesn't invalidate my opinion on this. Eat it if you like.

@Sunspot I would suggest you read some of the basic information pages on this site if you think diabetes is caused by eating sugar or sweet foods.

If you dont want to debate, or have people disagree with you DONT post on a public forum aimed at helping people with diabetes.

There are many websites, books and forums for low carbers who are not diabetic where you can post to your hearts content.