Advice on diet that doesn't drop weight

[mouseee]

It does seem like now would be a good time to have a go at cooking things. If you are making an dietary change then learning to cook one or two easy meals will really help. A slow cooker for example just needs ingredients thrown in and switched on. A beef ragu made in the slow cooker can become lots of other things with the addition of some extra flavours.

 

[MrsA2]

An easy Greek stew would be handy but it relies on a lot of pasta cooked with the meat. Sear meat in olive oil, remove meat, add tomato puree, water .plus herbs. Simmer in pan for an hour or so, then add pasta and more water. Greeks eat a lot of carbs, bread, chips, pasta, rice, but they also soak everything in olive oil. I'd make a big Greek salad, cucumber, tomato, pepper, onion, olives, feta cheese, swimming in olive oil, but I don't know if I can buy genuine Greek feta her, it's very expensive and sold pre-packaged with a few little cubes of cheese.

Simply leave out the pasta and use less water.
The salad is fine for low carb
What region/country do you live in?
In the UK we can get a cheaper version of feta called "salad cheese". Once it's drenched in oil and herbs it's nearly as good as the real thing

 

[Dr Snoddy]

Just a little comment - 57 is not a low HbA1c! It is clearly in the diabetic range.
Are there any low carbohydrate cookery courses in your area? They do exist and I have even come across a diabetes nurse who runs courses. She is a rarity though.

 

[HSSS]

I buy feta in U.K. supermarkets all the time. They have both the real stuff and cheaper salad cheese. The labelling is determined by country of origin rules more than the cheese itself. I can’t tell much difference, with the odd exception.

good the Greek stew without the pasta. Simples. (You’ll need less liquid though.). Google any favourites you can cook and add the word low carb or keto to get ideas what works as substitutes for the problematic ingredients. I do a mean but simple Greek kleftico using a bit of swede instead of potatoes. Big hit with everyone that’s had it diabetic or not.

 

[Blackwater5]

It does seem like now would be a good time to have a go at cooking things. If you are making an dietary change then learning to cook one or two easy meals will really help. A slow cooker for example just needs ingredients thrown in and switched on. A beef ragu made in the slow cooker can become lots of other things with the addition of some extra flavours.

I can cook most things and worked as a cook in Greece. At home I only cooked weekend meals.
But now I hate cooking any but the simplest things. I think the reason is that I'm alone after all my friends and close family passed away. I'm losing too much weight on a low carb diet and can't eat big meals. I've been told to carry on with more carbs while I'm on steroids and try and get my weight up, that from my hbA1c last at 57 with a powerful steroid cream I should be able to control with diet and exercise, but if I don't stop the spikes I'll be put on Glicazide a week after the steroids stop. I'm on steroids because of Lipgliptin, and from whatv I've read of Glicazide it has very bade effects.

I was given no diet advice by the DBN and carried on with sugary foods. I have a very sweet tooth and really miss chesecake and ice cream. Today I was told to avoid sugar, something I try to do now anyway.

 

[andromache]

Steroids send my blood glucose all over the place too, but they are powerful and effective drugs and sometimes nothing else’s will get the job done. While you on them you can help your system cope by cutting the carbs down as low as you can bear, even if you don’t intend to stay that low long term. It is true that whole food carbs like oats are better than bread and buns, but they all turn to sugar, albeit not as fast.

 

[Alexandra100]

I don't know if I can buy genuine Greek feta her

@Blackwater5, certainly you can, in Waitrose (dearer), Tesco (cheaper), Sainsburys or Morrisons (much cheaper). But do check the labels for carbs. Also I find much feta here is too salty for me.

 

[Blackwater5]

I can cook but have problems that cause a lot of stress. I can follow recipes too, but don't have a slow cooker, mine is the oven turned low.
I know that an hbA1c of 57 is diabetic, but since August it went from 47 to 55 then 56 on gliptins plus topical steroids, cream with no diabetic med. 57 at last test..
My bg is dropping but it won't be instant and I get spikes, 6.3 on waking, 10 after a breakfast of two eggs and a bit of cheese. Lunch was yoghurt and berries, but I can only eat small meals and can't do the required bg checks if I eat more small meals rather than 2 or 3 big ones.
I love feta but having lived in Greece it has to be good, but it is very salty and is best with a genuine Greek salad (no lettuce), drenched in extra virgin olive oil. My Tesco only sells Cypriot cubes and it's not the same. The salad I need would be mostly wasted as it doesn't last long, tomato, cucumber, pepper, onion, olives) and I don't want to chuck most of it.
So 2 hours after lunc I'm hungry. I don't know how long before the steroids and maybe some steroid withdrawal will take to get out of my system but I'm building up my stock of frozen low carb food.

 

[HSSS]

really miss chesecake

The BEST cheesecake ever www.wholesomeyum.com/recipes/low-carb-cheesecake-keto-gluten-free-sugar-free/. Low carb and all my non diabetic family and friends love it too.

 

[Alexandra100]

My Tesco only sells Cypriot cubes and it's not the same.

@Blackwater5 I find unopened feta keeps for ages in the fridge. Could you visit a large Tesco with more of a range occasionally and stock up? I know this doesn't address all the other problems, but you have to start somewhere. Olives too in jars keep almost forever. I live alone, but I always buy the biggest jars and I never throw olives away.

 

[HSSS]

I love feta but having lived in Greece it has to be good, but it is very salty and is best with a genuine Greek salad (no lettuce), drenched in extra virgin olive oil. My Tesco only sells Cypriot cubes and it's not the same. The salad I need would be mostly wasted as it doesn't last long, tomato, cucumber, pepper, onion, olives) and I don't want to chuck most of it.
So 2 hours after lunc I'm hungry. I don't know how long before the steroids and maybe some steroid withdrawal will take to get out of my system but I'm building up my stock of frozen low carb food.

so try a few different brands of feta rather than give up before you start. Surely less than perfect is better than eating food you hate or being hungry? Those foods last the better part of the week in the fridge and you can buy small portions (loose) of most of it. The olive oil is good for you. You’re hungry because you aren’t eating enough imo and aren’t replacing the carbs you’re ditching with anything else and that’s probably also why you can’t gain weight. I know it’s overwhelming to begin with but to make a change you have to make changes, not resist them. It’s hard and it takes time but we are all here trying to make suggestions to help.

 

[Alexandra100]

don't have a slow cooker

@Blackwater5 neither do I. In fact at present I have neither microwave nor freezer, which does rather cramp my style in the kitchen. Luckily, like you I need to gain weight rather than lose it, so I make daily use of my frying pan, with a choice between good olive oil and goose fat. I fry chicken legs (skin taken off and fried separately, flesh cut into pieces) and turkey leg chunks. Then there is tinned salmon, wild caught is best - needs no cooking at all. Greatly improved by adding one or two fried eggs. Or mashed up with Hellman's Real mayonnaise. (Make sure to buy the high fat version). Good luck!

 

[Blackwater5]

The BEST cheesecake ever www.wholesomeyum.com/recipes/low-carb-cheesecake-keto-gluten-free-sugar-free/. Low carb and all my non diabetic family and friends love it too.

That cheesecake recipe sounds great, but everything is in US numbers. I don't know what a cup of something is and what size cup? Esspresso or mug. I'm in the UK and used to ounces or grammes.
I've never made a baked cheesecake, only one where you mix the base with melted butter and refrigerate until set.

 

[finzi1966]

That cheesecake recipe sounds great, but everything is in US numbers. I don't know what a cup of something is and what size cup? Esspresso or mug. I'm in the UK and used to ounces or grammes.
I've never made a baked cheesecake, only one where you mix the base with melted butter and refrigerate until set.

Buy a set of US measuring cups from Poundland. I’m not hugely keen on cup measures either but a LOT of low carb recipes online are from the US and unfortunately we’re stuck with it! For what it’s worth, I think a “cup” is about 260ml, but you don’t need to guess, you can like a say just buy a set (1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 cup sizes) for £1

 

[Blackwater5]

@Blackwater5 I find unopened feta keeps for ages in the fridge. Could you visit a large Tesco with more of a range occasionally and stock up? I know this doesn't address all the other problems, but you have to start somewhere. Olives too in jars keep almost forever. I live alone, but I always buy the biggest jars and I never throw olives away.

Feta does keep for ages but my largest Tesco doesn't sell the real thing and often they don't have the things I want. The same for other supermarkets here. I love olive oil but olives must be black Corfu (only available there), Cretan or Kalamata. Most Greek olives are bought by Italian companies and added to their oil because Italian oil is inferior and lacks many of the good fats.

 

[Widgets]

I don't know what a cup of something is and what size cup?

This might help:

https://www.allrecipes.com/article/cup-to-gram-conversions/

I loathe using volume measurements, on the rare occasion I really want to make a recipe written in US speak I start by translating it.

 

[Alexandra100]

This might help:

https://www.allrecipes.com/article/cup-to-gram-conversions/

I loathe using volume measurements, on the rare occasion I really want to make a recipe written in US speak I start by translating it.

@Widgets I strongly agree, but usually what matters is the ratio of the various ingredients, not the precise volume or weight. I believe the US cup measure is different from the UK cup measure, but sets of cup measures in shops never seem to specify which they are.

 

[Widgets]

@Widgets I strongly agree, but usually what matters is the ratio of the various ingredients, not the precise volume or weight. I believe the US cup measure is different from the UK cup measure, but sets of cup measures in shops never seem to specify which they are.

Absolutely - I'm experienced and confident enough with cooking/baking etc that I rarely use a recipe for more than vague ideas and inspiration, unless I'm making something totally different to my usual repertoire. But it can be very handy to have a US/UK translator around as well.

Usually I just add 'UK' to the end of any recipe search I do. Saves time and hair tearing, usually.

 

[MrsA2]

@Blackwater5 There are simple, easy to follow and use , UK measurements recipes here
https://www.ketofitnessclub.com/
Although it says keto lots of their recipes are low carb. All developed by a UK family so their earlier recipes were quite simple indeed, some are getting a bit more tricky now. They also have cook books which I find more useful than doing everything on line

 

[HSSS]

That cheesecake recipe sounds great, but everything is in US numbers. I don't know what a cup of something is and what size cup? Esspresso or mug. I'm in the UK and used to ounces or grammes.
I've never made a baked cheesecake, only one where you mix the base with melted butter and refrigerate until set.

I’m in the uk too. I just looked up a converter online and wrote it onto the recipe myself. Something like this https://www.thecalculatorsite.com/cooking/cooking-calculator.php. A cup is a measurement not a coffee cup. A USA cup is 240ml (an Australian on is 250ml btw). A lot of recipes for low carb and keto are USA based and it’s a shame to ignore them when a simple conversion solves the problem.

A cheesecake out of a packet (I think that’s what you are describing) is not the same as the real thing. This was the first one I made baked too. Previously I did ones that faffed around with gelatine etc. they weren’t as a good. Don’t bother with any that use jelly as a base for the cheesecake part. They taste like jelly.