Really struggling with food ideas

[Sweettooth81]

Hi All,

So I've been diagnosed with fasting levels of 21 and a hba1 (whatever it is) of 128.

Been told to limit carbs to 100g a day and obs cut all sugar. I have no gall bladder so need a low fat diet and I can't digest protein well - gives me severe digestive discomfort.

I don't know what to do about food. Especially breakfast and lunch. I am a teacher so I need food that is grab and go without the need to heat. I cannot live on salads every lunch time either.

Please hit me up with some recipes/ideas. I'm desperate.

Thanks

 

[Rachox]

Hi @Sweettooth81 and welcome to the forum. I’m glad to hear you have been recommended a low carb diet, this is a very effective way to lower bloods sugar levels. Of course you then need to get your energy from another source and that would be fat. I don’t have a gall bladder either and manage fats fine. Have you actually tried a higher fat intake?
Have you started any medication? If so what? Low carbing needs a cautious approach when on certain meds.
The Diet Dr website has loads of information for free, no need to subscribe. Here’s a link:
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/guides
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/snacks

Edit to add a second link.

 

[Sweettooth81]

Thanks for your reply.
I'm on 40mg gliclazide twice daily. I tried slow release Metformin but it was awful and caused bowel issues. So been moved onto this.
How do you manage a high fat diet? I've been told to avoid high fat because my cholesterol levels are high too.

 

[finzi1966]

There’s a lot of evidence that it’s high carbohydrates that cause raised cholesterol, not dietary fat.

I haven’t had a gall bladder since 2016 and I have no problem with eating fats at all (a gall bladder is just a little storage pouch for bile; not having one doesn’t mean you don’t produce bile, it just gets squirted out when needed, instead).

So don’t automatically rule out eating more healthy fats - you’ll most likely find you’re fine with them, and hopefully your cholesterol Will improve when you lower carbs and blood sugar

I second the idea of looking through the Diet Doctor links above. Good luck!

 

[VashtiB]

Hello and welcome @Sweettooth81

I understand the difficulty of finding ideas for breakfast and lunch that are easy and don't need heating. I suggest trying the diet doctor website which has a lot of ideas but to start off I'll give some suggestions;

Boiled eggs- they keep for a while in the fridge so you can make a few and have them in the fridge at work, precook low carb muffins, a few berries with some cream is also nice, bring into work some cooked chicken wings- you can add blue vein cheese sauce (although people may hate the smell).

On 100 grams of carbs there are more choices too. I have under 20 grams of carbs a day usually less than 10 so have a more limited options. I found it hard to get a low carb breakfast so just don't eat it on the weekdays.

Good luck and welcome.

 

[Outlier]

Get a wide-topped flask.

Use any meat you like - you won't need much - and add any of the veg. on the keto list. Add herbs and/or spices you like. Add olive oil or butter (I use both) and a stock cube. Simmer until ready, then either put through a liquidiser or a colander or a sieve or leave as it is. Freeze in flask-sized amounts and reheat as needed. It never tastes the same twice, and is always delicious.

 

[Blade72]

Hi All,

So I've been diagnosed with fasting levels of 21 and a hba1 (whatever it is) of 128.

Been told to limit carbs to 100g a day and obs cut all sugar. I have no gall bladder so need a low fat diet and I can't digest protein well - gives me severe digestive discomfort.

I don't know what to do about food. Especially breakfast and lunch. I am a teacher so I need food that is grab and go without the need to heat. I cannot live on salads every lunch time either.

Please hit me up with some recipes/ideas. I'm desperate.

Thanks

If you Google Headbangers Keto , they have some low Carb but delicious recipes, I've made the soups which you could put in a flask, I've just bought a thermos ultimate , they keep liquids hot for hours

 

[TriciaWs]

I used to make mini fake quiches, use just the filling with slightly less milk/cream and more egg so they are firm enough when cooked in bun tins. I add grated cheese, and either ham/red pepper slices/chives/ onions slice's plus black pepper. Go will with a green salad.
Make 90second bread, cool, split and lightly toast, butter then fill with cooked meat, fish or cheese.

 

[lovinglife]

Salads are so much more than lettuce, tomato cucumber. I hardly ever use lettuce unless it’s as a wrap. I buy jars of peppers and sun dried tomatoes and artichoke- they are great for making quick throw together salads that you can add to, I had some leftover roasted butternut squash leftovers from lunch today, I made a salad for tea with sliced cooked pepper, a few chopped up sun dried tomatoes and artichoke and the butternut squash with shredded chicken. Didn’t really add much drizzled oil as there is enough in all the ingredients and the squash was roasted with herbs and oil, was delicious.

I also had some cooked green beans left so making a salad nicoise for lunch tomorrow- green beans, boiled eggs, tuna and black olives, will probably have it with some mayo.

My favourite food is cold veg, any cooked veg can be made into a salad with just a bit of imagination

just seen you are on Gliclizide so make sure you eat enough carbs not to hypo, you can up carbs by adding some nuts or a few cooked pulses such as lentils, kidney beans etc. Testing your blood sugar before and 2 hrs after will tell you how many carbs are too many

 

[Mbaker]

Dr Eric Westman starts with 20 grams of carbs, which he refers to as prescription level amounts. Dr Westman is one of the original authorities on low carb medicine, he formally studied the Atkins diet over 20 years ago, having seen 2 patients reverse Type 2, he is published and actively treats Type 2 and obesity. In short I would suggest with numbers that are similar to what I started with, it might be wise to use the optimal lower amount of carbs to aim for.

This condition will destroy you from the inside out with no time delay or negotiation, sorry to be stark, but those numbers require focusing on with urgency in my view and experience, which suggests potentially making choices that suit your eyes, liver, pancreas, heart, kidneys rather than convenience. I am being straight forward, as I could have been on the road to recovery months earlier with advice that aligned with my diagnosed numbers.

Dr Ted Naiman suggests increasing protein slowly to allow the body to learn how to accept higher amounts. The research I have done also corroborates above posts about there being no issue with low carb / keto with no gall bladder, it is just again prudent to start slow or of that does not work digestive enzymes. The high fat part of low carb / keto does not necessarily mean lots of butter and cream, it can just mean because the carbs are gone / lowered, the proportion of natural fats on the plate is higher., e.g Steak, eggs greens or salad or Salmon, Burgers / Sausages, Green Beans and Tomato. These would be high fat (as well as protein rich and low carb).

In order to eat the foods that can help potentially put you into remission, it might be necessary to review your feelings on cholesterol. Some high level facts:

1. The current guidelines on cholesterol are built on a hypothesis, The Diet Heart Hypothesis. This means it is not fact, but an assumed best fit position
2. When datasets are reviewed, such as the huge Nhanes data collated in the States, just as many people die of heart disease who have so called normal or low cholesterol than do with high cholesterol
3. Many people with high cholesterol who take a Coronary Artery Calcium scan have no sign of heart disease (example Dr's are Sean Baker and Paul Saladino). These scans are multiple more times more accurate than guesses made under the guidelines.

Here are some of my meals over the last few weeks(Turkey, mushrooms, curries, coconut pancakes / waffles, protein bread, ribs, kippers, bacon, chicken, burgers, egg, 100% melted dark chocolate with roasted nuts, salmon, sardines

Good luck.