A little guidance for a newbie

Get yourself a copy of Collins gem carb or calorie counter,Chez.That way you can work out just exactly how many carbs you are eating.Also use a smaller plate ,it does work!!

How is your BMI and what excercise do you take?

Don't know Chez, will have to have a look.

I dont think i could eat any less than i do now
heres a quick breakdown

I dont eat breakfast , never have
Lunch : 1 Sarnie, Brown bread NO crusts...with cheese ham or salad, always with mayo :wink:
Dinner, Steak, fish or Chicken breast with salad or veggies ( will occasionally have a potato with it )
Supper, Fruit or beetroot with Rivita 2

Drinks, Water or tea with semi milk, sometimes diet lemonade[/quote]

Hi Chez Morgan

I'm a dietitian and a T2 low carber myself. My initial observation is that far from eating any less, you're probably not eating enough! If you don't eat enough to fuel your body, then your liver will start dumping glycogen to give you the energy you need and your BS will rise. Also, as daft as it may sound, you need to eat to lose weight, just make sure that it's the right things - protein, plenty of vegetables, some fruits, good fats, nuts, pulses etc.

I would strongly urge you to start eating breakfast. It doesn't have to be eggs and bacon, just eat something you enjoy that isn't based on starchy carbs like cereals or toast. Perhaps some smoked salmon and cream cheese, or low carb fruit like raspberries with some cream or natural yogurt? This will give your body some fuel to start the day and stop your liver dumping - eating regularly will help to steady your BS levels.

Instead of having a sarnie (with or without the crusts!), try having your cheese or ham with a larger salad and mayo and perhaps just one slice of wholemeal bread. That way you'll be cutting down on the starchy carbs and gaining a whole lot of goodness with the large salad.

Try having a protein based snack for supper, perhaps a piece of cheese with a bit of fruit or some smoked salmon pate with oatacakes rather than Ryvita perhaps? The Ryvita, fruit and beetroot will give you quite a high BS spike from the natural sugars which won't sustain your body through the night, whereas protein and oatcakes will give a long, slow energy relsease to help steady your BG.

As Sue said, do get hold of a the Collins Carb Counter book and try and aim for about 50g of carbs a day to start with, but it is vital that you eat regularly and start with breakfast!

If you need any more info do PM me. Good luck!

Mrs Pugwash

Hi Mrs Pugwash

That was very interesting advice given to Chez. I am just starting to look at low carbing and I am making lots of good changes but need to knwo more about just what is low carb and how can I combine the right foods to give me enough to eat but stay in a healthy BM zone.

the Breakfast thing is interesting as I eat 30 grams of porridge for breakfast with some semi skimmed milk but that takes up a good whack of my possible daily allowance of carbs for the day.

Can you direct me to sites which might list low carb foods and offer breakfast suggestions

Hope you can help

Puddinface

Hi Puddinface (love the name by the way!)

If you don't already have one, I would strongly suggest you get a Collins Little Gem Carb Counter book which gives a range of nutritional data for thousands of foods and is pretty much invaluable if you are low carbing.

As for websites, I don't use them much for recipes but I think if you Google low carb recipes you'll find quite a few and I'm sure the good members of this forum will have a few links you can follow. There's a good recipe book called the Big Book of Low Carb Recipes which you can get from Amazon which has some good stuff in it.

Porridge is a great food but for many people (me included) it gives them a high BS spike so if you can tolerate it great, but if not maybe think of some alternatives. There's the very obvious eggs, bacon, sausage type English breakfast of course but if you don't fancy that, then why not just eat something you like - it doesn't have to be 'traditional' breakfast material. I always tell my patients that the most important thing is that they do eat breakfast not what they eat - some people like smoked salmon and cream cheese, or cold meat and some salad - I'm very partial to raspberries and natural yogurt or sometimes left over chilli!

There is a wealth of information on this forum about low carbing and recipes - if you want to PM me your email address, I'll be happy to send you some information sheets on low carbing and suggested meal plans.

Mrs P