Diet Doctor Low Carb Challenge

[maglil55]

I've had a close look at the meal planner now. There are 20 weeks worth of meal plans now and they say they will be adding a new one every week. They are split into their carb levels so there are a load at 20g or less , some around 25g , 20-30g - highest I saw was 40 -50g and there was even one at 10g! So plenty of choice. They all have shopping lists. It is early days for the meal planner so they are asking for suggestions for improvements. I've suggested allowing you to swap recipes. They do tell you the carb content so it is easy to find another with the same carb level. I also suggested letting you build your own weekly menu. They are correcting some of the silly stuff e.g. the shopping list - you wouldn't buy a tablespoon of butter. Good thing is all these menus have shopping lists. You can actually import the ingredients into My Fitness Pal so I don't see that it would be a stretch to import into an online shop Chook - will add to suggestions when I am online.
Meantime, I am at the end of week 2 today. Next week I am mostly going to repeat week 1 as I loved most of the Recipes- there is a week 3 but I'll save that for now.
@Chook , since we seem to be experiencing the same morning problems I seem to be settling again. I wasn't quick enough with food this morning so I hit 8.5 before I managed to stop the rise and reverse the trend. Was at swimming with both boys this morning and am back at 6.5 (although I am amazed they were not through the roof coping with both boys in the pool).
We'll have Thai tomorrow but I'll be having my cauliflower rice and there are plenty of mains I can have. Then back on Meal Plan Monday.

 

[Chook]

I've had my Asda order delivered and did a top up shop in Lidl so I'm ready to start. Mr C doesn't like the sound of some of the meals but says he will eat them (if I insist) but only if I promise to cook him a normal Sunday roast dinner each week - so Sundays will be the only day I cook us separate meals.

The other problem was that Asda' s cabbage which, in the picture on their website, was pointy and green turned out to be round and white (the sort you make coleslaw with) and I only found this out when I was unpacking so couldn't refuse them. So I bought a couple of large green savoy cabbages in Lidl. In the fridge at the moment is four large cabbages, four packs of spinach, one pack of cavolo nero, two large cauliflowers, one large pack of French beans and one pack of spring greens. All for just two of us for one week. (I know the cauliflower isn't part of the plan but Mr C loves it.)

Plus four dozen eggs.

Do you remember Blazing Saddles?

I also bought some gravadlax from Lidl (very good price) to have as an alternative or addition to the breakfast scrambled eggs. Yum!

 

[Chook]

@maglil55
My FBG was 6.2 this morning and in the half hour between FBG and the pre-brekkie test it managed to go up to 7.2. Then I had a small cooked breakfast and went shopping for an hour and when I got home it had gone down to 5.3. I'm wondering if retail therapy is the key to having good BG.

About Diet Doctor - I think I will join for my free month at the end of the two week challenge and then keep on with it if I think it's worth it and the plan is working for me.

 

[Brunneria]

Well, call me a copycat and see you round that campfire!
You have inspired me.
I just signed up for the free month of Dietdoc, and am trying their first week of menus.
Two things drew me in - the pesto/feta/chicken and the tomato sauce on the burgers.

Mr B is being his usual heroic self. He will eat whatever I put before him, but wants an emergency pack of Tescos pre-mashed potato in the fridge in case he feels the urge. We will also be breakfasting Off Piste. I shall go coffeesubstitutencream, he will go Low Carb Cinnamon Crunch cereal (homemade) with whole milk.

It is going to be very strange eating twice a day, plus breakfast drink. But I need to switch it up a bit. I have noticed that my body is finding it very easy to just skip meals for the last few months - yet with no appreciable weight loss. So I am very wary of slowing my metabolism. Done that so much in the past with low calorie diets, and it took ages to be able to eat normally without weight gain. Don't want to open that trapdoor again.

Delivery on Tuesday, so we have Tom Kerridge's pork shoulder and Celeriac till then.

I am totally loving eating at the moment. It is like I am rediscovering food variety... delightful, but quite bizarre. Everything is tasting more intense.

 

[Chook]

Great!!!! Welcome to the club.

@maglil55

I was just sorting out an order with Asda for week 2 and the DD 'Shopping List' says I need to order 2.1kg of fish for three portions of the fish with Brussels sprouts and mushrooms meal - can that be right? How much did you order?

 

[maglil55]

Yes you do have a very green (and white) fridge cauliflower figures in ours too. Believe me if my hubby eats it anyone's will as he has to be the fussiest sod going. I also have the pre prepared emergency potatoes in various forms in the fridge but it is predominantly green. I also got the round green cabbage - I like it steamed. I think it was the amount of eggs and greenery that shocked other half! These hamburgers with the creamy tomato sauce are delicious. I'm beginning to stockpile them in the freezer. Still smiling at the thought of Blazing Saddles.

 

[maglil55]

Great!!!! Welcome to the club.

@maglil55

I was just sorting out an order with Asda for week 2 and the DD 'Shopping List' says I need to order 2.1kg of fish for three portions of the fish with Brussels sprouts and mushrooms meal - can that be right? How much did you order?

I had 3 cod loins for the baked buttered fish with the roasted sprout and mushroom casserole- 2 for dinner 1 for lunch next day. I thought the sprouts were over the top but the mushrooms there are loads in the frittata as well. I needed another 2 cod loins for the creamy fish dish but that's in the freezer as I am a day out of sync on dinners

 

[Brunneria]

Well, it isn't just eggs.

My mother will swear that when she ate cauliflower, while breastfeeding baby me, I used to get the campfire effect.
Not something I have ever really noticed myself, but maybe by week 2 or 3, when the cauliflower escalates... don't think there is any in my Week 1 shopping. I feel almost deflated.

 

[Chook]

I just overheard Mr C telling our neighbour's new 'friend' that we are going on some weird Swedish eggs and cabbage diet.

I've written out the menu and stuck it on the fridge. Mr C' s version of your emergency potato dishes is some sweet potatoes and a huge butternut squash (because Paleolithic man didn't eat spuds). I'd be interested in finding out where Paleolithic man found the sweet potatoes because I couldn't grow them.

 

[maglil55]

Do you think it could be doubling up the Portions? I.e if we enter 3 is it taking it to 6 portions for dinner and lunch next day? I must admit for the shopping lists I put in 2 people then reduced it for anything hubby wouldn't eat e.g. eggs and spinach.

 

[maglil55]

Well, it isn't just eggs.

My mother will swear that when she ate cauliflower, while breastfeeding baby me, I used to get the campfire effect.
Not something I have ever really noticed myself, but maybe by week 2 or 3, when the cauliflower escalates... don't think there is any in my Week 1 shopping. I feel almost deflated.

We just added the cauliflower - life isn't the same without it

 

[Brunneria]

Do you think it could be doubling up the Portions? I.e if we enter 3 is it taking it to 6 portions for dinner and lunch next day? I must admit for the shopping lists I put in 2 people then reduced it for anything hubby wouldn't eat e.g. eggs and spinach.

When you look at the menu screen, it says how many portions the recipe is for (and the no of portions changes if you add or reduce the number of people eating on (at the top)

 

[Chook]

Ohhhhh nooooooooo..... I see what you mean now. (Light bulb moment) I've allowed for the next day lunchtime portion for me in my calculations (ie selecting 3 people at the top of the shopping list) - which means I've bought enough food for six portions of each meal whereas I only really need for three portions. No wonder there's so much cabbage.

I'm not usually so thick - I'm blaming lack of sleep with the new dog. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

 

[maglil55]

When you look at the menu screen, it says how many portions the recipe is for (and the no of portions changes if you add or reduce the number of people eating on (at the top)

Ok I've checked this. You're right , the portions on the actual recipes give you the right quantities so the fish on week 2 is 1.1k for 2 + 2 dinner portions and 1 + 1 lunch portion. The shopping list is people so if you put 3 in it does double up the dinner for the next day's lunch so it is allowing for 6 portions so I was doing it the right way - shopping list for 2 and reduce for what hubby won't eat (he doesn't do lunch)
Make sense?

 

[Chook]

Well, it isn't just eggs.

My mother will swear that when she ate cauliflower, while breastfeeding baby me, I used to get the campfire effect.
Not something I have ever really noticed myself, but maybe by week 2 or 3, when the cauliflower escalates... don't think there is any in my Week 1 shopping. I feel almost deflated.

My daughter used to get the campfire effect if I ate any veg or fruit or dairy. She's still like it and she's 38 now (obviously without the breastfeeding part)

 

[Chook]

Right... so... if I've got it right now I need to halve my Asda order (for dinner recipes) for next week??? God knows what I'm doing with all this cabbage in my fridge. I might try the dogs with it.

And Mr C now tells me he wants yoghurt and blueberries for breakfast each day.

 

[maglil55]

Right... so... if I've got it right now I need to halve my Asda order (for dinner recipes) for next week??? God knows what I'm doing with all this cabbage in my fridge. I might try the dogs with it.

And Mr C now tells me he wants yoghurt and blueberries for breakfast each day.

List for 2 and reduce if Mr C is non lunch. Or list for 1 and increase for lunch. The round cabbage keeps great in the fridge.
The cheese stuffed chicken breast in week 2 is another good one!

 

[maglil55]

List for 2 and reduce if Mr C is non lunch. Or list for 1 and increase for lunch. The round cabbage keeps great in the fridge.
The cheese stuffed chicken breast in week 2 is another good one!

And other half has just finished all his cheese stuffed chicken and declared he likes it - that's a seal of approval! I had steamed cabbage with it as well as the guacamole (I halved the guacamole quantities as he doesn't do avocado. He had crispy potato slices.
I have now been told to stop telling him what he is eating as I know what he won't eat and he is enjoying the variety - Wow high praise indeed. Tell Mr Chook if it was a weird Swedish cabbage diet I'd have no chance of feeding it to other half. I still have to cook double Crackslaw as brother loves it - and it means more cabbage is cooked.

 

[maglil55]

 

[Chook]

This is my prep day. I'm having the hamburgers with sauce and fried cabbage for dinner. I don't seem capable of following a recipe as written - this time I've added some dried chipotle chilli flakes in to the mix for a bit of smokey heat.

Mr C thought it was funny about me buying double the amount of good this week - right up until he realised we will be having this exact same cabbagey menu in a couple of weeks time.