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Don't think I can do this anymore.

paganlass

Well-Known Member
Messages
125
Location
manchester/ england
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
nhs. religion for the sake of it.
Hi everyone, I posted last year about being diagnosed type 2 in July. It was a shock but I dealt with it. I lost 2 stone and reduced my hba1c from 97 to 40 by going low carb. However I'm now really struggling with low carb. Esp t lunch time. No bread, no white potatoes, no rice, no pasta. What do I eat? I'm so fed up off a piece of roast chicken and a salad or a chicken salad or ham salad or scrambled egg. I have one scrambled egg in the morning for breakfast so try not to have eggs during the day again. How do everyone else do it for years?
I'm sooo miserable. I had 2 pieces of toast during the week with cheese on. This week I have put 2 pound on! Can't believe it. I'm soo good all the time its depressing. I don't think I can carry on with low carb. I used to love my food.
Now it's a chore and a nightmare. What am I to do? Any advice is gratefully recieved.
 
Make a big list of all the foods you can eat and enjoy. Don't dwell on those you can't.

Spend some time looking around the forum at what other folk are eating and take inspiration from them.

If you fancy cheese on toast again, make sure you use one of the lower carb/high protein loaves or rolls available
 
paganlass said:
What am I to do? Any advice is gratefully recieved.
Click to expand...

Do not give up is the best advice anyone can give, if you do the condition will deteriorate. That's exactly what happened to me in the first 15 years. I was told not to lower carbs, worst advice ever as it turned out. I gained weight on the drugs being prescribed, metformin gave me the worst diarrhea in history, and all my GP at the time was prescribe Citalapram for anxiety and on the weight front "Rome wasn't built in a day" and "it's better than the diabetes".

Luckily I have access to a kitchen so can cook vegetables (rarely eat salad, only in the summer) and some I steam, some I saute, some I roast, depends on how I feel and what goes with, chicken, fish, etc etc. I appreciate that at work, people may not get the same opportunity so much more difficult. I would say that scrambled egg in the morning wouldn't preclude the same for lunch unless it really is too monotonous.

For me the biggest incentive is that I'm in charge of my health and that I don't have to tolerate all the side effects of the drugs that I would otherwise have to take. I'm lucky to be OK with what I eat so I haven't looked for other choices, I'll have to look at some of my low car cook books to see what be nice, I'll get back soon. Just off for some Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.
 
OK. You have to change things up, and make it interesting. If you don't, you will fall off the wagon big time, and undo all your good work.

The trick to sustainable LC(HF) is to make it appetising and interesting. You have to WANT to do it, and look forward to eating every meal, or else you are heading for disaster. Voice of experience, I assure you!

When I was taking a packed lunch into work, I used to circulate between
- homemade crustless quiche
- tomato and mozzarella
- hummus as a dip with veg as the dippers
- homemade soups (red pepper and goats cheese, broccoli and stilton...)
- pork scratchings
- tuna, mayo, lime juice and sliced tomatoes
- smoked salmon and cream cheese
That kind of thing. with salad.

Now that I am into LC baking (it is SO EASY!) I would probably bake a nice big cake on the Sunday and then munch my way through a huge slice every day at the office. Apart from anything else, I would love seeing everyone roll their eyes at me eating cake as a T2. With cream. Cos, you know, that is against the law. Haha! But I know that my cakes have about 6g carbs per slice, and keep me full for hours. So I can even eat them for breakfast.
Check these out
http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/category/recipes/low-carb-dessert-recipes

I also used to take in leftovers from the night before and microwave them.

Regarding variety in general, there are many, many different recipes on the internet for low carb meals, the variety is endless.
Maybe a good idea to do some browsing. The DietDoctor website has weekly menus, with pre-prepared shopping lists (I've been playing with these for 2 weeks now, and LOVE the food. Delicious!)

And don't forget herbs, spices, curries, etc. etc.
Even if you eat salad every day, you could rotate between dressings - lemon and mustard, balsamic vinegar, garlic, lime and chilli, pomeganate molasses, olives...
 
Hi
I was newly diagnosed before xmas and am trying really hard to work out what I can and cannot eat.
With 2 kids in the house trying to change is hard. Have got Tom Kerridges book. Diet doctor website has some great ideas for food which I can tweak for the kids. Roast and veg without the potatoes . Found some low carb rice expensive but when nothing else will do for chilli. Going to cake make with almond and coconut flour so I don't feel too deprived. Have you tried the Lidl protein roll . Took some getting used to but very filling and you can stuff it with what ever you want.
Do you blood glucose check as I found I could eat some carbs but just am working out which ones really upset me. Not much spike from brown basmati rice.
Hang on in there. I will be where you are at no doubt. Hopefully someone will keep me going
 
paganlass said:
. I don't think I can carry on with low carb. I used to love my food.
Click to expand...

Good morning @paganlass well believe or not we all have these "I can't do this anymore" moments,no one loved their carbs like the old me,but yes its difficult at times,but I used to missed my raspberry jam,but now I have a Lidl's(my bread replacement) roll cut in two with fresh raspberries spread on each half,better than any jam sandwich,Sausage and mash was one of my favourites,I have found Hecks 97% meat sausages and a small amount of mash with apple cider vinegar sprinkled over it

I think it is a good idea not to think about the food you used to eat but just replace it with good food,I love fish,all meat,cheese there's so much out there to discover and its a exciting and new adventure,if I can do it so can you my friend
try and change your perception of food ,its not easy but it is possible,I am now looking for a substitute for
applie pie

Lidl's rolls
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...YywfPralJLwMu7IVw&sig2=Fdfw1oC0QPhdLKvFD33uww

Hecks Sausages
https://www.googleadservices.com/pa...ahUKEwiywMqp8YzSAhVkF8AKHYjqC0EQ9A4IeQ&adurl=
 
I consider my self a low carber but I do sometimes have some bread ,rice,.pasta and potato I just allow for it from my daily allowance of carbs and adjust what else I eat and keep a close eye on the amounts I eat. And have where possible low carb versions of bread and Pasta low carb does not mean no carb necessarily.
 
I count my carbs with an app. I have about 30g per meal and a couple of snacks of up to 15g. I know this is a lot compared to some people on here, but it is really working for me. The carbs I eat are mainly low GI, but not always. My BG went from 97 to 41 in three months and I went from a size 20 to a size 10!
 
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aaargh I just peeked. I saw rustic apple tart. I have 14 apple trees and no idea how many boxes of apples still in store. May I look at the recipe? Darn the rhubarb is just coming into season (timperley early not maincrop) It is a veg. I can stew it. right.... but now I have peeked I recall the best barby recipe ever -sticky barb pudding. A sort of sponge over the fruit (depends on baking powder for the raise so I guess almond flour does not work) topped with a brown sugar cornflour mix. pour boiling water over the top. Sigh, happy memories but what big hips.
 

Just check out the nutrition for all the LC baking recipes, before you dive in, head first.
They are usually nut flours, eggs and butter - which is about as calorific as you can get.
So make sure you know what size a portion is, and stick to it.

My typical slices are 200-300 calories, 6g carb, plus any cream I add (I usually use a good glug).
So that is for me, a lunch or breakfast of around 500 calories, give or take.

The good thing is that they are meal replacements, usually heavy and dense. Think steamed pud, not light Vic Sponge. So a little goes a long way.
 
@paganlass hello don't despair there have been some brilliant suggestions in the posts so far. And what about cheese? I've never eaten so many varieties of cheese. My current favourite is Camambert melted for 20 seconds in microwave with 30 g of walnuts. Yum! Have a good look at the suggestions so far before you throw in the towel. What about a bit of smoked salmon? Let us know how you get on. It's such a shame to undo your good work.m
 
Ooh sounds lovely. I fear being tempted. Once I start it will be sooo easy but the thought of apple pie with cinnamon. I could even put cheese in it. Yum. The old recipes are all in my upper memory and it would be so easy to slip. I need a brisk walk fixating on natural yoghurt. If I get tempted into dessert I am slicing apples across the middle, putting a piece of cheese on top and blasting in the microwave. Fortunately I still have bags of frozen goosegogs and quite a bit of raspberry left.
 
There are some fab lunches on the following link, and many are batch made, and can be frozen.

http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/category/lunches/

I'm also one who can often snaffle some leftovers at the next (or day after next) lunchtime. I mean; how many times has there been a bit of something left that was delicious, but maybe not quite enough for another dinner? I call it a public service.

I do low carb and my OH calls me a lean, mean eating machine. Others just call me mean.

Good luck with it all. We can all have the odd "I'm fed up of food" day, but these things do pass, sometimes with the help of DrGoogle.
 

Thanks for that link @AndBreathe - looks like some interesting recipes on there.
 
if you really miss rice and or noodles there is a very low carb alternative you could try called BARE NAKED rice & noodles at only 0.1g of carbs per serving they can be found at your local Morrison or online just google bare naked rice
 
Goonergal said:
Thanks for that link @AndBreathe - looks like some interesting recipes on there.
Click to expand...

The other places to look for inspiration would be ibreatheimhungry.com and sugarfreemom.com , both of whom do yummtastic food that doesn't require Raymond Blanc to prepare it.

I can get as far as unleashing my inner Nigella once in a blue moon.
 
One egg? I have three with cheese and a finely sliced tomato - and if it is so late that I am close enough to lunch then I add a green salad as well. All the diet advice is to be stingy - but it never worked for me, and doing the opposite seems to be working wonderfully. I don't understand how I can eat more calories and lose weight. When on less than 1000 a day I was cold, without energy and looked like death, now I appear to have discovered negative calories.
I don't eat any sort of potato, any sort of pasta, no grain at all except the Lidl protein rolls once in a while - I don't crave them. I eat very well, I think - there is so much more to life than carbs.
 
I agree about thinking of everything you can eat. Also if I start missing carbs or thinking what I'm eating is dull, I find it helps to remind myself that I didn't exactly have a varied diet before. Quite the opposite- the same carbs for breakfast, the same sandwich, crisps and chocolate for lunch and a limited range of main meals for dinner - just with more carbs and less vegetables.

I guess what I'm saying is that it's as much about mindset as anything- if you feel restricted then you'll want to stray - I love the freedom that low carb give you to eat luxuries such as cream, fat - and actually it's much easier to eat out than it ever was on low fat.

I think the advice of others to try out a few new recipes is great - and might help to keep on track.

Do report back on how you get on - and good luck!
 
Have a look at "trust me, I'm a doctor" -last weeks episode. You will never touch anything with rice in again!!! Certainly you won't think of it as food again!!

Pat yourself on your back, for the achievements so far..

Like other suggested, lots of different recipes to try.... There's low carb recipes on the main website too...

I still have corned beef hash but without the potato... Boiled broccoli, cauliflower rice, 200g butternut squash (6 portions though), courgettes spiralised, pesto, lots of spices and herbs, 1/6th tub of soft cheese, tin corned beef and an egg.... Sounds revolting but when it's all died together it is yummy.

There's loads of variety show of foods still to try.

I also have been called lean and mean by my doctors.. Don't give up... Trying new things is lovely.

My best meal is a courgette julienned, and a soft egg on top. 10 minutes and it's fantastic.
 
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