Hello everyone

I am a new member and diagnosed with type 2 before Christmas 2008. In the last few months

I have been following a low carb diet but am also a vegetarian so that makes things more difficult as all vegetarian protein has some carbs. There are recipe books out there but you need to search online. So far I have bought and used two books by Rose Elliott - the UK's top vegetarian cookery writer.

I try to keep to 20-30g of carbohydrate per meal by making bread with ground almonds and eggs, replacing breadcrumbs in nut roast, and other recipes with ground almonds as well. It works well but is a bit tedious to do the extra cooking.
I have made several a delicious meals that I always baulked at as a bit difficult - roulade made with eggs and spinach and filled with Philadelphia cheese was lovely. The cheese sauce made with the same Philly cheese plus some grated cheddar was even easier than making a cheese sauce for cauliflower cheese.
Mock pasta made with strips of courgettes lightly steamed was a hit too, just add you sauce or stir fry veg.

I have increased my fat and protein intake so I am never hungry. We had such a low fat diet before that I only used one bottle of light olive oil every few months and never cooked with anything else.

I have lost about 1.5 stones and got my A1C levels down 5.5 but it is a real chore thinking about what to eat all the time as well as feeding a family including two elderly people.

Good luck to all
Moogie

Trinkwasser said:

Seen this?

http://www.dsolve.com/news-aamp-info-ot ... th-recipes

You could also experiment with ground flax seeds and creamed coconut and coconut oil

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Hi there,
Thanks for those ideas, actually I already use the items you mentioned or have bought some ready to try out. I made a flax seed bread and breakfast cereal (from the Rose Elliott book), the cereal is like porridge and delicious but in quantity it can have a laxative effect

The web site was interesting but as I really don't like tofu much neither does my family I am reluctant to use it often. I tried soy mince "rice" but it was disgusting!

I'm still experimenting. I need to feed two people over 80 years old as well as myself, so nothing too radical for them and we all eat together normally. I just substitute vegetable items for potatoes, pasta and rice most days.

Moogie

Hi Katherine et al.

Katharine said:

Hi Moogie,

I hope the recipes at "Carb-Lite" and this forum will help with meal planning. I don't think there is any shortcut to just sitting down one evening and trawling through the internet or your books. You can then list the ingredients for your next shopping trip. Another thing I have noticed is that my ingredients have a much shorter shelf life than previously so I have to organise meals around this.

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I am in complete agreement with the shelf life issue - also the bread I make lasts only a couple of days before it goes mouldy.
I spend hours on the internet and with my recipe books every day trying to find a meal. However I discovered some low carb pasta as an emergency, I can knock up a sauce quicky with a small size ready made jar of with a modest amount of carbs mixed with a large carton of creme fraiche or even cream. That is really tasty. This reduces the carbs per portion to a much smaller amount. (there are 4 of us to feed). My family prefer this creamy luxury version.

Katharine said:

To start with I got pretty frazzled trying to keep up "my old life" as well as do everything as well as possible in "my new life". I still get frazzled but in the end I had to give up my already very limited social life because I still had to work and I was needed so much more at home.

Like you I use almonds galore and I will just die if the almond crop fails!

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I hope you find it gets easier. One tip is to work out what to eat for a whole week and stick it on the fridge - I never can be that organised though.
I think that after 40+ years of cooking some dishes become second nature so I didn't have to really think, once this new diet becomes like that (like your pasta) it will get easier.
It is reassuring to know I'm not the only one wondering how I will cope in the long term. I work from home but it is almost worse as I spend less time working than I should and more time worrying about meals.
Ground almonds were always in my store cupboard to make croustade with but I use a huge amount now. Expensive as well.

Moogie

Dennis said:

Hi Moogie and welcome to the forum.

Rose Elliott's books have been highly recommended by several of our vegetarian members in the past, so it looks like you made a good choice!

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Thanks Dennis. I dont know how I would survive without those books They can be a great source of ideas for non veggies too.

I have written to the editor of a newish vegetarian cookery magazine suggesting they include a low carb option every month. They kindly replied but said that altho' they would print my letter (or part of it) and would put in a low carb option that month they could not regularly do it. They suggested various online sites which I have already seen but at least they took time to check it out.
When I looked at the large number of recipes in their magazine they all seemed to be very high in carbs - cakes, pastries pasta, risotto etc.

Moogie

Vikingepigen said:

Hi Moogie,

Unfortunatley I cannot give you any food advice, but just wanted to welcome you to the forums!

And as you can see, there are plenty of people ready to share experience and information.


Best
Alice

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Thank you Alice. I noticed that you were a newish member too, so we will be taking this journey together.
Everyone has been so encouraging. I'm not normally a "forum person" but I am very comfortable with this one.
I am sure to get lots of advice on food elsewhere so not to worry, also I read/research widely.

Moogie

Hi there,

Trinkwasser said:

Dreamfields Pasta may work, but test carefully afterwards: some people find it spikes them just the same as ordinary pasta, others find a delayed spike maybe even three or four hours later. I get a slight but prolonged BG rise.

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Well thanks - I will test carefully, that is worth knowing.

Trinkwasser said:

Quorn? I'm having some tonight, I'll do a bolognese type sauce and have it over asparagus instead of spaghetti (runner beans are an even better substitute but aren't ready yet: also bean sprouts can be an alternative)

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I have tried frozen french beans and asparagus and like them both. But home made tomato sauce or lowish carb sauce with added full fat creme fraiche.
I don't really like Quorn or tofu or any of those things - part of my reasons for being veggie are that I did not like the taste or texture of meat and so meat substitutes are out too. I'll stick to cheese nuts and a few eggs now I can't have pulses.

lilibet said:

Hi
And welcome
Your recipe adaptations are great - I too am a big fan of philly chees based stuff, and also the courgette strips for pasta. I also like cauliflower rice (cauli head, washed, grated in blender) as a rice substitute and also celeriac mashed instead of mashed potatoes

Over time you might find you can tolerate more carbs than you originally thought but you're obv going great guns so far! I bought 500 low carb recipes (dana carpender) which is great. Has lots of veggie suggestions as well as desserts. Like you and Katherine I am nut mad. Just made my weekly batch of almond biscuits and also added peanut butter to some of them/ coconut to the other half.

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Thanks Lilibet
Did you know that her majesty the Queen was known as Lilibet when young apparently? Just a random thought!

All the things you mentioned are in my favourites list. But I haven't tried almond biscuits. Tonight we are having roast veg - aubergine, courgettes and fennel marinated in balsamic vinegar and oil with swede mash (not a lot) and french beans all with grated cheese (ran out of ideas there).

Moogie

Trinkwasser said:

ps forget asparagus unless it is fresh, it's like a different vegetable altogther. Even stuff from the other side of the country wasn't as good as the just picked tips from our local farms

(now looking forward to the local strawberry crop)

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Hi there again
Is the apsaragus just a better flavour or something more to do with carb values increasing in older produce?
Do you grow your own - I put in some raspberry canes and some strawberries this year but don't have enough space in my veg garden for many - just a trial few so I can protect them from the birds.

The rhubarb would feed an army - it is so easy to grow and just comes up each year - my kind of plant. Low in carbs too.

Moogie