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I'm struggling

fumanchu

Well-Known Member
Messages
393
Location
Scotland
Type of diabetes
Family member
Treatment type
Diet only
Been trying LC for a couple of weeks now, keep putting my foods into myfitnesspal and they are always too high in carbs.
It's just wee things that seem ok to me but obviously aren't ok - like adding fried tomatoes to my bacon sausage mushroom and egg dinner. The tomatoes knocked the carbs up. Then other stuff like strawberries and creme fraiche - that went high as well. And nuts for a snack were not good either. Is there any tried and true meals that are very low carb ? I'd be safer just sticking to the same thing , I won't get bored. This is just getting me down, trying my best and still not low carbing
 
I only have one small tomatoe with my eggs bacon and mushrooms for breakfast (make sure the sausage is low carb - typically 97% meat). No desert after meals - A glass of red wine is my desert substitution. Typical main meal is steak (or pork or lamb chops) with lots of different lettuce leaves, may be an avocado, small tomatoe, cucumber, a few olives, celery and lots of real Mayo
 

How low-carb do you want to go, @fumanchu?
 
How much do you overshoot? Nutritional content is not an exact science, actually, and I tend to look at average values over a week (or longer). For example, I try to keep to 30g of carbs per day, which translates to some days at 20 and some at 40.

You can also learn to look for lower carb ingredients. For example, your creme fraiche probably had three times more carbs than the same quantity of double cream. Nuts (raw) are very healthy in small portions - what I sometimes do is count 10 almonds and eat them slowly, with a small chunk of cheddar or other cheese. Instead of tomatoes with my fry-up, I throw a handful of fresh spinach in the pan at the end, sprinkle some salt and stir twice, and it's done! Goes great with bacon and mushrooms

One more thing to look out for is portion sizes - berries are the least carby fruits, but if you eat a whole punnet instead of a small handful, the carbs add up!
 
Well so far I've been way over - between 92 and 107 carbs a day! Thanks for the help. I need to pay more attention I think.
I can't have too much fat (gallstones) so that's why I stay away from cream.
 
When in doubt, let your meter be your guide.

My body gives me a free pass on veg, and reasonable amounts of tomatoes.
Yet it gives me huge blood glucose spikes with even a tablespoon of rice.

Your profile doesn't say whether you are type 1 or 2, but as a type 2, I find that I can eat a lot more veg than the carb grams suggest. It is all to do with the amount of fat in the meal and fibre in the veg...
 
I'm not actually diabetic, my hubby is type 2 diet controlled, and we eat the same food Brunneria. I'm trying to keep both of us low carb but failing lol
 
Oh wow that's made my day Brunneria lol, I can go to bed feeling less ratty now! ty
 
Also I have found that myfitness pal does contain a lot of inaccurate information, so if you just accept the foods that you can search on their database you may be getting wrong nutritional information.

I would always try to enter your own foods, or if you use their make sure it's a verified foodstuff.
 
I found that was the case with mfp, so reverted to fitday.com which is American, yet the preset values agree with what's on the labels here.
 
Hi again, @fumanchu!
You could try foodfocus.co.uk
i didn't get on with mfp because I have a very low hassle threshold and found mfp too much of a struggle at start up. Food focus suits me and I have found their food database adequate most of the time. I like that you can create, save and analyse your own meals and recipes too, of course.
I guess that having to watch your fat intake will be a complication for a LCHF diet but I get the impression it's not a good idea to try to do low carb and low fat.
You've probably been advised by your doctor what foods will be ok for you with your gall stones history.... Can you tell us what they suggested you eat? Have a look at the LCHF thread on the forum for ideas for foods and meals that tick both diet boxes. Sorry I can't be any help with that, hopefully others can advise.
 
Doc wants me to have it out but I've heard too many horror stories so prefer to keep it - I hardly ever get a real attack, just a niggly pain at waist level if I eat anything too fatty. But I can eat bacon eggs mushrooms etc without any hassle. I think I just need to get more picky with foods and really pay attention ... But I end up living on bacon & eggs or roast chicken, and get really hungry at night. I used to like cereal at night Will go and lookat that site, thank you.
 

Yes, I miss cereal! You might like to look at Trudi Deakin's 'Eat Fat: Step-by-Step Guide to Low Carb Living'. Obviously, fat is promoted in this book, but there are several sections on myth busting about fat, though I noticed there was nothing about gallbladder or gallstones. Some useful recipes are included, eg. leek 'pasta' bolognese, cauliflower rice with curry, ice-cream and cheesecake (!) and there is an advert/link to The Natural Low Carb Store, ( WWW.NLCS.CO.UK) which might come in handy for you and your hubby. Apparently, they do a low-carb cereal!!
 
Hi fumanchu!

I am a t1 'low carber' but I think the real LC people out there would be horrified by my diet! This is mainly because I too, struggle with fatty foods. I aim for less than 100g a day. Sometimes it's as low as 60 and sometimes as high as 130 (mainly down to hypo treatments)

I find it is much easier to manage the lack of fat by just being that bit higher with the carbs

I miss cereal so much too! I would quite happily eat it 3 meals a day :-o However, due to my looser carb limit I quite often have *a* Weetabix with some almond milk in the morning, which equates to around 13g.

Good luck!
 
I have had my gallbladder removed and I do Low Carb Enough Fat, in that I changed my low fat yoghurt to full fat and whilst I can't stand full fat milk in my tea I used full fat butter in cooking and full fat cheese, its not about eating high fat but enough full fat to make up the difference in carb intake. So for you if you like mayo use a full fat mayo, full fat butter and gradually up the fat intake to keep you satisfied, you will soon learn when to stop.
 
http://www.dietdoctor.com/gallstones-and-low-carb
Hi fumanchu--
Have a look at this advice from a Swedish low carb doctor (good website, have a look around).
My own experience is that I passed out some gritty material after a few months of LCHF (about 80% of calories from fat), and have been fine ever since.

I've been using fitday for years and find it the best. I enter data for all foods eaten using a supermarket grocery website (tesco). Just search for the food, and they give the nutrition box information for most foods they sell. Or you can type it in from the back of packets. This is a drag to begin with, but if you eat mostly the same things, it gets easy with time.
 
That might be better, thanks. I haven't used fitday.
 
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