LCDF meal ideas

As you are type 1 you will always need some insulin, but there are so many low carb foods which are ideal for these long hot days.
I like salads, and have all sorts of things as the basic protein - tuna, ham corned beef, boiled eggs and grated cheese, salmon or cooked white fish - then I add creamy coleslaw, mixed salad of various sorts in packs, tomatoes, cucumber, celery, radish - celeriac sticks, a few carrot sticks or grate/slice it, sliced fennel (drop into iced water for half a minutes, drain and dry).
Calories aren't all that important, as it is carbs which are converted into glycogen and fat in the body.
There are lots of recipes and dishes, but there is so much fresh stuff available at the moment so you might as well make the most of it.
I grow courgettes, which can be fried gently along with mushrooms and chops, steak, sausages, or whatever in the evenings - then have a dessert as well.
It is not the sort of diet which could be considered restrictive or meagre, and the way it enables weightloss can be quite spectacular in some people, though it seems far more difficult after having abandoned it for some years as I have done. It is now starting to have an effect after waiting a few months, and my waist is so much smaller - so I already look to be thinner even though I am not very much lighter.

Frozen blueberries in a ramekin.. think I have 50g. With yogurt for breakfast. Take blueberries out the night before and leave in fridge.
Less faffing than toast!! Lol...

Or if not minding faffing, I put pesto inside 1/2 a pepper in oven and cook. Sundried tomatos are meant to go in as well but tomatoes arent good for my stomach. Then after 10 mins I break an egg in to the pepper and stick back in oven...

Lovely omelettes. Again, I'm different with mine. I add in cooked broccolli and turmeric and black pepper in mine. However, the turmeric and pepper is only meant to help inflammationand my pain and suppisedly good to fight off cancer.

I also have courgettes and grow my own as well. I add in pesto and greek yogurt when I fry mine.

Only ever been above a 10 for a few months when was told by some people to add in carbs like bread and pasta.
Being lean and mean though is not necessarily good. Cancer wise its not helpful... I never tried to be slim, jyst my lack of carbs from teenage through to my 50's now has always kept me that way.

Hi,

I am going to tag in @Snapsy and @robert72 who have both got lots of experience of transitioning onto lower carbing for T1.

T2s can go cold turkey on carbs but from what I have read it is often better for T1s to cut down their carbs gradually until they find the best level for them - and who best to advise you than people who have done it themselves?

Hi @sarahb84 and thank you @Brunneria for the tag!

I'd cut down on carbs about 18 months ago by finding yummy replacements for pasta, rice and potatoes (veg, veg and more veg - I make my own cauliflower rice and cauliflower mash and seriously they're both an excellent and delicious replacement for the starchy carbs).

I use 500 frozen cauli per two servings of 'rice' - I microwave it for 10 mins and whizz it in a mini processor with some salt and pepper, sometimes some coriander, then microwave it for 2 more mins. Fab with curry, stir fry or chilli. 7.5g CHO per portion.

For 'mash' I use 750g per two servings - I microwave it for 20 mins and puree it with a stick blender with salt, pepper, sometimes butter, often cheese, always with a tbsp nutritional yeast flakes. Fab with sausages or stew. 10.5g CHO per portion.

Breakfast I always have 2 boiled eggs, or a fry-up (eggs, bacon, mushrooms, fresh tomato) at weekends.

Lunch I have a mahoooooooosive salad with some egg mayo, tuna mayo, pate, cheese or ham.

I love to cook, and suppers are a magical mystery tour! Salmon fillets with poached eggs and veg, perhaps some hollandaise sauce too; homemade chilli; homemade curry, tonight we're having moussaka (topping made from a bit of puréed cauliflower blended with cottage cheese, some homemade full fat yoghurt and an egg); we often have stew, we love cauliflower cheese if we're having sausages or stew (750g cauli, microwaved for 20 mins, puree a third of it with some Philly and strong cheddar, mix with the rest, bung into a dish, sprinkle with cheese, bake......

Snacks - if indeed I even need them - are Babybel cheese, pepperami, a few peanuts (they spike me if I have too many without insulin though), hardboiled eggs. Pudding at supper time is more often than not a third of a pint of sugar free jelly with a pot of homemade yoghurt and some Splenda. Tonight we're having strawberries and cream. I also love having homemade low carb chocolate mousse or lemon cheesecake pudding.

I had started by cutting out the starch from my main meals and cutting down on the very large amount of fruit I used to eat. Then I went on holiday to Cornwall, had a pasty a day and got really annoyed that I just couldn't cope with what pastry did to me!

I could balance insulin with carbs pretty well most of the time, but found I kept having spikes and hypos in quick succession. I'm finding LC much, much easier to deal with. Plus I feel amazing, have loads of energy and my weight is very stable.

And I LOVE what I eat!



Oh, and I'm not ZERO carb, and I do still take insulin for meals and some snacks. Two eggs on their own, for instance (protein) raise my blood glucose by the same amount as if I'd had 12g CHO. Even above-ground veg has carbs.