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Low carb meal ideas

R

RPa

Active Member
Hi.

I've started a low carb diet about a month ago. I've Still got fluctuations with my blood levels.
Can someone please share the sorts of things they eat especially if they have found it's working
My typical day is

Breakfast: one slice of wholemeal bread and a boiled egg

Snack: apple

Lunch: 300g of soup (half a carton) and a tangerine

Snack: 70g of almonds and cranberries or a low fat yoghurt

Dinner: meat and veg or salad

Maybe I'm still eating too many carbs???

Thanks
 
Try 2 fried eggs and bacon for breakfast (with say a Tomatoe and mushrooms) this should sustain you through to lunch without a snack.... This will reduce your carbs
 
RPa said:
Hi.

I've started a low carb diet about a month ago. I've Still got fluctuations with my blood levels.
Can someone please share the sorts of things they eat especially if they have found it's working
My typical day is

Breakfast: one slice of wholemeal bread and a boiled egg

Snack: apple

Lunch: 300g of soup (half a carton) and a tangerine

Snack: 70g of almonds and cranberries or a low fat yoghurt

Dinner: meat and veg or salad

Maybe I'm still eating too many carbs???

Thanks
Click to expand...

I think there are too many carbs there.
I personally would have bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms etc with your egg, or a full fat yogurt with a FEW berries added. (40g)
We also have to be careful with fruit as it contains fructose, which is sugar by any other name. Tropical fruits are the worst, such as tangerine!
Did you check the label on the soup to see how many carbs were in it? Processed soups are usually made with flour for thickening, and bulked out with potato. These are all heavy with carbs.
Cranberries are very carby too.
Try to fill yourself up at meal times and avoid snacking if you can. If you must snack, then a small handful of nuts or a piece of cheese is best.

Have you got the book Carbs & Cals (available from Amazon)? It is an excellent resource for learning how many carbs, fat, protein, fibre and calories there are in all the every day foods we eat, with over 1700 photos of portion sizes. It will help you plan meals better.
 
Hi try another type of bread with grain & toasted, half the apple & the other half later in the day, check how much sugar is in the soup, homemade is better, maybe fewer almonds & full fat yogurt, low has more sugar than full.
 
Thank you for this information. I'll try the eggs and bacon tomorrow. My high readings are usually between breakfast and lunch. I always check the back of the soups to see how many carbs they have. I think I'll try eating a salad for lunch or making my own soup.
I think I just lack a little confidence with this low carb diet. As a child I experienced lots of hypos. So I'm worried that cutting carbs out will cause hypos. I guess I would have to alter my basal and bolus ratio. It's all about trial and error.
I also need to work out what to do before exercising. If I reduce my basal or eat more carbs.
Thanks Ian DP and Paul
 
I'd call your current diet moderate carb rather than low carb. You won't be in ketosis with what you're eating - and while you don't need to be, ketosis is the fastest way to lose weight (if you're not trying to lose you can go a bit higher and still stabilize bs).

I'd recommend trying myfitnesspal website or app - you can enter everything you eat and it will calculate the carbs etc for you.

I have hypos all the time eating a normal diet and absolutely zero eating under 30g carbs spread out through the day.

I'd ditch the bread, make a super low carb soup, switch the apples for berries and throw out the low fat yogurt as low fat tends to = full of sugar.
 
Myfitnesspal app is good at adding up all your totals (carb, fat, protein etc.). You can input your actual daily food intake and get a predicted weight loss / gain, then you can add / delete some foods to see how the totals change. I have found it to be very accurate. Remember to add in any exercise and drinks as well.
 
greendress said:
I'd call your current diet moderate carb rather than low carb. You won't be in ketosis with what you're eating - and while you don't need to be, ketosis is the fastest way to lose weight (if you're not trying to lose you can go a bit higher and still stabilize bs).

I'd recommend trying myfitnesspal website or app - you can enter everything you eat and it will calculate the carbs etc for you.

I have hypos all the time eating a normal diet and absolutely zero eating under 30g carbs spread out through the day.

I'd ditch the bread, make a super low carb soup, switch the apples for berries and throw out the low fat yogurt as low fat tends to = full of sugar.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this. Yeah I'm going to get rid of the wholemeal bread. Two hours after eating breakfast my blood was 11.9! So from tomorrow I'm thinking omelette or eggs and Bacon like Ian suggested.

I have the yoghurt before the gym so I can get through an hour of cardio. Should i have something else before working out?

I do want to shift a little weight so I will lower the carb intake even more.
 
Ian DP said:
Myfitnesspal app is good at adding up all your totals (carb, fat, protein etc.). You can input your actual daily food intake and get a predicted weight loss / gain, then you can add / delete some foods to see how the totals change. I have found it to be very accurate. Remember to add in any exercise and drinks as well.
Click to expand...

I'm going to load that app now. Thanks.:)
 
I would have a cheese omelette for breakfast
Chicken salad for lunch, bit Mayo
tea would be salmon and a salad or meat and veg

I am trying to lose weight stone off so far and my bloods are perfect I am a Type 1.
 
Jillyp83 said:
I would have a cheese omelette for breakfast
Chicken salad for lunch, bit Mayo
tea would be salmon and a salad or meat and veg

I am trying to lose weight stone off so far and my bloods are perfect I am a Type 1.
Click to expand...
Hi Jilly

Thanks for this diet plan. Does that mean you don't have a need to take bolus?

Also do you exercise? Just wondering what I should eat before a workout? Not sure if having extra carbs is a good idea or decreasing my basal.
 
Hi I am hardly taking any bolus compared to when I was eating carbs. I am on an insulin pump so it will be a bit different. I do exercise I walk and do bootcamp once a week.
 
Jillyp83 said:
Hi I am hardly taking any bolus compared to when I was eating carbs. I am on an insulin pump so it will be a bit different. I do exercise I walk and do bootcamp once a week.
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm on a pump too. So before your bootcamp what do you do to prevent having a hypo during or after your workout?
 
i would reduce my basal temporarily for a couple of hours using the temp basal function. You choose what percentage you want to reduce it to. It takes a bit fiddling with but I am always great during and after exercise now.
 
Ok great thank you.

Yeah I struggle a lot with the basal rates.
Do you mind sharing ur basal rate and the % you reduce it by during exercise? I know we are all different-but it would help to get an idea. I'm thinking mine maybe too high in the morning if I'm cutting out carbs.
 
My basal as all different at all times of the day. I reduce to about 40% before exercise usually keeps me about 6.2 during and after.
 
Yeah so are mine. Mine are

Midnight- 0.600
8am-0.950
1pm-0.625
2.30pm-0.550

I've been on the pump for over 4 and half years and I'm still not confident with my rates!!!!

Thanks Jillyp83. You have really helped me today. I'm off to the gym later so I'm going to reduce my basal instead of having carbs.
 
Jillyp83 said:
I would have a cheese omelette for breakfast
Chicken salad for lunch, bit Mayo
tea would be salmon and a salad or meat and veg

I am trying to lose weight stone off so far and my bloods are perfect I am a Type 1.
Click to expand...
Hi I'm sorry to sound silly, but my 3yr old has just been diagnosed dt1. If we give insulin for the amount of carbs being eaten, then why do a lot of people try and dramatically lower there carbs?
 
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