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My low(er) carb journey as a veggie

On course for a good day today I managed to pick up my favourite ready made lunch - Cauldron Foods Falafels at 5.8g carb/falafel. I find them super filling, so much easier to resist snacking through the afternoon. I also checked out the carb content of McVities Cheddars ,as I remember someone posted saying they didn't spike them too much - only 1.8g carb/biscuit, so if craving a biscuit I'll have one of those. So far, I'm not hungry, and have resisted snacking.

I'm on course to eat under 100g carb today. The rest of the falafel will form part of my dinner, just need to work out what I can have with it that's low in carbs (not sure if it would go, maybe an omelette?) . Or maybe a veggie stir fry. Not counting whatever I add to my dinner, my carb intake will stand at 77.8g once the remaining falafel are eaten First day since starting I'm on course to eat close to my carb allowance.

Actually, what I could do is have half a tin of soup (the ones in the house are all under 15g carbs/half tin, and one of them is only about 11g), then have the falafel after, leaving me definitely under 90g carbs. I've got some mini cheeses to snack on if I need to, but I'd rather eat half my dinner a little bit later on and be less likely to snack.

I picked up Alpro Simply Plain yogurt so I've also go that as a dessert/snack option, or possibly a breakfast option once I decide what to put on it!

My next step will be to learn to make falafels myself, and make them a bit lower carb, and also lower carb soup.
 
Excellent to see how you are doing and helping all us. Falafel sounds good.
 
I'm new here - hello everyone. I'm really pleased to be able to read some info and ideas about eating a low carb veggie diet. I find it hard to know which veg have high or low carbs. And coming up with new ideas for suppers etc is hard. Following years of yo-yo dieting with slimming world I now realise that the sheer amount of carbs they suggested on the green plan was so unhealthy. Not knowing any better and with a big love of food I was more than happy to take them at their word and would have a huge portion of pasta and salad every evening. I ate a large portion of unsweetened cereal for breakfast and usually didn't get time for lunch in the day except maybe a banana or apple. I was in a very high stress job and now realise that I was releasing a lot of cortisol. My weight went down very well during this time but looking back now I think these were the years that contributed to my diagnosis of type 2 on 2009. I've been very overweight for about 12 years with a stone going on perhaps every 2 years. Now I've gradually lost a stone and a half but still have 5 stone to go. My motivation went for a long while as I've suffered with recurring depression, high anxiety and complete knackeredness! Also I think I'm naturally lazy and would always prefer to curl up with a book and my tiny dog than exercise. Still I moved right beside the beach 2 years ago and now walk Herbie there every day and am very gradually losing the weight. Yippie! It hasn't helped though that I've been on crutches and in a big boot for 6 weeks after rupturing my ankle ligaments. Been mostly lying about since then - hence discovering this amazing forum!
Anyway - sorry for waffling on - Its one of my skills. Due to various health problems I've been off work since Feb. Since then loads of fat around my stomach and heart area has just disappeared - I presume it's because I'm no longer stressed so not producing too much cortisol. My BS has dropped from 9 to 7.6. For me I think stress was a major contributor to my poorly controlled diabetes. I regularly forgot to take medication and would eat quickly then flop into bed on my return home from work after a 12-14 hour day.
I now feel really motivated to improve my life and am in the mental state to learn, think, reflect and action. At last!
I will really enjoy keeping my eye on this forum to educate myself and stop feeling so alone in the struggle to eat healthily. Thank you everyone. Wish I'd found you all when I was first diagnosed learned so much already. X


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I didn't say I was going to stop at one! However, I don't like them enough to guzzle several in a sitting

Hi @Aprilb1967 , welcome to the forum. Everyone's friendly and helpful, I've learned a lot since I joined.
 
purplekat said:
I didn't say I was going to stop at one! However, I don't like them enough to guzzle several in a sitting

Hi @Aprilb1967 , welcome to the forum. Everyone's friendly and helpful, I've learned a lot since I joined.
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Hi PurpleCat. Thanks for welcoming me. Feel really excited to be reading all this info - can't wait for the low carb veggie recipe thread to start as really need lots of ideas. The warmer weather helps though as am eating more healthily I think...?! Not sure. But I feel better and less sluggish so here's hoping.
I have a question: I do love fruit but realise that there is a lot of natural sugar in it. Are some fruits lower than others? Also is there anything I could eat alongside it to help slow down the glucose release? From this thread I now know that cream would do the job but being such a fatty I can't really afford to eat that. Is there anything you could suggest that would be ok for my waistline? Would really appreciate some ideas on this. Thanks.
 
Hello. I miss fruit too as I ate quite a lot of it. I have settled for not eating anything from the Southern Hemisphere. And try to stick to stuff grown mostly in this country. Our fruit tends to be not so sweet. Berries are good but it really is trial and error for different individuals. I am not very experienced and am experimenting and learning every day. This site is great.
 
I'm also not very experienced, but I'm sure someone will be able to help you. Have a look at other threads on the low-carb section of the forum, lots of help in those

The low carb veggie recipe thread has been started, still working on it but already a lot of recipes already posted by members are linked It's also in the low carb section, think I called it Vegetarian/Vegan Low Carb Recipe Index
 
I'm planning my week off work (next week) with near military precision. I figure it's a good time to try out some of the new recipes I've found, as I'll have plenty of time to make them, and have something else on standby in case I don't like the end result! I am also going to return to the gym that week, planning to go in the mornings when it should be quieter. And, I'll have more access to the computer than normal, so can push on with my recipe index thread and get a whole lot more linked

I'm also seriously considering getting some protein shakes/meal replacement shakes to cover breakfast, as I don't have much time in the mornings to make/eat anything that would be really satisfying.
 
I have a natures garden soya strawberry shake with added berries. Keeps me going. Very low carbs.
 
Is the nature's garden stuff nice @figgywiggy ? Been trying to read reviews on Amazon etc for different products, and they are all mixed. I'd almost decided to try Atkins shakes, if they are vegetarian (trying to find out), as they were getting good reviews for taste.
 
Haven't tried Atkins. It's not bad if you have added berries. I sometimes add greek yoghurt as well and it's very palatable.
 
Well, that week's holiday didn't go to plan! I caught the virus my mother had, which left me feeling dizzy and sick for most of my time off work So no trying new recipes, as I'd have put myself off them (a lot of food tasted a bit strange). Now better and back at work, although still finding computer screens are making me feel a bit ill.

Next week I'll start trying new recipes, since I should hopefully feel completely better by then! I can also expand the recipe index, as the lovely @Avocado Sevenfold sent me a list of links to recipes that are from another thread
 
Hope you are fighting fit again @purplekat

I tried a couple of new recipes last night from a great Indian vegetarian website http://www.manjulaskitchen.com. Not a low carb site, but there are some gems in there.

I had the cucumber salad and the asparagus with ginger. Both fab. Each recipe has an instructional video so couldn't be easier to follow
 
I forgot I had this thread on the go! Probably because during my absence I was also failing miserably to low carb properly

@Avocado Sevenfold that Indian vegetarian website looks amazing! Maybe some of the not so low carb recipes can be adapted a bit to become a little more suitable? Failing that, an appetiser size portion as a starter followed by a main course that's close to zero carbs might work, depending on your carb allowance.

Some family stuff is becoming a bit more sorted out and settled, so I'm slowly starting to get back into cooking again. Although with the hot weather coming, I'm going to need to go in for stir fries, salads and slow cooker stuff. One thing we've been eating a lot recently is fajitas - stumbling block being the tortilla. So far I've been having less than I want to because the nicest tortillas are quite high carb I must try some of the lower carb options, although even the ones that are easy to come by probably aren't too low carb.
 
@purplekat I had curries delivered recently from the Ashoka as a birthday treat. Turns out "European vegetable" means just potatoes and peas! Was gutted! Lol. Lesson learned and will stick to home made in future.

For Mexican style food, I make taco shells out of Edam cheese and fill them with spicy veg, sour cream, pickled jalapeños, salsa, guacamole or whatever. Just melt the Edam slices for a few minutes in the oven then form into a shell shape. It is quite chewy when it cools, but is zero carb compared to tortillas.

 
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