Jeffrey, thank you so much for describing what you're eating - I've itallicized the good choices you're making...
Breakfast 08:00am - Low carb toast, peanut butter and marmite,
with spring water 500ml
Snack 12:00pm - Small portion of
cheese
Lunch 2.00pm - Cornish pasty with a selection of fruit, with
spring water 500ml
Snack 5.00pm - Plain natural protein based yoghurt
Not sure...compare your yogurt to FAGE 5% yogurt... https://uk.fage/yoghurts/fage-total#fage-total
Tea 7.00pm -
Chicken breast,
mixture of [non-starchy] vegetables, potatoes,
with spring water 500ml
I agree with Brunneria. Trying to think of a time when I haven't [giggle]. She's incredibly knowledgeable.
So Jeffrey, to turn your situation around, you're going to need to unlearn everything you've been taught about nutrition. And I should add here that it was very difficult for me but I did it anyway. Every time my brain yelled at me that the low carb ketogenic diet would give me a heart attack or damage my kidneys, I reminded myself again and again that if that were true then why do most people who do the diet experience dramatically improved lab test results over the first months, year, and beyond?
I had a lot of anxiety about the diet and relied heavily on those here for guidance and reassurance. It's good that you are doing this. Keep doing it.
There are three macronutrients: carbs, protein, fat.
We have been taught that carbs are healthy and fat is bad.
We need protein to build and rebuild our body, so in general, protein remains the same across most diets so we won't focus on that for now. Most people eat animal and plant based proteins. Some eat only animal, while some eat only plant based protein. I'm going to assume you eat both.
Our body can get all the energy it needs from carbs, or fat, or both. Here's where the problem comes in. For those who have raised insulin levels - (you can ask your doctor for a fasting insulin level but I don't know what the healthy range is for the units used in the UK) - and wide ranging glucose levels, using fat for energy works better because, unlike sugars and starches, it doesn't raise insulin or glucose levels.
1) If you choose to do the low carb ketogenic diet, I encourage you to become a member of Diet Doctor, at least for a few months, to learn everything you can there about what to eat. I assure you, it's a steep learning curve and requires commitment.
2) You won't be hungry but you'll be battling cravings for sugar and starch the first couple of weeks. You'll also experience withdrawal symptoms because your brain likes the sugar hits and some of the microbes in your gut will be screaming at your brain via the vegas nerve to resume eating the sugars and starches immediately.
3) To achieve satiety, you'll need to include a healthy fat, some protein, and a non-starchy vegetable for nutrition and fiber - (no grains, no starches, no sugar) - with every meal or snack.
4) You'll need to drink lots of water as your body changes over from burning carbs (glucose) for fuel to fat (ketones) for fuel. You'll also need to supplement with salt daily (because you're no longer eating processed foods and your kidneys will begin dumping electrolytes, particularly sodium. You may wish to supplement with magnesium and potassium. I did all three: salt, magnesium, and potassium. A simple way to supplement salt is to dissolve a 1/4 teaspoon of salt in hot water and drink one or more times daily. I do this anytime I feel light headed or when I have a headache. It typically works after a couple of hours.
5) Test glucose before each meal, and one or two hours after each meal. That's how we learn how each food affects our blood sugar. How well you tolerate a specific food may evolve over time. I initially ate 1/4 of a carrot on my salad. Now I eat one whole carrot every day. Also, test when you're having symptoms. It helps to keep a food, symptom, and glucose log.
6) Learn how to make a "One-Minute Keto Mug Bread" but use butter instead of olive oil...
https://www.forkly.com/recipes/one-minute-keto-mug-bread/
Here's a list of good and bad fats to help you navigate the new world of eating fats and oils to get you started...
http://drcate.com/list-of-good-fats-and-oils-versus-bad/
Here's more from Catherine Shanahan, M.D....
http://drcate.com/video/the-real-skinny-on-fat-documentary-episode-1-the-beginning-of-the-end/ and
I have listened to these presentations three to six times in the last week.
There are also many sources of whole food fats which I encourage you explore... Plant based ones are green olives, coconut, avocados, RAW nuts such as almonds and walnuts, macadamia nuts, I like pecans too. Animal based ones are animal fat,
full fat cream, cream cheese, yogurt, butter, and cheese. Learn to cook meat with bones in. Cook chicken with bones in, skin on. Bacon adds flavor to meals. A favorite go to food for me when I first started the diet was a slice of ham, a chunk of cream cheese, and sliced dill pickles rolled. Today, if I have a sugar craving, I eat a pat of butter or a spoon of peanut butter - (the kind you have to stir and refrigerate). Actually, I eat almond butter now.
For breakfast, I have two eggs, butter, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, and gouda cheese.
For lunch, I have a leafy green salad topped with meat, nuts, raw vegetables, cheese, and a vinaigrette made with extra vigin olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice, and spices.
For dinner, meat and vegetables with one or more fats such as a healthy oil, butter, or coconut oil. Sometimes I'll add a tablespoon of yam sliced to my steamed or sauted vegetables.
I didn't eat low carb berries, lemon and lime initially, but you can in small amounts.
Once I became fat adapted, I stopped snacking and stopped eating 3 hours before bed time. That is a step that may take time for you because of the hypoglycemia.
A popular quote that helps me is... "Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels."
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but the Diet Doctor site should fill in any details I left out. Best of luck to you.