Chris Smolinski said:In article <[email hidden]>,
Saffire said:In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden]
says...
Quoted message said:I'm been eating low-carb for almost 4 years now (since Sept of 2000). I
started at 248 pounds back then, with a goal of 173. I reached 186
pounds about a year later, stayed there for a while, and slowly gained
some of the pounds back, up to about 210 a few weeks ago, when I decided
I needed to get serious again about eating better.
Hi Chris, welcome to the group!
Thanks. I actually was a fairly regular participant in the group back in
2000 and 2001.
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:My biggest problems are finding a variety of foods I like to eat, and
avoiding the high carb foods that are in the house. It doesn't help that
my wife likes to bake, and is good at it :-( So I'm particularly
interested in seeing what others have been eating.
there are a lot of cooking and baking aids to making lower carb foods.
Sugar and starches are critical to textures. But maybe she can use a
quarter of the recipe with low-carb ingredients to make a "healthier"
version for you. MiniCarb (in your grocer's organic section) is a
flour replacement that is nets to 0 carbs--it is all fiber.
Thicken/Thin products have gum replacements for sugar and cornstarch
to provide the same cooking reaction as that which they replace. Of
course splenda provides sweetness and is good for baking. Perhaps she
could experiment with a half sugar half splenda recipe, or cut the
flour in half with the Minicarb substitute. This would be a compromise
but would probably give her close results to what she is used to and
let you reasonably enjoy her baking.
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:What kinds of foods do you LIKE to eat?
I do like most meats, although I tend to get into the habit of eating
the same few things over and over, which leads me to want to eat foods
that I shouldn't, such as pizza (which sadly is perhaps my favorite
food). I seem to forget about a lot of the dishes that I do like to eat.
Boredom is big for me too---especially since I have a wide palette of
foods I enjoy. The ethnic foods I don't necessarily like I've simply
never had a chance to experiment with(Vietnamese, Korean, Peruvian). I
had to learn to make lower-carb versions of certain dishes I would
normally go to restaurants for in the first 4 months.
One strategy is to eat a replacement to your favorite foods. While the
crust of pizza can not be duplicated without significant carbs the
toppings certainly could. With minimal sauce (buy the absolute
smallest jar of favorite marinara or a low carb sauce) the rest of the
toppings are easy to accomodate on low carb--for all but the induction
period. The trick for me is to make the home version as good as can
be--so it isn't a mediocre imitation, but rather a meal I want to make
because I want *IT*.
As kids we made pizza on toast (or english muffins). With low carb
breads that is very doable--and toasted most low carb breads taste
decent. I made pizzas on portabella mushroom caps.
Quoted message said:Lately I've been eating a lot of lunchmeats (ones with minimal added
sugar), and I had some tunafish for breakfast, which I haven't had in a
long time (the only kind of fish I eat, actually, I'm not a big seafood
eater). Plus I like most any cheese.
I like simple salads (lettuce and tomatoes with oil and vinegar
dressing) but rarely like to take the time to make them.
Buy the ready made bags of salads and boxes of cherry/grape sized
tomatoes. SLit the bag pour 1/3-1/2 in, pour the tomatoes on top, add
dressings. Buy a good dressing... low carb but make sure it really
does taste good. You want the salad to be something you look forward
to. It should be fast and no work. Yeah, the bags are more expensive
but you can also get a better mix of greens--unless you are a fan of
just watery iceberg or just romaine.
Do you like blue cheese(the cheese)? If so try a blue cheese
dressing. Try it in a restaurant so you odn't have to buy a whole jar
to find if you like it. Marie's is expensive but very good and 1 carb
per 2 tbsp. Sprinkle shredded cheedar, bacon bits(Hormel's are 0 carb)
and Blue cheese. That was one of my favorites--well that with some
avocado on top, and a boiled egg. Even with salads I need some
variety. A taco salad is another favorite. I make my taco/chili
filling in larger batches then microowave what I want. I make a salad,
add the chili, cheedar cheese, sliced jalapenos, tomatoes, chiles if I
have them, and some sour cream.
You might want to get a low carb cookbook if your wife is willing.
Dana Carpender has some good ones.
DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)
350/275/Jun-275/200
Atkins since Jan 12, 2004
Maint.-70 carbs/day (CCLL=50-60)
