Low-Carb

Forbidden Snowflake

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Anyone cooking with mostly low-carb recipes?

6 months ago I stopped buying crisps, any kind of snack stuffs actually, no biscuits, no soda, no desserts, no nothing. Only fresh.

I cook almost every day. We have about 3 lazy days a month where we either go out to eat or we order in.

So far I haven't discriminated against any food group. If a potato gratin recipe asks for double cream, double cream it is. (obviously I will not choose 5 double cream recipes within the same week ;) )

A lot of our friends have switched to low-carb and are swearing by it. We are not trying to lose a lot of weight. We are fairly happy with where we are. We are doing a lot of sports. (To give you a reference, I'd like to be 115-120 pounds and I'm currently at around 127 pounds, so this is definitely not about weight loss.)

Is there a health benefit from the low-carb thing?

The internet seems to be divided into those that swear by it and those that laugh at it and I don't trust the internet, so I ask you, fellow writers, via the internet ;)
 

Osulagh

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Is there a health benefit from the low-carb thing?
I think it over-simplifies a more structured diet a bit too much. It does point people towards a high protein, vegi and fruit diet, but most stated as "low-carb" just don't detail what people could eat enough. If you want diets that focus around the same principals but you might get more explanation, look into the Paleo and Keto diets. I urge you to look at: simplesciencefitness.com

For myself, I need grain for more fiber over what I can get from fruit and veg. I focus on a similar style of diet, but work in morning carbs in terms of whole, non-processed grain and carbs for days I work out.


On a side note: Losing weight and losing fat or toning are different things. You can be 250 with a high fat content in your body, and 250 with a low fat content in your body. The difference is how much muscle you have. If you're strength training or trying to extend your endurance training, you're probably gaining muscle--if you're just started to work out, you're gaining muscle. In these cases, losing weight might be a bad goal. IMO, focus on fitting yourself to a healthy image, rather than numbers.
 

mirandashell

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To answer the actual question.....:tongue

The internet seems to be divided into those that swear by it and those that laugh at it and I don't trust the internet, so I ask you, fellow writers, via the internet

I've been on it for a few months now and I have slowly lost weight. I've gone down a size in trousers.

I don't do much exercise because I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome but I do core exercises like stomach crunches and leg lifts every day as they help when you're getting older to keep everything where it should be! LOL!

I'm also vegetarian so the Paleo and Keto diets are out.

I've done basically what you've done: cut out the grain and processed foods. I have a bowl of Bran Flakes in the morning for fibre. And I try and keep my carb level below 100g, nearer to 50g if I can.

And I feel pretty good on it. The only supplement I take is a Vit C one as I've given up fruit and fruit juice. The latter is full of carbs.

My digestive system is efficient. I have less problems with wind and I don't get the sugar rushes any more.

But one thing I do recommend is shitake noodles. They contain no calories or carbs but they do fill you up.
 

Ladyxkaa

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whatever advice you take(and these two seem to be very well informed^^) be very careful losing weight, it can be unhealthy to lose too much in too short a time. my doctor can attest to this.
 

Forbidden Snowflake

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ok now, I don't know any recipes, but how tall are you?

5.3 (163cm) and as I said I do not want to lose weight per se. I am about 5 pounds away from my ideal weight, mostly because I just love to eat... I'm one of those people that can eat for 3 and when I was 20 I would not gain a single pound. Now, I still eat for 3 but gain way more easily.

We climb and we run, muscle gain is another reason my goal isn't weight loss.

Gave up on fruit juice as well. Didn't realise how much sugar they put in there for a long time. And energy drinks, they were my other source of unhealthiness.

We love pasta and potatoes, so, so far I've not tried to cut back on those. And we eat overnight oats for breakfast.
 

Ladyxkaa

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that's good then. I worry about people who try to lose that much weight sometimes. my friend krystal is about 4'10 and she...well last i heard she's about 80 pounds, even though she's trying to gain weight.
 

kikazaru

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I think that it does depend on your own unique physiology. For myself I do not want to prohibit any food group from my diet - life is too short to deny yourself things if you want them occasionally (wine, chocolate, a g & t, cheese!). I'm also working on not feeling guilty when I do indulge. If I eat chocolate, then I just cut back on something else so my calories are relatively the same.

However, I must say I do find myself doing better if I eat balanced meals - more energy, less snacking etc. By balanced I mean, always a protein, always a fat and always a carb too keep me on an even keel or else I'm running out of fuel an hour before lunch and then eat everything in sight because I'm starving! With my carbs I always try to make sure that what ever it is, it's high fibre - brown rice vs white, hi fibre bread, potatoes with the skin on, hi fibre box cereal or oatmeal etc, because if I don't, it simply doesn't stay with me.
 

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I think that it does depend on your own unique physiology. For myself I do not want to prohibit any food group from my diet - life is too short to deny yourself things if you want them occasionally (wine, chocolate, a g & t, cheese!). I'm also working on not feeling guilty when I do indulge. If I eat chocolate, then I just cut back on something else so my calories are relatively the same.

However, I must say I do find myself doing better if I eat balanced meals - more energy, less snacking etc. By balanced I mean, always a protein, always a fat and always a carb too keep me on an even keel or else I'm running out of fuel an hour before lunch and then eat everything in sight because I'm starving! With my carbs I always try to make sure that what ever it is, it's high fibre - brown rice vs white, hi fibre bread, potatoes with the skin on, hi fibre box cereal or oatmeal etc, because if I don't, it simply doesn't stay with me.

Exactly, this is the approach we've taken so far. Balanced meals, freshly cooked, we have takeout or a restaurant visit about 3 times a month and that is when I order a dessert etc.

We haven't yet switched to high fibre, I still eat white rice and white pasta. Might want to switch to the brown one. And for breakfast oats, I love the oats.
 

kikazaru

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Exactly, this is the approach we've taken so far. Balanced meals, freshly cooked, we have takeout or a restaurant visit about 3 times a month and that is when I order a dessert etc.

We haven't yet switched to high fibre, I still eat white rice and white pasta. Might want to switch to the brown one. And for breakfast oats, I love the oats.

I still eat white rice and white pasta too occasionally, but when I do I can really see a difference in my appetite. I could eat a big plate of white pasta (with sauce, veggies and meat) and be really full, yet I still CRAVE cookies or some other sweet. The same with white rice - I could have a stir fry or fried rice with all sorts of good things in it, yet almost immediately after I want a sweet of some sort. I don't notice this so much when I switch to their high fibre brethren. It's like my body knows this white stuff isn't going to stay with me so eat more!

There is a high fibre white pasta that I believe Catelli makes. I often buy it and you can't tell the difference in taste or texture but it doesn't give the urge to have sweets after. The only thing is that it's more expensive than the regular kind so I only buy it on sale.

As for the oats, I've been making my own granola lately. It's very tasty and very filling. It doesn't have nearly the amount of fat, salt or sugar in it as the regular kind and I really load it up with nuts, seeds, unsweetened coconut and just a small amount of cut up dried fruit. It's easy to make but time consuming so I make big batches.
 

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I can say I feel far better on low-carb than on a grain-based diet

I can also say all carbs don't appear to affect me the same: I can eat half a watermelon and I may piss every ten minutes, but I feel fine. Give me a burger on a kaiser roll, and my guts feel huge and bloaty.

I think there IS something to the low-carb thing, the problem is a lot of folks take it as "I can eat steak and cheese every day, and nothing else....oooooh, except bacon. And maybe chicken..." and that's not it: If you look at most Paleo and Primal and even "slow foods" plans, those folks do eat more meat than the populace as a whole, but more vegetables too. A lot more veggies, in best cases.
 

mirandashell

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I realised about 5 days ago how much weight I'd lost when I got into a pair of trousers I haven't been able to wear for the last year.

Wooo hoo!

And then last night I watched Miss Congeniality and you know the scene with the pizza? Yeah.... I so wanted a pizza.

But what the hey, occasional pigging out won't kill me.