People who eat low carb, show me a sample of your diet

Next week I am going to try to cut out refined carbs from my diet, including whole grain ones. People who eat like this, please give me sample menus for what you eat daily. If you manage to eat around 1400 that would be great.



EDIT: changed title to more specific

Hi there!

I cut out all refined white grains and sugar from my diet about two months ago, and I feel great.  Let me give you the following advice?

Don't cut out wholegrains, there is absolutely no need to. Carbs are really important in your diet, and wholegrains are awesome!

Also, allow yourself a small chocolate bar or small ice cream or something sweet once a week or so... the fact is we live in a society full of junk food, and in my experience to deny myself these foods altogether often leads to binging. So, tell yourself you are allowed to eat those foods, but only very occassionally, and in very small amounts.

In a typical day, my diet is as follows:

Breakfast - Oats with hunny and raisins and cinammon, or wholegrain bread with peanut butter and a banana.

Morning snack - a piece of fruit/10 natural almonds/yoghurt

Lunch - wholegrain spaghetti with a sauce of onion, garlic, yellow or red pepper cooked in olive oil, with tinned tomatoes and zuchinni

Afternoon snack - 5 prunes/fruit/edamame (soybeans)

Dinner - brown rice w steamed vegies or stirfried beef or salmon

After dinner snack - mandarin oranges or persimmon

If you are going to go ahead with this, good for you! The first few days will be the hardest as your body may be used to quick sugar highs. After a couple of weeks though most of your cravings will probably disappear and you should feel great!

One last thing - I really reccommend the 3 small meals and 3 small snacks approach. It keeps you full, keeps your blood sugar levels steady so you don't reach for sugary crap, and keeps your metabolism fired up!

Good luck!

I eat a mainly raw diet; it's probably way over 1400 calories but it keeps me healthy. Typical day includes things like:

 Smoothie with banana, strawberries, pineapple and a handful of greens (no juice)

Salad with dressing I make, usually something with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, raw honey, mustard powder etc. Sometimes I use Bragg's amino, ginger, honey and cayenne pepper

 I usually eat at least one if not two or three avocados

handfuls of raw nuts

Sometimes I make a pate with nuts and vegetables and just eat it with a spoon

A lot of raw folks eat sprouted grains but I never do, strictly out of laziness.

Original Post by ricen:

Next week I am going to try to cut out refined carbs from my diet, including whole grain ones. People who eat like this, please give me sample menus for what you eat daily. If you manage to eat around 1400 that would be great.

 Whole grains are not refined carbs.

 

I avoid refined carbs, but I eat whole wheat rye bread almost every day. 

 But there's nothing wrong with a bit of pasta now and then.  I don't think it's so much that you should NEVER have any refined carbs.  It just shouldn't be a daily staple.  But unfortunately, refined carbs make up a huge proportion of a lot of people's diets.

I've been following the no refined carbs for the last 11 months and will not go back to the way i was eating.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 slices turkey bacon, 1 slice of 11 grain bread(It has to be at least 7 grains for me) with a small amount of promise margarine

snack: a apple, 1 tb all natural peanut butter with no sugar 

lunch: lean chicken on a bed of dk green lettuce, such as spring salad-no iceberg, 1/2 ounce of lowfat cheese multigrain croutons(just a handful) and a low fat dressing.  I choose low fat versus no fat because they tend to add a lot more sugars.

snack- celery and laughing cow lite cheese

dinner: lean meat such as chicken or even beef, sweet potato, mashed cauliflower

snack: I usually don't eat but when i do it's a yogurt or sf dessert

the reason I am asking for menus without any whole grain carbs is I am tyring to figure out if I am carb sensitive or not. I have been trying to lose weight for a long time and weightloss for me is very very slow and difficult. For example, I have only lost 10 lbs since coming back from a study abroad trip in july, despite my healthy habits.

Don't take this as me sounding rude, but please do not give me any advice on weightloss and why I should be eating whole grains. I've been doing this for a long time, like I said, and I want to see if I am highly sensitive to carbs.

so far only spirochete has provided me with the type of menu i'm looking for (laura, you always come through for me lol). If more people could post these menus it would be great. That is, low carb or very low carb eating.

That's fine, but it was important to clarify that whole grains are not refined carbs.  They are by definition unrefined.

I try not to eat starchy foods, because it causes gastrointestinal problems, so perhaps you would be interested in what I eat. I find if I am good about the no starch thing, then a couple of extra cals doesn't make much difference.

Breakfast: fresh fruit and yoghurt/ or ham and light cheese

Snack: a light babybell and a slice of ham

Lunch: Meat, salad, vegetables (no potatoes, rice or bread or noodles)

Snack more fruit or ham and cheese

Dinner: Meat/fish/chicken, with veges in some sort of tomato/curry/peanut butter sauce (generally asian inspired)
soup, salads things like that

dessert, icecream

I'm not so worried about sugars, more worried about starches, so if i have a choice between a low fat pastry nad chocolate and I'm starving I would pick the chocolate because it has not got starch. I also try not to eat nuts except almonds (the exception being the occassional tbsp peanut butter in cooking)

do you have any other physical symptoms that make you think carbohydrates may be a problem?

Hi Jane,

Many starchy food turn to sugar pretty quickly as soon as they hit your system, usually right in your mouth. If you're avoiding starches, sugar is a lot worse!

That may be true. But I do know that if I eat too much of some starches (particularly wheat) I have alot of problems with bloating and gas.

Also other foods that cause problems for me, like bananas, sweet potato, nuts (except almonds) all also have the fact that they contain relatively high levels of starches in common.

There is a book that discusses the elimination of starches in the context of preventing IBS and also some type of herditary arthritisis, which explains how for some people eating too many starches may cause problems.

I don't know, not eating too many starches, helps my stomach feel alot better and makes socail situations less unpleasant. I can eat 100g of chocolate with no problems, but noodles will make me feel rather unwell. I'm purely relaying my personal experiences here, if you have no troubles eating them, and have more of a problem with sugar, than that is good for you. (also if you cut out starchy food, there is so little left that is bad for you that you can eat, that avoiding refined sugars really does become less of an issue)

jane - i'm very similar re: chocolate vs. pastry. same goes with ice cream... i still crave muffins like there's no tomorrow, but i haven't eaten pasta in literally over a year. the last time i had it was when my sister had just had her baby so they were making a quick dinner and let me tell you, i felt the gas in my stomach start immediately. i was astounded! because i used to eat it on a regular basis and never made the connection to why my stomach was always upset.

now i limit myself to 300 cals worth of carbs from whole grains. i eat squirrelly bread, made without flour, 1/2 cup all bran cereal, and oatmeal. unless i'm eating out, these are the only "grain" carbs i eat. and my stomach is a lot better. i also eat during the day when i need the energy and will easily burn them off. good luck!

I dont have any physical symptoms from eating carbs or starches, like I said earlier i'm just experimenting to see what will give me normal  (1-2 lb per week) weight loss. 

bump

I follow a low carb plan, and it tends to work out around 1300-1400 cals. Here it is:

Breakfast: 1/3 cup muesli with half banana, strawberries(2), blueberries (6) and 1/2 cup soy milk. 125ml juice, cup of tea

Lunch: salad (cucumber tomato lettuce avocado mushrooms) with tuna or chicken or some kind of lean meat OR homemade veggie soup with some cheese

Dinner: lean meat with vegetables (broccoli and carrot are my faves), or salad. Or some kind of homemade curry, chili or hotpot

snacks: a piece of fruit, 15 nuts (cashews, walnuts, almonds)

dessert: nestle diet flavoured yoghurt (40 cals/100ml)

Hope that helps. I find that it works pretty well for me, if I stick to it, I lose 2-3lb per week, but I work out as well. I don't usually feel hungry at all, but I seem to be easily tempted by unhealthy food :) 

Hey,

 I also found that cutting carbs from my diet eliminated my bloating.

My sample diet:

Breakfast: 2 whole eggs baked in half a green pepper

1 cup of coffee with low fat cream (1.5oz) and splenda instead of sugar

Lunch: 6-8oz of chicken, lettuce, (or some other kind of veggie) low carb salad dressing

 

Snack: 1/2 cup 2% cottage cheese and, 1 cup pineapple bits or if I am being bad I will have 2 waffles

 Dinner: 4oz of wine, tuna salad, lettuce, or some kind of vegetables.

This got boring so I am trying to find low carb recipes.

I feel great, I don't feel tired or anything. I make up a spreadsheet every week to help me plan my meals which is one good thing I picked up when I tried Jenny Craig. It takes a little bit of time but it works really well.

Breakfast - 3 egg white omelette with leftover broccoli or whatever veggies I have around

Snack - 10 almonds

Lunch - salad, baked chicken or fish, 2 or 3 more servings of green veggies (like broc, green beans, asparagus), tomatoes, or small serving of cooked carrots

Snack - apple, string cheese

Dinner - lean protein, 2 or 3 more servings of non-starchy veggies

This provides 1400-1600 calories, 35-45 g of fiber, and less than 2000 mg sodium

Hey Ricen,

I don't really calorie-count, so I can't say the exact count here, but I have been doing "Low carb" (NOT no carb) for 2 years, and it's helped me lose and KEEP OFF 55lbs so far. I'd like to lose 25lbs more if I can, but the best thing of all, is how great I feel (my nutritionist actually discovered, like you noted you might, that I had a flour sensitivity).

Here's a usual day (I drink LOTS of water!):

Brekkie:

3-egg white omelet with ham, feta, and veggies (peppers and mushrooms usually)

Coffee with a splash of half and half

Lunch:

mixed green salad with grilled chix, 1/2 cup of chick peas or kidney beans, swiss cheese, peppers, cukes, tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper

OR

grilled tofu with miso sauce, sauteed spinach, 1/2 cup roasted butternut squash or 1/2 a large yam

Mid-Afternoon Snack:

Fage Total 2% yogurt with 1/2 cup of any kind of berries, cinnamon, and a pinch of stevia, a natural sweetener (you can use Splenda, too)

OR

1 Golden Delicious or Granny Smith Apple with 2 tbsp Jiff Crunchy peanut butter

Dinner (use a bit of olive oil to coat the pan for the sautees):

Chicken sauteed with mustard, garlic, bok choy, broccoli and swiss chard;

OR

top round steak sauteed with tamari, broccoli, snow peas, garlic and crushed red pepper;

OR

Shrimp salad: (LOVE this recipe!!) Get either fresh or frozen shrimp, put them in the pan with a bit of O.O., add crushed red pepper and chipotle spices (McCormick makes a good one); remove the shrimp and let them cool. Add halved grape tomatoes, 1/2 of a diced avocado, and the mini-mozzarella balls, toss with balsamic vinegar. SO DELICIOUS.

PM me if you want more recipes!

~ Colleen

I limit starchy carbs (i.e., grains and breads) to only 1-3 servings a day. 1-2 on most days, an extra on days I've gone running. Here's my usual plan:

Breakfast: nonfat plain yogurt, berries, banana, flax seed smoothie (lately I've been having low-fat, because I'm on maintenance so I can afford the extra calories)

Lunch: big salad with tons of veggies and/or fruit, one serving of cheese, and one 3 oz serving of a protein (chicken, tuna, shrimp, or nuts); with 1/2 TB olive oil and 1/2 TB of balsamic vinegar as a dressing.

Dinner: 3 oz serving of a protein, 3 more servings of veggies, and 1-2 servings of starchy carbs (usually pasta or a whole grain like brown rice, quinoa, kasha, etc); glass of wine

Dessert/snack: varies... depends on what I have already eaten. Usually this is a modest amount of whatever I am craving. it may be carrots and olives; it may be nuts and fiberone cereal; it may be saltines; it may be a 1/2 cup serving of ice cream; it may be more fruit or a sweet potato topped with whipped cream. And sometimes a tiny piece of chocolate!

Usually I just have one serving of starchy carb at dinner, and save the second serving for my dessert. Then, if I've gone running, I'll work in an extra carb in the form of a starchy snack during the day (like fiberone cereal with nuts).

This works out to approx 1400 calories ... without the 3rd serving of carbs and with nonfat yogurt instead of low-fat.

I like to concentrate my carbs at dinner/before bed because I find it helps me sleep. I cannot cut them out completely: if I do, I get major insomnia, and also I find that my running suffers. The more I run, the more carbs I seem to be able to tolerate.

I will say that I was eating more carbs than this initially, such as oatmeal for brekkie, and a serving of carbs at lunch too. And I didn't lose weight as fast - particularly the tummy area. Carbs seem to go straight to my tummy!

Original Post by serenity_16057:

Breakfast: 2 whole eggs baked in half a green pepper

 This sounds interesting, how do you do this exactly.  Is it just the eggs in the green pepper and bake (temperature?) or do you add anything else/

 

AJ 

Low carb diet, you should be eating less than 100 g per day, wich is crazy, no fruit bread or pasta, everything up yo 20 grams is not low carb, I try this diet for 2 weeks it work I lost  weight, but is just water and muscles,  people gain weight back with the days when you change the diet and add lot of carbs, so I believe is hard to stick with it....

I eating between 150 - 200 g carbs every day, (fruit, whole grain food, dairy, vegetables)

The Atkins Diet has given people a skewed idea of what low carb or lower carb eating means.

Here are some articles from the CC Library of Experts about Low Carb Diets.

:)