The "I am so bored with Low Carb Food" thread

[Nancy LC]

Ok, I thought maybe those of us who have tackled this subject over and over could put together a thread of ideas and suggestions for the hoards who find they're bored with low carb eating. Clearly they just need inspiration and we got it for them, what say you?

First off let me say I have dietary restrictions that probably make most people's look very liberal. I can't eat anything with gluten period. I avoid dairy and legumes and all other grains, sugar, excesses starch. I loosely follow a "paleo" diet.

I've got quite a few recipes and what-not in my blog "Mostly Paleo".

This time of the year I like making stew and chili. I have a recipe book called "300 Stew Recipes". I also have Karen Barnaby's low carb cook book (amazing recipes!)

I'll post more later!

[Carne!]

Oh, I am glad u started this thread. I am not bored per se, but recently bought a box of flax meal and have no damn idea what to do with it. Anyone got any good recipes? I'm pretty lenient w carbs...

As far as being bored w this woe, a big help for me has been protein shakes. They provide what I miss from carby snacks: convenience and sweetness. If any of u r up the carb ladder lc tortillas are great.

[Nancy LC]

One thing it seems like a lot of people miss out on the fact we have an enormous conpendium of low carb recipes that are amazing! Just go to the main forum screen and scroll down a bit.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_iw6HlHHGwrs/Sxxi_dA2eII/AAAAAAAAAyc/jLIwH7TJL8o/cooking.jpg

You'll find tons of flax bread recipes in the breads section. You might want to try oopsie rolls, very popular!

[Gina_185]

i can't wait to look at all of the recipes......i wish there was something chewy, or something for my chocolate cravings....

[LC_mermaid]

Nancy another great thread idea! What I try to do for boredom or the crazy cravings is to go to the recipe forums and look for either something close to what I'm craving at the moment or something that is totally different from my regular rut food. Sometimes just browesing the recipes is enough to tell me that I am bored because of some other reason, like I'm feeling reckless and I am using boredom as an exuse to eat off plan. I want to add to anyone who hasn't been to the recipe boards that there are tons of simple 2-5 min recipes and lots of microwave in a bowl type recipes too.

[WyoDiva]

I really like Linda's recipe site (http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/recipes.html)as well - lots of excellent main dish and other ideas as well chocolate yummies on there!

But ALC still has loads of great recipes...I'm always browsing our forum. ;)

[Nancy LC]

Here is another thread that someone posted with lots of good replies.

I think a very common theme is that we can chose to take control of our situation or we can give up control and be bitter and depressed instead.

Low Carb success is so depressing.... (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=404508)

Some great advice in this thread too (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=404575)

[cnmLisa]

Is this more menu ideas or recipes?

or what we had for dinner/lunch type posts?

[Nancy LC]

Here's something from my blog about my own experience with "boredom" (which isn't really boredom).

I don't get bored on a limited selection of food, or at least on the set of foods I currently eat. I have a suspicion that what people usually identify as boredom really isn't boredom. At least that was true for me. I get a kind of restlessness sometimes where I will want something I can't have, like salted nuts or peanut butter or worse.

I know I have plenty of foods I like, but they're not the foods I'm presently craving. If you asked me previously to identify what the source of my discontent is, I'd say "I'm bored with these foods". But on further reflection, I know that isn't right. I love the foods I have available to eat and at meal times I eat them happily. But I'm hungry and hunger is good sauce. Everything tastes wonderful, I'm fully satisfied and contented after a meal and food is far from my mind. Absolutely no boredom with mealtimes.

But come the snacking hour (between bed time and dinner time) that restlessness sends me scurrying to the pantry looking for forbidden eats. That is not boredom... it is cravings.

I think really people normally eat very limited diets. But they're not aware of the limitations so they don't pay them any mind. However when they go on a diet, they're suddenly quite aware of their new limitations and mentally that makes them uncomfortable and they look for escape clauses.

I've given up foods for 2 reasons. One is that some make me ill like gluten, chocolate, nuts, seeds (*cry*) and dairy. The other list is ones that make me fat. The fat ones seem to set off binges so bringing them back "in moderation" just isn't going to happen.

[Nancy LC]

Is this more menu ideas or recipes?

or what we had for dinner/lunch type posts?
I think your posts about what you're eating are truly inspiring and you could definitely help people by posting stuff like that!

[cnmLisa]

I think your posts about what you're eating are truly inspiring and you could definitely help people by posting stuff like that!

ahhhh...you are too sweet.:blush:

My problem is I hate fast food, I refuse to eat frozen already prepared food, and I hate crappy food. I would have to say that everything I cook usually takes 1/2 hour or less.

The unfortunate thing is that if you're going to eat well on low carb with good variety....

YOU WILL HAVE TO COOK.

YOU WILL HAVE TO GO GROCERY SHOPPING.

By cooking and preparing your own food, not only will you know exactly what you're eating--no sneaky hidden carbs--but you will also get the variety, which lately has been a huge issue with this LC WOE as seen by all the new threads relating lack of variety.

Soooo.... Let's get started.


Tonights dinner:

Pan roasted chiken breast (bone in with skin) with fresh cranberry relish--30 minutes.

Green Beans--blanched then cooked in the chicken fat that was cooked off the breast. A big sprinkle of Penzy's Fox Point seasoning.

Glass of Ironstone white wine. Lemon cheesecake mousse.

Entire time--30 minutes.

Penzy's Fox Point Seasoning
http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeysfoxpoint.html


Lisa

Progress not perfection.

[Nancy LC]

Ooh, the seasoning sounds good. I always liked Penzey's Sunny Paris mix.

[Gypsybyrd]

I recall reading something, I don't recall where, a few years back about boredom with foods on low-carb plans. The author pretty much took a different view: think back to when you ate high-carb. Think about how much (i.e., little) variety you had in those meals. Chances are, you ate the same things, week after week, with very little variety and change. If you want something else, you are free to eat it.

So, now you've shifted to a different eating plan, one that prohibits certain foods. You fix meals and, surprise, you gravitate toward the same recipes/menus week after week. Except now, you realize, your plan prohibits you from eating other things. So you decide you are "bored" when in reality, you just want something you'd already made a conscious decision to do without.

The difference before "meals while not eating low carb" and "meals while eating low carb" is one of wanting something you can't have (something YOU decided you can't have). It's not boredom with your current menus/recipes. It just feels like boredom because you think you want something you've made a decision to not eat.

Analyze how you really feel, IF you truly are "bored" with what you are eating, make a menu - with different recipes each day. The base of each recipe may be the same (chicken, beef, pork, seafood) but you can change up the sauces, spices, methods of cooking, etc.


All that aside, I have to say, I had better success sticking to low carb when I ate a VERY limited menu. I'm talking: rotisserie chicken, mayo and shredded cheese or tuna, mayo and shredded cheese every single day for lunch and dinner, with a turkey leg or steak or eggs/bacon once or twice per week. I did that menu for months on end. I did not get bored. But, at the time, I was an over-the-road trucker and that worked for me. Every few days, I'd stop at a Wal-Mart Supercenter and pick up a chicken. The mayo, cheese and tuna I stocked up on once a month. The turkey legs, steaks, eggs/bacon, I had when I felt like being sociable and ate a restaurant/truck stop. I was able to cook in the truck (butane burner) so once in a while (especially if I was laid over or on a short trip with lots of time) I cooked in the truck. But that was rare. Anyway, I did not get bored.

Just my two cents ...

[cnmLisa]

Gypsy--Great post.

I really like the part about boredom and choice.

So maybe it really isn't boredom, but boredom with the choice to LC and not have <insert food here>?

I also find that I eat the same 6-7 meals over and over. I like them. My favorites that I can think of over the past month usually--pan seared scallops, bone in roasted chicken breast, steak either plain or with some type of topping, ground bison portabello burgers with BBQ sauce and cheese, scrambled eggs & lox lunch, sometime of fish like salmon or halibut usally pan seared.

I find it inspiration that you did it day to day while trucking.

[crease]

ok the flax thing. i got a recipe ~ here ~ (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=386001&highlight=pumpkin) for a pumpkin cream cheese roll. i forgot the pumpkin (der) and used chocolate syrup instead of maple, and it tasted like a choc cake.

as far as chocolatey chewy, i make ~ these ~ (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=15835&highlight=fudge) protein bars and get a little liberal with my syrup. this allows the bars to be a fudge like consistency. that's how i get by :)

[Nancy LC]

I recall reading something, I don't recall where, a few years back about boredom with foods on low-carb plans. The author pretty much took a different view: think back to when you ate high-carb. Think about how much (i.e., little) variety you had in those meals. Chances are, you ate the same things, week after week, with very little variety and change. If you want something else, you are free to eat it.
I think I wrote that. :p Re-wrote it awhile back in my blog.

I got to thinking how varied and delicious low carb food is, why would I feel boredom, it didn't make any sense. Then I realized it wasn't that at all, it was another feeling and I was mislabeling it. I think we do that all the time, at least we do according to "Stumbling on Happiness", good book by the way.

I think it also gets conflated with that kind of anorexic feeling you get when you're in deep ketosis and nothing low carb sounds appealing. The fix is to eat more veggies, have a little low carb fruit, to reduce the ketosis by a little. Your appetite will come back and food looks much more interesting when you have an appetite.

I bet those who say they're getting bored would find that boredom vanishes if they only had a short eating window daily. IF made food magical. It was like the most delicious sauce imaginable.

[ProfGumby]

Lot's of great ideas in the thread and already on the website here. All I can add was the introduction of Shiritaki noodles to my WOE. A welcome and occasional treat for me but they break any monotony...and make a fantastic addition to any home made soup!

[Kristine]

Excellent thread. :thup:
I know I have plenty of foods I like, but they're not the foods I'm presently craving. If you asked me previously to identify what the source of my discontent is, I'd say "I'm bored with these foods". But on further reflection, I know that isn't right. (...) Come the snacking hour (between bed time and dinner time) that restlessness sends me scurrying to the pantry looking for forbidden eats. That is not boredom... it is cravings.Quoted for truth! :thup: So, now you've shifted to a different eating plan, one that prohibits certain foods. You fix meals and, surprise, you gravitate toward the same recipes/menus week after week. Except now, you realize, your plan prohibits you from eating other things. So you decide you are "bored" when in reality, you just want something you'd already made a conscious decision to do without.This, too!

There's a statement that someone made on this forum years ago on this topic, and it stuck with me. It was an "aha" moment: Food should not have the capacity to bore you. :idea: Now, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't enjoy your food. I'm a hedonist when it comes to food! But it means pretty much what Nancy andGypsybyrd said: you have to do a bit of soul searching and dig around the word "boredom".

For me, the misnamed boredom feels like grass-is-greener syndrome. Sometimes I get bored of having to take care of my yard: but when I was in an apartment, I was bored of not having a yard. Know what I mean? "You can have anything you want, but you can't have everything you want." Similarly, we can get bored about the food limits we've placed on ourselves.

Boredom requires a little creativity to remedy. I could complain that an hour commute on a train is "boring", or I could use that valuable time to do something productive or relaxing.

Backing off the deep thoughts... :lol: Here are my tips for avoiding boredom: learn to cook, and start out with the simplest, fastest, easiest things. Learn how to cook a steak well. I can cook a steak, open a can of green beans or mushroom pieces, nuke 'em, and slap some butter on the whole mess in ten minutes. Delish and simple. Save the more complicated, time-consuming recipes for when you're genuinely in the mood to cook. I cook for one, for the most part - my SO is a veggie. So my freezer and Gladware are my best friends. I've got about six different entrees I could nuke from my freezer, plus fully-cooked burgers and gluten-free weenies. I've also got raw steaks and pork chops, plain frozen cooked chicken, cooked bacon, several types of broth, frozen and canned veggies, and all kinds of spices and oils I can turn into a quick meal if I have more time. The big reason for all of this variety: I can have what I'm in the mood for, and it's 100% on-plan. If you don't already, learn to love foods of ethnicities other than your own. Again: the theme is variety. Similarly, stay caught up on grocery shopping and keep a fully-stocked pantry. If you're disorganized like I am, literally make a list of your favorite meal ideas. Sometimes I just plain forget about my faves!

[rightnow]

I am never bored with LC food.

I am, however, bored out of my mind with "limits" and "having to cook." I don't think there is any resolution for that particular set of problems! :rolleyes:

PJ

[Nancy LC]

Well for limits... we all have limits all over our life. I limit the amount of alcohol I drink especially when I'm going to be driving. I know there are consequences to drinking too much. I have limits on all kinds of things in life. I obey speed limits. I have a ton of limits on who I have sex with. Food is just another!

Limits is just part of choosing how we conduct our lives and what consequences we want to have or avoid. I think it's only a problem if you make it one. For instance, if I grossed about driving 65 miles an hour every time I got on the freeway I could probably make myself really unhappy about it. So I just choose not to dwell on it. I send my mind down more pleasant paths.

Cooking, I'm lucky in that I usually enjoy it. But even so, I don't want to spend tons of time doing it so I've worked out ways to cut down on the amount of time I have to spend doing it.

[cnmLisa]

Well for limits... we all have limits all over our life.

Limits is just part of choosing how we conduct our lives and what consequences we want to have or avoid

Cooking, I'm lucky in that I usually enjoy it. But even so, I don't want to spend tons of time doing it so I've worked out ways to cut down on the amount of time I have to spend doing it.

Yeppers!. It's all about the consequnces that have to paid. Whether it's the choices in "life" or the food we choose to put in our mouths.

Jeez, I hope I've learned that lesson. I don't want to be here doing a 4th re-do. 3 is one to many.:cry:

My rule of thumb is that if it isn't a stew or crock potter--it needs to be 30 minutes or less.

You guys have me so inspired I pulled out my South Beach cookbook. I haven't looked at it in ages--maybe there is some little tidbit in there that I could add to my 5 1/2 (that's the 5 1/2 meals that I eat all the time. I think I need 7:cool: )

[Gypsybyrd]

Thank you Lisa!

And Nancy, I do read your blog so maybe that is where I saw it. I think it was 1-2 years ago that I read it. Whenever, wherever, it was obviously memorable! Thank you. :)

[zanjabil]

My advice to the "bored" is to cook culturally, pick a country and chose a different flavor every day, every other day, or week...whatever works best for you and yours. Just try different seasonings. Shop in different markets. Search online for different recipes. Just think outside of the box and be creative, don't be afraid to try new flavor combinations. :D

[cnmLisa]

OK--I'm a dufus..... Nancy.....you have a blog???!!!!

OK--2 SB recipes I found....

The first is one I used to eat all the time, it's a chicken breast stuffed with Stouffers creamed spinach with a dijon mustard wine sauce. I used to make this all the time and had forgotten about it. (Probably one of the few things I might eat that's already prepared:eek: )

The second is an espresso custard--I'll change it up a bit--use heavy cream or 1/2 & `1/2 because the thought of 2% milk just gives me the heeebie jeeebies:lol: (notice more heebie and more jeebie with 3 e's)

The other one that looked promising was the coconut chicken.

Progress not perfection.

Lisa

[krystalr]

Last night, I made chicken alfredo with spinach. It was SO good.

2 8oz chicken breasts
8oz heavy cream
1oz cream cheese
3.5-4oz shredded parmesan cheese
2 cups fresh spinach

Cube the chicken and cook over medium heat until done in a non stick skillet. I used about 1.5 tbsb of olive oil and 1tbsp of butter to cook it in. Salt and pepper to taste. I added in about a tsp of garlic paste (it comes in a tube and I did not measure...put a bit, and then a bit more).

Once the chicken is done, remove from the pan and set aside.

Lower to low heat (I set mine at 2.5). Add cream cheese to the warm pan, and pour in the heavy cream. Slowly combine. Once the cream cheese is almost melted, add in your parmesan cheese. I used a dash of garlic salt to finish it off. Add in the spinach and chicken, and cook until spinach wilts (just a few minutes!)

This made WAY too much sauce, and would likely suit 4 pieces of chicken better. Or for 2, simply half the recipe for the sauce :)

I added the ingredients into my P.L.A.N, and it came out to (for the recipe as stated) 12.9g carbs, 184.08g protein, 179.5g fat, 1.32g fiber....so just over 6 carbs per serving (with a lot of the sauce left in the pan!)

Here is a photo :)

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs112.snc3/15943_192778962786_642357786_3060157_1398764_n.jpg

[Nancy LC]

My advice to the "bored" is to cook culturally, pick a country and chose a different flavor every day, every other day, or week...whatever works best for you and yours. Just try different seasonings. Shop in different markets. Search online for different recipes. Just think outside of the box and be creative, don't be afraid to try new flavor combinations. :D
I love that advice! I make a point of doing this from time to time. Bought a wonderful Thai cookbook with easy recipes and learned how to cook Thai food. I'd like to learn Mexican recipes next. I should, I live just miles from the border!

[Nancy LC]

OK--I'm a dufus..... Nancy.....you have a blog???!!!!
Aw, I love you anyway! It's the thing in my signature "Nancy's Time Friendly Cooking Blog". I call it "Mostly Paleo".

[Nancy LC]

Hey, I found that old thread with the Stumbling on Happiness stuff: http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=376793

[GlendaRC]

Krystalr - that looks and sounds delicious! I sure wish DH would eat cheese - I'd love to try it but I refuse to cook two separate meals.

[krystalr]

Krystalr - that looks and sounds delicious! I sure wish DH would eat cheese - I'd love to try it but I refuse to cook two separate meals.

Mine wouldn't eat it. He got boring grilled chicken, and my friend and I had that. That's as close as I was going to "cooking" for him. :lol: If I didn't have to grill up a batch of chicken for my salads, he would've been on his own! :D

[Nancy LC]

Ok, another tip or two I think is very worth mentioning, especially for the "I Hate to Cook" crowd.

Deep ketosis makes one a bit anorexic. Food doesn't really seem all that appealing, particularly whatever you're currently eating. So increase your carbs just a tad and see if your enjoyment of food returns.

If you don't want to do that then try: Intermittent Fasting

These folks eat only during a "window" during the day. Maybe it's a 5 hour window, maybe it's a little larger. The upshot is you might only be eating one or two meals a day. This does 2 marvelous things (with regards to the original posting).

1) It makes food taste incredibly good. Whatever you were eating before, even if you didn't particularly like it, will taste magical.

2) It means you have fewer meals to prepare. Lots of people enjoy not having to worry about preparing 3 meals a day. -- Although, who does that? I mean, I slam a sausage in the microwave for one meal. Dish out something and reheat it for another. Throw together a salad for another. Most days I don't spend much time preparing meals, maybe 5 minutes? A couple times a week I make a batch of something.

So consider just eating less often if you're experiencing what is commonly described as boredom.

[Wyvrn]

I don't get bored on a limited selection of food, or at least on the set of foods I currently eat. I have a suspicion that what people usually identify as boredom really isn't boredom.Before low carb I could eat the same thing every day and never get bored, if it was a bag of Doritos. Modern products are deliberately engineered to stimulate our endocrine system to an extent that our natural diet doesn't. All that salt, sugar and less straightforward texture manipulations and "flavorings" like MSG. That's how you can be walking through a store, not especially hungry, and something that isn't even food (though it's sold as such) can practically leap off the shelf and grab you by the hypothalamus. It's exciting all right, like jumping off a cliff.

[Nancy LC]

/agree Wyvrn -- That was something I learned from that book by David Kessler.

Then I think some of that feeling of boredom is restlessness... you're really craving that old crap that hyperstimulates you. You really miss that hyper-stinumlation. It's addiction.

I'm reminded of what someone said about resenting having limits. My brother the alcoholic never could come to terms with the fact he needed to have limits when other people naturally limited themselves when it came to drinking. He thought it was very unfair. Eventually his alcoholism killed him.

I wonder if that inability to accept that sometimes we have to have limits has something to do with addiction.

[cnmLisa]

If you don't want to do that then try: Intermittent Fasting

Another vote for intermittent fasting.

I was IF before I even knew what IF was--I was just following the natural cycle of when I was hungry.


Tonight for dinner:

A take on the SB spinach souffle chicken. For dessert, a take on the SB espresso custard. (I can never follow a recipe as "written" ....it's a defect:p )


Nancy--I guess I just never "clicked" your blog. I'm going there right now. I might find some ideas. (give me some of those maters!!!)

[Nancy LC]

I'm roasting cauliflower right now. Normally I'd put some crushed cloves of garlic in, but I'm too impatient. I just cut up a head of cauli and poured on some roasted peanut oil (smells and tastes just like roasted peanuts) and salt. Yum!

[cnmLisa]

Nancy--

Where is that original thread that was the impetus to start this one.

I wanted to hook this one and that one over in a newbie thread because they're already bemoaning the lack of choice.

I remember in the original thread that started this one you and <someone> had some really insightful musings regarding choice, perception of choice, lack there of etc...

I thought it might help for the newbies. I think I better bookmark this one and that other one. I have a feelingI'm going to be referencing it a bit over the next 2 months.

Lisa

[Gypsybyrd]

Lisa - check post #7, I think those are the two threads that prompted this one. Nancy already linked to this thread from those. Of course, I might be off base but I think those were the two.

[cnmLisa]

Gypsy--
Thank you!! Those are the ones.

[pengu1]

I love being in the Maintenance phase. I always make low carb food, but I can sneak a few things in. I am not allergic to wheat like some people. So I can sneak in some pasta's and bread's, (albeit not all the time) to keep my menu interesting instead of boring.

This is the beauty of maintenance. A restructuring of how I make foods for me and The Girl. We eat HEALTHY foods now, with the occasional indulgence. The occasional indulgence used to happen at every meal, followed by desert.

If you have Google, imagination, and a few cookbooks, it is HARD to get bored with the Atkins diet.

[mark91345]

This sounds good!

Last night, I made chicken alfredo with spinach. It was SO good.

2 8oz chicken breasts
8oz heavy cream
1oz cream cheese
3.5-4oz shredded parmesan cheese
2 cups fresh spinach

Cube the chicken and cook over medium heat until done in a non stick skillet. I used about 1.5 tbsb of olive oil and 1tbsp of butter to cook it in. Salt and pepper to taste. I added in about a tsp of garlic paste (it comes in a tube and I did not measure...put a bit, and then a bit more).

Once the chicken is done, remove from the pan and set aside.

Lower to low heat (I set mine at 2.5). Add cream cheese to the warm pan, and pour in the heavy cream. Slowly combine. Once the cream cheese is almost melted, add in your parmesan cheese. I used a dash of garlic salt to finish it off. Add in the spinach and chicken, and cook until spinach wilts (just a few minutes!)

This made WAY too much sauce, and would likely suit 4 pieces of chicken better. Or for 2, simply half the recipe for the sauce :)

I added the ingredients into my P.L.A.N, and it came out to (for the recipe as stated) 12.9g carbs, 184.08g protein, 179.5g fat, 1.32g fiber....so just over 6 carbs per serving (with a lot of the sauce left in the pan!)

Here is a photo :)

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs112.snc3/15943_192778962786_642357786_3060157_1398764_n.jpg

[Elizellen]

Ooh - food porn!!!

[kaarren]

I'm not so much bored with the low carb food as much as I'm overeating...
Dangerous territory.

[mark91345]

I'm not so much bored with the low carb food as much as I'm overeating...
Dangerous territory.


I hope you will read "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes. He discusses how the belief that the concept of calories-in/calories-out is a false one. In other words, getting fat from comes carbs, as carbs is what drives insulin, which becomes fat... meaning that overeating itself does not make one fat; rather it is the intake of carbs.

One of the most relaxing things for me, as I've started low-carb/high-fat eating is that calories simply do not matter. I realize this post will make NO sense, as it sounds like a schtick; nevertheless, his book is large and challenging, but what he writes is convining--- at least it is for me.

[Ron_Mocci]

Hi all , grate place to be (-:

Thanks Nancy LC Ron*

PS I thought n6 was out ??

[DebiLMT]

This is a great thread. Thank you all for sharing. I am not bored per se, but do find that I can only tolerate eggs and breakfast meats for a short time before I get queasy from eating them. I like lighter breakfasts I suppose. I have only be LC for about a week now and am already to that point. The foods are so rich.
Any ideas? Thank you...Debi

[Gypsybyrd]

Have a spinach salad for breakfast. Doesn't get much lighter than that.

[Nancy LC]

This is a great thread. Thank you all for sharing. I am not bored per se, but do find that I can only tolerate eggs and breakfast meats for a short time before I get queasy from eating them. I like lighter breakfasts I suppose. I have only be LC for about a week now and am already to that point. The foods are so rich.
Any ideas? Thank you...Debi
Sometimes I think one just needs a new recipe. I started making Thai omelets and filling them with baba ganoush (low carb) or hummus (not so low carb) and seem to be able to eat them forever. Or you can put hot sauce on it, Sirachi or Sambul Olek are both good, but any sort works. I've made Thai peanut sauce in the past and used that, very good. :lol:

Thai omelet is: 2-3 eggs, beat with a fork, add about 1 Tbl of water, squirt in 1-2 tsp of fish sauce, beat to mix. Then pour it into a pan with hot oil and cook it. I flip it when the first side is starting to brown. The water makes bubbles form which makes the omelet kind of puffy and light.

The fish sauce doesn't taste like fish, just gives a salty umami flavor. Don't use too much or it'll be too salty.

You can eat anything for breakfast. I have had salads for breakfast, or leftover stew. The other day I think I had coconut flour cookies. Coconut flour is pretty much just fiber. The sweetener was splenda. So the only calorie source came from the 1/2 stick of butter I used in making the cookies.

One morning I had vanilla SF custard with blueberries and whipped cream. That made a really nice breakfast! This morning... hmmm, I made a batch of lemon custard and still have some blueberries left. But the omelet is calling my name too.

[nutsnseeds]

I just made a LC egg mcmuffin for breakfast. Used homemade flax bread, a microwaved egg, a slice of cheese and a piece of canadian bacon. Yum. It took only a couple of minutes. I might make this a staple for work day mornings.

[DebiLMT]

Thank you for the ideas, I will mix it up. There are a lot of great recipes on this site and I will give them a try.

[cartersg1]

Like Nancy, I cannot have anything with wheat or gluten AT ALL. So eating "grains" is out. Flaxseed meal is GREAT for muffins and I add it to my Pamela's mix for pancakes or waffles.

I spend a lot of time getting fresh veggies and meats and fish, cooking like crazy! It keeps me from getting bored. I also picked up some culinary skills class to refresh some skills and learn new skills to keep my meals fresh. YES, you WILL have to cook!!!!

Learn to use more unusual veggies like squashes...spaghetti, acorn, patty pan, and banana squashes give a variety and keep for a while. Try catcus pears! Have a few good cookbooks for inspiration and get out of your comfort zone. And the forum does have some great recipes! You have to put effort into meal prep - we live in a society that has convenience food. That's fine - frozen berries are great for muffins, for example, or toss in some Greek yogurt. But to do well on low-carb, you need to plan your meals, get your shopping done, do some prep work for your meals for the week and then enjoy cooking. Yes, you WILL have to cook. But think of it as an investment in good food and you.

[*Sheila*]

I am learning that if i get "bored", then I need to cut back on my options. THAT is when I go a bit more lowercarb then the standard. I transition into VLC. I am researching ZC though.... not sure! It wouldnt' definately make it easy LOL!

[Carne!]

I made my first crockpot meal yesterday. I don't think I'll be bored for months. This is PERFECT for my life. Why didn't I ever use it before?
Gonna be having ribs like evvveeery dayyy.

[jamie207]

I just made a LC egg mcmuffin for breakfast. Used homemade flax bread, a microwaved egg, a slice of cheese and a piece of canadian bacon. Yum. It took only a couple of minutes. I might make this a staple for work day mornings.

Hey nutsnseeds this sounds good can you give me a bit more detail i.e how much flax you use and is it flaxseed you use and a whole egg not just the whites...

I am in the UK so i know our ingredients and measures differ slightly.

Sounds really tasty though.

Thanks

[nutsnseeds]

Hey Jamie -

I use the flax bread recipe found on the site at http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=189970


1 ounce of melted butter
2 medium eggs
4 tablespoons of flax
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder.

Mix together and put in the microwave and nuke for 3 minutes.


Totally induction legal for Atkins

About 570 cals for the whole recipe - 8 slices
Other info - whole recipe has
Total fat 48 gms
Carbs 18gms (including 15 gms fibre) - so only 3 net carbs
Protein 20 gms

I usually do a double recipe once a week to have for the week and add a tablespoon or so of dark rye flour and a healthy dose of caraway seeds to make it very flavorful and dense. I never can get 8 slices out of a single recipe though. I microwave mine in a sandwich size plastic container and after it cools cut it in half then slice down the middle for 4 decent size slices per recipe. The bread is best toasted.

For the breakfast sandwich - Spray a bowl with butter flavor Pam and crack an egg into it, break the yoke and salt and pepper it then nuke for one minute. Cover with a piece of cheese after it is done to melt while you nuke a slice of canadian bacon for about 30 seconds. Assemble and enjoy. I toast the bread while the microwave is churning and the whole thing takes 3 minutes to do and only one easy bowl to clean. Keeps me full most of the day.

Hope that helps. Enjoy!

[Nancy LC]

I've been thinking about taking this LC chocolate cake (http://healthyindulgences.blogspot.com/2009/05/healthy-chocolate-cake-with-secret.html) recipe and turning it into bread. Using the beans (probably black soy instead of black beans to make it lower carb) and removing the chocolate.

Then I can make french toast!

[SWEETMIKEY]

im with Carne! i get a sweet fix everyday from my walmart protein shake[cookies and cream]. there 7 grm carbs for the 2 scoop serving...52 grm protein.
get it cheapcheap at walmart .
from ultra food store or walmart...i go with the low carb tortillas....there like 4 grms each after substituting the dietary fiber.there pretty big ...i eat 2 about 30 min before the gym.

[cnmLisa]

Tonight for dinner....

Double roasted lamb chops medium rare with a rosemary/lemon/lavender crust and a baby romain and avocado salad with a blood orange vinegarette.


Progress not perfection.

Lisa

[Nancy LC]

Progress not perfection.Damn, that dinner sounds like perfection!

I'm doing all-meat at the moment. Not even remotely bored! I'm going to make a lamb stew. Only not meat elements in it are spices, wine and eggs get made into a thick lemon sauce.

Made Mustard-crusted chicken -- my all-time favorite chicken recipe (at my blog). The only problem with it is... it is torture smelling it cook. You just want to rip the half-cooked thing out of the oven, howl like a wolf, and devour it. But it's best fully cooked, even if enduring the amazing smells is pretty torturous. I'd suggest having a little snack before hand to lessen the copious drool you'll secrete while waiting the 30 minutes for it to cook.

[cnmLisa]

Damn, that dinner sounds like perfection!

I'm doing all-meat at the moment. Not even remotely bored! I'm going to make a lamb stew. Only not meat elements in it are spices, wine and eggs get made into a thick lemon sauce.

Made Mustard-crusted chicken -- my all-time favorite chicken recipe (at my blog). The only problem with it is... it is torture smelling it cook. You just want to rip the half-cooked thing out of the oven, howl like a wolf, and devour it. But it's best fully cooked, even if enduring the amazing smells is pretty torturous. I'd suggest having a little snack before hand to lessen the copious drool you'll secrete while waiting the 30 minutes for it to cook.

Not to mention with the juice dripping down your chins and you're making humming noises in the back of your throat.:lol:

I have a cornish game hen in the freezer--guess who is having mustard crusted hen for dinner??

MeMeMeMe:wave:

[cnmLisa]

Nancy--I only saw 5 chicken recipes? Did I totally skim over the mustard crusted recipe?

[Nancy LC]

I'm not too consistent on the labeling! Best use the search box.

http://mostlypaleo.blogspot.com/2008/12/flatten-that-chicken.html

See, not even in the title, what a dunce, I am!

I'm pretty sure you can use chicken pieces for it, don't need to butterfly your chicken. It's just so pretty when you butterfly a chicken and it comes out all roasty brown.

I've never cooked a game hen, I'll have to try that someday. I bet it's easy to flatten though, bones would be easier to cut through.

Eh, looks like they moved the mustard crusted chicken recipe, I'll fix that link.

[cnmLisa]

I just think of a cornish game hen as a small whole chiken that cooks up in half the time and even quicker when you flatten it. Plus, they're cheap and a nice alternative to chicken. I can eat a whole one easily.

[cnmLisa]

Oh that does sound good!

[Nancy LC]

Oh good, so you already know how to flatten it. The mustard crust whips up really quickly. Might want to cut that recipe in half though. I haven't ever let it marinade long, that might be really good too. I just slather it on and start cooking it. If you're missing an ingredient or two, you'll probably be fine. I didn't have the herbs for a long time.

[cnmLisa]

Whoever it was who mentioned olive paste....

I made my standard spinach quiche but added 2 TBS of kalamata olive paste spread over the spinach.

Think yummy cheesey melted emmenthaler cheese, spinach, the briney-ness of the olive paste and the creaminess of the quiche filling. With a sprinkleing of smoked hungarian paprika.

Thanks for the idea!

[cnmLisa]

Pan seared halibut topped with a mixed olive tapenade on a bed of pan-fried garlic spinach.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/gallery/files/7/3/2/8/8/IMG_0408.jpg

[shandarose]

that looks REALLY GOOD! For dinner I'm going to saute a couple roma tomatoes and garlic in some olive oil. Then I'm going to bake some scallops (they're huge--the size of small burgers!) with prosciutto on top and covered with muenster cheese and serve it on top of the tomatoes.

No, I'm definitely not tired of low carb. There's so much you can do with it!

[FatFreeMe]

anytime i get bored with LC food, I just remember my WW days. I still to this day, could not, no Never! eat low fat salad dressing with raw carrots again!

oh yeah, lisa! that looks SO GOOD yummy!

[ncrn122]

anytime i get bored with LC food, I just remember my WW days. I still to this day, could not, no Never! eat low fat salad dressing with raw carrots again!

oh yeah, lisa! that looks SO GOOD yummy!

For that same reason I can't stand tuna. Years ago, WW reguired you to eat fish 5xweek. Tuna was the easiest way. I had Tuna balls, BBQ tuna, deviled tuna, tuna salad and on and on. Can't stand the sight of it!

[Nancy LC]

I just ate a plate full of pork ribs with peanut sauce. Fabulous!

[GlendaRC]

I'm having slow-cooker pork chops with a dried berry bbq-ish sauce (definitely not induction-friendly!), mashed cauliflower & salad for sides.
ETA - Something to look forward to as you climb the OWL ladder!

[Judynyc]

I'm eating/ate, all gone now, shrimp fajita......too good :yum: .

..and I made it all by myself!! :D

[3shewolf8]

I like to make huge bowls of different salads (whatever I may crave that week) Tuna, chicken, egg or shrimp. I then use it all week for other stuff. wrapped in romaine leaves is my favorite for lunch and after dinner snack if I get the munchies, I have heated up chicken salad and eaten in warm, (egg salad too). Maybe wrap in a low carb tortilla if I get the real carb cravings but that doesn't happen much. Dinner is anything I toss in the crock pot.

[cnmLisa]

Well....I just tried to make a de-contructed ravioli stuffed with ricotta and pesto. Used roasted zuchinni as the pasta. Good in concept but I have to work on it a bit. I think thicker slices of zuchinni. It tasted good but I def have to work on the visual.:lol:


So...my dinner was pan-seared halibut with ricotta and pesto deconstructed ravioli. For dessert, lemon cheesecake mousse. I ate dessert so the wine was out. Can't have both, have to choose and I chose dessert toningt.

Progress not perfection.

Lisa

[PilotGal]

oh goodness!
how does one get tired of a juicy, thick, cheeseburger smeared with homemade garlic mayonnaise????

i could live on burgers! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Nancy LC]

I've been living on spicy roasted chicken with marjoram. It is so intoxicating when it cooks.

[bike2work]

I've been living on spicy roasted chicken with marjoram. It is so intoxicating when it cooks.
Thanks for the reminder about that one. It's a great recipe.

I've been eating chicken wings like crazy. They are really cheap and filling; this is also a good way to clean out the spice cupboard. I cut the wings into drumettes and flat pieces, saving the wing tips for stock in the freezer. Then I toss them in any dry seasoning blend I have around, and a small touch of olive oil after the dry seasoning has adhered to the wings. The oven gets pre-heated to 375 degrees F. I put the drumettes on one non-stick baking sheet and the flat pieces on another. The drumettes bake in 40 minutes, turning them halfway through. The flat pieces cook in 50 minutes, turning them halfway through. By using different seasoning blends, they don't seem like the same thing over and over.

The other meal I could never get tired of is steak.

[bike2work]

... homemade garlic mayonnaise ...
Ahh, the key to many a great meal. Homemade garlic mayo can fix any culinary mistake. Try adding toasted, ground cumin to it one time with a little extra lemon. :yum:

[Nancy LC]

Oh yeah, I absolutely love chicken wings. I've gotten to the point where I eat my roasted chicken except for the breast, that I tear up cold and put into a salad. Chicken breast is so blah compared to the rest of the bird.

[GlendaRC]

Oh yeah, I absolutely love chicken wings. I've gotten to the point where I eat my roasted chicken except for the breast, that I tear up cold and put into a salad. Chicken breast is so blah compared to the rest of the bird.
I do the same thing, except I put the torn up breast into soup - that's about all it's good for! To think, that used to be my favourite part of the bird - what was I thinking???

[black57]

Have you guys had the low carb pizza...to die for. My family even asks for it.

[pinkclouds]

Here is one of my all time favorite recipes to make for a party... serve with celery sticks for the low carbers, crackers for non-lowcarbers... they all love it! :)

Spinach Artichoke Dip
Ingredients:
1 cup canned artichoke hearts - drain and chop
1/2 cup frozen spinach - thaw, drain and chop
8 oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (I used fresh shredded and then crumbled it up).
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (adjust for spiciness)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp garlic (or less if you don't like garlic)
1 tsp black pepper

Prepare:
Boil spinach and artichoke until tender. Drain.
Microwave cream cheese for 1 minute.
Combine with spinach and artichoke. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
Bake in oven for 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

1 serving (about 1/8 of the dip): 140 cals, 12.5g fat, 2 carbs (1 fiber), 5.5 protein.

[tbagram]

Last night I chopped up some cooked chicken and fried it in butter and sliced mushrooms and chopped garlic from a jar. Then I added a splash of cream and about an ounce of cream cheese. Decadent was my thought.

[katmeyster]

I get bored with the condiments available, and people keep extolling the virtues of mayonnaise, but I have always hated it -- just the smell in the jar was disgusting (brothers used to eat mayonnaise sandwiches on white bread just to gross me out).

How is homemade? Does it have the rubbery, gooey texture of the stuff in the jar? Does it have the smell? How about the taste? Convince me.

[PilotGal]

i've been doing my wings in parmesan cheese and butter lately....
cranking up that fat ratio! :thup:

[Nancy LC]

I get bored with the condiments available, and people keep extolling the virtues of mayonnaise, but I have always hated it -- just the smell in the jar was disgusting (brothers used to eat mayonnaise sandwiches on white bread just to gross me out).

How is homemade? Does it have the rubbery, gooey texture of the stuff in the jar? Does it have the smell? How about the taste? Convince me.
Rubbery? I'd never describe mayonnaise as rubbery. Thick and creamy, yes. I guess probably about the same consistency as yogurt, or perhaps greek yogurt.

The nice part about homemade mayo is you get to control what it tastes like. I think the part about mayo I liked the least was the extreme tartness.

[Carne!]

Here is one of my all time favorite recipes to make for a party... serve with celery sticks for the low carbers, crackers for non-lowcarbers... they all love it! :)

Spinach Artichoke Dip
Ingredients:
1 cup canned artichoke hearts - drain and chop
1/2 cup frozen spinach - thaw, drain and chop
8 oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (I used fresh shredded and then crumbled it up).
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (adjust for spiciness)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp garlic (or less if you don't like garlic)
1 tsp black pepper

Prepare:
Boil spinach and artichoke until tender. Drain.
Microwave cream cheese for 1 minute.
Combine with spinach and artichoke. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
Bake in oven for 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

1 serving (about 1/8 of the dip): 140 cals, 12.5g fat, 2 carbs (1 fiber), 5.5 protein.

I make something like this except I put in some chicken breasts and sub cream cheese for mayo and sour cream. Will try with the cream cheese too :).

You can also make it w/ other veggies such as broccoli or green beans. nice rich meal....goes well w/ shirtaki noodles (but for me, everything goes good w/ noodles :)

[ncrn122]

Have you guys had the low carb pizza...to die for. My family even asks for it.


Which recipe are you using?

.

[Enomarb]

hi-
Nancy,made one of my favorites and I think it is something you might enjoy. It can use whatever meat and liquid you like- with the addition of a tiny can of Chipotle in Adobo. Smoked jalapeno peppers in a sauce- the can is like a couple of ounces. SPICY.
I make a pot roast with any cut of beef on sale (this week it was chuck roast) and I used canned diced tomatoes, leftover wine, garlic, and the whole can of the peppers and sauce. Cook it for at least 3 hours (it would be great in a crockpot too)- and it is hot and good. I shred it up for leftover the next night-
if you don't like spicy this one is not for you.

Love this thread!
E

[GlendaRC]

hi-
Nancy,made one of my favorites and I think it is something you might enjoy. It can use whatever meat and liquid you like- with the addition of a tiny can of Chipotle in Adobo. Smoked jalapeno peppers in a sauce- the can is like a couple of ounces. SPICY.
I make a pot roast with any cut of beef on sale (this week it was chuck roast) and I used canned diced tomatoes, leftover wine, garlic, and the whole can of the peppers and sauce. Cook it for at least 3 hours (it would be great in a crockpot too)- and it is hot and good. I shred it up for leftover the next night-
if you don't like spicy this one is not for you.

Love this thread!
E
Hey Eno, what the heck is leftover wine? :lol: :lol: That ain't gonna happen in my house! :o :p

[bike2work]

It can use whatever meat and liquid you like- with the addition of a tiny can of Chipotle in Adobo. Smoked jalapeno peppers in a sauce- the can is like a couple of ounces. SPICY.
I make a pot roast with any cut of beef on sale (this week it was chuck roast) and I used canned diced tomatoes, leftover wine, garlic, and the whole can of the peppers and sauce. Cook it for at least 3 hours (it would be great in a crockpot too)- and it is hot and good. I shred it up for leftover the next night-
if you don't like spicy this one is not for you.

The WHOLE can?! Holy moly! I use about a teaspoon of that stuff per recipe. And I do like spiciness.

You must have an asbestos palate. :p

[PurpleBass]

This thread needs more BACON!

[bike2work]

I've been eating chicken wings like crazy. ... I cut the wings into drumettes and flat pieces, saving the wing tips for stock in the freezer. Then I toss them in any dry seasoning blend I have around, and a small touch of olive oil after the dry seasoning has adhered to the wings. The oven gets pre-heated to 375 degrees F. I put the drumettes on one non-stick baking sheet and the flat pieces on another. The drumettes bake in 40 minutes, turning them halfway through. The flat pieces cook in 50 minutes, turning them halfway through.
More wings tonight; no seasoning blend. Instead, I made balsamic-glazed wings:

I tossed the raw wing pieces with a little oil (no salt for extra crispiness) and cooked them as above so they became very crispy. Then I tossed them with a reduced balsamic glaze and a bit of salt. To make a balsamic glaze: just reduce balsamic vinegar by one-third to one-half. This was very good; I will repeat it.

[bike2work]

This thread needs more BACON!
Bacon-wrapped shrimp:

- Shell and devein medium-large shrimp. Set aside.

- (Optional) Count out individual basil leaves -- one per shrimp.

- Cut bacon slices in half crosswise, to make two shorter slices of bacon. You need one half-piece per shrimp. Partially cook the bacon just until it is very limp.

- Wrap each shrimp with a basil leaf (optional) and a bacon piece. Secure with a skewer or toothpick.

- Preheat a grill or broiler. Grill or broil the shrimp until just barely cooked through. This only takes a couple minutes. Do not overcook. Serve immediately.

[pinkclouds]

This thread needs more BACON!


OMG!!! I had the most amazing appetizers at a work function the other day: Bacon-wrapped artichoke hearts. Sooooooooooooooooooo good!!! :yum:

[tbagram]

Last night I went looking for my big jar of Hellmans in the fridge. I had just opened it the day before. Found it in the CUPBOARD! Must have been a senior moment! Well, there goes my bargin. I wanted to do the mayo/garlic thing for my burger! Instead, I used my horseradish sauce and garlic. Was pretty tasty.

[madeyna]

This thread needs more BACON!
low carb wrap/or bread, lettuce, bacon, tomato and a little mayo. I am totally bored with lc. I decided to clean out the freezer this month because there is meat in there that is at least a year old. I got the bright idea of frying up a whole bunch of meat every three or four days then all I have to do is nuk a little for each meal. Since we are super busy this month and running everywhich way this seemed like a great idea at the time but now four weeks into a almost meat only diet I am pulling my hair out. ;) The sight of meat makes me want to upchuck. I am going to have to up my carbs to about 30 a day. I know my fault. So I have been writting down recipes that look good and making a food list. There are some really yummy looking ones on this thread. that I will try for sure. I haven,t managed to make it to the store yet but will tomarrow for sure. I really can be my own worst enemy I just need to put the same effort into finding a variety of lc recipes that I put into carby recipes.

[PilotGal]

Bacon-wrapped artichoke hearts. Sooooooooooooooooooo good!!! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!

[faduckeggs]

I found a yummy use for chicken breast finally: coconut chicken nuggets. I cut it into nuggets. Lightly toss it with some coconut flour and then a handful or so of unsweetened coconut to coat it. I then pan fry the nuggets in a combo of half butter, half coconut oil. You gotta use plenty of oil, as the chicken is so naturally dry.

Add salt and pepper once it comes out of the pan.

The coconut shreds toast nicely in the oil, and if you cut smallish nuggets of chicken, they absorb enough oil to not be dry. I've tried it with chicken tenders, but the meat is too dry in the middle.

[cnmLisa]

Dinner...

Seared halibut with pesto asparagus, white wine, lemon cheesecake mousse.

[3shewolf8]

Chicken thighs fried in butter w/salt and pepper and grilled veges. I have died and gone to heaven!! Crispy chicken skin without the batter. DELICIOUS

[maile1]

lemon cheesecake mousse.

kay this is the 3rd time you've mentioned this and I'm now wiping the drool off the keyboard :yum: ...recipe??? Please?! :lol:

[lowcarbjo]

kay this is the 3rd time you've mentioned this and I'm now wiping the drool off the keyboard :yum: ...recipe??? Please?! :lol:


ditto!!! lol

[Carne!]

Just heard this on the Robb Wolfe paleo podcast:

Take a can of coconut milk and slice some apples (or berries if you're on a lower rung). Bring to a boil. Let cool and puree. Put in the fridge over night.

Voila! Delicious pudding!

[cnmLisa]

Here ya go:wave:

Lemon cheesecake mousse.


http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=404807


Progress not perfection.

Lisa

[Judynyc]

Here ya go:wave:

Lemon cheesecake mousse.


http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=404807


Progress not perfection.

Lisa
Hey Lisa! :wave:
What is a portion size of this yummy delight? :yum:

oops! never mind...1/2 cup is a serving....so 4 ozs.

[Fialka]

Jalapeno poppers:

Cut jalapenos in half and clean very well--scrape the seeds and membrane out with a spoon. Wear gloves or don't touch sensitive areas for about 24 hours after making this!

Fill the peppers with cold cream cheese

Wrap with bacon

Cook at 380F to 400F for 30-45 minutes. The cream cheese does not melt by the way! It stays put!

Depending on the jalapeno these can be super super hot. Usually the jalapenos we get are mild, but these were so hot, I couldn't eat them. The bacon and cream cheese was still delicious by itself though (and spicy from contact with the chiles).

F

[maile1]

Here ya go:wave:

Lemon cheesecake mousse.


http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=404807


Progress not perfection.

Lisa

thank you! I'm going to make this tonight it looks incredible. :D

[Carne!]

Oh. My. God.

I just had the best eggplant lasagna, parmesan, whatever it was last night.

you need: eggplant (large), italian style canned tomatoes, one small can tomato paste, salt, mozz cheese, and parm cheese

Take one large eggplant cut in thin pieces (not super thin) and fry and/or bake for 20 minutes or so (I did both to save time as it was a large eggplant).

In the meantime mix the cans of tomatoes and tomato paste- add salt, garlic powder, and oregano if you wish.

once the eggplant is done, start to layer it over a dish. 1 layer eggplant, one layer tomato mix, one layer mozz cheese .You should get 2-3 layers depending on size of dish (I prefer a deeper smaller dish).

Bake for around 15 minutes.

Let cool, scoop out and sprinkle w/ parm.

Tastes SO good.

[krystalr]

I have a recipe like that that I posted in the main dish forum. I also add in a layer of ricotta. REALLY good too ;) YUM

[Nancy LC]

Been seeing the "B" word cropping up a lot lately. Time to bump this thing.

[tcalhoun1]

Thanks! Finding some great recipes as I read through this thread.

I thought I was getting bored as well but I came to the conclusion today that it isn't boredom. It is this darn Metformin that makes me feel sick most of the time. I thought I was getting sick of the actual food!

[hysteria]

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=414539

Easy to make and absolutely delicious! This rates right up there with DW's LC Pizza. I would say this would help cure any boredom with LC thats set in :)

[Robin120]

had to work until 10 tonight, so it was take out for me.

Had ceviche- possibly my favorite food :yum:

[joylorene]

Jalapeno poppers:

Cut jalapenos in half and clean very well--scrape the seeds and membrane out with a spoon. Wear gloves or don't touch sensitive areas for about 24 hours after making this!

Fill the peppers with cold cream cheese

Wrap with bacon

Cook at 380F to 400F for 30-45 minutes. The cream cheese does not melt by the way! It stays put!

Depending on the jalapeno these can be super super hot. Usually the jalapenos we get are mild, but these were so hot, I couldn't eat them. The bacon and cream cheese was still delicious by itself though (and spicy from contact with the chiles).

F

When I make mine I wear plastic gloves - ouch found out the hard way!! I also use the thick cut bacon as it really stays moist and not too crispy. Only draw back to these is they taste AWESOME WITH ICE COLD BEER UGH!!!

[doreen T]

Been seeing the "B" word cropping up a lot lately. Time to bump this thing.
Good thread, great ideas. Thanks for bumping :thup:. It's now a Best Of topic :)


Doreen

[abbykitty]

But sadly, no one will read this if it gets moved. I'm kind of over this moving of all the threads business.

[Gypsybyrd]

Abby - It'll still pop up by looking at "New Posts" under the Quick Links selection above.

[picton]

I was pointed to this thread... as a newbie here, I was waffling on in another thread, and someone suggested this thread might be a better home for my thoughts......... it seems to be, just not one of the ideas mentioned do a thing for me, tried them all and more, but the MORE effort into food I make, I am finding it counter-productive :-(

I have lost such interest in food, I eat only to satisfy appetite (and that's only partial, as I am ALWAYS hungry, even after eating) and now rarely put the effort into cooking as it has all become the "same" to me, and more importantly not worth the effort.

Being disabled and in constant pain, spending time cooking and preparing means MORE pain, but at one time, that was worthwhile as it meant at least the end result of decent food was pleasure, now it means JUST pain, and so I bother as little as possible, (and it's getting worse!) and the only food I genuinely crave is that I can't have! The pain appears to be effectively operating as some sort of avoidance therapy, it seems to be telling me (in a BIG way!) NOT to bother as the discomfort is just not worth the effort!

If I never saw meat again, I would not complain, apart from the fact I would have much LESS choice of what to eat and it would then be even MORE boring! eg. a piece of cheese is as "thrilling" to me as something I spent 2 hours cooking... ie. it's NOT!

Last week I went to a restaurant with friends for one of those rare special meals I only have a few times per year, (it was a full Indian (Bangladeshi) meal) and it was positively orgasmic.. so I haven't lost my interest, just I feel forced to eat what I don't like! I have even tried eating this sort of food without the obvious carbs, (it's already fairly high in carbs without the obvious ones of rice and breads!) and it then becomes just like eating that piece of plain meat or plain cheese - plain boring and unsatisfying, partially because I don't get as FULL without the carbs but it has to be more even than that? - so I simply don't bother and stay at home until I can justify a rare carb-fest when I use carb-blockers to help prevent me having a hypoglycaemic attack!

It may be psychological, (it is certainly very depressing) but 50 years of learned behaviour hasn't been "unlearned" in the best part of 18 months, and I only perceive carbs as being "satisfying!" A meal with no carbs is not a meal at all to me, and that is being positively reinforced in my brain too!

One thing for certain, a lifetime of high carb low meat working class diet, mixed in with a regime of low calorie-low fat diets add in ULTRA low calorie starvation type diets, and it has complete screwed-up how my my appetite works, as well as my metabolism! :-(

I never mentioned cost.... 5 or 6 times the cost for food is a conservative estimate... and I forever need to shop - low carb food isn't something that is dried and lives in a packet, it rots QUICKLY! So making the discomfort and pain worse as I spend hours shopping - so stimulating the dislike of food!
NOTHING in the UK is convenient for low carb eating... so every single item of food has to be prepared or cooked, and you simply have no idea of how I crave the long-lost concept of getting up, and eating a breakfast without any BOTHER... just opening a pack of cereal for example.

I don't lose weight any more on Low carb, I eat far too much, plain quantity - but I don't gain any weight at all either and because of that it's controlling my Hypoglycaemia perfectly, but I feel my quality of life is almost as bad as it was when I was passing out from Hypos, just in a different way!

If I was just using LC dieting to lose weight, (which it does, but not in the same league as low fat/low calorie diets do!) I would undoubtedly have dumped it long ago, and reached for the pizza - but I don't have a choice, it's a lifetime thing for me now, or worsening ill health from the Reactive Hypos, ending perhaps as full-on Type 2 diabetes (and the miserable death I watched my Grandmother suffer on a medically controlled carb laden diet!)

Does anyone relate closely to what I am saying, or, as I suspect is this because of a particular combination of circumstances?

[honeypie]

Hi there picton,

I'm sorry you're feeling so low. I definitely know what it's like to eat LC and NOT lose. I hate that you're feeling uninspired by the food you CAN eat, and that you feel like you want other things right now.

Are you familiar with the recipe section of this site? There are some GREAT ideas there. Deep dish pizza quiche is a firm, long time popular favourite around here.

Also, just wondering... do you have a freezer? I am in the UK too, and I KNOW what you mean, about stuff rotting!! I mean, if I don't portion out my meat and put it in the freezer AT THE LATEST, the day after I buy it... it is TOO late already. So I feel your pain on that!!

Also.... do you like veggies at all? I think LC is pretty hard to do successfully, if you feel really limited, to just meat and cheese. They are super heavy on cals, and I know for me, without veggies,.... I just end up "not gaining", like you.

If you're disabled, to save yourself some effort, time, and discomfort, is it possible for you to use a supermarket delivery service?

If you want cereal in the morning, you can make your own. A few chopped mixed nuts, some unsweetened shredded coconut, cinnamon, and a splash of single cream thinned with water, maybe?

Personally, I looooooooove eggs. But I know people crave variety sometimes. I think there are DEFINITELY ways to make your food more appetising to you once again. But I think you need to put some thought into it, look at some recipes, and switch things up a little bit.

I know it is HARD, when we feel the way that you have just described!

Please keep posting. This forum is a fantastic place of support, and resource for information. :thup: :)

[faduckeggs]

Picton,

I sense part of your problem is the physical effort that it takes to prepare LC meals. So, I would look for meals that take littl effort.

Do you have a slow cooker or crock pot? You can do the prep work of filling the crock, etc., and then it cooks for 6-8 hours, completely unattended, while you do whatever you want. Then, voila, the meal is hot and ready to eat.

Maybe meals would be more appealing if you don't feel like they are a great labor. If you can put the food in the crock and then take a long, long break before time to eat, would that help?

Also, there are foods that can be cooked and then kept on hand and eaten cold -- boiled eggs, devilled eggs, tuna and chicken salads, etc. Have you tried preapring these on a day when you have energy and strength and then eating them the next day or two, at times when you just aren't up to cooking?

I understand the energy/pain issue, as I have MS and have definite good days versus bad days. On the bad days when I don't have emals made ahead, I will eat a hot dog, or lunch meat, or celery with peanut butter. On the good days, I cook ahead and freeze things.

I also never really feel full and I have never stopped craving carb-y foods. But as I have gotten my weight down, it becomes psychologically easier to persevere day after day.

[Art Girl]

Hi there picton,

I'm sorry you're feeling so low. I definitely know what it's like to eat LC and NOT lose. I hate that you're feeling uninspired by the food you CAN eat, and that you feel like you want other things right now.

Are you familiar with the recipe section of this site? There are some GREAT ideas there. Deep dish pizza quiche is a firm, long time popular favourite around here.

Also, just wondering... do you have a freezer? I am in the UK too, and I KNOW what you mean, about stuff rotting!! I mean, if I don't portion out my meat and put it in the freezer AT THE LATEST, the day after I buy it... it is TOO late already. So I feel your pain on that!!

Also.... do you like veggies at all? I think LC is pretty hard to do successfully, if you feel really limited, to just meat and cheese. They are super heavy on cals, and I know for me, without veggies,.... I just end up "not gaining", like you.

If you're disabled, to save yourself some effort, time, and discomfort, is it possible for you to use a supermarket delivery service?

If you want cereal in the morning, you can make your own. A few chopped mixed nuts, some unsweetened shredded coconut, cinnamon, and a splash of single cream thinned with water, maybe?

Personally, I looooooooove eggs. But I know people crave variety sometimes. I think there are DEFINITELY ways to make your food more appetising to you once again. But I think you need to put some thought into it, look at some recipes, and switch things up a little bit.

I know it is HARD, when we feel the way that you have just described!

Please keep posting. This forum is a fantastic place of support, and resource for information. :thup: :)

Hahaha I just read this and thought if I eat any more eggs, my cholesterol is going to go into hyper mode. I'm actually cutting them down cause I have the old creepy feeling that they might hurt me. Except... everything doctors say will hurt you one day the next day they say is good for you! But I have found that there is beauty in the fratatta.... o lovely thing.


As far as the overprep goes: I have felt very similarly to how picton is feeling, especially last week (my first week as low carb). I just work through it - I know I'm doing the right things for my body now, and even though it can be more work I'm glad to be expending the calories in preparation.

In moving to this WOE I have begun really thinking about what I'm putting into my body, for the very first time. I'm actually feeling like I'm a better cook - or does the food taste better? I'm not sure, but I definitely feel like even though I have to go through quite a bit of extra effort there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, and that light is made of improved health and fun times hiking with my husband. I keep that goal in perspective quite a lot.

I have begun freezing foods - can we say home-made tv dinners for a week? :) - which is a great suggestion honeypie. Keeps me out of the kitchen a ton less. I've managed to live without a microwave too, and I feel like it makes me more invested in what I'm trying to accomplish without all the already-made foods at my fingertips. I've got to stay in focus with the portion control, so I stick to recipes and divisions therein because I know of my tendency to say "I can just have five more and no harm no foul cause it's healthy...." I'm not only carb-counting, but I'm calorie counting, so I'm holding myself accountable at all angles. I have this cool app that counts calories and all nutrients, and there's something on this website that does that for you as well. Please be sure to check the links on the homepage.

As for the cost... that is something that just seems unavoidable. I don't buy anything I know I can't use, and I've been trying to plan out meals BEFORE shopping so that I know what I will and will not need for the next few days. But if you go to the CheapoMart or whatever grocery is best priced, I feel it's still the same food just different prices for the most part.

Good luck. We're fighting the good fight with you girl.

[Nancy LC]

I have to sing the praises of sous vide cooking again. It's basically cooking your protein (or veg) in packets in a temperature controlled water bath.

First it's incredibly convenient. I prepackage my meat into Foodsaver bags and seal them. Either put them in the fridge or the freezer for later use. I put my aromatics in the bag before freezing. I often buy a big tray of steaks at Costco, or chicken breasts, or maybe a roast.

Then I plop it into the water bath however many hours ahead of time. Most proteins aren't too picky if you leave them in too long... eggs and seafood excepted.

At meal time I pluck out the package and then give it a quick seer in my skillet... which sits out on top of the stove ready to use... not always washed between uses, sometimes just wiped out. If I'm using the meat in a salad then I don't bother searing... or if I'm really hungry. :lol:

Anyway, there's a bit of work prepackaging and seasoning the meat but after that it is hands-off time.

Plus, you can buy cheaper cuts of meat and they cook up very nicely over a long, low cooking temperature.

Chicken breasts are great. They go from being dry and tough cooked in conventional methods to being delicate and tender cooked this way. It is because as white meat cooks, the protein strands pull together tightly and squeeze out all the water. Cooking SV means they never get that hot to squeeze out the water.

I put together my own system for under $250 but you can buy them, like the sous vide supreme.

Oh yes, lemon egg custard is super, super easy made this way. I eat it constantly.

[picton]

Hi there picton,

I'm sorry you're feeling so low. I definitely know what it's like to eat LC and NOT lose. I hate that you're feeling uninspired by the food you CAN eat, and that you feel like you want other things right now.

Are you familiar with the recipe section of this site? There are some GREAT ideas there. Deep dish pizza quiche is a firm, long time popular favourite around here.

Also, just wondering... do you have a freezer? I am in the UK too, and I KNOW what you mean, about stuff rotting!! I mean, if I don't portion out my meat and put it in the freezer AT THE LATEST, the day after I buy it... it is TOO late already. So I feel your pain on that!!

Also.... do you like veggies at all? I think LC is pretty hard to do successfully, if you feel really limited, to just meat and cheese. They are super heavy on cals, and I know for me, without veggies,.... I just end up "not gaining", like you.

If you're disabled, to save yourself some effort, time, and discomfort, is it possible for you to use a supermarket delivery service?

If you want cereal in the morning, you can make your own. A few chopped mixed nuts, some unsweetened shredded coconut, cinnamon, and a splash of single cream thinned with water, maybe?

Personally, I looooooooove eggs. But I know people crave variety sometimes. I think there are DEFINITELY ways to make your food more appetising to you once again. But I think you need to put some thought into it, look at some recipes, and switch things up a little bit.

I know it is HARD, when we feel the way that you have just described!

Please keep posting. This forum is a fantastic place of support, and resource for information. :thup: :)

Thanks for the input... one problem is, I am well past the "novelty" stage - at first I found it horrendously hard, and did everything the way everyone describes, it had one effect, I had barely time to sit down - a full time job in it's own right.... freezing pre-cooked food, chopping peeling grating and cooking was taking me HOURS and totally wrecking me, especially as it takes a lot longer than it used to - but at least then I did lose a reasonable amount of weight, and most urgently, I went from being a gibbering idiot - hyperactive then hypoglycaemic all day, back to normal! SO, even with the viewpoint of it all being a MAJOR success, I was fed up with it all in NO time!

Within a very short time though, the weight loss ground to a total halt, and the effort became the big problem, within weeks, the only weight loss being possible by TOTAL starvation, just as before, with my very low potential for exercise, I can lose weight... but only by eating NOTHING or very close to it... the good news was, I could stay within about 1kg of where I was simply by eating ALL day, whatever I wanted as long as it wasn't carbs, so I must say, I tend to do a fair bit of just that, it's a hard thing to miss out on when it has so little negative effect!

That was a Novel situation, being "almost" satisfied by food without gaining weight... that hasn't happened before! Thing is; eat crap, or well, it made almost no difference, and in fact the easy junk makes me happier, and I usually feel much more full too, something I am a bit of a stranger to, being full is something that only ever happens by me grossly over eating, and even then it never lasts long! (Leptin resistance? My Endocrinologist hasn't tested, but even he is certain it is a significant factor!)

I am no stranger to major weight loss - I had successfully dieted using low calorie, high fibre, low fat eating back in 1996, when I lost 9.5stones (133 lbs) and stayed pretty "sensible" until about 2003, sticking with a high carb diet which was high fibre, low fat and fairly balanced; largely with the aid of masses of exercise and a lot of opiate painkillers... (yet still tolerating highly unrealistic MAJOR pain too) - unfortunately the drugs chemically castrated me, and when I had a worsening of my condition, and some minor back surgery, I "fell apart" and gained weight spectacularly quickly... no surprise as my hormones and metabolism were a complete catastrophe.

Now of course even with the hormones substantially improved, weight doesn't come off like it did then! (something we all know!?) Some years of being a "basket case" meant I lost any fitness I had, so even when I got much of my health improved, the exercise just isn't happening, as I am much worse than I was back in the 90's and I can barely keep my life together to do what I do now, let alone think of going back to the gym routine I needed to do before!

I have found I don't even NEED to look at recipes, always being a pretty accomplished cook, food ideas have never been a particular problem, even now, I can think of lots of thigns to eat that taste good, just now DOING it is the bind and ultra-chore! Remove the carbs from food, and for me it just does not "touch the sides" So when I do go to the effort, and I do in fact actually enjoy a home cooked meal, it's digested and gone in an hour and a half, barely before the pile of dirty dishes is washed, however I hurt like I had been beaten thoroughly with a stick (and lose sleep because of it if I go too far!)
Compare that with eating "crap," I feel just as full, if not more so, but have none of the excess pain and discomfort that preparing food brings, nor was it a chore, so I am happier, but just a bit bored, and so as you can see the temptation to eat JUST crap is a big drive that after nearly a year and a half is hard to bypass!

I like almost everything that grows... so no, I am not a finicky eater, vegetables are a big deal to me, and in fact are also those I miss most... POTATOES! ;-)

Yes, I eat eggs too.. fine, but in the same category as eating blocks of cheese... ie. ultra high calorie, exceptionally unsatisfying, and exquisitely BORING! One thing I find I have in all the time, (as a potential ingredient) and often end up chucking out as they epitomise the boredom! Probably the reason there are no "Egg Takeaways or Restaurants" around towns and cities! :-) (no, I tell a lie; I know of ONE... "Mr Egg" in Birmingham, the original one, not Al.!) IN fact, ALL comfort food is carb based, so that's why it's so hard to get ANYTHING ready prepared that's genuinely low carb, anywhere.

Nuts, yes something I eat in fairly high proportions... and one of those items that are spectacularly expensive (and recently rising a LOT!), about twice the cost of meat!
After 16 years of nothing but benefits and pension, I could no more afford to have food delivered than I could fly, for one thing, the only way I can keep control of having food fresh enough to eat is shop at LEAST 3 times a week, fruit and vegetables (salad items for example) just do not survive longer. the only supermarkets that deliver are the expensive ones.... (eg.Tesco, Waitrose, Sainbury's) so add delivery to that higher cost food, at a fiver a shot... and that was about the weekly amount of cash on food I could live on, pre-low Carb times! I have had to become a MOST fickle shopper, of the type supermarkets HATE!

Blood chemistry (high Haemoglobin/Haematocrit) problems have me keeping off liver and offal (like them though!), (then again, pate without toast or say, crackers is an odd thing to eat, believe me, it totally changes the texture into a mouthful of emulsified fat!!) and I only eat red meat very occasionally for that reason, so I get fed up with chicken, and turkey is something I actively dislike. Fish is 4 times the price of meat, and offers less satiety than ANY food known to man other than plain water! So It's a rare thing, it just doesn't fit into my income bracket often!

Coconut... must admit that's not a bad idea, it's something I haven't eaten for a good while... at 10% carbs, not ultra low, but it's got some degree of "filling" quality to it! Might work well with yoghurt too. probably a bit of a job to find it unsweetened here, but must do some looking for that.... a quick 'Net search seems to make that harder than I thought!

Oh the other thing... I don't drink at all now, nothing I CAN drink that fails to set off the insulin/low blood glucose roller coaster is anything I WANT to drink either... had 3 single drinks in 18 months, none for about a year! It's a real laugh-a-minute this Low Carb Hell!
The fact I can't just blow the diet for a day and eat and drink all I want is the big factor... in the past having a day off the diet was always an option, and if nothing else you come back to it again, refreshed and keen to start off again, but if I do that I am ILL! Even with carb-blocking tablets, I can't go THAT mad!

[picton]

I have to sing the praises of sous vide cooking again. It's basically cooking your protein (or veg) in packets in a temperature controlled water bath.

First it's incredibly convenient. I prepackage my meat into Foodsaver bags and seal them. Either put them in the fridge or the freezer for later use. I put my aromatics in the bag before freezing. I often buy a big tray of steaks at Costco, or chicken breasts, or maybe a roast.

Then I plop it into the water bath however many hours ahead of time. Most proteins aren't too picky if you leave them in too long... eggs and seafood excepted.

At meal time I pluck out the package and then give it a quick seer in my skillet... which sits out on top of the stove ready to use... not always washed between uses, sometimes just wiped out. If I'm using the meat in a salad then I don't bother searing... or if I'm really hungry. :lol:

Anyway, there's a bit of work prepackaging and seasoning the meat but after that it is hands-off time.

Plus, you can buy cheaper cuts of meat and they cook up very nicely over a long, low cooking temperature.

Chicken breasts are great. They go from being dry and tough cooked in conventional methods to being delicate and tender cooked this way. It is because as white meat cooks, the protein strands pull together tightly and squeeze out all the water. Cooking SV means they never get that hot to squeeze out the water.

I put together my own system for under $250 but you can buy them, like the sous vide supreme.

Oh yes, lemon egg custard is super, super easy made this way. I eat it constantly.

Completely aside from the whole Low Carb issue, I disagree, having come across it in commercial catering some years back, it produces exactly the sort of food I dislike for most foods... it is "hard cooking" (for want of a better description!) that produces flavour, ie. the Maillard reaction, and sous vide is all about keeping temperature LOW, often bacteriologically TOO low too for my liking! :-(

It's actually not that new as such, even before the French chefs started playing with it, it was in use here, but then just for cooking one particular food... a LONG time back UK meat producers discovered it as a way of selling water instead of ham, and hams have been getting cooked this way for 45 or 50 years... both small scale and factory scale - it allows added water to stay added to the ham, and the British insipid "wet" "boiled" ham was born, and is still with us! Boiled it isn't, hardly getting above about 68 deg Celsius!

So I think there will be those that like this style of eating, ie. pale and insipid, and those that don't... I can't see the Southern US BBQ chefs going a bundle on it! A few years ago, a Xmas test on cooking Turkey this way "bombed" when compared with traditional methods ;-)

Besides those issues, which are ones of choice mainly, from my personal situation, it adds more time and complexity to cooking, and increases preparation time dramatically, and that's the main problem I have, so no cure to the problem! The biggest drawback is it means having to prepare food when I am least able to.. eg. first thing in the morning... not that different to the problem with slow cookers - by the time I am physically flexible enough from getting out of bed, it is too late to slow cook anything!
Does anyone here want a slow cooker?... I have one taking room up, it was bought for me as a gift, and is as much use as a chocolate tea-pot!!

I do find some foods work well with sous vide though, where that texture IS desirable, and it has become popular with "trendy" Chefs such as Heston Blumenthal for precisely when you DO want that texture and moisture, but most people would not go that route for those comparatively are occasions, which is why here it is firmly stuck in very specialist restaurant kitchens in the UK, not domestic.

In the UK too, domestic kitchens are simply too small to add in large equipment, in my case a dishwasher would have far higher priority, yet I have to do without that too for sole reasons of space!

[faduckeggs]

Here's a thought on the slow cooker issue: prepare the foods at night for the slow cooker and allow it to slow cook all night, on low. In the morning, you can change the setting to warm, which keeps the food safely warm but stops the continuous cooking. Then, it is ready for whenever you are ready to eat, and no morning prep work is required.

Also, have you tried just fasting for a bit? Maybe listen to your body and just try not eating. (Not forever, obviously, but maybe a fast for a day or two would allow you a mental break for the eating issue and give your body a chnace to become truly hungry.) I don't know if you can fast with hypoglecmic issues, and I certainly wouldn't advise you do anything dangerous that would harm your health in that regard. Just a thought.

[honeypie]

What about simpler meals? So that there is LESS work, less standing, peeling, chopping, etc.

I tend to go for a lot of 2 ingredient meals. Ie, baked chicken and buttered broccoli. Steak and green beans. And so on. Just a suggestion.

Also.... I hear you on the missing potatoes thing! But there are A LOT of people, who can include occasional (normal) portions of potatoes in their LC plans. It's usually grains, that make the cravings reappear, the water retention start, and the scales bounce up inconceivable amounts the next day.

Also, just fyi; you can find shredded, unsweetened, desiccated coconut in the baking aisle.

[picton]

Here's a thought on the slow cooker issue: prepare the foods at night for the slow cooker and allow it to slow cook all night, on low. In the morning, you can change the setting to warm, which keeps the food safely warm but stops the continuous cooking. Then, it is ready for whenever you are ready to eat, and no morning prep work is required.

Also, have you tried just fasting for a bit? Maybe listen to your body and just try not eating. (Not forever, obviously, but maybe a fast for a day or two would allow you a mental break for the eating issue and give your body a chnace to become truly hungry.) I don't know if you can fast with hypoglecmic issues, and I certainly wouldn't advise you do anything dangerous that would harm your health in that regard. Just a thought.

To be honest, never thought about it! Good point!
When actively Hypoglycaemic, I couldn't plan one day to the next, but I wonder how I would get on now?!?!?

That's one for a bit of thought, good thinking!

[picton]

What about simpler meals? So that there is LESS work, less standing, peeling, chopping, etc.

I tend to go for a lot of 2 ingredient meals. Ie, baked chicken and buttered broccoli. Steak and green beans. And so on. Just a suggestion.

Also.... I hear you on the missing potatoes thing! But there are A LOT of people, who can include occasional (normal) portions of potatoes in their LC plans.

Also, just fyi; you can find shredded, unsweetened, desiccated coconut in the baking aisle.

I don't like bland food, (nor keen on ANY meat to be honest, if I "fancy" meat it is only ever CURED meat I like, sucha s bacon!) it bores me more than anything, that's exactly what switches me off first, in fact it's that sort of thing that I see as THE problem! Thank God that half the world agrees, and has worked hard to invent methods of making chicken taste of SOMETHING! ;-)
If I thought all there was to look forward to in life was a chicken breast it would have me jumping off a bridge, or on the next plane to Switzerland - I would sooner eat the pack it comes in! However that apart, even if someone else was cooking it, it simply does not fill, at all. Vegetables however nicely flavoured or not, are just plain water, and they have nothing to prevent them just disappearing, unlike starch, which I conclude simply hangs around for far longer. I spend one hour after any meal feeling OK, and within the following half an hour, I am SUDDENLY empty, and waiting for the next meal, that is EVERY single meal, however large (too much is worse, it makes my stomach feel over-full, then it empties out leaving even bigger hunger!)

The most satisfying food I do eat is lentils and beans... generally I tolerate them well, and they disappear slower, but require a lot of effort and imagination to turn into something edible at all, I think most people would find a plate of boiled lentils incredibly boring!

What I end up doing increasingly is eating junk like processed cooked meat or cheese, just as boring, but the attraction is, zero effort!

Can't allow potatoes AT ALL, wish I could... Wheat in processed form is the WORST, but even with potatoes and rice I am simply too Insulin resistant, I tend to have to be a bit more severe on myself to keep the insulin production down, the Thompson diet is too "generous" for me, so I cut even more severely, although certain types of carbs seems to be less "active" eg. apples... I can be TOO free with them, and do probably overdo them; yet say for example plums, and I get insulin pumping out by the bucket! Odd really!:-(

I feel it is some sick quirk of nature, the only foods I want to eat are "toxic" to me :-(

Will be out shopping shortly, so will see if any unsweetened coconut does exist! ;-)

[Nancy LC]

Completely aside from the whole Low Carb issue, I disagree, having come across it in commercial catering some years back, it produces exactly the sort of food I dislike for most foods... it is "hard cooking" (for want of a better description!) that produces flavour, ie. the Maillard reaction, and sous vide is all about keeping temperature LOW, often bacteriologically TOO low too for my liking! :-(
That's odd, it's being used by the best restaurants in the US. The French Laundry, listed in the top 50 restaurants of the world (top restaurant for 2 years), chef wrote an extensive book on it.

As far as bacteria is concerned. There are some extensive, well-researched and published cooking times and temperatures for pasteurizing food (http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html). I'd much rather eat a hamburger cooked to 135' for a couple of hours then seared before serving, than eating a medium rare hamburger cooked on a grill. Killing bacteria is a function of time, temperature and the properties of meat. You don't have to boil everything to make it safe to eat.

[Margerie]

Sous vide gives you best of both worlds: the low temperature cooking which keeps meat succulent, and the high, hot sear which gives you that crusty, delicious Maillard reaction crust. It's really hard to get a perfectly cooked interior when you only do a hot sear.

You can mimic the sous vide effect to a lesser extent with, say, a thick cut steak by putting it in the oven at a low temp for a far shorter time than you would with sous vide, and then searing it over high heat.

[Nancy LC]

I disagree with the oven thing. My oven doesn't go low enough to make a good medium rare steak. You'd have to yank it out before the entire thing could cook to medium rare temperature, because the outside will be hotter than the inside.

Also, the cooking time length of sous vide is an advantage. It gives collagen and tough connective tissue time to break down and become delicious gelatin, making the meat much more tender. One of the advantages to sous vide is that it you can make delicious results out of meat that would otherwise be too tough... without overcooking it.

[Margerie]

I agree that sous vide is preferable and has clear advantages, but I personally don't have the equipment or time to devote to it. My method produces medium rare steaks for me if I time it right and check the temperatures of the steaks in the oven. I follow a recipe from Cook's Illustrated and it has never let me down. YMMV.

[Nancy LC]

It might be cheaper than you think:
I wrote this about my set-up: http://mostlypaleo.blogspot.com/2009/11/home-sous-vide-resources.html

[Lindapnw]

Lisa, Where did you get your Lemon Cheesecake Mousse recipe? Your menu sounds delicious.

[cnmLisa]

Lisa, Where did you get your Lemon Cheesecake Mousse recipe? Your menu sounds delicious.

Me?

The recipe is one of my own and can be found here:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=404807

[Lindapnw]

Thankyou Lisa. I'd like to try that one. Lindapnw

[Nancy LC]

I think boredom is a very misapplied word when it comes to lots of things. I've thought that a long time about eating and I heard someone explain how people misapply the word when it comes to their relationships too.

I always had a feeling of missing the old food. There might be a delicious steak sitting in front of me but where was the potato, bread, and everything else I couldn't eat. Was it really boring? Or was I just feeling a longing for things I once ate all the time?

The whole notion of "never again" was also very difficult to grapple with. I went through a phase where I thought, "there's nothing left to eat", which was utter BS. If I had eight spices, eight varieties of meat and eight vegetables I could have 512 different combinations of flavors and experiences. In reality, I have access to loads more than that, plus eggs, lemons, and a wide assortment of other things.

So what I decided to do was adjust my thinking. I simply had to replace the old things which I had been accustomed to eating, with new things. Things that would become as comforting and as familiar as the potato and the bread.

So I did! I found that much SE Asian food can be prepared low carb, dairy free, and gluten free, plus I love Thai food. So I bought a great Thai cookbook (http://www.amazon.com/Quick-Easy-Thai-Everyday-Recipes/dp/0811837319/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307919385&sr=8-1), with easy to make recipes, and started making lots of curries, salads and so on. I serve them on kelp noodles, cauliflower rice, or steamed broccoli.

I make myself low carb desserts from time to time. Infrequently nowadays, but more often when I was transitioning. I experimented with sweet omelets, I learned to make crepes from eggs and filled them with LC lemon custard and a few raspberries. I made bowl muffins from low carb things, brownies, cheesecake and all sorts of other stuff.

Anyway, it worked. I transitioned from thinking of my food as "boring" to having it replace the potato and bread. As before, in my potato and bread days, I can eat the same food for many days on end and never describe it as boring, because it never was boring. It just wasn't what I was most familiar with and what I was missing the most.

I bet when it comes right down to it, you don't eat with all that when you eat high carb. People get into patterns with their eating: Cereal at breakfast, sandwich at lunch, meat at dinner. Oh, the breakfast cereal might vary slightly, the meat in the sandwich might, but basically it is the same all the time. Why doesn't it feel boring to them when they do the same thing with LC? Because boring was never really the issue, it was because they were missing or longing for the comfort of the old foods.

One other observation. Ketosis can be responsible for making your appetite diminish at first. So you sit down to eat and you have no real appetite for what is in front of you. Just increase your carbs a bit and that should go away. I'd do it by eating more veggies or some LC fruits (berries). Appetite is the best sauce. I'd also suggest trying Intermittent Fasting... when I was doing that my enjoyment of food was increased a thousand-fold.

[teresaw]

Wise words... you hit it on the head with the " no appetite" part... I know its not good to not eat, so I have to get myself motivated to cook something fresh and good for me....

[tangy]

great post up there - and yeah. it's not boredom, it's longing. it's a precursor to emotional eating, period. i've learned the difference vicariously through quitting cigarettes. the craving sensation in my body for cigarettes, nicotine, chocolate, and starchy carb savory stuff is EXACTLY the same. since cigarettes and nicotine have never been and never will be about physical hunger, it's an easy line to draw when that "feeling" comes up again. especially since i haven't taken a puff in almost a year.

[madeyna]

A couple of great points were made on this page. I struggle with food boredom . I have never looked at it as longing for the old comfort foods or lack of appitite. Like alot of people on low carb. I go threw periods were I just don,t want to eat. Thankyou everyone , next time it happens to me I will have some insight as to what might really be happening.

[ktbrew]

I think I wrote that. :p Re-wrote it awhile back in my blog.

I got to thinking how varied and delicious low carb food is, why would I feel boredom, it didn't make any sense. Then I realized it wasn't that at all, it was another feeling and I was mislabeling it. I think we do that all the time, at least we do according to "Stumbling on Happiness", good book by the way.

I think it also gets conflated with that kind of anorexic feeling you get when you're in deep ketosis and nothing low carb sounds appealing. The fix is to eat more veggies, have a little low carb fruit, to reduce the ketosis by a little. Your appetite will come back and food looks much more interesting when you have an appetite.

I bet those who say they're getting bored would find that boredom vanishes if they only had a short eating window daily. IF made food magical. It was like the most delicious sauce imaginable.

Guess I really don't know as much as I thought. The bolded text is exactly how I have been feeling!! But I have been using Ketone strips and it says that I am moderate, so Idk why the extreme issues. Will try to up my veggies tomorrow and throughout the weekend and see if I have better results! Thanks

[Nancy LC]

Good luck! I hope it helps.

[Verbena]

I know perfectly well about wanting what you can't have, and equating it with boredom - not from personal experience so much, but seeing it in my husband. I am eating low carb, he is not, but I am the cook so he has the perception that he is being "short changed", even though I am willing to cook whatever he wants. I even ask if he wants potatoes or rice with dinner, and as often as not he says "no". Perhaps he just likes the feeling of "poor me; my wife is low carbing, and I am missing out because of it" :lol:
Some years ago he was going through treatment for thyroid cancer. At one point, for a period of 6 weeks, he needed to be on a low iodine diet. This is impossible to do if depending on processed foods, or if one is not willing to cook from scratch. However, I like to cook, and was up to the challenge. This man ate better than he usually does because we were both more focused on what he was eating. As a cook I have to say that low iodine is one of the easier diets to accomplish - but only if paying attention. And it only lasted 6 weeks! Was he happy? Not at all; he quetsched and moaned and complained the whole time. He wasn't allowed to eat out (I am a better cook than any chef in any restaurant in our small town); he wasn't allowed to eat seafood (which he can go for months without eating under other circumstances); its "low salt", which is horrible (except it isn't; its just purely non-iodized salt, which I always use anyway; processed foods don't specify which sort they use so he couldn't eat any of that) In other words, purely his perception, and nothing to do with reality. He was totally focused on what he *could not have*, and so, was miserable, and "bored".
For myself, at this low carb moment, my appetite is minimal because I am in ketosis. I would be happy with just some meat, extra fat, and a veg. But I have to cater to his perception to a certain degree, and that is making this into an effort. When he was away for a week I did a crockpot roast, and ate off it for several days, and felt wonderful. <sigh> Its a good thing I am fond of the man :lol:

[annettep38]

Cooking never bores me.. if I cook a meal I can find plenty of varieties doing stir fries, curries and stews. And fried fish and veg.
My problem is breakfast and lunch. Brakfast usually ends up in munch a carrot, have a glass of pineapple juice and some fresh yoghurt right out of the big yoghurt pot, either with nut oil or strawberries or right now prunes. I can't cook here at work, I got about 30 minutes and no decent cooker around. I am so bored with half a courgette, bit of cheese and maybe marmite or some of my own mean chilli paste. Or a can of fish instead of cheese. Salad is not good this year, after all the rain we only got courgettes, rocket and squash... ok onions.
My initial sin was bread at work. That is where my fat came from.. so I haven't touched bread for a year but there are lots of things you could eat with something.. if I only had tomatoes it would be easier.

Yes I have looked in the lunch thread..but most people talk in riddles : I had cheese sauce and chicken (how on earth did they make cheese sauce at work? ) or even worse a "had an Alberto dip on a Julie salad " what on earth do they mean? Worst one is the guy who invariably says 9 eggs . Ugh.

So I any of you have some great idea where to find some lunch snack type ideas I'm all for it. NO PORK please.

[teresaw]

hi there I'm also a good cook, like making all sorts of foods. But, on a day to day basis, I'm lazy. I don't bother eating breakfast because there's nothing I like, but if there was something tasty and easy to just pick up and woof down, I could eat!
I make things like meatballs, always nice wrapped in a lettuce leaf or as they come. "breaded" meat fillets, or chicken wings are tasty home made beefburgers, cooked cut into bitesize pieces and eaten with pickles... I had a moment with chickpea flour pancakes flavoured with onion and spices. Here in Italy there is very little food to buy ready prepared, so apart from sliced meats and cheeses, I understand the fight with fresh bread.. I have it under my nose every day, but I resist!... 99% of the time!
No rice? because thats always a good staple for snack meals. Beans? three bean salad is filling....
sorry if I've not been any help, but I'm not sure what your "not eating"..Either way, hello.

[Nancy LC]

Yes I have looked in the lunch thread..but most people talk in riddles : I had cheese sauce and chicken (how on earth did they make cheese sauce at work? )
I'm guessing they made it at home and took it to work and reheated it in a microwave. Most places of business in the US provide a lunch room with refrigeration and microwave these days.
or even worse a "had an Alberto dip on a Julie salad " what on earth do they mean? Worst one is the guy who invariably says 9 eggs . Ugh.
LOL! I don't know. Sounds like brand names of something and typos? Nine eggs? Wow... I'd start gagging after the first 2 or 3.
So I any of you have some great idea where to find some lunch snack type ideas I'm all for it. NO PORK please.
Do you have any way to refrigerate or reheat food at work?

[annettep38]

We got a fridge and a microwave.. My spot in the fridge is usually filled with carrots, cucumbers and a bit of cheese. Sometimes yoghurt if I have made too much at home.
Yes Nancy, you are right spot on.. it was just one I pick upped of these zillions of brand name waffle recipes. I must admit I do not touch processed food and I'd rather avoid brand names as that means it is industrial food so you never know for sure what is in it.
Example: my friend Pauline said: Look I made a special Lasagne for you no flour all just covered with a very thin rice pappadum.
Great.
Two hours later I felt the all so familiar bloat, rumbling and I had a lump of metal in my tummy.
Well I put a bit of (well known brand) barbecue sauce in it, she said. Was there anything wrong with it? it said tomato and chillie.. No comment.
I cook exclusively using prime factors.. you'd say in maths or assemble from CKD you say in automotive technology.
What I mean to say the only food I buy contains one ingredient, apart from cheese but then I get that from the farm where it is made.

[Nancy LC]

Sounds like you could just bring whatever you make make at home and reheat it at work.
What I mean to say the only food I buy contains one ingredient, apart from cheese but then I get that from the farm where it is made.
That is just awesome!

Cheese doesn't agree with me too much so I avoid it. But there are some good cheesemaking books and web sites out there. It makes me wish I could eat it more.

[annettep38]

Nancy, do you have the same problem with goat milk?
My neighbour found out that she has a problem with dairy products, but she now happily eats the goat cheese from the farm since she tried it in my kitchen :)
Just ask around, I don't know how it is in the US but even if those around you who have a few goats don't have a farm food license they might sell it to you in private. Many less than well heeled farmers do it here.

[Nancy LC]

Yeah, goat milk is the same issue. Sinus, achy muscles, overeat on it. Bleh. :( It isn't lactose intolerance, I'm intolerant to the proteins in milk.

[annettep38]

just saw your answer.. that is really a shame. Cheese is my staple answer for hungry moments. For lunch break. Dunno what I would do without.
Well having said that I could do without in Malaysia. Lots of seasoned tofu around.. Is that acceptable for you? like it best in hot chilli cocnut marinade

[Nancy LC]

I've gone without cheese for quite a long time. I'm surviving! I don't really snack very often but when I do it is usually something like olives or pork rinds. Seriously, I don't miss it that much and from time to time, when I'm going out or eating at a friend's house, I will have some.

I have been toying with the idea of making cheese for friends for xmas. That would be fun!

[annettep38]

My lunch usually consist of salad and a bit of cheese for protein.
Alternating with a can of fish :).. or leftovers.

[Feinman]

Excuse for shameless plug for my book "The World Turned Upside Down. The Second Low Carbohydrate Revolution." Should be out this month but you can buy the Kindle edition at http://amzn.to/1xIqgCa. (You don't need a physical Kindle. You can download the free app on the site. Anyway, I made the point that if you stick a pin in the Larousse Gastronomique, the encyclopedia of Gourmet Cooking, you are within a page or two of a low-carb recipe. I also provide a couple of recipes and thoughts on food. My own experience of people who think that there is not variety on low-carb, when you see what they eat that is high-carb they don't have much variety and they tend to eat the same high carb stuff over and over again.

[annettep38]

So we are moving to another country.
(I must admit I sinned a bit over the winter frost, put some weight on, got stuck into my mum's kosher cookies..
But here I am, I decided to jack in the thyroid hormones as they just seem to make me feel lousy instead of better, yeah you lose weight easily taking them but I can't sleep.)

Now here is the thing. In Costa Rica, you can have high carb or high cholesterol.

Not even cheese is available. Let alone things like tofu, coconut milk, olives, olive oil.

Yes I need your feedback. Who knows some great recipes, PORK and EGG YOKE FREE, not horrible things like chicken skin, feet or wings either please, suitable for a country full of fruit and veg with very limited dairy products.
Ms Feinman, is your book suitable? if so, yes I'll have it.

[Nancy LC]

Don't worry about eating cholesterol. Your body produces far more cholesterol than you can ever get from your diet. Pork and eggs are excellent foods. If you keep your carbs low, your cholesterol shouldn't be a concern. Take a look at some of the posts in the "Cholesterol" section, read the book "Cholesterol Clarity" and/or read things written by Gary Taubes, Richard Feinman, Dr. William Davis (Wheat Belly) then stop worry about cholesterol in low carb foods.

Don't abuse thyroid drugs. The weight loss won't stick around and seriously, that's a miserable way to lose weight.

[annettep38]

Dear Nancy,
the thyroid drugs are on prescription by my doctor. Not my idea. I noticed my results were too high with or without. I have read on the internet that t3 would be better for me but I can't get it here.

About eggs: I am ALLLERGIC , INTOLERANT to egg yoke. it is a pain, it rules out just about every dessert recipe you see here. I like eggs, they just don't like me. egg white is fine.

PORK is something we don't eat. Against my religion. Non negotiable, people have been tricking me into it several times and it is very revolting to have to keep a polite face wanting to run out and throw it up.

And this is my trouble with the recipes here, I remember asking before... Can't be the only Jewess here?

[Nancy LC]

For some reason I thought you were avoiding pork and eggs because of cholesterol concerns.

You should be able to find egg free dessert recipes on the internet and adapt them to LC using non-caloric sweeteners, nut-crusts instead of grain-based crust. Post to the Kitchen Talk forum if you need pointers on adapting recipes. Not every recipe will work, but many do.

[bike2work]

Made Mustard-crusted chicken -- my all-time favorite chicken recipe (at my blog). The only problem with it is... it is torture smelling it cook. You just want to rip the half-cooked thing out of the oven, howl like a wolf, and devour it. But it's best fully cooked, even if enduring the amazing smells is pretty torturous. I'd suggest having a little snack before hand to lessen the copious drool you'll secrete while waiting the 30 minutes for it to cook.
After all these years I'm finally reading this thread. Where's the mustard chicken recipe now? I have a super-complex, time-consuming one from Suzanne Goin that is so delicious you'd never want anything else, but like I said, it's time-consuming.

ETA: I found it:

http://www.kqed.org/w/morefastfoodmyway/episode204.html

I also discovered that I have read and posted in this thread before.

Will try the mustard chicken, though I'll probably just buy thighs.

[Nancy LC]

Yeah, thighs is easiest and definitely the most delicious part of chicken. Glad you found the recipe. Let me know what you think!

[dtydd]

Just to chime in on this old (but still very relevant) thread. I have been doing LC for about 10 weeks now, and find that my appetite is greatly reduced -- partly because that happens on this WOE, but certainly also because I just can't look at another meal of eggs/cheese/meat in ANY combination. I don't eat very much anymore because I'm sick to death of the food! I'm not bored... just sick of it. You may love cheesecake, for example, but not EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE. After having your favourite food every single day, you can get sick of anything. My husband BBQ'ed steak last night, which I always love and hardly ever have, and I just thought of it as yet another hunk of meat I had to choke down. After several hours, I had it with some ranch dressing on top just so it wouldn't be wasted. Walking through the grocery store yesterday, I could smell the peaches. "Peaches"! I thought (with an expletive added). To think that it's absolutely forbidden to each a lovely piece of fruit. How can I possibly stay on this WOE long-term? It is neither satisfying or natural. No corn-on-the-cob this summer? No watermelon?
The other side of things is that I have only lost about 17 pounds (12 in the first month; 5 in the past 6 weeks), and I have A LOT to lose, so the pay-off of this restrictive, tedious diet has not been up to expectations. We all have to make our deal with the devil, and I'm starting to think that eating a peach or some corn once in a while -- and staying overweight -- is a valid life choice too. Maybe if I were seeing more results from this diet I would not be feeling so down on it right now.
People on this list say "Stick with it...it WILL pay off", and I know there are lots of success stories out there, but maybe there are some people it just does not work for -- because of medications they take, lack of exercise due to physical problems, being "middle aged", etc. All of which I have.
I wonder how many have resorted to surgery when low-carbing just did not work for them?
sorry to vent...

[Nancy LC]

How can I possibly stay on this WOE long-term? It is neither satisfying or natural. No corn-on-the-cob this summer? No watermelon?
That's not exactly right. It just isn't your custom... yet.

I promise, if you stop dwelling on what you can't have and focus on what you can eat, your attitude will change.

I think a lot of what you're believing is tediousness is:

1) You're in the depth of ketosis and it makes everything seem less appetizing. That's a good thing as far as weight loss is concerned.

2) You haven't taken any time to explore some of the other good stuff available. Take a gander at the cooking forums and try the Deep Dish Pizza quiche, or something else that catches your eye.

3) Are you still following induction? Maybe it is time to loosen up a bit have more carbs in the form of vegetables. It'll take you out of super-deep ketosis where food starts looking unappealing and your appetite will kick in a bit more. Have some caramelized onions and mushrooms with your steak.

Read the rest of the thread for even more ideas, if you haven't already.

All diets are restrictive.

[ojoj]

Just to chime in on this old (but still very relevant) thread. I have been doing LC for about 10 weeks now, and find that my appetite is greatly reduced -- partly because that happens on this WOE, but certainly also because I just can't look at another meal of eggs/cheese/meat in ANY combination. I don't eat very much anymore because I'm sick to death of the food! I'm not bored... just sick of it. You may love cheesecake, for example, but not EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE. After having your favourite food every single day, you can get sick of anything. My husband BBQ'ed steak last night, which I always love and hardly ever have, and I just thought of it as yet another hunk of meat I had to choke down. After several hours, I had it with some ranch dressing on top just so it wouldn't be wasted. Walking through the grocery store yesterday, I could smell the peaches. "Peaches"! I thought (with an expletive added). To think that it's absolutely forbidden to each a lovely piece of fruit. How can I possibly stay on this WOE long-term? It is neither satisfying or natural. No corn-on-the-cob this summer? No watermelon?
The other side of things is that I have only lost about 17 pounds (12 in the first month; 5 in the past 6 weeks), and I have A LOT to lose, so the pay-off of this restrictive, tedious diet has not been up to expectations. We all have to make our deal with the devil, and I'm starting to think that eating a peach or some corn once in a while -- and staying overweight -- is a valid life choice too. Maybe if I were seeing more results from this diet I would not be feeling so down on it right now.
People on this list say "Stick with it...it WILL pay off", and I know there are lots of success stories out there, but maybe there are some people it just does not work for -- because of medications they take, lack of exercise due to physical problems, being "middle aged", etc. All of which I have.
I wonder how many have resorted to surgery when low-carbing just did not work for them?
sorry to vent...

Thats why I love this way of eatiing - freedom from food!! Its fuel, it no longer rules my life, I eat when I'm hungry and I no longer wander around thinking "what can I eat next" I couldnt care less about cheesecakes or sweet stuff or any of it. Its all boring in the end and if its not, then you eat too much of it until it is lol. My mind is free from it and I am so much fitter, healthier.... oh and slim. I feel so much better on this WOE, that being slim is almost secondary!!

Jo xxx

[Verbena]

I keep reading about those who put food in the "fuel" category; it is no longer an obsession, and I suppose that is a good thing ... for some. Now me ... I love food ... GOOD food. Today I was going over my journal from a recent trip out of the country, and found numerous references to the meals I ate (and there were photos too!) Most of it was low carb, and that's not hard as I quite like this way of eating (rare kangaroo steak, anyone? Really good!) I am ALWAYS thinking about food, what to cook next ... and HOW TO MAKE IT LOW CARB! Always thinking about what I can't/shouldn't eat? No, not so much. But there are so many things that are good, and allowed, why would I want to waste my time like that? Hey, if it works for you, thats great. For me, one of my greatest pleasures is eating good food; another is planning and cooking the meal. And another is surfing the web looking for great - low carb - ideas. And by "good food" I mean fresh, whole foods, local and organic when feasable. Pizza and tacos, and their ilk, to me, have never fallen in that catagory - I have eaten them when out with others, but they would never be my first choice. I'm thinking more of rare roast beef with Bearnaise sauce (SOOOO much easier to make than pizza), or vegetable soup with lamb meatballs, or even a delicious, homemade, meatloaf. So many choices, how can it be boring?

[dtydd]

Food as fuel. Are we to be automatons and give up one of life's true pleasures (FOOD) in order to achieve a smaller dress size?
That's like saying "Let's have coitus, Hazel, I want another child"..."Okay, Harold, I have five minutes to spare"!!!
It's like walking on your basement treadmill when it's a sunny day outside; what does it matter? It's only exercise.
I know this forum is for supporting members in their low-carb lifestyle, and I am here almost every day reading to find that support and encouragement that we all need, especially when tackling something as difficult and life-changing as a long-term diet and alteration of not just what we eat but how and why.
I appreciate the feedback from Nancy and ojoj very much, and will try to re-think my negative feelings about this WOE, and will check out more LC recipes for inspiration. I do not want to go above my 20-25 carbs/day yet, though, as my weight loss has been so slow on induction that I could not stand the idea of losing weight any more slowly in exchange for a bit more lettuce! There are very few veggies that I like to eat as it is (I have the palate of a six-year-old, unfortunately).
I didn't say earlier, but part of the problem, for me, with this WOE is that I have been suffering significant gastric distress -- with burping, food seeming to sit in my tummy for hours, "bathroom" problems and even nausea. I have never felt worse! And, the scale isn't moving. It is a lot to handle for little apparent pay-off. Many on this list seem to be ecstatic about their new-found energy and rapid weight loss. I only chime in to say that this is not always the case, and it does not always feel "worth it" to give up so much for so little. End of gripe (sorry).

[ojoj]

Food as fuel. Are we to be automatons and give up one of life's true pleasures (FOOD) in order to achieve a smaller dress size?
That's like saying "Let's have coitus, Hazel, I want another child"..."Okay, Harold, I have five minutes to spare"!!!
It's like walking on your basement treadmill when it's a sunny day outside; what does it matter? It's only exercise.
I know this forum is for supporting members in their low-carb lifestyle, and I am here almost every day reading to find that support and encouragement that we all need, especially when tackling something as difficult and life-changing as a long-term diet and alteration of not just what we eat but how and why.
I appreciate the feedback from Nancy and ojoj very much, and will try to re-think my negative feelings about this WOE, and will check out more LC recipes for inspiration. I do not want to go above my 20-25 carbs/day yet, though, as my weight loss has been so slow on induction that I could not stand the idea of losing weight any more slowly in exchange for a bit more lettuce! There are very few veggies that I like to eat as it is (I have the palate of a six-year-old, unfortunately).
I didn't say earlier, but part of the problem, for me, with this WOE is that I have been suffering significant gastric distress -- with burping, food seeming to sit in my tummy for hours, "bathroom" problems and even nausea. I have never felt worse! And, the scale isn't moving. It is a lot to handle for little apparent pay-off. Many on this list seem to be ecstatic about their new-found energy and rapid weight loss. I only chime in to say that this is not always the case, and it does not always feel "worth it" to give up so much for so little. End of gripe (sorry).

Each to his own, food is fuel to me and no, I get no real pleasure from eating out, from having a cake, overeating til I feel sick - been there, done it and I dont want it back. Its not even about a smaller dress size anymore, its about a freedom that I'm embracing, no IBS, arthritic joints, lethargy and no climbing the walls trying to find will power.

But no, I dont liken it to any other human desire - just food!

Jo xxx

[teresaw]

Hi there.. I'm going to throw my 2 pence worth. Atkins low carb works well....IF you like that style of eating. I'm a person who likes savory food so for me Atkins means eating from the fridge, back and forth until I'm satisfied. I live alone but cook food for others. Don't like breakfast and not really interested in the coffee with coconut oil... I've had my gall bladder removed so I just have the normal amount of fats. Yes, you can get constipated if you don't drink enough fluids.
Maybe you should try a week or so on a potato hack! Sorts out all the digestive problems and works well. It's good for a change and many people like it. I do it whenever I'm fed up with meat and I get the benefit of a great nights sleep. Read up about it and just give it a go. It's a doddle to prep and so cheap too!
Good luck....

[Nancy LC]

Yeah, I think having an accepting palate is very important. One can broaden their tastes, but it does take work, dedication, and most importantly, the desire to do so.

My last boyfriend and I were very incompatible in that regard. He had very limited likes in the food dept and I love lots of food, plus I'm always eager to try new stuff. He just had no interest in expanding his horizons at all. I think the issue extended far beyond eating for him.

I love food too, but for me there's a line between obsessing about it and enjoying it. I remember doing a low fat diet once where all I could think about was food. This is infinitely preferable!

I totter between phases where I fuss about cooking and then phases where I spend little time cooking.

[dtydd]

[QUOTE=teresaw] Maybe you should try a week or so on a potato hack! Sorts out all the digestive problems and works well. It's good for a change and many people like it. I do it whenever I'm fed up with meat and I get the benefit of a great nights sleep. Read up about it and just give it a go. [QUOTE]

I have found a fairly clear explanation of the "potato hack", and quote it here:
"The theory is because your body needs fat to manufacture insulin, if you are eating ZERO fat, it has to pull fat out of storage to manufacture insulin. Because white potatoes are so highly insulogenic and create such a massive, high GI response, it needs A LOT of insulin – which requires a significant portion of fat. Since you aren’t eating fat along with it, it is forced to go to adipose tissue as a source – and needs quite a bit – to make all that insulin."

Okay, this is an intriguing idea which I have not heard about before. The problem, FOR ME, is that I am both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic. I make basically ZERO insulin, and am insulin resistant (have to inject large amounts of the stuff). So I don't think a diet which is "highly insulinogenic" would be great for me. What is my poor body to think?

The best thing about the LC diet is that my insulin requirements have reduced by about 25% and my blood sugars are (finally) in a good range. In Canadian-numbers terms, I run about 8-12 now. You multiply by 18 (I believe) for US values. I'm afraid that eating a steady diet of potatoes would drive my numbers sky-high again, and require much more insulin -- which of course puts on weight. And just from the tedium factor I'd be throwing potatoes at the wall by Day 2.

[teresaw]

Oh, didn't realise...then the potato hack really isn't for you....... Maybe someone else can give you ideas.

[xStarlitex]

I was thinking about this topic yesterday. Upon realizing I'm sensitive to dairy (which this WOE helped me to notice) I felt like a huge portion of food that add in flavor to what I am eating just went out the window and what I was left with was a lot of meat (which I can only do for so long before not wanting to touch it) and berries, eggs, nuts and certain veggies.

Being on a plateau makes it even more tiresome. I know it's water weight my body is holding for now but that doesn't change the lack of change. So the thought of doing this for the rest of my life was unappealing UNTIL I realized that should I not do this for the rest of my life (at least a modified version where I am in phase 4 - maintaining at some point), I'm going to end up right back where I started which is enjoying the food I eat and over indulging. For me, if I start focusing on how much I like different foods I'm eating, how yummy they are, that leads to overeating them eventually even if just occasionally - sooner or later the weight comes back.

Frankly, it doesn't matter if I use LC or some other kind of diet. Taking it off is never really a problem. Not falling back into the 'I love to eat' pattern is. The blessing is that I've discovered many foods that I'm sensitive to and though it's a bit of a downer to restrict them it's better for my body that I know to restrict them.

Yeah, I'm not going to LOVE this WOE and probably will eat more carbs than most people in this forum when I'm maintaining because I get tired of meat and eggs. I literally gag on them after a while and have to bump up my carbs or I go into a kind of anorexia where I just don't eat more than 500 calories. But it doing that makes staying at a healthy weight sustainable for me then I suppose that's the best option. The reality is that I enjoy eating quite a lot. Generally I can maintain pretty well but eventually (years in) I will gain at least a good 20 lbs back and have to start doing this all over again. If keeping better control over my food choices mitigates that so I don't do the rollercoaster thing or at least not as much of a roller coaster, then I think I'm better off for it. And I wonder if that is actually part of the point of this WOE? Ages ago much of what most people miss was not available and eating was done for survival rather than enjoyment though I have no doubt they did enjoy it when then were hungry and sat down to a fresh killed and cooked whatever. But that was a different enjoyment - one to satisfy hunger rather than satisfy taste buds.

It's a trade off. Do I want to eventually be maintaining with some better variety and somewhat enjoying that or do I want to eat whatever I want and have to keep revisiting having to diet to get off those extra 20-50 lbs I packed on while I was enjoying all I ate? Feels like I have to rethink what food, different foods, and eating means to me. Enjoyment of it (too much) seems to lead me right back here eventually. It may be years later - half a decade or so. When you have 'losing weight' down to a science, that might not be such a good thing. :lol:

[khrussva]

... because I get tired of meat and eggs. I literally gag on them after a while

I've done the weight loss, gain, loss, gain thing - creeping ever higher -- since my early 20's. In the past 30 years I've had 8 to 10 good attempts where I stuck to my diet long enough to have a significant ride down the weight loss roller coaster. I did Weight Watchers once - but most attempts have been LC. Once I got past the first few days, this diet got a lot easier. However, I always hit that same wall where the LC food I was eating just started to turn my stomach. At 2 months in, I'd look at a nice quality steak and practically gag at the thought of putting one more bite in my mouth. It was at that point that I would finally crack and have cheats and "planned" LC off days. The carbs never tasted so good - and I found it even harder to stick with my program. The diet became struggle and misery. I could not sustain it. Eventually my willpower would run out and that was it. The diet was over. I avoided the scale and the weight came back on. I just was not tough enough to stick to it.

My current weight loss attempt started in February 2014. I have been at it for 15 months - 2 1/2 times longer than any previous attempt. I've lost nearly 170 pounds. The only change I made this time is that I vowed that I would not cheat and not eat any off plan food no matter what. No breaks, no 'just one bites', nothing. I knew it was going to be misery and hell -- but I just had to do it. My weight was out of control and my health was starting to take a severe turn for the worse. I ate the same LC foods as before - but NO CHEATS, EVER was my mantra. No head games - the answer to whether I was going to have this or that off plan food was always going to be NO. No birthday cake, no pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, no to the donuts on the kitchen table, no, no, no. And that is what I did and I'm still doing it.

Still, at about 2 months into the diet I hit the same wall. I could hardly choke down food I was quite happy with in the early days of the diet. The misery and hell was starting to set in. But rather than follow my usual formula of off-plan cheats - I stuck to my no-cheat rule and pushed on. To try and stave off the food boredom, I looked for new LC recipes, used more spices, tried different types of Fat Bombs, made homemade LCHF ice cream, etc. - anything to try and make this boredom issue better. It didn't really work all that well - nothing could replace that certain something that I was missing from regular (carby) food. But this trying new LC foods did do two things... It kept me busy and it kept me on plan. I would still overeat on-plan food on some days and even exceeded my carb limit a few times -- but no off-plan foods ever touched my lips.

Then, maybe 3 or 4 months in, something started to change. In my 30 years of repeated diet failures, I'd never been 100% on plan this long before. Slowly but surely I started liking what I was eating more and more. I felt healthier -- still extremely fat -- but healthier. I started to forget why bread, pizza, pasta, candies, and cakes were so critical to my eating pleasure. My brain stopped obsessing about the carby junk I was missing and just seemed to let go. At 6 months in, this life long diet of misery and pain that I was certain that I would have to endure forever WAS OVER. The food boredom was over. Meat, eggs, green beans, broccoli, carrots, salad, etc. were now A-OK with me. I no longer gag at the thought of them - I love them. That is when my diet morphed into a permanent lifestyle change. My new WOE became enjoyable and sustainable. It was a happy day when I realized that I actually would reach goal this time. I'm not wishing and hoping -- I will reach my goal. It is pretty easy to stick to something that you enjoy doing.

Now I don't know if this shift from diet misery to happiness will happen for everybody, but I can tell you that it was totally unexpected. Had I known that simply staying on plan long enough would make such a dramatic shift happen, I would have figured out this weight loss thing a long time ago. The best way I can put it is that my food paradigm shifted and now embraces the foods that I do eat. With enough separation (days on plan), my brain gave up that lifelong 'need' for carbs and sugar and let all the foods that I now eat bump up into the top slots on my favorite foods list. I still have my moments of temptation. It takes a long time to retrain your brain. However, it is so much easier to stay on plan than it has ever been. And I KNOW from experience, that it is much easier to resist the urge to eat off plan than it is to recover from an off plan cheat. I can't fail if I stick to what is easier.

A year ago I was thinking that I'd be climbing the Atkins carb ladder when I get to maintenance. When LC dieting is misery, you have to have that light at the end of the tunnel to keep you going. These days, my thoughts on maintenance have changed. I read somewhere that 'if you go back to eating the foods that made you fat, you will be fat again'. If climbing the carb ladder is done right - as Dr. Atkins describes it, it would work. But from what I see, most people don't follow the plan to the letter (if at all) and climbing the carb ladder often leads to disaster. I know I am extremely insensitive to carbs and sugar. Climbing the carb ladder would be testing fate and my willpower. I can predict with reasonable certainty that I would no doubt fail at it. I'd go back to eating the foods that made me fat and I'd get fat again. So since I enjoy what I'm doing now, why would I risk it? My new plan is to stick with what I am doing in maintenance and live out my days at or near the same carb level that I am at today. Ketosis seems to agree with me.

I got a little longwinded here, so to make my point clear -- the food boredom/gag reflex to LC food can change. It is a phase of this WOE. IMO - it is the addiction to carbs talking and your brains last ditch effort to steer you back to the foods you loved to eat. You just have to stick to on-plan food long enough and this boredom phase will end. That is how it worked for me.

In the old days, I could eat peanut butter & jelly toast for breakfast everyday. I never got tired of it. These days I eat eggs and breakfast meats just about everyday - and never get tired of it. My current foods have become my new normal and I've broken free from my carb addiction.

[dtydd]

...what I was left with was a lot of meat (which I can only do for so long before not wanting to touch it)...I get tired of meat and eggs. I literally gag on them after a while and have to bump up my carbs or I go into a kind of anorexia where I just don't eat more than 500 calories.


Thank you so much for such a well-written and thoughtful post. I quote you above because this part of your post resonated so much with me. Dr. Atkin's said "Who doesn't love steak?", but too much of a good thing is not a good thing. I have not seen anyone else on this site straightforwardly say what a lot of us must be thinking ("I literally gag") about eating LC long-term. I also find that some days I eat too few calories because I'm just so tired of the limited/repetitive choices. I'm afraid of going into "starvation mode", though, where the body tries to hang onto fat stores because it thinks there's a famine.

It is a finely-tuned thing to think of food as neither "mere fuel" nor "super delicious and the solution to all my problems". People with weight issues need to find their balance with food, and closely monitoring what we eat and making practical choices about food selection and portion, can only help on our life's journey.

It must be much more difficult for you to have to limit or exclude dairy -- eggs and cheese are such a big part of this WOE. Good luck to you!

[teresaw]

I get the part about almost not eating at all... I got to the stage where a few olives, and a slice of salami and I was done for the day.... not good either..... but the only thing I can say is that I like the signature someone ( sorry ) has here...crowd out the bad food with the good. I'm using that to plan meals for my DB who is now diabetic.....

[tbagram]

Khrussva! What an inspiring post! After 40 years of yo, yo dieting this really hit home for me. I am so sick and tired of gaining weight, all because I needed to have a cheat day or a cheat meal. The years, months, weeks, days and hours wasted, for what? To be right back to the same spot again and again. I'm sick of this...."lets try it again and maybe it will work this time". This time I will make it work!!!! I WILL get creative!!! I WILL be pain free ALL the time! I WILL push through the cravings. Thank you again for saying what I needed to hear!

[xStarlitex]

I don't mean to put down this WOE. I just have some sort of thing where meat at some point makes me gag. I don't know why or what causes it but I've been like that most of my life. I trust it and wonder if it's my body saying 'enough' to the meat just how it told me enough with the other foods but I didn't always listen. I can have eggs. It's just certain processed dairy that my body seems to dislike. Some things in small quantities I can have as long as it's not many different things in small quantities because that makes one large quantity. :lol:

The alternative and solution for me was to bump up carbs and fats a bit. I have more of the carbs that are allowed in phase two (atkins) and have been between less than 20 to 35 g a day with no issues or not getting kicked out of ketosis.

I've learned that atkins is a good foundation for me but I need to pay attention to how I feel. I don't plan on being super strict LC for the rest of my life. I'm going to keep my carbs low-ish (probably under 100 when I'm maintaining) and avoid all the wheat, sugar, processed stuff. Thankfully, there are fats that I like which I can eat enough of to make up for the gag issue if I need to lower the protein. It's all about doing the best you can and learning what works for you.

[xStarlitex]

Khrussva, I don't do off plan options. Actually there's a lot of on plan options I don't do too. :lol: I do a lot like you wrote, finding ways to work with what we can eat. Fat bombs - yep! Strawberries are my best friend right now. A HUGE treat for me. Sometimes some nuts really help. Stuff that is all within what I can have. Just gotta avoid the gag, which I have noticed for me might be related to water intake - like if I am leaning a bit toward dehydration or just not having enough water in me, I get the gag. Water doesn't always help. Food with a higher water content however does it seems. I think it's digestive related more than specific food related as I pay more attention to it.

From what I can tell, I get the gag when I've not gotten enough water or have recently lost a lot or when I'm very low on hydrating fruit and veggies. In fact, if I notice my appetite kicking up more than I am comfortable with and I want to reign it in the easiest and fastest way for me to do it on LC is cut down on high water carbs, bump fat/protein up, drink a little herbal tea and add some pork rinds for good measure. Within a day or two my appetite is gone. Poof! Sometimes I get the gag. Sometimes it takes a few days of that but it does seem to be specifically related to hydration for me personally.

[MickiSue]

Not sure if this has been brought up in the first 11 pages of this thread...but one thing that has helped me a lot are the two Wheatbelly Cookbooks.

Probably not as helpful for those still at 20 grams, but I started out closer to goal (currently 19 lbs away), and opted to start at around 40. I have been losing about a pound a week, which is fine...I'd lost 20 doing primarily grainfree and avoiding sugar, till my thyroid function took a dive, and I started mainlining dried fruit last winter.

It didn't take long to regain 12 of those hard lost pounds, and I finally realized that I needed to be accountable if I wanted to get back to where I was in my 40's.

I find that it's easy to make baked things with the almond and coconut flour, and tasty, too. My favorite are the peanut butter cookies. I break one up in a half cup of plain Greek yogurt for a dessert, and I'm in heaven.

There are lots and lots of paleo recipes out there, too. They tend to have a fair amount of honey. But if you substitute stevia or artificial sweetener in an equivalent amount, you can enjoy more variety without adding carbs.

To tell the truth, I probably will not go back to higher than about 75 grams, even at goal, and will avoid all grains for the rest of my life. There is too much data about the damage from what is, to us humans, an unnaturally high level of carbs, particularly grains, in the diet. As Dr Davis of Wheatbelly points out, the species that evolved eating grains have multiple stomachs, and we don't.

[Meme#1]

As Dr Davis of Wheatbelly points out, the species that evolved eating grains have multiple stomachs, and we don't.

I think that he is so right and not to mention cows also re-chew their food several times before it is digested.

[Nancy LC]

I was thinking about this topic yesterday. Upon realizing I'm sensitive to dairy (which this WOE helped me to notice) I felt like a huge portion of food that add in flavor to what I am eating just went out the window and what I was left with was a lot of meat (which I can only do for so long before not wanting to touch it) and berries, eggs, nuts and certain veggies.
There's a whole lot in the Paleo section here that might interest you. You might be interested in making flax crackers, do some paleo baking with nut meals/lupin flour, etc.

I too feel kind of "sick of meat" when I'm eating too high protein, or am too deep in ketosis. There's a sort of anorexia that sets in if I consume too much protein that makes me feel not all that great about eating meat.

So... what are some possible ways of battling it? I don't see any veggies listed, but avocados are a great way to get fat and they're quite low carb. How about a plate of spaghetti with homemade sauce made with zucchini noodles?

How about doing strict IF -- no snacking? I think that helps because you've got a chance to actually get hungry and it is hard to over consume protein on one meal a day.

I eat a lot of salads and sometimes decorate them only lightly with strips of sliced deli turkey, or 1/2 a can of tuna, olives, green onions and pecan pieces.

Other times I make Thai curry with coconut milk, curry paste, whatever meat (usually ground turkey because it is easy and cheap) and loads of veggies.

The trade off is, I'm not in super deep ketosis, which is fine with me right now.

[dtydd]

I have been having chicken broth with a stirred egg in it for breakfast most days (it's like egg-drop soup!), but getting bored with it. The other day I found a stick of garlic-flavoured butter in the grocery store. It's very tasty, and adds fat to my diet as well. I add about a teaspoon to the mix.

Watching many Youtube videos, I have gleaned that my diet (thus far not very successful after nearly 5 months) was lacking in fat. It was too high in protein, less than 20 grams of carb a day, but not enough fat. I didn't really see a reason to add butter to my meal, or not pat off the bacon grease. That's extra calories, right? But one video spelled it out very plainly: "To lose fat, you've got to eat fat". Since doing this, I've managed to lose 3 more pounds and, with hope, feel that I might finally be back on track.

It's counterintuitive to add fat to the diet, as it is against everything we've been told about dieting. A girlfriend (who reads fitness magazines) once said to me: "Carbs are for energy, protein builds muscle, and fat just stays fat. You have to eliminate fat from your diet to lose weight". That's the conventional wisdom. But how many people really lose weight that way? And don't we need fat to make lovely hormones?

I've also been drinking much more water, trying to get at least 2 liters (about 2 quarts) a day. I used to drink more diet pop, but find that when you drink a lot of water it's what you crave when you're thirsty.

One last thing I would add here is a tasty chicken meal I've "unvented". I put about 1/4 chicken in a bowl (broken up into small bits), add 1/2 cup or so of chicken broth, 1 tbsp. of my garlic butter and 1 tbsp. of BBQ ranch or teriyaki dressing. I nuke it for a couple of minutes, then mix it up and have it for lunch. The butter makes even dry white meat very moist and tasty. Very filling. I wish I could find a lower carb dressing, because 1 tbsp. adds 4 carbs -- but it's only about 5 carbs overall and makes quite a filling meal. I sometimes add a bit of very nippy old cheddar cheese as well.

[tbagram]

I too have been uping the fat in my diet and it seems to be working. I input my food into Fat Secret and it gives me the percentage ratios. By the end of the day I can see where I am and eat accoringly, such as adding more fat and decreasing my protein, if need be. Higher fat helps to keep the hungries away (:

[Feinman]

I don't generally believe in imitation carbs. So, I think pureed cauliflower is a staple and allows of variations as mashed potatoes does, I don't think of them as faux mashed. One exception is low-carb pancakes from recipe I saw online someplace: 2 tbsp cream cheese, two eggs, small amount baking soda => blend and use as pancake batter. Same look and feel as pancakes but better taste, that is, real taste.

[MickiSue]

I do imitation carbs in small amounts. Partly so I can make something that the whole family will eat, and I will, too.

Yesterday, I adapted a paleo muffin recipe by replacing the honey with Splenda and a tablespoon of water. They were a hit at Sunday breakfast, and the butter I slathered on them just made the nicer. Along with the eggs scrambled with heavy cream.

Yes, induction makes this stuff more challenging. But induction isn't meant to last forever.

[katmeyster]

I'm adding to this thread as I found reading through it very helpful, and newbies may want to view it.

My husband and I are talking about this boredom problem right now: not because we are currently bored with LC food, but because we want to stay on this WOE for the rest of our lives -- it seems a little daunting to contemplate. But I'm losing weight and his BG is amazingly normal (T2D with insulin) and he could well be off insulin for good. At the moment we're OK, it's the long-term stuff we're a little bit worried about.

I like the IF because it actually take the worry about what to eat at each meal away, and makes me more motivated to cook something interesting for dinner, if that's the only meal of the day.

But he thinks he "needs" bread products so we are going to spend some time on the almond, flax, coconut, etc. recipes to see what we can find that meets that need.

And, as Nancy said, right now I'm sort of in an "anorexic" state where food is not terribly interesting -- it seems weird that I mourn the love of food because what drew me to LC in the first place was that I could continue eating great food.

But, long-term, if what we are experiencing is just the cravings for the idea of what we used to eat, then maybe that should go away -- maybe our idea of what is "normal" will morph into the LC foods?

That would be preferable to constantly having to come up with something new and exciting to counteract the idea of boredom.

[MickiSue]

Kat, you DO lose, to a great extent, the desire for what seems to be normal foods.

For your husband, with his diabetes, it may be better for him to live a bit longer without the breadlike products--even if made with almond flour, etc.

The reason is that our brains seem to crave what we're used to. And, if we STOP eating something long enough, the cravings lessen.

Eat something like what we craved, they stick around.

Ken has mentioned how he always used to start eating cheat foods around 2 months into this WOE, because he was getting bored. And figured out THIS time, that the boredom was just another way for his carb addiction to try to get him eating carbs again.

For me, I liken it to the description of alcohol in the AA Big Book (I used to be married to an alcoholic). Alcohol is "cunning, baffling and powerful." So is any addiction, including to carbs in their many forms.

Eat low carb long enough, and the boredom goes away, as does the desire for the carby things.

It CAN come back, especially when we're sad or stressed or otherwise not paying attention--think of the number of people who come back to this forum, after succumbing to carbs when they had a stressful period in their lives! But if we prepare ourselves for that likelihood, we can fight back, much better.

[Robin120]

Kat- congrats to and to your hubs! I'm a type I, so I get so excited when i hear about type IIs getting control using diet and exercise :D
Personally making flax muffins or coconut biscuits once in a while, but i wouldn't do it too often- they mess with my stomach.

Over the past 11 or so years i have been low carb, i eventually found presentation makes a tremendous difference in how people perceive a dish. let me give an example or two from recent dinners:

1. We are having chicken with green beans tonight.
We are having a bed of roast lemon garlic green beans, with balsamic chicken on top, sprinkled with crushed red pepper and parsley. Throw a slice of lemon on top for extra dazzle power (You can let it roast with green beans).

2. We are having shrimp and broccoli tonight.
We are having a bed of roasted broccoli slaw topped with garlic lemon shrimp and crushed red pepper, parmesan and parsley. You could also top the slaw with marinara and then the shrimp and parm.

etc....basically, i have noticed making the veggies a "bed" with the protein on top makes people eat more veggies, because it doesn't look like a huge pile next to the meat. and it looks "fancy." :lol:

also, switching up prep techniques can make a huge difference. for example, once we discovered grilling romaine at a restaurant, i found we could easily get through 2.5 hearts for 2 adults at dinner, as it shrinks. and it feels special....
similarly, roasting brussels made them a favorite for the fella, who thought he hated them, mashing cauli won him over, etc.....

experimenting is key, and can be frustrating....what do you MEAN you don't like zoodles???? but over time we are finding what works for us- he dislikes zoodles, so fine we use broccoli slaw as our go to "pasta sub."

keep up the hard work- i would do anything to be off insulin ;)

[Feinman]

You have a book of 300 recipes and people are bored. Ha. What a world. Classic. You've probably had conversations with people who say they are tired of eggs now that they are on low-carb. (Never mind that the Larousse Gastronomique probably has more than 300 egg recipes). When you press them for what they ate before it is usually oatmeal which...you guessed it, they eat every day. Anyway, thanks for your support and good luck on bored with low carb. By the way, you should check out Judy Barnes Bakers books or contact her directly since she has similar restricted diet. Regards, Richard Feinman.

[Nancy LC]

It isn't boredom, I've come to realize. It is preference. When people think about eating eggs and they're in the throws of ketogenic anorexia, it sounds not so appealing. But, oh boy, that flavorless oatmeal they had every morning for 10 years sounds wonderful.

That's 10 years of Pavlovian conditioning against a few weeks of low carbing with ketogenic lack-of-appetite that makes eggs sounds not so good.

[ImOnMyWay]

Not boredom so much for me, I do mix it up quite a bit. I do find that if I eat too much fat I get nauseous. If my body wants protein and I give it too much fat, or if I eat close to zero carbs this can happen. Like one time I was having my first meal of the day after 2PM (which happens often). I went to a sushi bar and was eating things like salmon collar, salmon sashimi, started feeling nauseous. I asked the chef for a bowl of peeled and sliced cucumber, and had a couple tablespoons of rice (in the form of nigiri). This helped a great deal.

Upping my carbs just a bit when this happens handles the problem for me. I take it one meal at a time, and rarely eat higher carb more than one meal in row.

I tried a fat fast once because I was in a diet bet and had only a few days left to reach my goal. I didn't last an entire day on the fat fast. When it came time to eat my half a deviled egg I felt like I had gold in my hands. Precious, my Precious. LOL

This thread has been very helpful. Good to know that the anorexia thing is common.

[Charms09]

For me, I liken it to the description of alcohol in the AA Big Book (I used to be married to an alcoholic). Alcohol is "cunning, baffling and powerful." So is any addiction, including to carbs in their many forms.

This is how I view this WOE! :agree:

OK so I have not been on this Atkins/Paleo diet very long but I stopped eating bread & desserts a year ago (& fast foods several years ago)...I did however when I was having a particularly bad day (which was more often than I liked to admit) have a slice of cheese & a few crackers or a bowl of rice krispies with almond milk thinking that this stuff can not be so bad for me...but I was not loosing weight (not gaining either) but I never felt good or satisfied. I stayed depressed about my life & had a headache all the time & I was moody.

When I decided I had to be doing something wrong I started researching & after reading a mind mumbling amount if info I decided to give low carb eating a try...after a week I was feeling better so I did some more research into low carb eating & stumbled articles & blogs on how this way of life could actually make a difference in my weight loss & my health...so here I am sure that I have finally made the right choice! I love eating this way & I have stopped geting those emotional carb cravings!

Now I am know that I will be tempted sooner or later but I am stubborn if nothing else & I plan on looking that donut or begal or cake in the eye & saying "ok you carb infested bugger I know you want me to eat you but I kicked you out of my life & I don't walk down old paths a second time!" :D :p :D

Am I being niev...maybe...but I think mind set is the key & doubt is the downfall! :thup:

[MickiSue]

Nope. Not naive. Smart and wise. Because that's the trick, in a sentence. It's not willpower, it's having made a decision and sticking to it.

But it's also having a plan for when that bagel looks at you.

JustJo, one of my favorite people around here, has a whole list of ways to avoid going off plan. The one I like the best, when things get really touchy is this: she tells herself, Fine. I can have that tomorrow.

Of course, by the time tomorrow comes, the crisis has been averted.

[jaywood]

Nancy I like that comment about its not boredom but preference. I ate nearly the same food every day or at least every week before starting LC, with little variety. I would even always get the same take out's. But I never thought about it being boring, it was just carby goodness.

Now I think about what I eat, I think about the variety of what I eat. Now it can seem boring. But I think you are right, I am labeling the feeling incorrectly. I will try and focus on preference rather than an instant negative reaction.

Thank you.

[Nancy LC]

Way to go, Jaywood! I run into that too. I have to remind myself I'm not bored, I'm just not eating the food I really, really desire at the moment.

[bcbeauty]

Eat to live... don't live to eat.

[Ms Arielle]

An amazing old thread that sums up lc-sad life beautifullly.

[NoCarbMica]

Ok, I thought maybe those of us who have tackled this subject over and over could put together a thread of ideas and suggestions for the hoards who find they're bored with low carb eating. Clearly they just need inspiration and we got it for them, what say you?

First off let me say I have dietary restrictions that probably make most people's look very liberal. I can't eat anything with gluten period. I avoid dairy and legumes and all other grains, sugar, excesses starch. I loosely follow a "paleo" diet.

I've got quite a few recipes and what-not in my blog "Mostly Paleo".

This time of the year I like making stew and chili. I have a recipe book called "300 Stew Recipes". I also have Karen Barnaby's low carb cook book (amazing recipes!)

I'll post more later!


The biggest issue that I have experienced when eating LC is the "stall pattern" my body seems to go in when I am trying to lose weight? This generally leads me to go into patterns of losing interest in LC. Does anyone ever experience this too? Any tips?

[Verbena]

The biggest issue that I have experienced when eating LC is the "stall pattern" my body seems to go in when I am trying to lose weight? This generally leads me to go into patterns of losing interest in LC. Does anyone ever experience this too? Any tips?

I have been "stalled" for about 5 years. I lost 30# in about 15 months, and have been vacillating up and down in the same ~6# range ever since, with 10 to 15 pounds to go to get to "not overweight" on the BMI scale. However, when I started eating this way I also read a lot about the "whys", and so I find myself unable to consider eating bread and pasta and sweets again. My health is good, I hardly ever get sick, my occasional sore finger joints are just fine now, unless I slip up and eat grain. All that stuff doesn't just make me fat, it also negatively impacts my health, and, at 66, I don't feel that I want to go down that road. All this to say that my incentives to continue eating this way are way stronger than any minor inclination to eat bread or other carbs. And, on top of all that, I find the food to be fantastic! I love what I eat, and rather than feeling that the occasional slip is a "guilty pleasure" I actually am more annoyed that "whatever" isn't as good as what I might have had if I'd done my own cooking. I continue to read (here and elsewhere), so am constantly reminding myself of the health reasons I do this. I also collect recipes that sound appealing, and I am such a food geek that these encourage me LOL. My "stall", rather than discouraging me, encourages me to keep going.

[Ms Arielle]

The biggest issue that I have experienced when eating LC is the "stall pattern" my body seems to go in when I am trying to lose weight? This generally leads me to go into patterns of losing interest in LC. Does anyone ever experience this too? Any tips?

Perhaps you need to examine WHY you eat LC?

Is this weight loss?

Is this to live healthy?

Is this to fix a health problem???

There is no quick fix for any of these. IT takes dedication and a no-quit attitute to win.

When you hit a stall, the key is to NOT quit. YOur body is readjusting and trying to figure this out. Otherwise there are steps to take to kick thru this stall. Maybe up exercise. Maybe up protein. Maybe up fats, Maybe up carbs. You work it until you find the answer your body is happy with.

[NoCarbMica]

I have been "stalled" for about 5 years. I lost 30# in about 15 months, and have been vacillating up and down in the same ~6# range ever since, with 10 to 15 pounds to go to get to "not overweight" on the BMI scale. However, when I started eating this way I also read a lot about the "whys", and so I find myself unable to consider eating bread and pasta and sweets again. My health is good, I hardly ever get sick, my occasional sore finger joints are just fine now, unless I slip up and eat grain. All that stuff doesn't just make me fat, it also negatively impacts my health, and, at 66, I don't feel that I want to go down that road. All this to say that my incentives to continue eating this way are way stronger than any minor inclination to eat bread or other carbs. And, on top of all that, I find the food to be fantastic! I love what I eat, and rather than feeling that the occasional slip is a "guilty pleasure" I actually am more annoyed that "whatever" isn't as good as what I might have had if I'd done my own cooking. I continue to read (here and elsewhere), so am constantly reminding myself of the health reasons I do this. I also collect recipes that sound appealing, and I am such a food geek that these encourage me LOL. My "stall", rather than discouraging me, encourages me to keep going.

Congratulations on the 30#! That is quite the accomplishment regardless of how long you work towards your goal. I agree with the guilty pleasure and not having your cravings satisfied. There is really no substitute to a home cooked meal. I think that I just need to have better self discipline to try and continue down the right path and stick with it. Actually reminds me of a quote by Harry S. Truman..."In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first."

[NoCarbMica]

Perhaps you need to examine WHY you eat LC?

Is this weight loss?

Is this to live healthy?

Is this to fix a health problem???

There is no quick fix for any of these. IT takes dedication and a no-quit attitute to win.

When you hit a stall, the key is to NOT quit. YOur body is readjusting and trying to figure this out. Otherwise there are steps to take to kick thru this stall. Maybe up exercise. Maybe up protein. Maybe up fats, Maybe up carbs. You work it until you find the answer your body is happy with.

I am interested in this because of the healthy lifestyle. I am looking at it from blood sugar regulation and cholesterol reduction perspective. I will stick with it and put the right pieces of the puzzle together! Thanks for all of the support everyone here is always so helpful!