O.K. folks,

Our new local shopping database is open, with a section for U.K. listings of stores, supermarket chains and restaurants.

Help your fellow country folks find the secret low-carb spots you know about in a few weeks we may be surprised to find locations in your town that you didn't know about, suppleid by others who want to share the information.

The database currently has all Canadian listings from before, but now it's open for submission of entreis for any country.

So please add all your entreis, and low-carbers in your area will be grateful.

To browse and add entreis, click:

http://www.lowcarb.ca/store/local_shopping.html

I only added province/state information for Canada & U.S. If any of our members would like us to add the same regional data for their country, just send me the info on official regions in your country and I'll add it asap.

Wa'il

Well done Wa'il, good idea. Practical, and sure to help people.

Glad you liked it Andy, I hope mmembers will start entering the data for stores, restaurants, supermarkets in their cities. Canada is well covered so far, Australia is the only other country that has any entry so far

What stores in the U.K. can people find things like flax seed, essential fatty oils, stevia, or any products that maybe of interest to low-carbers in the U.K.? If anyone has any information, please use the link above to enter the information, this should encourage others to help and post more details.

Wa'il

In the UK, this kind of product is generally sold by "Health Food" Shops, which are usually run by vegetarians and vegans, so their focus is not the same as ours. Products are often a little pricey, and there is a tendency for such shops to concentrate on organic foods. On the plus side, "organic" foods have to pass stringest tests to retain their status.

It is a little difficult to find specific low-carb products in the UK.

I searched high and low for macademia nuts and quite surprisingly found them in one of the larger Sainsbury's Supermarket Chainstores.

Holland & Barratt (a Health Food Store) has Pure Soya Protein Isolate Powder and Whey Protein in various different flavours.

At £22 I found the Whey Protein very expensive but they do have regular sales and I got the same pack for £10 recently. It tastes pretty good too mixed in just plain water. The expiry date is 2004 - I'm sure mine will be gone long before. At 2.2g carb per serving it is good to have in my cupboard.

Holland and Barratt also have a very large selection of nuts albeit NOT macademia nuts

I hope this helps. I have posted it (slightly incomplete as to phone number and precise address) in the UK lowcarb site Wail mentioned above.

Take care.

Thanks for the entreis Fiona, they're now available on line.

I'm sure things will get easier as the demand increase from low-carbers.

Wa'il

Hi Wa'l

My pleasure. You've altered my thinking now. From now on I will be shopping not just for myself but for any would-be/wannabe/ struggling UK low-carbers too !

And when I get a chance I'll get together a list of UK provinces for you to enter on that site. One of the reasons I found it difficult to put in an address was 'cos I could not assign it to a region.

Sainsbury's, Safeway, Iceland are thre chainstores fairly evenly spread throughout the UK but others are limited to local regions.

Anyway signing off now so I can go collect info.
Take care.

Hi Tamarian

As promised full list of UK provinces / districts ... call it what u like. As there will be some entries that apply to the whole country e.g. Sainsbury I put in a Countrywide at the beginning but I'll leave it to you for what goes on the board.
UK Counties

Countrywide
Alderney
County Antrim
County Armagh
Avon

Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Borders
Buckshire

Cambridgeshire
Central
Cheshire
Cleveland
Clwyd
Cornwall
Cumbria

Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
County Down
Dumfries and Galloway
County Durham
Dyfed

Essex
Co Fermanagh
Fife
Glamorgan – Mid
Glamorgan – South
Glamorgan – West
Gloucester
Guernsey
Gwent
Gwynedd
Hampshire
Hereford & Worcestershire
Hertfordshire
Highlands
Humberside
Isle of Man
Isle of Wight
Jersey
Kent
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincshire
Greater London
County Londonderry
Lothian
Greather Manchester
Merseyside
Norfolk
Northamptonshire
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire
Orkney
Oxfordshire
Powys
Shropshire
Sark
Shetland
Somerset
Staffordshire
Strathclyde
Suffolk
Surrey
Sussex – East
Sussex – West
Tayside
Tyne & Wear
County Tyrone
Warwickshire
Western Isles
West Midlands
Wiltshire
Yorkshire – North
Yorkshire – South
Yorkshire – West

Take care.

Thanks Fiona, I really appreciate it.

I couldn't tell which ones are the country wide regions. Would you please cut and paste those into a reply. I feel embarressed, as my first 6 years in life where in the U.K. I should know better!

Wa'il

Hi Tamarian

It's okay. I feel exactly the same when I look at the US regions.

I've confused you. Only one Countrywide. Right at the top. The rest are all single regions of the UK. So for example if there is a store that isn't limited to a particular region (say Sainsburys) then that could be entered in the Countrywide. There are only a handfull of stores that are countrywide.

<I should know better! > U r being too hard on yourself. Come on. U do a wonderful job on the board from what I've seen. Nobody knows everything.

It's great that there is a collection of worldwide information. It means I don't have to worry wherever I go I just have to logon to find out. I'm glad to do my teeny weeny bit to help.

Take care.

a great selection to be found at:

www.thelowcarbshop.co.uk

One specific recommendation for you: Bacon sold at Tesco in Britain (a countrywide chain) sold in their "Value" range and described as "Cooking Bacon" (not sure what other kind there is!) which is sold at 99p for 450g.

99p for 450g is good value Andy. Must admit I don't often make the effort to go to my local Tesco for the simple reason that I have to take a bus there and struggling back on the bus loaded with bags just doesn't appeal.
I could check out their website. Thanks.

Not only good value, but good quality too.

Contents are like a lucky dip, though - some smoked, some not; some streaky, some bacon steaks. Appears to be a collection of offcuts from many sources, but taste always guaranteed. Sorry about your problems of access. We can walk to our branch, but in our last 3 houses had the problems you describe, so we understand. There are other bargains too.

When I first moved here there was a TESCO, WOOLWORTHS, a SAINSBURY and a HALIFAX BS and a LLOYDS - wow hadn't realised myself so many closures. Anyway Tesco opened a huge big superstore (a bus ride away) and closed the little branch. Of course more people started going to the superstore and one by one all the others moved away. Then an ICELAND opened. That's pretty good and I can walk there and back everyday so I don't need to carry bags of stuff. And I get special discounts on the day so it works out pretty okay.

It has sent me into a bit of a slump as far as exploring other options is concerned. Thanks for opening my eyes to that.

{can walk to our branch} Don't get too complacent. Things change - she says pessimistically

Take care