Wanting to get some buddies together who are on low-carb/atkins style diets. Specifically wanting to trade tested recipes and useful first hand advice and info. I just finished induction and am hanging in there around 30 carbs a day.

I'm in. I'm always interested in sharing ideas about food and cooking stuff. Take a look at the kind of stuff that got my journey going. There are some links to thumbnails of mostly stirfry type stuff that got me going. A lot of hits and misses but I had fun. I still eat about the same but have removed most dairy from my eating, also all sweeteners. srcoll down a bit for links.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...738#post9055738

Good to hear. I suspected many Asian foods would be supreme on this type of diet. Other than cornstarch, most everything is no carb or extremely low carb. Avoiding sweet sauces, it is usually soy sauce, spices, veg, and meat only. I will also try some stir fry. Got ingredients for Hot and Sour soup and will be posting results on my twitter journal (and here if you find them useful). Also want to do pepper steak, chicken and broccoli, and some spring rolls (3 carbs per wrapper, so packed really full with chicken, onions, cabbage).

I also will be trying shiitaki noodles in a Chow Mein/Yakisoba recipe I loved before the diet to see if it is a halfway decent replacement for egg noodles.

Anyway, will check out your link. Thanks again.

Sounds good FM! Just checked your twitter link, cool!. I think I might post some stuff here with recipes and techniques. So far I've just posted the plated result, there's some things I've been experimenting with that seem to work, esp, flax meal as thickener in stirfry's - wich is all I've been eating for about the last 2 months ha! Looking for a good source of shirataki noodle - adds bulk to stirfry - also learning to cook down the vegetables less for more water bulk esp. shredded cabbage - ps, I've got a good technique for that now too I think, for me anyway

Later on

I posted most of the food experimentation so far on a new thread in journals on this site:
My Journal
It leaves out the extra rambling I do on my twitter, as my twitter is more of a real diary for myself to help me catch patterns and problems in my diet as I go forward, as well as a cathartic stress relief to help motivate myself.

Thanks again, as this is what I was looking for from my post. Rather than reinvent the wheel by trying all the exotic combinations and "sub'd recipes" to find out they taste horrid (already found out from experience that "cheese chips" and Atkins website "chicken strips" are horrible IMO), I could see what others have tried and tested. Seeing what peoples' go-to low-carb "comfort foods" are will help me save money and time on experimenting with it all myself.

I will still experiment and post my results in my journal on here, but mainly for other newbies, as well as long-term dieters to get some idea of what are truly good "substitute" recipes and other good options for meals. If I was having to eat grilled chicken breast everyday, or plain tuna, I would fail within a week. Also, if I stuck to the stupid idea that Almond flour can sub normal flour with little change to the dish, I would be quite aggrevated with my current recipe results.

As for the noodles, I paid $2 a bag from a large Vietname/Asian grocery store in the "Vietnam-town" of Houston. They also have the equivalent of a Sam's Club where you pay under $10 for a membership to avoid paying $3 extra every visit. My dad gets pretty cheap beef loin from there. I must check if they sell bulk Shiitaki noodles.

What are you paying for them now?

Also, what city you near? I may be able to google for something like they have in Houston.

I don't usually eat breakfast but I'm going on a kiteboarding safari today https://www.facebook.com/Mille-Lacs...62762523877671/ Heading up and dawn to get some riding in before the race starts. Usually I"ve been skipping a meal a breakfast and just downing a big Coffatty. I thought I'd carb up a bit (fasted yesterday for 23.99 hours and give my body somthing to do one the road (digest and build glycogen?)

Noodles, I've been getting this double bag (14oz) for about $2.50 - normal size bags I can find around town in grocery stores for at little as $1.39 (7-8 oz) Cottonpal on this board has a good distrubuter that will ship cases at a good price. PM her and I'm sure she'll share, I can't remember the site but it has something to do with Konjac....

So here's breakfast at O'dark thirty:

Noodles, ginger, onion, red bell pepper (love the ones that are not perfect - didn't use all of it either), Gai Lan, Curry paste, cucumber, lime, also added liquid aminos, ACV, cooked in a couple ounces of left over fat rendered from pork ribs (don't waste!)



Served over some lettuce and I sliced some of the cucumber up to make it look more like I'm trying to impress someone ha! Colors help a little. Verdict: Good Food! Well being=1, Hunger=0

Hope it goes well. Thanks for the noodle info. I thought I was getting a good deal, but sounds like even in small quantities, you are paying less than me. I will reach out to them about the distributor. Thanks for that.

I'm starting to understand why Asians seem to live the longest and most are fairly thin. Asian food is the natural gravitation of a low carber, sans the excess rice and noodles. Then again, the shiitaki noodles aren't a "specialty food" for them, so they must use them as well.

I tried a Hot and Sour soup recipe, but it called for a lot of cornstarch (would be 7 carbs per serving just for the cornstarch). I will give that to my parents, as I just wanted to taste it to see how good the base recipe is. I always like to try the original recipe first to see just how good it it before altering it. I then have something to compare my altered versions to. I want to kick every person alive that heavily modifies a posted recipe and then make even one complaint about texture, taste, etc.

I will try it again with a little xantham gum and leave it on the stove more to reduce it a bit. If it turns out well, I will post the recipe and some pics. I realized the main ingredients are chicken broth (great low carb base), shiitaki mushrooms and others (almost no carbs if any), tofu (almost no carbs and 10g protein per 1/2 cup), pork loin (no carbs and high protein), as well as miscellaneous low/no carb sauces and oils.

Will try one doubling or tripling tofu and pork, as it could be a really high protein, low carb meal if done right.

Sounds like wins!

Couple things, I think shirataki noodle and blocks are kind of speciality items, even for folks that might have every day exposure to them. They are hard to find and don't even come close to the amount of fresh and dried noodle that I see in store.

I think they are a Japanese invention and also called "Diet Noodle" so they have a purpose. They have no nutritional value other than if you think fiber is a nutrient

Mainly I use them because I can tolerate the texture and they add bulk to my meal. Not sure if they are any good for you in the long run tho.

Happy Cooking!

ps, planing on making some corned beef and cabbage soon, that should be pretty low carb!

pps, you mentioned Xanthan gum, I have some and have had mixed results. It's pretty interesting stuff. There are some people on this board that use Psyllium Powder for thickening or even just eating for fiber - That's some interesting stuff to, you should get a sample of it it's fairly cheap and WEIRD!

ppps, I'm heading to the market today and will take a picture of the fresh mushroom section if I rememenber. BTW, nice job on the soup, just looked on you twitter blog.

Actually, looking at the noodles I picked up at the Asian Market, they are called Tofu Shirataki, and actually are just made up of soybeans and yams. 1 net carb per bag. The Miracle Noodles seem to be made of Konjac flour. Not sure what that is about, but need to try them to see if they taste the same, worse, or better.

Let me know about the cornbeef and cabbage. I have never had it, but may save it for going out to an Irish Pub on St Patty's Day so I can pretend I am splurging trying an authentic Irish dish/pub food, but actually still staying low carb. May have to find a bar that serves Michelob Ultra or Budweiser Select though.

BTW, I do have Psyllium Powder, but thought I would give Xanthan gum a shot since a lot of low carb recipes use it and it is preferred for anything that will be frozen, as it doesn't lose its thickening properties when frozen like cornstarch, but didn't know Psyllium Powders reaction to freezing. I just did some research and it appears it is used in frozen desserts, so now I know.

Thanks again for the info and good luck with your cooking.

You guys are amazing. I wish I liked cooking.
20 years of cooking for kids has wrung me dry.
My delight in this woe is how easy it to grill a pork steak and throw a handful of spinach/kale/chard on the side. Or bake 12 chicken thighs and have lunch for a week! Boring, I know

... I've looked and lurked at your journal and stir fries, thud, and I can imagine how great those breakfast stir fries are...I may eventually be envious enough to try them.

So I don't have recipes to share, but I'm cheering you both on!

duplicate post ... never done that before

I didn't know about the freezing part either but I do know if you freeze shirataki they shrivel up ha! They are mainly water and freezing breaks them down. The "tofu" ones are likely House Brand shirataki - read the label again, I think they have 1 NC per serving, ~2 servings per bag sneaky!

The tofu noodles I use once and a while they are excellent and more palatable for some. Also the "yam" is the yam or Devil's Tounge or ... lots of names, same disgusting texture and lack of flavor but I love them!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konjac

Didn't go to the market last weekend but did remember I put together some pictures from my go to place. This place also has a large farmer market in the summer. Talk about crazy place to be, so fun!

http://downhaul.com/lowcarb/sunfoods

Here's some fresh mushrooms and shoots...

Nothing wrong with baked chicken. I fall back on the rotisserie chickens from the grocery store when I am burned out on cooking.

I think I'm focusing on the cooking and testing aspect as I don't see myself going back to eating the foods I used to. I will eat things I used to, but much more infrequent and spread out over time. If I can make good go-to recipes that are tasty and low carb, I can be quite happy living a fairly low carb lifestyle.

Once I figure out all the goods and bads and perfect the recipes, I will post them so everyone can try them. Right now, I am really still just dabbling and my recipes are far from refined.

Those are the noodles I have, and thanks for taking the time to post the picture of your store. That is a nice selection. Thanks again.