home Forums Health & Fitness If you can't eat carbs, what can you eat?

Viewing 12 reply threads
  • Author
    Posts
    • #3465
      Jazzy
      Participant

      I would like to alter my diet because I know that I eat far too many carbs but I’m not sure what I should be eating instead? I have a book about diabetes but it’s only confusing me more. Can anyone here please explain it in simple terms for me? Thanks if you can 🙂

    • #3466
      finn
      Participant

      You need some form of carbs as that is what your body uses to convert to energy.
      However, i’m unsure of what foods are ‘good’ carbs vs ‘bad’ carbs…if such thing exists. Perhaps swapping white potatoes for sweet potatoes, and smaller portions of carbs? I feel your pain… I am all about the bread/pasta/pastry lol.

    • #3467
      Kelly
      Participant

      If you search for Low GI or Ketogenic diets you’ll find a list of acceptable carbs. Long story short it’s nutritionally dense, non starchy veg. Leafy greens, brassicas, aubergines, courgettes, that sort of thing. No potatoes, peas or corn. Or bread or pasta. Or delicious things in general, really.

    • #3468
      debby
      Participant

      I leave out the potatoes, rice, bread and pasta and have an extra green vegetable. It is quite easy to cope in restaurants with this strategy. Reject anything with pastry. Breakfast is a bit harder – I have eggs on spinach (fresh from the garden isn’t sloppy), or have yoghurt, nuts and fruit.
      Lunch – hummus and carrot/cucumber sticks is a favourite, smoked mackerel pate, (smoked mackerel mushed up with yoghurt), and salad is good.
      The sugar reduction thing I cope with by rejecting anything with sugar as a main ingredient, so no jam, cakes or sweets, but I don’t fuss if a made up dish has a spoonful of the white stuff in it.

      Good luck, its a big change to make.

    • #3469
      cammy
      Participant

      Strictly speaking, the human body doesn’t need carbohydrates, but after you’ve been eating a mainly carbohydrate diet for years, your body gets used to that, and sends you signals that it wants you to keep eating them.

      I think that a first step is to try whole grains instead of refined grains; so substitute brown rice in place of white rice, wholemeal bread in place of white bread, wholemeal pasta in place of ordinary pasta. The idea is to increase your fibre intake, which slows down the rate at which the starches are converted into sugars, and the rate at which your body absorbs the sugars.

      Likewise, leave the skins on potatoes, carrots, turnips and other root veg, and eat more raw foods, especially green leafy veg, like celery, cabbage and young spinach and chard.

    • #3484
      emma
      Participant

      Try substituting quinoa for rice, eat avocado, chia seeds to help you feel full. Chia seed ‘jam’ is tasty and useful, just defrost a bag of frozen berries mixed with chia seeds to absorb the moisture. The chia forms a kind of jelly which binds the fruit together, the jam can be eaten with yoghurt or breakfast ‘cereals’ (I make quinoa or buckwheat porridge)

      There are lots of Auto Immune Protocol and Keto recipes on Pinterest, which should be useful.

      I use sorghum pasta and the like to avoid the more common carbs, which I can’t eat.

      Don’t make smoothies etc but eat the whole fruits instead.

      Eat plenty of protein.

    • #3486
      Jazzy
      Participant

      Thanks everyone 🙂 I shall try to, ahem, digest all the advice and make myself a more sensible shopping list for next week’s food shop. I have a few things that I definitely can’t eat because I know they make me ill (sadly, raw fruit and veg, all brassicas and most nuts and seeds are out of bounds 🙁 but I’ll start trying to swap to wholegrains and more fibrous veg, even if I have to cook it in order to digest it properly and start to slowly introduce more protein and foods I’ve not tried before. I will also go back to sugar free (as in added sugar) as much as possible because that definitely helped me when I tried it before. My husband does the Michael Mosley 5:2 diet but it makes me poorly, which is annoying. Wish me luck please!!

    • #3487
      ell
      Participant

      Good luck! If you go down the route if cutting out carbs then you may feel awful as your body does a de-tox. Keto flu it’s called apparently.

      I’ve found that if you weigh out portions of the carby stuff (such as rice) to the recommended amount per person on the back of the bag its a lot less than you think.

    • #3488
      walker
      Participant

      Can you eat coconut? If so have a look for coconut flour recipes, be warned it doesn’t work like any other kind of flour, it soaks up liquid.

      I’m not sure about the carbs but I find spelt flour much easier to digest than modern wheat and I’m pretty sure that it is something to do with the sugars.

    • #3489
      anne
      Participant

      I’ve been on a keto diet for about 6 weeks and its is actually quite easy after the initial cravings for sugar stop. For breakfast I normally have coconut and linseed Porridge with some peanut butter or Omlette.
      Lunch Tuna mayo, egg mayo, grilled chicken with salad.
      Dinners, just had meatballs with cauliflower rice, keto pizza, carbonara with courgette noodles, burgers with celeriac fries, thai curries, salmon with broccoli and green beans.
      Snacks – Olives, cheese, pork scratchings, hard boiled eggs, sugar free Jelly
      Diet doctor website is great for inspiration and recipes.
      I’ve lost a lot of weight, very quickly and my skin is a lot better.

    • #3490
      Stephanie
      Participant

      I have been low carb for nearly two years, and once you get over the first month its easy. You are never hungry but it does take a bit of planning to start, and it depends how low carb you want to go and just forget low fat.
      Any meat, check the cereal content of sausages. I eat veggy burgers (which are about 4.8grams), Green leaved veg, Cheese, Eggs, Olive oil, Fish
      Nuts, but some have more carbs than others and snacking on them too much will increase your calories
      Very little fruit, blueberries, no apples oranges, fruit juice. If you are diabetic these will spike you quickly. I do use a banana instead of flour for a pancake.
      85% chocolate, small bars are from Aldi are the lowest carb I have found.
      If you want tough love, and American FB page- https://www.facebook.com/groups/1752321458323821/
      And if you do not know why too many carbs are bad for you checkout – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLoZM7R3uYM

    • #3491
      rob
      Participant

      I have also been on the keto diet for 6 weeks and I can assure you the way of eating is not dull and boring. If you go on Facebook, join the Keto UK Community forum and you’ll get loads of info, recipes and support. I have lost 20lbs (9lbs of that was initial water weight from giving up most of my carbs) and I can honestly say that I never feel hungry… and I’m a former BIG eater! I feel fantastic.

    • #3492
      Ashley
      Participant

      Of course you can and should eat carbs, just not the highly refined processed type like white bread,biscuits pastries etc. Good sources of carbs and fibre are muslei without added sugar, oatcakes, rye crispbread good quality bread in moderation. Plain rich tea biscuits are ok too. Small helpings of potato or beans are good sources . For protein I go for avocado,eggs,fish. a little dark chocolate. Plenty fruit and veg for fibre makes for a balanced diet.

Viewing 12 reply threads
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

Main Menu