Wellness

[expatgal]

I'm wanting to reduce my carbohydrate intake and would love to hear some tips from you. It's not that I eat a huge amount of carbs, but feel that I could drop a few pounds if I cut down. How do you avoid the "sandwich trap" at lunch? Do you avoid carbs at all during dinner? How do you eat eggs for breakfast without toast?

[willdob3]

First, eliminate processed foods. That takes care of many of them and, depending how you currently eat, it might be all you need to do.

Have you heard of forks? I use one to eat my eggs. lol... I admit that I did miss toast at first but I got over that & never even think of toast anymore.

It's been about 1.5 years since I had any grains at all. I feel much better w/o them and have no plans to ever add them back. I like feeling good too much to hurt myself by adding something back that caused problems for me.

I take my lunch to work. Anything that works for dinner works for lunch.

I eat vegetables with lunch and dinner. I never eat starchy carbs.

[wagirl]

I've been trying to reduce my carb intake too. I don't eat any white bread but whole grain bread, like Ezekieal bread, and only one slice a day. Same with pasta and rice. I either eat brown rice and whole grain pasta and only the recommended serving size of 1/2 cup. And white sugar is the biggest no-no for me and is the hardest for me as I'm a sweet lover. I use powdered stevia in my hot drinks. Start small and work up to it. Choose one thing to eliminate or reduce and then go on to another one. If you get rid of everything at once, it'll be too over whelming. Read the labels. I happen to love the whole grains like farrow and bulger and quinoa so not eating white rice is no big deal. There are carbs in fruits too, so don't go crazy. There are several books on reducing carbs as well as researching on google.

[gazelle77]

I have been doing the low carb, no sugar for about 10 years. I pretty much just eat low glycemic vegetables and lots of salmon. A little chicken or turkey breast. No bread, rice, grains or cereal. I do eat a half a large apple a day. But that is all in fruit. I do eat a small amount of raw sprouted nuts and seeds. You just fill up on vegetables and good protein. Most people think they have to eat carbs.. but, that is why people are so overweight these days. Too many carbs! They are addictive. So like sugar you have to get off of them like a drug. Unless you are an athlete or a farmer who is very very physical, no one needs sugar and carbs like people in America eat today. I have a physical and bloodwork up every year, and I am very healthy.

[ahoymate]

Carbohydrates are not all bad. Just the white flour, processed type. Examples of good carbs: grains, fruits, cereals. Whole grain breads etc. Don't lump all carbs in the same basket.

[violann]

I could happily sit and eat 6 pounds of bread and a pound of butter every day for the reast of my life, but happily, very low carb eating is so wonderful for me that I don't even think about bread any more. Protein rolled in a nice big dark green lettuce leaf with a dollop of Olive Oil mayo tastes JUST GREAT!

[focksie]

expatgal, I know it seems like a strange notion to eat eggs without toast when that's what we've been brought up on as the standard American breakfast (plus bacon). It's just a matter of trying it for a few days to get out of that bad habit. This morning I had scrambled eggs (one whole egg and two whites) with about 1/2 oz of low fat cheese mixed in. Then I spread some mashed avocado on top. Have that with a cup of green tea. It is filling until lunch time. If I get hungry mid morning, I'll have another cup of tea.

For lunch I'll mix canned salmon with diced onion or celery, mix in a tbsp of salad dressing and have a salad or vegetables with that. I also have chicken with sliced tomato and avocado salad. I have carbs at dinner.

[ChynnaBlue]

You might want to check out the Inspiralized blog. It's about using spiralized sliced vegetables like zucchini and yellow squash to make a pasta-like dish. I'm planning in picking up a spiral cutter this summer.

[RedTop]

My suggestion is the same as wagirl to take a slow approach to reducing carbs, and start with the ones you don't think you will miss so much, or that you can handle eating only once a week for example. I love potatoes, but through trial and error, learned I can live with having them only once a week--in any form. I absolutely love pasta, but can live with only having that once a month. I made a list of my favorite carbs and my least favorite carbs, and went from there to form my plan of cutting back. Sugar is still my # 1 issue.

I am not a fan of any sandwich outside of tuna, a hamburger, or a hot dog. I do like to eat tuna, ham, or chicken salad with a few Townhouse crackers. I am allergic to egg whites, so eggs are not on my plate unless they are an ingredient in something else on my plate. Good luck with finding the carb control that works for you.

[pixiedust]

Expatgal, this is something I'm trying to incorporate as well..it's not easy because I love carbs! I think the first step is to replace bad carbs with good carbs.

Instead of toast, go for oatmeal. Instead of rice, go for quinoa (high percentage of protein but it's still a grain). Also, have you heard of Ezekiel bread from Trader Joe's? It is sprouted grain bread with a high percentage of protein and no refined sugars. I've also started getting high protein high fiber "Fiber One" bread so when I do get the toast craving I can have "good for me" toast.

Also, for lunch, instead of a whole sandwich, can you go for half a sandwich, string cheese, fruit and maybe a protein smoothie? That way you cut carbs by half and up the protein.

I'd say instead of completely going cold turkey find ways to cut down without feeling deprived.