OT: Low Carb eating--What is there to eat?!

[SleepingUgly]

Admittedly I am not 100% committed to either low carb eating or to spending time figuring out what to eat or to preparing it... That said, I can't look at any more eggs or salads! And I need to have easy, quick snacks or food that I can grab and go. Is there such a thing? It's so easy to grab carbs. They are so grabable. Why are low carb food items so not grabable?! (Or is it grabbable? I know it's not a word, but with the vowel-consonant ending, I think I should be doubling that last consonant, no?)

Thanks for the opportunity to vent. I'm going to look for something to eat. Maybe some celery with almond butter...

[JohnBFisher]

SleepingUgly, as someone who continues to struggle with Type 2 Diabetes, I can assure you that (a) there are other snacks other than carbohydrate rich snacks, and (b) those carb rich snacks sure do taste wonderful. Know your struggle. Don't know if you like carrots. They are certainly an alternative. Snack on veggies is another option. Veggie Trays (like for a meeting or the like) is another option. And when you do have carbohydrates, go ahead and have something that will help slow down the absorption of the carborhydrates. For example, crackers and some cheese. Crackers and peanut butter. Of course, quantity is a big issue. A few crackers and cheese is better than a lot of crackers and cheese.

And trust me, I'm also preaching do as I say and not as I do! I could do a lot better.

But I will say this, I tend to pick healthier meals now (when eating out). And I feel better for it.

Of course, getting depressed with Type 2 Diabetes is not a good way to control it! Carbs make such great comfort food. Of course, the resulting blood glucose highs are *not* a good option. But when you feel miserable, it just doesn't seem to matter.

So, hang in there and vent away! We do understand!

[jamiswolf]

HI SU,
You might do some research on glycemic index. It's a way of rating carbs. Processed sugars being the worst and raw veggies being the best. The trick is to eat carbs that don't immediately trigger a rush of insulin. Were talking snacks. Find a good source of protein bars and keep some in your purse...but read the labels. Some have too much sugar. Fruit is always good too.

meals at home are easier since you can mix it up.
J

[Beckah54]

I haven't followed a low carb diet for a few years but if I remember correctly, I ate;

1. a lot of grilled chicken breast or turkey breast
2. green beans
3. tuna salad or just plain tuna if you prefer
4. salads with grilled chicken were a staple for lunch
5. most lean meats and green vegetables
6. salmon patties


Snacks;

6. deviled eggs are good for a quick snack
7. a few macadamia nuts occasionally
8. cheese sticks occasionally for snack

A great website for low carb recipes is http://genaw.com/lowcarb/index.html. Another one is http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/. The second website has forums for several different low carb diets.

I know this doesn't really answer your question about grab & go snacks but there are a lot of suggestions on the above websites. I cooked a lot on the weekends so I would always have something prepared to grab in a hurry. Good luck with low carbing!

EDIT: I hope it's okay to post website links....if not, PM me and I will gladly remove them.

[archangle]

Bacon!!!

Ham, turkey, chicken breast, turkey, cheese.

Individual slices of lunch meats can be a decent snack.

Microwave some little smokies sausages.

Some nuts. (Check the labels.)

Be sure to subtract out the fiber from your carb count.

It sounds weird, but Pringles can actually be a decent substitute for bread. I sometimes eat canned chicken breast spread on individual Pringles. The individual Pringles are sufficiently small that they make eating a low carb item without bread a little more palatable. I like the Lays Stax cheese flavored chips, but it's the same idea. Obviously, don't pig out on the chips, which is really easy to do.

Those really thin party crackers can also have a pretty small carb load per cracker. Be sure to load a lot of low carb stuff on each cracker.

Slice a hunk of cheese (I like colby jack) and let it warm up and snack on it slowly. Eat it all or throw it away before it goes bad.

[Lizistired]

Pork Rinds.

[macewa]

These are all good things. I went on a low carb food plan at the end of December and have lost 15 pounds. I don't like cooking just for me. Quick and easy: buy a baked chicken at the grocery,eat it during the week and then throw it in the pot and make soup adding some veggies and chicken broth. I do Whey protein shakes and I add stuff to it, like sugar free jello flavoring, orange flavored fiber and 3 cups of ice. I crush the ice and by the time I'm done, it's like a slush dessert. Yum! I also make an egg fritata (keish?) with eggs, sausage (hot and mild mixed) green chilles, onions. Cook sausage until it can be broken into small pieces. Mix it all up and cook it in the frying pan on top of the stove. No real work and when done, cut it in pieces like pizza. When hungry just pull out a slice. Good hot and cold. Sugar free jello for snacks. Cook up a bunch of chicken at the same time and freeze it so you have it for later. Wrap in individual pieces so when hungry, just take out a piece, a couple of minutes in the microwave and it's done. I also keep a few Atkins shakes in the frigerator. If you like beer, Select 55 is 55 calories and only 1.9 carbs. Can't beat that. Veggies? I found some smalll containers of carrots and brocolli approved by Weight Wathcers and pop one in the microwave, done in 3 minutes. Shrimp on green leaf lettuce with carrots, tomatoes, onions, whatever and you fave low carb dressing. Hope this helps.

I haven't followed a low carb diet for a few years but if I remember correctly, I ate;

1. a lot of grilled chicken breast or turkey breast
2. green beans
3. tuna salad or just plain tuna if you prefer
4. salads with grilled chicken were a staple for lunch
5. most lean meats and green vegetables
6. salmon patties


Snacks;

6. deviled eggs are good for a quick snack
7. a few macadamia nuts occasionally
8. cheese sticks occasionally for snack

A great website for low carb recipes is http://genaw.com/lowcarb/index.html. Another one is http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/. The second website has forums for several different low carb diets.

I know this doesn't really answer your question about grab & go snacks but there are a lot of suggestions on the above websites. I cooked a lot on the weekends so I would always have something prepared to grab in a hurry. Good luck with low curbing!

EDIT: I hope it's okay to post website links....if not, PM me and I will gladly remove them.

[-tim]

Spend more time around your skinny friends follow what and when they eat. Tell them what your doing so you don't creep them out and I expect they will be helpful. A friend of mine would order and ask for no rice. Ok, that makes sense. It got to the point where she would ask me what I want to order, then what I was going to order and then tell me what she was going to order and offer a suggestion since she knew I wasn't too interested in what she was having sometimes. She is also the type that said "its a ten minute walk to the Thai restaurant, we are walking there"

[BoomersRock]

How about Pan Fried Crickets? I bet they are low carb!
http://bites.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/ ... the-future

[howkim]

There's a great low carb forum on about.com. I know one of the mods - she's extremely knowledgeable and kind to new people who are asking basic questions. There are a LOT of resources attached to the forum.

[BlackSpinner]

Pork rinds, jerky, hard cheese, mixed nuts are my go to snacks.
I just finished reading Wheat Bellies. Going to go wheat free in slow stages. I was eating low carb until the bottom fell out of my world last year. Now the 15 lbs have crept back on.

[SleepingUgly]

Spend more time around your skinny friends follow what and when they eat. Tell them what your doing so you don't creep them out and I expect they will be helpful.

If I follow my friends around and explain that I'm trying to eat like them so I can be thinner, they'll hospitalize me. I am already thin, but wouldn't mind losing 2-4 pounds just to get into some of my clothes more comfortably. Also, I used to be able to be thin with no effort, and now I'm finding that I can't stay at the weight I desire unless I watch carbs. So I'm having to keep a semi-low-carb diet in order to stay around my desired weight. It appears that even my former low/no fat pretzels/popcorn every night are too much for my aging body.

[Janknitz]

I have some snacks like nuts, cheese, hard boiled eggs, and my favorite--a spoonful of almond butter, but guess what. I almost never need/want a snack anymore! I'm just not hungry. I eat a hearty breakfast and often don't want lunch until 2 or 3 pm. After dinner I'm quite comfortable and only rarely want something "extra"--usually a square of high cacao chocolate if anything.

My favorite "to go" meal is a protein powder smoothie. My blender base is the same size as a regular canning jar. I just whizz up a smoothie right in the jar, put a lid on the jar (they also make plastic shakers that will fit standard blenders) and I'm good to go.

Sometimes I make a batch of low carb granola and pack it along to go with my smoothie.

I no longer eat any grains, and that has made a huge difference in my hunger and cravings. Grains, especially wheat, trigger addiction like responses in your brain. Cutting them out was easy because I was already low carb, and it really made life much easier.

[xenablue]

There are heaps of low-carb foods you can eat - some you may not have even heard of.

I often make waffles or pancakes using an amazing product called CarbQuik, or Carbalose flour. This product contains lots of inulin (no.. not inSulin) which means ultra-low carbs, ultra-high fibre. You can purchase some great other low-carb products from the same website as you buy the CarbQuik from - http://www.netrition.com. Shipping is $4.95 no matter how much you buy.

For a portable snack I eat Nature Valley Roasted Nut Crunch bars - or raw veggies, string cheese, BabyBel cheese rounds, nuts.

I make a killer mac 'n cheese using Dreamfields Pasta (specially coated so the carbs are pretty much non-existent, but you have to see if it works for YOU). There are recipes for all their pasta on the dreamfieldsfood.com site. I use DF pasta a LOT.

Lots of suggestions - you just have to wade through them all to find foods you like to eat.

cheers,
xena

[xenablue]

Pork Rinds.

I food process pork rinds to coat my jalapeno/cheese stuffed chicken breasts. Once they're baked you can't even tell it's pork rinds. YUM!

xena