Alternative to Salad

[Neil]

Hi,

 

I,m on a low carb diet consisting that looks like this:

 

Morning: Fresh Fruit and yogurt

 

Mid Morning: Almonds

 

Lunch: Stir Fry or salad-(yuhh!)

 

Mid Afternoon: Fresh Fruit

 

Dinner: Salmon, stir fry or another salad (not again!)

 

I have just had lunch and I almost threw up after eating a few spoonfuls of salad. For about five minutes I just had to force it down shuting my mouth each time I was going to throw up. I can't go through this again. Is there any other vegetable meal that I could eat for lunch as an alternative to salad so I don't end up eating 2 stir fry meals one for lunch and then one for dinner?

 

If your wandering why I'm on a low carb diet that is becasue I am starting to gain some very small love handles and is very hard to get rid of.

 

thanks,

 

Neil

[kchenault]

You could grill some veggies like zucchinni or squash, onions, peppers, mushrooms, with some chicken, pork or beef with it. You know kabobs. Tomatoes are good as well. Be sure to marinate a little though.

[ZR440]

Eat some Cheetos, but beware of the cheese dust.

[jamis]

To be honest, your diet looks more low fat than low carb to me.

 

I've been on a modified form of the Atkins diet since last september and it's been working very well for me (down 45 pounds since then). Just for reference, the Atkins diet starts you out at 20g of carbs per day (not counting fiber) for the first two weeks, and you slowly increase your carb intake from there. Visit http://www.atkinscenter.com for more details on the diet itself.

 

When I was in the early stages, my typical menu would contain things like:

 

Breakfast:

 

- 2-3 egg omlette, cheese, peppers, onions, mushrooms,

 

- Atkins or other Low Carb meal replacement shake.

 

- Cold cuts, chicken/tuna salad with Low Carb tortillas (latortillafactory.com)

 

- Flax Hot cereal (3tbls flax meal, 3tbls whey protein isolate, 2/3 cup water, artifical sweetner/sugar free maple flavored syrup, cinnamon, pat of butter, 1-3tbls heavy cream)

 

Snacks:

 

- 1oz nuts

 

- slim jims,

 

- jerky (look for no sugar varieties)

 

- cheese,

 

- celery w/ cream cheese

 

Lunch:

 

- Various Salads (grilled chicken, ceasar),

 

- Rotissery Chicken (Boston Market, typically) with grean beans and/or creamed spinach and/or mixed steamed veggies.

 

- Chicken wings (unbreaded, regular or buffalo).

 

- Low Carb meal replacement shakes

 

- Cold cuts, chicken/tuna salad with Low Carb tortillas (latortillafactory.com)

 

Dinner:

 

- Various grilled, fried, broiled meats, fish, shellfish, poultry, pork, etc

 

- Various grilled, fried, broiled, steamed veggies such as broccoli, spinach, asparigus, colliflower, peppers, mushrooms, eggplant, collard greens, salad greens.

 

At least with the Atkins diet, the key is to also get enough (good) fats and protien to keep you satisfied/not hungry, and your blood sugar stable (to prevent cravings and loss of engery). While fats especially are calorie dense, it takes less to satisfy you and you will stay satisfied longer than a larger amount of calories from carbs.

 

Things you may want to avoid:

 

- Many fruits (apples, oranges, others high in sugar, etc)... Strawberries, blueberrues, raspberries are typically OK.

 

- Carrots, butternut squash, other high sugar veggies

 

- White/processed flours, sugars (honey, maple syrup, sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, etc).

 

Tomatos and onions should be used in moderation (sugar).

 

 

 

Keep in mind, I'm saying all this from a somewhat more strict/structured point of view when it comes to low carb diets. I also have extensive experience with low fat diets, as I lost 80lbs on one prior to starting the low carb diet (125lbs lost total thus far).

[monkeygirl]

My dad uses the Atkins diet a lot...so I know a bit about it.

 

Veggies like cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, asparagus, squash...they're all pretty good.

 

Peas, corn, and carrots are too high in carbs for Atkins-ing.

 

You can eat pretty much any meat you want, just be careful with the seasonings. If you really want a sandwich with lunch meat, my dad found a cool alternative to bread: use large leafs of lettuce and make a wrap. You can even spread mayonnaise on the lettuce, with a little effort. This could be a good alternative for your lunchtime salad!!

 

A good alternative for traditional flour-fried chicken: crush pork rhinds to a fine powder in a food-processor. Make the chicken moist with water or egg, then dip in the rhinds and fry in a skillet. There's a couple different flavors of pork rhinds, so you can mix it up a bit.

 

Potatoes are strictly off-limits because they're so high in carbs...for those that are jonesin' for a spuds fix, try mashing up cauliflower...it's an awesome substitute for mashed potatoes. Adding melted cheese gives it a little more flavor.

 

Fruit is a no-no. If you want some fruityness, try sugar-free fruit-flavored popsicles. Kemps brand is good if you can find it.

 

Splenda is by far THE BEST sugar replacement. You can bake with it, and 1 cup of splenda = 1 cup of granulated sugar. It doesn't taste exactly like sugar, but it's still good. Diet Rite cola sweetens with Splenda, unlike Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke.

 

If you're going to be on a low-carb diet, make sure you're taking vitamin supplements (weird stuff like fish oil, too) to make up for the ones you're missing by avoiding fruit, etc.

 

For the best info on this, buy the late Dr. Atkins' book. You can find it in most bookstores. Also check out the webiste: http://www.atkinscenter.com. You should be able to find everything you need about proper nutrition, carb limits and stages of the diet (as you progress through the diet, you get to eat more carbs per day, not just the 20 carb limit of the induction period).

 

There are a lot of good low-carb cookbooks out there besides Dr. Atkins' (I didn't really like his recipes, they were a little too gourmet for my taste) The Low-Carb Cookbook by Fran McCullough is one my family uses a lot...we've liked every recipe we ever tried. Good, down-to-earth recipes, as well as some gourmet foods.

 

The diet is pretty easy to understand. After all, I know this much about it, and I've never even been on it!!

 

Even if you're not doing the Atkins diet per se, a lot of the information I've given should still be fairly useful.

[Neil]

Well Matt Furey's diet on Combat Abs is what I am following and you basically elliminate starchy carbohydrates. Things like bread, cerals, pasta, rice, wheat and so on. You eat plenty of lean proteins, nuts, fruits and vegetables. Its called following natures law, where you only eat something that you can either:

 

Pluck from a tree

 

Get from the ground

 

Or get from an animal

 

of course there are exceptions to this with potatoes and kidney beans which contain to much starch.

 

I got so hungy this morning I had some oatmeal

 

I will continue with it, I just need a bit of variety thats all.

 

But I think the atkins diet is eliminating carbs where the diet I'm on simply cuts down on the starchy carbs rather than carbs that you get and need form fuits and vergetables.

[monkeygirl]

Do you eat meat on this diet? 'Cause you can get that from an animal

[Neil]

Yes of course you eat meat, if I couldn't I'd would probobly go mad!

 

I had a salad today. And boy was it nice! Why the sudden change?

 

Who would have known that a bit of virgin oil and vinegar could not only make the salad bearable but very enjoyable. I also had 2 cans of tuna with it (a great scource of protein). For tommorows salad I will do the same but I will have 2 chicken fillets instead of tuna.