In the beginning, when I was trying to lose the weight I tried to stay around 30 carbs a day, or 10 carbs per meal. I don't think I counted the carbs from dairy though, just carbs from fruit and grains. I didn't do any grains or fruit in the initial phase. And I switched from using sugar to xylitol and stevia drops. And yes, the carb counts are from the labels. Just take the carb number on the package and subtract the fiber number to get your net carbs. So for instance, the bread I now buy is Milton's Whole Grain Plus from TJ's. 1 slice of bread is 16 carbs, but there's 5g of fiber, so the net carbs is 11g for one slice. I only eat a half slice so that's 5.5 carbs. For foods that don't have packages, like fruits and veggies, you can find the carb counts online. I basically eat all green veggies now and low sugar fruits. I stay away from high carb/sugar fruits and veggies like potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, bananas, watermelon, mango, pineapple. I don't really count the carbs now that I know what to eat that has the lowest carb counts. If I'm buying something new at the store then I'll look then and try to find the item with the lowest carbs.
Here's the recipe of the low carb cereal from my book. The serving size is a 1/2 cup and that's exactly what I eat. Oh, the cookbook is "1001 Low-Carb Recipes" by Dana Carpender and I highly recommend it. It has everything in there.
You can tweek the recipe to your liking. Like I use xylitol instead of Spenda, ground Chia seeds instead of flaxseed, coconut oil instead of canola oil, pumpkin seeds instead of sunflower seeds, all almonds instead of walnuts, and add 1 tsp of vanilla extract to the oil/molasses mix. Each 1/2 cup serving has 15g of carbs though, so I didn't start eating it till after I lost my weight. Now I eat it every day. A 1/2 cup serving has 11g of protein.
A store-bought cereal that is good and lower carb is TJ's High Fiber cereal. A 2/3 cup serving has 14g of carbs. It only has 3g of protein though which is why I switched to the homemade cereal. DS2 eats it now though and loves it.
Last edited by essnce629; 03-22-2012 at 04:01 AM.
Oh wow, thank you so much for your recipe (esp with the modifications), as well as the product suggestions! I will have to get that cookbook, too.
Do you have brand recommendations for the liquid stevia and xylitol? I am currently using truvia packets but don't want to open 100 of them to get to 1/2 cup of sugar. Also, do you have a good whey protein brand? I've tried in the past for smoothies, and honestly they were not palatable for me. Would love a tried and true, if possible!
Thanks again!
I got that cookbook a few months ago based on another post where essence recommended it. I do love it. There is a recipe in there for something they call "Joe's" which I made last night for dinner tonight and my kiddo LOVES it as do I. So easy:
-1 lb grass fed ground beef (TJ's is where we get that)
- 1 package frozen chopped spinich
- 1 onion, and about 2T of crushed garlic granuales (or 2-3 cloves)
- 5 eggs
- cook the beef, drain the grease, and then add in the chopped onion and garlic. Separately in microwave, cook the spinich and drain really well (press with spoon against a strainer to get out all the water). Add that to the meat/onion mixture. Then add 5 beaten eggs and stir together and cook for 5 minutes longer or so, on the stove top, until the egg "sets". We put a bit of parmesan on top of it, my DD uses ketchup. It is a great protein filled meal for us.
daisys' -- thanks so much for posting another recipe! that sounds great, i will give it a try.
have you found a lowcarb ketchup out there?
i'm also having a good time looking through low carb recipes on allrecipes.com.
Last edited by brittone2; 03-23-2012 at 01:28 PM.
Mama to DS-2004
DD-2006
and a new addition-ds born march 2010
In terms of yogurt, the other encouraging thing is that the carb count is based on the milk before the cultures are added. The bacterial cultures consume a good amount of the lactose (the natural sugars in milk, which accounts for a lot of the carbs in yogurt) and convert it to lactic acid in the yogurt. So the carb count on unsweetened yogurt is probably higher than the "effective" carb count, since a lot of the lactose is probably consumed by by the bacterial cultures. Just a fun tidbit
Mama to DS-2004
DD-2006
and a new addition-ds born march 2010
thanks all!
just wanted to share a blog i found, similar principles, great pics/recipes!
http://mariahealth.blogspot.com/
I use the Emerald Forest xylitol. Amazon has it for S&S so I get it that way.
http://www.amazon.com/Emerald-Forest...2720024&sr=1-3
I use the Sweet Leaf Vanilla Creme liquid stevia in my coffee (combined w/ xylitol). I put it in my plain yogurt as well. Whole Foods sells it, but it's way cheaper on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Vanilla-Flavor...2720059&sr=1-1
I also like the Whole Foods 365 brand of plain, unflavored liquid stevia and that's what I used before getting the Sweet Leaf brand.
For whey protein, which I use in the baking recipes in the 1001 Recipes cookbook, I use the french vanilla whey protein from Trader Joe's. It's the Designer Whey brand. This one:
http://www.amazon.com/DESIGNER-WHEY-...2724622&sr=1-1
But, for the homemade cereal, I use a non-whey plant based protein powder made with chia seeds. It's the Lifetime brand. I only use it for the cereal though, not in baking.
http://www.amazon.com/Lifetime-Basic...2724367&sr=8-1
The 1001 Recipes cookbook has a recipe for ketchup (and lots of BBQ sauce, steak sauce, etc recipes). I haven't tried it yet, but it looks easy. I like the Nature's Hollow brand of ketchup that's sweetened with xylitol. My Whole Foods sells it. Amazon has it too, but it's super expensive on there for some reason (it's $5 at WF's).
http://www.amazon.com/Natures-Hollow...2725053&sr=8-1