# LCHF Diet First Day - Comments?



## Cowboy Bob (Jan 8, 2016)

So, I've started my LC diet today. Actually found it's been fairly easy, assuming I've heading in the right direction.

Breakfast - Coffee no sugar with almond milk, Burgen soya & linseed toast (had this loads before diagnosis, always loved it) with a smattering of Whole Earth peanut butter (the 7.5g/100g carb one) - two slices

Work arrival - Large costa coffee no sugar with soya milk (not as nice as the almond but it'll do)

Lunch - M&S prepared salad with nuts & pulses and a lovely pesto dressing, two individually wrapped cheeses and a bag of pork scratchings (delicious, nicer than the pasta salad I'd have before diagnosis). M&S diet blood orange drink to wash it down with (no real oranges were hurt in its production)

Tea - Salmon, broccoli, carrots and a small helping of chilli cous-cous followed by another coffee with almond milk

Later on - Either a wee dram of Talisker or a Wood's rum and Coke zero

Comments? Is this the kind of thing I should be going for? Anything that's ringing alarm bells with anyone?

Edit : Typo


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## Lynn Davies (Jan 8, 2016)

Looks like you are on the right track *clap*

The only thing I would pick up on is the pork scratching. Depending on the size of the bag they're a major calorie hit. Pork crunch is much lower and half a bag s very filling. Mind you if you don't need to loose weight then you should be ok. Even LCHF calories do count. Read the labels and compare.


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## Cowboy Bob (Jan 8, 2016)

Thanks for the comments. Weight isn't a problem. I'm only a few pounds overweight for my height. I'm really only looking at BG levels not weight loss for this diet, and I really needed something that was going to fill me up for the day and keep me going. I have a long working day and it's 13 hours between breakfast and tea for me :-(


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## Lynn Davies (Jan 8, 2016)

Blooming 'eck Bob! That's a long day.

Do you have time in the morning for a cooked breakfast? Scrambled egg on burgen toast would be a great start to the day. The fat in the eggs will keep you feeling full longer. You will also feel more full from having a hot meal.


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## AlisonM (Jan 8, 2016)

@Cowboy Bob. Sounds to me as though you have it spot on and that actually sounds a attractive set of menus to me. Pork scratchings aren't my thing, but everyone needs a wee treat here and there, and you were a good boy otherwise. Well done.


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## Lynn Davies (Jan 8, 2016)

Macadamia nuts are low in carbs and make a great snack.


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## Cowboy Bob (Jan 8, 2016)

Lynn Davies said:


> Blooming 'eck Bob! That's a long day.
> 
> Do you have time in the morning for a cooked breakfast? Scrambled egg on burgen toast would be a great start to the day. The fat in the eggs will keep you feeling full longer. You will also feel more full from having a hot meal.



Yep it is a long day, I live in Ely on the Norfolk border and commute to London every day. Up at 5:50am and out the house by 6:15am, back home at 7:15pm. On the plus side, my 4 bedroom house cost me about the same as a broom cupboard would in London. I do sleep on the train, but unfortunately I can't cook scrambled eggs on it. Well I could on my camping stove, but I suspect the other passengers would be less than happy  The other problem I have is that I work in the West End and if I could eat clothes I'd be laughing, but unfortunately as far as supermarkets go M&S Food is it. As far as other eateries go all there is are sandwich shops, pubs and takeaways where I have no idea what's in the food even if it might be low carb. There are no cooking facilities in my office, only a canteen that seems to only serve 100% carbs. I'd love to bring stuff from home to reheat, but unfortunately there's not option for that.

I'll look into an alternative for the scratchings. I'm not a fan of raw nuts. Roast and salted are fine though, got some salted roast almonds in the cupboard, maybe take those in tomorrow. Meanwhile, I'll look out for the pork crunch.


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## AlisonM (Jan 8, 2016)

If you get yourself a food flask, you'd be able to take hot (or cold) food from home each day. I used to do that with soups and stew, or salads. 

Ely is one of my favourite places.


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## AlisonM (Jan 8, 2016)

I've done a quick Google, and there's a chain called Leon (there's one on Regent St) that looks as though it offers good food that 'may' have some options for you. I can't tell you what they're like because I'd never heard of them till that search, but the menu pics look good enough that I wish we had one here so I could try it. Might worth a look if it's not too far.


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## Cowboy Bob (Jan 8, 2016)

I've seen the Leon but never been in. Looks good, thanks. Was always a Wasabi or Itsu man before diagnosis, but that's definitely out now as it's mostly rice. I'll miss it though :-(


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## AlisonM (Jan 8, 2016)

Yes, rice is a rare treat these days but we do have a sort of substitute though, cauliflower rice. I quite like it, but the cauli must be really fresh for it to work properly.


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## Lynn Davies (Jan 8, 2016)

I made chicken cauliflower fried rice last night with a slack handful of peas and carrots and some garlic. Finished off with soy sauce. It was yummmm


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## trophywench (Jan 8, 2016)

Well - I saw your hours and thought Ah - sounds like he commutes!  LOL  I never had to commute into London - when we went to HO (nearest Tube - Bank) they always put you up in eg The Bonnington etc on Southampton Row.  Or the other cattle sheds near the British Museum and Congress House (All dumps - but easy to get into work!)  But working in Birmingham and living in Kidderminster, most of my working life was at least the same length of work day.

Way back when we just had the choice of Woolworths for sandwiches, who also sold take-away soup, 100%  fine if you liked Heinz tomato, otherwise not.  They used medium sliced white bread - and when I was diagnosed the hospital doc actually went out and bought such a loaf, to weigh a slice, to calculate my lunch carbs, in order to prescribe the correct daily dose of insulin for me!

You have absolutely NO idea how easy it is for you lot these days!!!  LOL


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## Cowboy Bob (Jan 8, 2016)

I'm old enough to remember Woolie's sandwiches and I shudder at the thought. Plastic cheese in anaemic white bread. Glad that things have changed and I feel your pain.

Also, just browsing through the Leon website and the menu has a tick symbol against dishes that have a light glycemic load. I'm guessing that this isn't quite the same as low carb as a couple have flatbreads or brown rice served with them. Does this mean it's automatically safe for my BG, or do I still have to be careful?


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## DeusXM (Jan 8, 2016)

Umm...slices of bread, orange juice and cous-cous?

I don't want to dishearten you but that doesn't sound very low-carb to me!

Still, that doesn't matter, depending on your goal. If your goal is better blood sugar levels, then what does your meter say?

If your goal is weight-loss...then you're going to have to cut back further - although there's no hard and fast figures, generally you need less than 30g a day to ensure you go into ketosis and your breakfast already exceeds that.

Interesting point - if I recall correctly, Tesco Value peanut butter has something like just 5g of carbs per 100g. So despite it having added sugar, the value version is actually a healthier (and cheaper) option than the natural organic one! My guess is the value version probably contains a higher oil to nut ratio.


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## Cowboy Bob (Jan 8, 2016)

It was soya and linseed bread and a diet fizzy water drink with orange flavouring, both low(ish) carb. The cous-cous was a bit of an indulgence, but I only had a small portion. The missus had more cous-cous and I had more broccoli. Still new to this game, so I'm sure I'll make mistakes


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## KookyCat (Jan 9, 2016)

Looks like a nice menu there Cowboy Bob.  You must let us know if you get some reduction in BG readings as a result.  On the glycemic load front, it isn't a green light exactly, you'll still need to see how you react, but most people find foods that digest more slowly work better for blood sugar control (well actually they can be aright pain in the posterior with insulin injections but ignore that!).  The basic principle is this.  Carbs come in various forms, some are quick to enter the blood stream (sucrose, glucose, refined flours, cereals), so if you eat those in large quantities you get a sharp increase in blood sugar.  Some carbs are more complex, and the body takes longer to digest them, so they release their constituent glucose much more slowly over a longer period so the peak from them is easier for your body to manage because it only needs small amounts of insulin over a longer period to keep your blood sugar under control (the total insulin used might be exactly the same, but your body is using smaller portions of it over a longer period).   I don't do low carb high fat, mostly because I don't believe it's the healthiest option for me, I prefer a higher level of carb, but the vast majority of my carbs come from whole food sources.  I just prefer my food stuff to be as straightforward and natural as possible.  Since whole foods are generally less refined they tend to be slower release.  That said we all digest food differently.  Porridge is a whole food and generally slow release but some people find it causes a late peak in blood sugar (so delayed release rather than slow and steady) and others cope with it fine.  My whole food preference has nothing whatsoever to do with diabetes, that was established long before I acquired a Timmy pancreas, I just prefer the taste of food that erm tastes like actual food .  It doesn't follow necessarily that all whole food or low GL options are better for diabetes management, so for example white rice causes me no problem at all, in fact if I take insulin for white rice I have to take less than the carb value would suggest.  Brown rice is a totally different story, that stuff seems to challenge even my robust digestion and tends to give me a delayed spike in blood sugar.  That's more to do with how injected insulin works and how my body deals with the rice, but thats sort of the point, because in my bag of bones it doesn't work well, someone else's digestive system might be perfectly happy with brown rice.  Wild rice incidentally, behaves the same way as white rice for me.  I'd rather eat sawdust than white rice because that would be more enjoyable to me, so if I eat rice I use wild rice and mix it with quinoa, that works nicely for me.  That combo might well be someone else's blood sugar nightmare.  

On the peanut butter front, Deus is quite right, tesco value (and other value brands) have less carb even though they have added sugar, which may make them a better choice for low carb folk.  I wouldn't choose those because I prefer to lose the sugar and gain the whole nut (shells excluded of course ) but that's because I'm not looking for lowest carb, I'm looking for least refined, and I don't like my nuts sweetened or with added salt either, or too oily (picky me? Never!).  So what I'm saying whilst rambling incoherently is have some fun experimenting with foods and see how your body reacts.  If lowest carb is the important factor be mindful as Deus has pointed out that the "healthier" option may not always be the best in terms of carb value, but have a play around and see what works.  

See, you didn't know diabetes was this much fun now did you?  As an aside, be careful with Soya milk, lots of manufacturers add sugar during processing (in one form or another) so just check that Costa use unsweetened Soya milk (if you haven't already, I only mention it because I didn't realise they often sweeten it until I had a soya milk shake).  Starbucks have just added coconut milk to their options, keep saying I'll try it but haven't so far


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## Stitch147 (Jan 9, 2016)

I can highly recommend Leon. I work in central London too and have one near where I work. The food is yummy and not too pricey. Love the fish finger wraps.


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## trophywench (Jan 9, 2016)

Err, fish finger wraps?  - are f/f's low carb? let alone the wraps!  I'm not keen on wraps - they tend - to my palate - to taste exactly of what they are made of - ie Flour - and you couldn't possibly eat a spoonful of flour - let's face it if mom scrapes the bowl out (after making cake) and there's still flour on the side of the spoon - it just makes the leftover cake mixture - ie your treat when you were little - taste Yukk !


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## trophywench (Jan 9, 2016)

PS  Kooky, why do you refer to your pancreas as 'Timmy' - did you once know a Tim who was aberrant?

I have a prob if its that, since the only Tim we know is our grandson - the beautiful blond kiddie with the curl right in the middle of his neck who would always snuggle up to his Grandma for some love.

(Actually it's his birthday today.  20.  He's 6'4 with designer stubble - and a motorbike.  How the hell did that happen?)


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## AlisonM (Jan 9, 2016)

Blame his mum @trophywench, she must have been feeding him all this time. 

I'd probably avoid the wraps as well, but some of the hot boxes looked really good, especially the superfood ones. I might go for a ricey one once a week maybe, I can get away with that.


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## Stitch147 (Jan 9, 2016)

trophywench said:


> Err, fish finger wraps?  - are f/f's low carb? let alone the wraps!  I'm not keen on wraps - they tend - to my palate - to taste exactly of what they are made of - ie Flour - and you couldn't possibly eat a spoonful of flour - let's face it if mom scrapes the bowl out (after making cake) and there's still flour on the side of the spoon - it just makes the leftover cake mixture - ie your treat when you were little - taste Yukk !



Used to have before being diagnosed, not had one since.


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## stephknits (Jan 9, 2016)

Wraps have more carbs than a custard donut.  My ex is a Tim, he is lovely, although despite having a name so very close to time, he has no concept of it. 
Good luck cowboy Bob


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## JamesAM (Jan 10, 2016)

Cowboy Bob said:


> I've seen the Leon but never been in. Looks good, thanks. Was always a Wasabi or Itsu man before diagnosis, but that's definitely out now as it's mostly rice. I'll miss it though :-(



Do you have a Teaco Metro there? Good value at £4 for a large (very filling!) and apart from the cous cous, all low/zero carb. I usually makes a salad for work to take in, but when I don't for some reason, I go to Tesco instead.


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## Mark Parrott (Jan 17, 2016)

Hi Cowboy Bob .  I live in Chatteris, so not far from you.  I'm newly diagnosed and am still finding my way when it comes to LC food.  There is a great health food shop in Ely that I went to yesterday.  Bought some stuff to make muesli with.  Must admit, I'm still having semi skimmed milk in coffee & tea.  Didn't know this was a bad thing.  Maybe I should convert to almond milk.


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## Robin (Jan 17, 2016)

Milk has sugars in it, in the form of lactose. Depending on how low carb you want to go, having a dash in tea and coffee isn't going to make much difference, I'd say. I never count mine towards my carb/insulin requirements.


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## Lynn Davies (Jan 17, 2016)

Whole milk is lower carb than skimmed or semi skimmed.


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## Cowboy Bob (Jan 17, 2016)

Mark Parrott said:


> Hi Cowboy Bob .  I live in Chatteris, so not far from you.  I'm newly diagnosed and am still finding my way when it comes to LC food.  There is a great health food shop in Ely that I went to yesterday.  Bought some stuff to make muesli with.  Must admit, I'm still having semi skimmed milk in coffee & tea.  Didn't know this was a bad thing.  Maybe I should convert to almond milk.



Yep, that's a great shop. There's also a lovely little deli hidden by the arch that goes through to Waitrose with loads of goodies in. And I've already converted to almond milk. Much nicer than soya IMO. Leaves a nutty taste in the mouth rather than the bitter taste that soya seems to leave me.


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## DeusXM (Jan 18, 2016)

> I'm still having semi skimmed milk in coffee & tea. Didn't know this was a bad thing.



It's not.

Almond milk and soya milk have around 3-5g of carbs per 100ml. Milk itself has 5g of carbs per 100ml. Most people probably put less than 10ml of milk in their drink anyway, so it's completely inconsequential. If you're looking at low-carbing, by the way, muesli isn't low-carb at all - an average serving is about 70g of carbs, the equivalent of eating three Mars bars!


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## pottersusan (Jan 18, 2016)

DeusXM said:


> It's not.
> muesli isn't low-carb at all - an average serving is about 70g of carbs, the equivalent of eating three Mars bars!



 I'm glad I don't like muesli


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## Mark Parrott (Jan 18, 2016)

It's ok.  I decided to go for all bran instead


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## Lynn Davies (Jan 18, 2016)

pottersusan said:


> I'm glad I don't like muesli



Me too Susan - blooming bird seed!!!


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## pottersusan (Jan 18, 2016)

Lynn Davies said:


> Me too Susan - blooming bird seed!!!


Floor sweepings imho


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## Kitana (Feb 16, 2016)

I use the carbs&cals app and book really helps me when counting my carbs


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## pat.y (Feb 16, 2016)

I saw pork scratchings a one of the best snacks for diabetics recently and it said not pork crunch.


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## DeusXM (Feb 17, 2016)

There isn't really any difference between the two. Both are zero-carb, the scratchings just have a slightly higher fat to protein ration. 

Worth bearing in there are no such things as foods which are good or bad 'for diabetics'. There's just 'food', and it's up to us to read the labels and work out we can or can't eat it without any major issues.


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## Lynn Davies (Feb 17, 2016)

pat.y said:


> I saw pork scratchings a one of the best snacks for diabetics recently and it said not pork crunch.



Not the nasty sometimes portrayed - and kinder on the tuskers!

*Calories in MS Traditional Black Country Pork Crunch 20g*





*Serving size*
*Energy:
104 calories*
Protein 14.4g
Carbs 0g
Fat 5.2g




*Morrisons*
*Pork Crunch*
Nutrition Facts per 1 bag (35 g)
Energy 849 kj
203 kcal
Protein 20.6 g
Carbohydrate 0 g
Fat 13.4 g
Saturated Fat 4.7 g


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## DeusXM (Feb 17, 2016)

You can also go for the ultimate in posh and pauper fusion cuisine - use pork crunch for dipping in hummus instead of crisps.


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## Lynn Davies (Feb 17, 2016)

My dad used to buy something called Liquid Humus to put on his tomato plants - seems it is a by product of the local sewage farm!

Well that was what he told me anyway - still cannot eat hummus as it just sounds (and tastes) too similar!


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## Annette (Feb 17, 2016)

Ah, the vaguaries of the English Language  
Humus, from the Latin humus, meaning earth or ground, is the organic matter, from decay of plants etc, that is added to soil to improve its fertility. As a lot of what is sifted out by a sewage farm is organic matter, it could well be added to water and used as a high nitrogen/phosphate feed.
Hummus (or houmus) is from the Arabic for chickpeas. Which, in themselves, will lead to a fair bit of said organic matter being introduced into the sewage farm, as a lot of the chickpea is insoluble fibre.
So one can lead to the other fairly directly...


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## Lynn Davies (Feb 17, 2016)

Oh right - thanks for that Annette - I will just tip it down the loo then and cut out the middle man


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## Jamie van Dyke (Feb 26, 2016)

http://www.burgenbread.com/breads/soya-linseed/ - this bread, that has 11g of carbs a slice?
Pesto, when you can't see the ingredients can contain sugar. Careful with that one.
Also, be careful with flavoured water, check the ingredients don't have sugar in.
Cous-cous is usually high in carbs, are you using 'special' cous-cous?
Alcohol, well need we say more...it's sugar.

Having said all of that, what are your numbers looking like after each meal? On a new diet, it's always handy to check your blood sugar an hour or two afterwards to see how it affected you. That's the best indicator really. You're on the right path, that's what counts.

I use a Ketonix device to roughly measure my ketones which helps you understand what state your body is in too. Well done for starting LCHF, and good luck!


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## Mark Parrott (Feb 26, 2016)

Alcohol may be sugar, but it can also lower BS levels as it gives the liver something else to do.  In general, beer is bad (boo!), wine is ok (in moderation) & spirits are virtually carb free (also in moderation, but i've got to say that).


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