Hello all.My partner and I are starting the 800 BSD next week but we can’t find a list of food that we can/can’t eat. We know to avoid carbs. We are very confused at the moment. We are big meat eaters and can’t even find out if we can eat steak or casseroles. Is there a definite list of foods that you should and shouldn’t eat while on the 800 BSD available anywhere?
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Hi Crusty – well done on deciding to make a big change, by starting the BSD. It is a bit confusing at the beginning, as it’s not just about what you can (or can’t) eat, but also about quantity, so something like say roasted walnuts, which are high in carbs are okay to have, but in small quantities.
My advise is to either try to stick with the meal plans in the book, or if like me, you prefer to go your own route, keep it simple – especially in the early days. So if you are having three meals a day, something like full fat greek yogurt with a topping (perhaps nuts, seeds, or berries for instance) for breakfast, maybe some salad and a protein source for lunch (could be cheese, chicken, ham) and then salad or veggies and a protein sauce for main meal in the evening (here steak would be fine). Casserole is okay, but you need to calculate the calories and carbs in everything you are putting in and then portion those to the size of the meal you serve.
The absolutely shouldn’t haves are potatoes, rice, cereals, pasta, bread and anything sugary. The musts are fats and proteins, but most importantly, you have to be aware of what you are consuming, so best to record calories and carbs from everything so that you know you are within limits.
Be sure to keep hydrated; weigh and measure yourself and make use of the forum. There is a search box at the top of the page, which will show you on which threads certain things have been discussed. But failing that, shout if you need advise and someone will respond – there’s lots of lovely folks on here happy to offer support and encouragement.
Good luck with your start on the BSD. Try not to over think it, just make a start and as you get into it, it will all become clearer and you can tweak things as you go.
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Meats are proteins and are certainly allowed on this diet, as are casseroles as long as you don’t put in potatoes or other starchy carbs or even something terrible like dumplings. However, try to mix it up with chicken, fish and vegetarian options too. Eat lots of leafy green veg and coloured veg like red pepper, spinach, fruits like berries but not apples, pears, bananas or sweet exotic fruits (mango, papaya, pineapple). For an idea of what else to avoid in veg think those that grow underground are bad, those above ground are mainly good with exceptions. Look at http://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb for a list of carb heavy and light foods. Hope that helps a bit.
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Hi SunnyB thanks for the reply. We have looked online for meal plans that we can use apart from the ones in the book but we keep coming up blank. How do you know how much of anything you are allowed or is it just a case of keeping to the 800 calories per day?
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The best way to start, is just to take the high carb items out of your meals and shrink your portion sizes. So if you would normally have steak, chips and peas for dinner, change that the steak, a few peas and lots of leafy veggies or salad – hey presto, you have made a huge cut in your carb intake.
The most important thing is to make a start, then once you have a handle on the principles of the regime, you can look more closely at the calories and carbs and make adjustments. Not all calories are equal, in that 800 calories of potato would contain a much higher carb content than say 800 calories of lettuce – an extreme illustration, but it gives you an idea.
Look for simple ways to start, either by just making adjustments to your normal meals, or by following the meal plans in the book. You’ll be amazed how quickly things start to fall into place and the whole thing becomes clearer and easy to do. I’d advise having a really good search around the forum for answers too, as there is lots of info out there – and some recipes too.
Good luck!
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How would you go about making gravy for a casserole though? I’m assuming OXO and the like are full of carbs? Some great advice yet again. I’m going to have a search for recipes in the forums like you suggested.
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One oxo cube contains 2 grams of carbs and 16 calories but if it is in a casserole for 2 that is only 1 carb and 8 cals. If not, why not use marmite or Lea and Perrins at 5 cals and 1 carb per teaspoon.
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So you are allowed a small amount of carbs because we thought you had to completely stop having them.
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It really isn’t possible to eat any kind of diet with absolutely no carbs at all, unless your intention is to eat just meat and very little else. Try to pitch your carb intake to around 50g to 60g initially, which is what the majority goes for. If weight loss stalls at some point, you can try pulling the level of carbs down a little, but don’t worry about that for now.
Going forward, make it your business to read nutrition panels on the foods you purchase and/or use a website for info – you put in what the food is, the quantity and it tells you the calorie and carb content.
Let us know how you get on.
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So we can allow ourselves 50 to 60 grams a day and what website do you recommend we use to get the information?
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Have you read the book, Crusty? If you haven’t or if you read it a while ago, I think you and/or your partner would benefit from giving it a careful read before embarking on the diet.
I use My Fitness Pal to plan all my meals. http://www.myfitnesspal.com Other people use FatSecret. https://www.fatsecret.com/
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Yes we have read the book and its very confusing.
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Okay, let’s try to untangle things a little. There are carbohydrates in most foods. The foods you need to avoid are the ones that are high in refined, easily digestible carbs: sugar, anything made out of wheat (pasta, bread, pizza, most baked goods), rice, potatoes. Cross those off your grocery list.
Meats and fish are usually very low in carbs, but there are exceptions (cured meats, sausage, meatballs, some shellfish). Vegetables and fruit have varying amounts of carbs. The fruits lowest in carbs are berries (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries), the highest are tropical fruits. The vegetables lowest in carbs are greens like lettuces, the highest are root vegetables like beets. Legumes like beans and nuts are high in carbohydrates, but they are also high in fiber so the carbohydrates are digested slowly. You can eat them, but you have to be careful to weigh and measure because a little of them go a long way.
You can find out how many carbohydrates are in any food by looking at the nutritional information on the package. If there is no package or no nutrional information, look up the foodstuff online. You don’t have to use a website like My Fitness Pal. Just Google “tuna nutrition,” for example, and you’ll get all the stats for tuna on the right side of the screen without even having to click on a website.
Here are some easy at-a-glance charts to help you get an idea of which foods are lowest and highest in carbs.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/vegetables
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/fruits
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/nuts
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/snacksYour next step is to plan a menu for the first week. Use the recipes in the book for an easy approach. If you want to make your own recipes, you’re going to have forge ahead into weighing, measuring and calculating the carb and calorie content of everything you make. Doing the math can be tedious. MyFitnessPal and other such sites allow you to look up the nutritional information of the ingredients in a meal and then automatically calculates the calories, carbs, etc.
I hope this lends a little clarity.
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I mostly use calorieking.com, but there are lots of options out there – think there is even an NHS one.
Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)