It’s not as hard as you might think, Spalmon. I have my upper limit set to 20, but most of the time now I easily stay in the single digits. All of the bad carbs are out, of course, so what’s left are the ones in non-root vegetables, fruit and nuts. I avoid almost all fruit, salient exceptions being the ones that we mostly don’t think of as fruit like avocados and olives because they have no sugars to speak of and are full of good fats. I measure like a hawk since the calories can get out of control fast.
As far as veggies are concerned, if I need onions in something I use green onions, chives or shallots and never more than half an ounce of them. Cucumbers and tomatoes I use but sparingly. They’ve become an indulgence because of their sugar content. I’m generous with zucchini, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, broccoli, Romaine hearts, green leaf lettuce, Bibb lettuce, Tuscan kale, Swiss chard and fresh herbs, but again, I weigh EVERYTHING and calculate the counts before I eat them.
Vegetables that I well and truly pile up on because they are so high in fiber and low in carbs include spinach (cooked and raw), broccoli rabe aka rapini, baby arugula, broccoli/clover/alfafa sprouts and seaweed. Sauerkraut and kimchi are my best friends. Great sides, great on their own as a snack, and, as I discovered this week, great in a salad when you don’t have any vinegar or lemon juice in the house. Lupini beans are all fiber too. Throw a handful of them and some black soybeans into a food processor with citrus, a tsp of sesame oil, ground cumin, a small garlic clove and any other fresh herbs you fancy and you’ll have a great hummus with zero carbs, unlike chickpea hummus. The high carb content is why most legumes are struck off the list for me, which is sad because I dearly love lentils, beans etc.
Lean proteins I have several times a week include eggs, smoked salmon and trout, chicken sausage, grilled or baked chicken breast, ground turkey, uncured turkey pepperoni and some deli meats (again uncured) like roasted cajun chicken and mesquite smoked turkey breast. When I feel like beef, I go for lean cuts like sirloin and filet mignon, always grass-fed and pasture raised, for ethical reasons, health reasons and because carbs show up in the meat of cows that are fed corn and grains. Same goes with butter. Tofu I eat every day either in the form of my homemade faux mayo or marinated and pan-seared.
Because I’m a cheese freak, I keep soft chevre, sharp cheddar, blue cheese crumbles, feta, something melty like smoked gouda or Swiss, full fat cream cheese and when I have a good reason for the expediture, fresh buffalo mozzarella. I don’t have more than two ounces of cheese a day. The secret to that, by the way, is to slice and grate as finely as humanly possible. A little goes a long way when you’re not cutting off chunks of it. On ounce of cheese in chunk form looks miniscule. It’s very disappointing and you end up eating way more while it enjoying it less than you would have if you’d just sliced it thin.
For nuts I mostly stick to Brazil nuts which I’ve seasoned myself. My backup is freshly ground peanut butter from the organic food shop. It’s grainy and a little dry, bears little relation to the standard stuff in shops, or even the organic peanut butter you get where the oil rises to the top. I just like to know what I’m eating to minimize carbs and calories and I’ve come to enjoy the toothsome texture. I’ll eat a tablespoon of it (16 grams) sprinkled with ground Himalayan sea salt or Maldon salt flakes for dessert and find it deeply satisfing.
Long story short: pick your foods judiciously, look them up ahead of time and never, ever estimate. I’ve been on the Fast 800 for 16 months now so it has become second nature to me. No hardship at all. It won’t be too long before you wonder how people manage to eat 60+ grams of carbs, 30 from sugar a day.