Is couscous classed as a natural carb? Can I eat it on this diet or should it be avoided? I prefer it to spuds and I find it ideal in salads.

couscous is made from wheat – so not a lot different to eating pasta
depending on how much you are restricting your carbs, you may be able to include small quantities, but best avoided – much the same as pasta, rice, potatoes & bread.

Thanks, do you know of suitable alternatives

You could try a few beans (red kidney, cannelloni beans etc) or lentils but both are also heavy on carbs.

I know this won’t sound helpful, but can you try having more salad rather than thinking you need something to bulk it up? We would always have had a refined carb – potatoes, pasta, grains- but now don’t add it. And often we say to each other – you don’t really need it, do you.

If you can get out of that instinctive habit – it helps.

Try adding a bit of feta cheese, cut into small dice, to your salad. It really is lovely. And fills you up.

If you have a food processor, try the cauliflower couscous as an alternative – just chop the cauliflower into florets, pop in the processor and blitz to tiny pieces. This can be added to salads, used as a side with meat and veggies or you can add chopped veg, pomegranate seeds, little chopped cold meat or diced cheese, pine nuts etc, dress with a little olive oil and lemon juice and you have a great lunchtime meal.

Lots of supermarkets sell pre-blitzed cauliflower if no food processor – or you’re in a rush.
Like any supermarket veg chopped tiny (courgetti, spiralised butternut squash, etc), I’d recommend using it quickly – because it’s cut so small, it doesn’t have quite such a long shelf life as whole vegetables. I’m not sure if they freeze, either the whole packet or in portions – never enough space in my freezer to try it out!
I have spiralised courgette in lots of my salads now – not something I’d tried pre-BSD.