So I’m feeling a bit confused by what you can and can’t eat. The book says anything under a GI of 55? is okay and that porridge oats are fine but I see lots of posts on here and elsewhere saying no you can’t have porridge oats or quinoa or pretty much anything else.

I was looking today at gluten free oat cakes at 0.1g and rye bread at 1.1g which seem okay but I am now unsure. Are these okay or not. I am not eating what is on the diagram on this site but almost everything contains carbs.

Help!

Ps as far as I am aware I’m not diabetic

Hi Lowenna,

I think it very much depends on your reason for following the diet… If you are diabetic it is best to avoid carbs that may spike the blood sugars – so many people avoid or heavily restrict carb intake to regulate their response – and/ or to break carb addiction.
Others are wanting to eat more healthily or lose weight generally and find that restricting carbs further helps speed up weight loss. You could start off following the plan as laid out in the book and then ‘fine tune’ to suit your own body/needs?

Hope that helps, am sure others will jump in with more informed replies😕

X

Hi Lowenna – it is best to avoid simple carbs wherever possible. Some people on the forum do use porridge oats and quinoa, you just need to account for the grams of carbs in you daily intake, which is best tracked at 50g or less per day. You are right, almost everything does contain some carbs, so we need to seek out the ones low in carbs and/ or use very small portions of things with high carbs, so that your daily intake is not too high.
It does take a bit of juggling at first, but you will soon get used to what has high / low content. I’m sure others will come along with more info for you soon. Keep us posted on progress.

Hi thanks everyone. I’m not sure what counts as high and low carbs sometimes, I thought oatcakes with 0.1g seemed quite low.

What carb counters do people use

Yes 0.1g is low. What you need to look at with carbs is how many grams of a food stuff is made up from carbs and weigh that against the amount you would eat as a portion. So, if you have something that is 25g of carbs for 100g of the food, but a portion size would be 25g, your carb grams would be a smidge over 6g for your portion. That may or may not fit in to your carb allowance for the day, depending on what else you plan to consume. Today I bought some Oppo Ice Cream from Holland and Barrett and for 100g of the produce, there are 6.7g of carbs, so a portion size of 50g – which would be plenty for me – will only cost me 3.3g of carbs for instance.
It does take a little while to get your head around it all, but I’m sure you will get there. I use a spreadsheet to help me workout what I have eaten has cost me in calories and carbs.

Hell Yeh @ sunnyb. take quite a while to get your head into motion. Takes a while. I seem to fall off and nibble on my Kryptonite: anything dairy. I lost two good friends because of this dieting/lifestyle: Ben and Jerry! I love the Chunky Monkey.

KEEP active and forget about dieting. Time flies very fast until next meal.

AND REWARD YOURSELF EVERYDAY!

Happy New Year to everyone ! What a wonderful inspirational and motivational site this is ! And what success many people have had ! Good luck to us all on our journey to health and happiness!

I’m brand new to this and am hoping to lose a significant amount of weight before my hols to the States in March !

My real big problem is I adore bread and potatoes it’s my Irish/Russian heritage …..so I m hoping to find recipes that will be good alternatives.

Has anyone made the Italian chickpea flatbread which is I believe gluten free and low carb ? Is there any app which lists carbs?

Hi Lowena, there are certain good carbs like oats and quinoa but they are too high in carbs and calories, especially if you are doing the 800 Fast. You have posted in the BSD so if you are not doing 800 calories a day and 50 carbs you can suit yourself as long as you avoid the devil carbs.

Lexy, I have had the chickpea flour flatbread from a long time ago when I did the Ian Marber diet – I have the recipe if you want it. It does have 85 g of carbs per 100 g but that makes 4 pancakes.

I don’t use an app for measuring I use a website called Sparkpeople.com, but lots of people will tell you which app they use. Verano did a list of carbs in fruit and veg if you can find that thread.

I use my fitness pal to count calories, and it also counts carbs, fat, salt and protein. I did new atkins last year. This restricts carb grams and I tried to stick to 20g per day. Carbs were counted but not calories. I did lose weight, but not nearly as much as my diet buddy. Unfortunately I had to stop as my cholesterol hit 7.7. New atkins is low carb, high fat and in my opinion didn’t have enough veg for it to be healthy..

I’ve skim read the book but couldn’t find a list of what you can and can’t eat other than the table of foods with gi values. The premise appears to be that you follow calorie counted recipies which generally omit starchy carbs and sugars. I suspect that where there are high gi foods in recipies, these are combined with other foods e.g. Fat and protein which bring the gi and calorie value of the meal within an acceptable limit.

So I’ve taken from this the can eat food list is brightly coloured low gi fruit and veg, lean protein, full fat dairy, nuts, pulses and healthy oil.
The can’t eat list is pasta, white rice, pastry, bread, sweets, cake, beer.
It also says avoid alcohol but a case studiy showed weight loss with whisky. New atkins allowed spirits after the first 2 weeks. Wine, beer and liqueurs have carbs. Some say the Mediterranean diet includes moderate amounts of red wine. I’ll try to hold off on this for as long as possible.

Shanik I think you’ve got everything right there with your food list. With alcohol, red wine at least (maybe other types too) is allowed on the Med diet but it’s difficult to fit a 150 calorie glass of wine into an 800 calorie day if you’re doing the fast 800 BSD while still getting enough nutrients and fat etc. if you move on to the higher calorie Med lifestyle then you can have it.

Here is a quick and dirty list for all you newbies: (taken from DietDoctor.com https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/foods). This is a great site and also has a lot of low carb recipes.

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LOW CARB FOODS LIST

FOODS TO EAT………………..

Meat: Any type: Beef, pork, lamb, game, poultry, etc. Feel free to eat the fat on the meat as well as the skin on the chicken. If possible try to choose organic or grass-fed meats.

Fish and seafood: All kinds: Fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, sardines or herring are great. Avoid breading.

Eggs: All kinds: Boiled, fried, scrambled, omelets, etc. Preferably organic eggs. Top egg recipes

Natural fat, high-fat sauces: Using butter and cream for cooking can make your food taste better and make you feel more satisfied. Coconut fat or olive oil are also good options.

Vegetables that grow above ground: Cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts, kale, collards, bok choy, spinach, asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, olives, spinach, mushrooms, cucumber, lettuce, avocado, onions, peppers, tomatoes etc.

Dairy products: Always select full-fat options like real butter, cream (40% fat), sour cream, Greek/Turkish yogurt and high-fat cheeses. Be careful with regular milk, reduced fat and skim milk as they contain a lot of milk sugar. Avoid flavored, sugary and low-fat products.

Nuts: Great for a treat (in moderation) instead of popcorn, candy or chips. Learn more

Berries: Okay in moderation, if you are not super strict or sensitive. Great with whipped cream.

Read the nutrition label in the grocery store.

No more than 5% of carbohydrates in any food item is a good rule of thumb.

Drink

Water – Try to make this your drink of choice, flavored or sparkling water is fine too.
Coffee – Black or with small amounts of milk or cream is ideal for weight loss. Beware of adding lots of milk or cream, especially if you drink coffee regularly throughout the day, even when you’re not hungry. But if you are hungry feel free to use full-fat cream.

Tea : yes, but milk is high carb. Try cream or milk alternative such as hemp seed milk, or almond milk

Alcohol: try to avoid or limit. It may stall your progress as it is metabolized first before any other foods. Empty calories.

Dark chocolate: Above 70% cocoa, preferably just a bit.

Avoid these high-carb foods:

Avoid sugary foods on ketoSugar: The worst. Soft drinks, candy, juice, sports drinks, chocolate, cakes, buns, pastries, ice cream, breakfast cereals.

Preferably avoid artificial sweeteners as well (here’s why).

Avoid starchy foods:

Starch: Bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, French fries, potato chips, porridge, muesli and so on. Wholegrain products are just less bad. Legumes, such as beans and lentils, are high in carbs. Moderate amounts of root vegetables may be OK (unless you’re eating extremely low carb).

Beer: Liquid bread. Full of rapidly absorbed carbs. But there are a few lower-carb beers

Fruit: Very sweet, lots of sugar. Eat once in a while. Treat fruit as a natural form of candy. Learn more

Watch out:

Be very skeptical of special “low-carb” products, such as pasta or chocolate. Unfortunately these products usually work poorly. They have prevented weight loss for loads of people. They’re commonly full of carbs once you see through the creative marketing.

Also, preferably avoid margarine. It’s industrially produced imitated butter with unnaturally high content of omega-6 fat. It has no health benefits and tastes bad. It’s also statistically linked to asthma, allergies and other inflammatory diseases.