Oh dear just finished reading book will read again to really take in. But know I’m awkward but I don’t eat herbs spices ever. Hate them. A lot of the recipes I’m going to struggle with. Is this the only ones we’ve got? Or are their more somewhere else?
I know there’s always one!!!!.

I don’t see why you can’t do this without the herbs and spices. I have yogurt and blueberries for break fast then peanut butter, cream cheese and celery for lunch. You could pick and choose what you eat really.

Hi Sue. I look forward to the replies to your post as I am another ‘one’! I struggled when I read the book as there are lots of recipes that I looked at and thought ‘well I don’t like this and I wouldn’t eat that’. I started on Sunday and, having read other posts, I have just tried to keep low on my carbs and around 800 calories. I have been using myfitnesspal to record my food so it shows the carbs (hoping to keep between 50 & 80). I am not sure if I am eating enough fat but have incorporated a bit of cheese with a prawn salad and cooking my scrambled eggs in butter. Debsym62, what are you doing about evening meals?

Hi Teej I found this with last diet I tried I just could ent keep it up. I use no sugar jelly a lot when dieting to curb cravings too. I decided stir fry might be a way forward for me because I’m really bad at counting carbs. I usually had salad at night Tuna in my case because I’m diabetic and don’t use drugs to control it I use diet.

My evening meals do included spices, herbs and garlic which is why I didn’the mention them. Lots of steamed fish with ginger and garlic. Chicken in various way, cauliflower mash and spiralized veg. I do enjoy cauliflower rice as well. My husband also adapts the hairy bikers diet meals for us picking out meals that contain the right amount of calories. We have all the hairy dieters cookbooks and haven’the had a meal we didn’the like.

I’m was wondering if we could incorporate green lentils or buckwheat things like or does that totally alter diet. Tried similar diet before Scandinavian diet but doing it all the time proved hard because of limited foods. I just ran out of ideas eventually. Think you must be good cook of which I admit I’m not!!! Never have liked cooking.

I had chicken stir fry for tea and just had a tablespoon of light soy sauce instead of our usual sauce. I was blown away by how much carb is in those sauces. I have counted calories when I have been on diets before so this is a real eye opener to me. I hadn’t thought about the jelly so will have to have a look at that. I have a really bad sweet tooth but am really surprised at how little I have been craving over the last two days, just waiting for it to kick in! I am drinking far more than I usually do as I can see from the other posts that it has a real effect on the symptoms. I don’t get thirsty so forget to drink regularly. I am thinking that it is just 8 weeks of my life and the motivation is to be healthy rather than diet to be slim (which I am never going to be!).

Trouble is after 8 week you have to keep it up where I go really wrong but thank you encouragement is always helpful. If diets working you’ll loose inches I did on last one.

The maintenance then turns to 5:2 and the med diet. I haven’t really gone too far into that as had hard enough time getting my head around the 800. I did the 5:2 at the beginning of last year and it really worked. I fell off the wagon when I got the flu and never got back on, not sure why as I didn’t struggle after the first couple of weeks. Give it a go Sue, I don’t think you’ll regret it and sure you will do great!

Hi Sue
I don’t use the recipes much. I just use normal food but add a bit of fat and leave out the potatoes, rice, bread etc.
Today for example I had a home made shake for breakfast ( spinach, watercress, pear, tomato, almond milk, flax seed) which just means throwing it in the blender. Lunch was mixed salad leaves, ham, hard boiled egg, followed by plain yogurt, Apple, and almonds. Dinner was slow cooker beef stew which was beef, turnip, carrot, onion tomato pâté, water, a bit of red wine. Bung it all in the slow cooker at lunchtime. By evening when I finish work it’s cooked and fantastic.
So no fancy cooking. No herbs and spices.
Good luck with the diet. I’ve found not eating sweet things, when I had a tiny taste of cake yesterday it tasted too sweet.
Penny

I use no sugar jelly when I want sweet things. Your ideas awesome much appreciated. Do you ever use green lentils/ buckwheat? Or anything like that? I’ve found these very beneficial to keep my blood sugar level.
Thank you so much for advice I really loved it I’m hoping to start Saturday.

Hi Sue
I know buckwheat is fantastic for all sorts of healthy nutrients and good for diabetes. But during this very low carb phase I think the 89% carbs in buckwheat might prevent the visceral fat coming out from around our organs so I’m leaving it til I’m on the next phase. Lentils are only 15% carbs I think so yes I’m eating them now!
Re the jelly. I’m concerned to reduce my sweet tooth and this has happened quite quickly for me by avoiding sweet things. But we re all different!
Hope you’re ok now with recipes etc. The fantastic stew I mentioned gives you a huge plateful of dinner for 340 cals- because it’s the slow cooker ( which I got for £19.99 from crockpot on Amazon) the water turns into the most amazing gravy and the veg all taste meaty. Yum. Plus a pile of kale from the allotment. Perfect.
Good luck
Penny

Pmshrink your advice has been most gratefully received. The crock pot I’m looking to order today. I’m writing your receipe down for my first day. I think I’ll stick to my tuna salad for lunch. I’m a piggy usually at breakfast so I’m going to take advice and shake it. I’m going to miss my fruit I think but I do need to cut it down. So have bit more shopping to sort then Saturday here we come. Thank you once again can’t wait for stew.

Hi Sue
Apples, pears, small amounts of watermelon, small orange or half a large one, strawberries, blueberries. These are ok to have. I put some of them in my morning shake every day along with greenery – black kale, lettuce, rocket etc, flax seed and psyllium husk ( both anti- constipation ) almond milk , pea protein ( from indigo nutrition on Amazon)
Delicious! Keeps me going til lunchtime.
Penny

Penny thank you for advice must admit I usually have cheese omlette, bacon egg for breakfast or else I pick . But that sounds good I usually have my shake about 11 as my last protein diet you had to eat every 21/2_3 hours. So its going to be all change for me.

Hi Sue
That breakfast sounds good as well!
On this diet Michael is definitely not saying eat often. Maybe because it’s not a protein diet?. I’d say it’s a low carb high fat middle protein diet. The fat stops you getting hungry. That’s why a fried egg and bacon etc breakfast can work.
Hope it all goes well for you
Penny
PS. I put some avocado on my shake this morning. It was so filling I only ate two thirds. Having now at 6 o’clock as a snack. I usually have home made soup at 6 as I work til 8.30.

Penny thank you getting an Avocado Thursday. Thought it might fill me up. Hungary will be my worst enemy I fear I have fish twice a week usually fish pie.I use
weet potato always.
Boy I feel guilty now sat nice and warm while you work till 8.30 I did in the past rotton time to finish.

Hi Sue
Don’t feel too sorry for me. I work from home and only had 4 hours work today. It just happens that I have to finish at 8.30.
My experience and many others is once off the carbs and through the first few days hunger isn’t much of a problem. After all if you’re fat burning instead of carb burning we ve got plenty of built in fuel!
Hope it’s going well for you.
Penny