Hello – I’ve had a disastrous week this week with the vitamin d tabs the dr has prescribed giving me constipation. Anyway it has led me to eat less through being poorly. Anyway as I posted earlier in the week how difficult I found the menu week three – I received good advice on the forum to work out menus of what I like. I have decided to make some batches of soup up for lunches a couple of times next week and wondered if I make butternut squash soup up would this fit it with the low carbohydrate regime. I would also like to make a chicken soup but not sure what veg to put in – any ideas?

The squash soup could be ok but it depends what else you add. I like to add onions and either lentils or beans and that soon adds up to a moderate amount of carbs.

There is a nice soup here on the recipe thread I made yesterday which was nice cauliflower and canelini beans, it was lovely. I’m on the look out for other low carb recipes too as I like soup 🙂 so I’ll be watching your thread to see what ideas others have.

I also made this once http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/14460/just-lentil-soup.aspx?o_is=SR and it was reasonably low in carbs and tasty.

The secret seems to be if you are using something higher carb like the squash, is to not add lots of other higher carb ingredients. Different squashes have different carb properties as well so it could be worth looking for a different squash to try as well. I’m also going to play with adding meat to my soup, like chunks of chicken, cooked mince, ham, making for a chunkier soup without adding extra veg.

I hope you feel better, and as an aside, if you are often lower in vitamin D it could be worth considering a lightbox. My husband uses one for SAD (seasonal affective disorder)

Adding things like cauliflower, broccoli, kale, courgette, mushrooms (I hate them though) are all generally lower, smaller amounts of onion, peppers are also ok. I use my fitbit app to try out combinations and look at the carb content before I commit to cooking. You can probably do the same with other online apps.