We did a roast turkey for Easter so yesterday the carcass went in the pressure cooker to make stock.
Added tons of veggies, a tin of sweetcorn, barley, and a couple of stock cubes to make a large pan of turkey broth that made 8 good sized portions and was my lunch today.
Dinner will be some prawns cooked in chilli and garlic and I’m going to try some Quinoi with them.
Snack, either the yoghurt and berries or I may just try a couple of ryvita rye crispbreads (low carb) with some cream cheese.

Today’s menu is:

B – yogurt, blueberries, Bioglan Cacao Topping and some psyllium husk
L – a one egg omelette with smoked salmon and hummus
D – Ostrich steak in Thai marinade and lettuce and tomato salad

To drink – water and herbal teas.

Hi melnz
Well done with the weight loss!
The the afternoons- Michael says have lots of soup, so that would be a good time to do that.
Hope it helps
Penny

Hi Keetz
I think it’s fairly normal to feel thirsty when you first start drinking a lot of water. Possibly our thirst alarm is usually somewhat repressed by never drinking enough. Now it’s going off all the time! But it will calm down.
Penny

Keetz- Glad to help! ☺️

I read somewhere on one of the forums about putting fruit flavoured teabags into sparkling water, this really makes a nice change to plain water and tastes lovely, it’s worth a try to give a bit of variety and zero calories.

Thanks Penny, I don’t think I have ever been called an inspiration before! I sometimes wonder if maybe I’m putting too much info on about what has gone into my meals, but then it seems a shame not to mention things like the spices I use, as they add so much to the taste!

So, without further ado – today’s food…

Breakfast: Greek yogurt with a cooked golden plum and cinnamon

Lunch: nothing, as we were emptying and decorating our utility room, not hungry anyway.

Dinner: Lamb and spinach curry, with a ‘Peshwari besan flatbread’. I made the batter as usual with besan flour and coconut flour, salt and water (5 tbspns besan and one of coconut, to serve two of us), put coconut oil and a nib of butter into the pan and then poured in the batter. Once it was beginning to set I sprinkled over 15g of unsweetened dessicated coconut and 10g of raisins, then folded it in half, like an omelette. Then I put the pan under the grill to finish the top. Yum yum, yummy yum!

Snack: a tbspn of hummus. OH had his with doritos (I weighed him out an ounce), but I managed to resist them.

Drinks: Water, fizzy and still, one Earl Grey tea with splash of milk, one coffee with cream, a butter mint tea.

Cals: 812. Carbs: 53

Brekkie – an apple and 8 almonds

Lunch – home made leek and lentil soup

Dinner – tuna steak in tomato, spinach and basil sauce. Steamed purple sprouting, carrots and mange tout. (The sauce was nice, but I don’t think it went with the fish and veg. Might be better with cod or chicken)

snacks – I accidentally ate some dried coconut, as you do.

Drinks – water, lots of tea with milk.

I like the sound of your flatbread, Missay. Besan flour is the same thing as gram flour isn’t it?

Missay, please, pretty please put that peshwari bread recipe on the recipes tab 🙂
It sounds delicious x

B: plain yoghurt/ strawberries
L: salad with wafer thin ham
D: salad with chicken breast on bone

Tea/coffee
Apple/pear/ few walnuts

Patsy – I think it is very similar. The packet says made from chick peas and split peas (yellow peas I think). Gram flour seems to usually be just the chick peas, but I reckon they are pretty much interchangeable.

Hashimoto. I will put it into the recipes tonight or tomorrow. Sadly I ate it without taking a picture. Oh dear me, I’ll have to make some more, another day, just to take photos of course!

Hi Missay
It’s all those details that sound so delicious!
Re besan flour- I’ve found it gives me a sore mouth. Just found out that if you roast it this doesn’t happen. Do you roast it, or not react like that?
Penny

Hi Penny, I have used besan flour for years and not had a problem. But we all react differently to things. 2 paracetamol can knock me to sleep. Aspirin would make me vomit and upset my guts – even a tiny trace of it. I love raspberries and I grow them too, but if I eat too many I start to fell sick in an aspirin kind of way.
There must be a chemical alteration when besan is roasted that makes it OK for you 🙂

Hi Hashimoto
I hope so, I haven’t tried it yet, only discovered the info this evening. Weird thing is, OH has same reaction. Maybe it’s common but not everyone. Will keep you posted.
I made ‘potato’ cakes with left over cauliflower mash, egg, and gram flour. Delicious! But later got the sore mouth, which I d had before but forgot about.
Tomorrow I join the big kids on the over 8 weeks thread!
Penny

It will be great to have you there Penny 🙂

I haven’t eaten yet today but am
Looking for ‘What can I Eat Today?’…well, breakfast at least!
Our fridge is still broken (day 2 but feels like forever) therefore no yoghurt etc. Two girls reluctant to get out of pj’s in a rush so no quick shop either. I have eggs, 1 red pepper & some spring onions, tinned stuff (tuna, beans, coconut milk?) frozen berries… any ideas? Girls about to have beans and boiled egg….

Keetz, you could have eggs too, poached, boiled, fried, scrambled. You could have beans too. what about omelette with some red pepper and spring onion? 🙂

Ooh superb idea- will have the omelette. Yum…might have half the red pepper then stuff the other half with tuna later! Thanks hashimoto 😀👍🏻👋🏻

Eggs make an excellent breakfast – reading you ingredients list, my suggestion would be a red pepper and spring onion frittata. Chop the pepper and onion and fry with a little oil or butter. Beat a couple of eggs and add to the pan. You could even add a little tuna as well.

Today’s menu:

B – yogurt, za’atar and pine nuts
L – mini omelette with za’atar, hummus, pine nuts and ham
D – Belly pork, lentils with bacon and mushrooms and a little mustard

B: plain yoghurt, strawberries, flaked almonds
L: half tin tuna , salad
D: sirloin steak, tomato, lettuce

Apple, cups of tea

Have decided I’m having a SunnyB frittata sometime tomorrow!

Yesterday:
Yogurt & frozen berries
Curried chickpea salad
Sausage & lentils

Today:
2 hard boiled eggs
Chicken barley risotto
Yogurt & frozen berries

Tomorrow:
2 hard boiled eggs
Lamb tagine & broccoli
Yogurt & frozen berries

Penny, I haven’t noticed any problems like that with the besan flour. Mind you, roasting it sounds really tasty!

Hashimoto, Peshwari ‘bread’ recipe is in the recipes section. Whilst entering it I remembered that I was going to post the coated chilli strips one too, so will have to hunt the details out and get that posted soon.

Thanks missay, I. Noticed that this morning. I’m going to try it soon 🙂

Fasting until early afternoon

Lunch
Pepper with jeweled feta (from the book, without the scallions) 249 calories 20 net carbs
Jarlsberg cheese 28 grams = 0 carbs

Early evening
Romaine lettuce, cauliflower, and cucumber salad with low-fat ranch dressing 70 calories 11 net carbs

Supper (I hope – assuming I can find the last 2 ingredients on the way home))
Spicy chicken and lentils from the book 321 calories 22 net carbs (pushing my personal limit here)

Driving home treat: Tate’s mint chocolate chip cookie 70 calories/8 net carbs

Total (pending precise measurements for supper) 810 calories/61 net carbs

Yesterday, no breakfast as usual
Lunch was a bowl of my home made chicken stew
For dinner we had chicken wrapped in pancetta and baked with asparagus and butterbean mash.
Skipped the late night snack as I didn’t feel hungry
It never occured to me before that, as I never eat breakfast, I have a normal fasting period of about 15 hours.
I can’t say that has helped in the past, I wonder if it does now.

Question: We are just over a week away from our road trip to Turkey. I know my OH will want a stock of goodies in the car – biscuits, cereal bars and sweeties, which isn’t a problem as such, other than I know I am going to need something I can nibble too, so as not to be tempted to eat the bad stuff. I’m thinking of making some savoury sesame cracker and parmesan crisps, but I’d be grateful for any suggestions for alternatives.

Hi SunnyB, I’ve been using nuts in that situation and it works quite well for me. Another option might be cheese – babybel or similar.

Yesterday:

B: FF yoghurt, berries, mixed seeds
L: smoked salmon salad
D: 3 egg omelette with a sliver of goat’s cheese and green salad

Hi Sunnyb, if you have an Aldi near you they do little packs of nuts and seeds, 32p,153 cals, 2.7 g carbs. Will help you keep track of your diet. What about a little pot of hummus and some celery sticks? That should travel well. Boiled eggs are good too and again you know your calorie content. As well as Babybel some supermarkets, can’t remember which, do little mini wrapped cheeses, something like 5 for £? I haven’t bought them for years so can’t remember all the details. If you take a cool box and put some small cartons of frozen juice ( for hubby) a range of nibbles should be OK for several days. 🙂

Thanks Hashimoto and Newlife – some good suggestions there. Hadn’t thought about Babybel or mini cheeses. I have a little thermal lunch pack somewhere and ice packs we use when camping, which I could pack with items like that. Think while I’m away, I will concentrate more on carbs than cals, unless I feel like weight is creeping back up.

Hi Bill, I have tried to be more mindful of the long fast as well, I realised I was doing about 14 but I think I might aim for 16.

Well, my trip to docs did not go well. I was supposed to have appt with my asthma nurse to get my bloods done. When I got called in it was the phlebo who massacred my hand last time, it took 2 weeks for the swelling and bruising to disappear. My heart sank. God knows what she did this time, it was incredibly painful and she only managed to get enough blood for my blood sugar test!! so have to have another appt for my cholesterol and thyroid tests. Another 2 week wait. I went to the reception desk and pointed out I had said I was not to have appt with any of the phlebos because of a past bad experience ( both arms badly bruised and swollen and vein pierced all the way through, 2 weeks of not being able to bend my arms and a permanent small lump). I pointed out that when I made the appointment I made it clear that if it wasn’t a nurse taking my blood it would have to be a certain doctor who had said he would do mine after the bad experience.
Well, it is on my notes (again) that I won’t see the phlebos. I don’t know where they got their training because I have never had a problem when my bloods are taken at hospital or by one of the practice nurses. Long rant over.

Well almost. Now it will be nearly 3 weeks before I find out about my thyroid or cholesterol. Not a happy bunny.

Bill, it looks like your wife is eating more of the right food, you’re doing a good job there! Do you think she will change her mind and do the diet completely now she knows how the GP reacted to all your good stats? Now that she can see how healthy you are getting? 🙂

Hi Neohdiver
I notice you’re using net carbs. I haven’t noticed anyone else doing that. Maybe I missed it! It seems like a good idea as the fibre isn’t absorbed. In fact yesterday I was considering doing it when I noticed That cauliflower carbs are almost halved if you do it net! So I might follow your example.
Penny

Hi Judith
sorry to hear about that. We used to have a nurse at the practice who seemed to just stick the needle in somewhere near the vein, and then move it about as she tried to find it, sometimes she would pull it out and repeat the process.
I refused to see her in the end and I did hear that many others had too.
Other nurses and docs never seemed to have a problem.
At least you should have your blood sugar results soon, it’s a PITA about the cholesterol and thyroid tests though.

Hi Bill, the person who is now chief phlebo at the surgery has ‘trained’ all the others. She was the one who left me in such a mess that when I got to school the ICT manager thought I had been mugged and photographed the mess which was my arms!! It was summer and very hot in the classroom so I was wearing a short sleeved dress – very traumatic for the kids. All the phlebos in there are absolutely useless. My sons arm is still swollen after his blood test almost 2 weeks ago.
It’s amazing isn’t it that some people can take your blood and you don’t feel anything at all and the one today had me shouting out. I’ve never done that before.
Oh well, my other tests will be done in a fortnight. If they put me with the phlebo again I will raise Cain in the waiting room. 🙂

Hi Sunnyb
I ve been thinking about this as I had such a bad experience with airline food- then got a stomach upset from it!
Will you have a cool box in the car- I think you can even get plug in ones. If you do, then cooked low cal sausages, hard boiled eggs and frittata are possible. As well as tomatoes, celery etc.
For more ‘nibbly’ things- ‘Biscuits’ made with almond flour, gram flour, egg, butter, sesame seeds.
– Apple and courgette muffins that are in the recipes section.
If I think of any more I ll let you know!
Penny

Good ideas there, Penny 🙂

Thanks for the ideas Penny. Like the sound of the biscuits, was planning to get some almond flour, so think I will try those out.

Penny,

I use net carbs because that is what my body reacts to – the number is more helpful in terms of gauging how I am likely to react to a particular food. Not knowing where you are, if you are using labels you need to make sure you understand what the product label includes. In the US, the carb count is the total carbs so you have to subtract fiber. In the UK (most of Europe?) I beleive the label is already net carbs.

Some people subtract sugar alcohols (or some portion of sugar alcohols). I don’t consume enough of them to know whether my body reacts to sugar alcohols or not – but that is the basis on which I’d decide whether to subtract them or not.

It’s a question that generates a fair amount of heat in some low carb/keto groups. 🙂

Hi Neohdiver
Thanks for the info. I’m in uk.
I’m still not totally clear though!
Looking at a label now, ( Waitrose) it says
Carbs 2.9
Of which sugars 0.4
Fibre 0.9
So how would you interpret that?!
Thanks
Penny

TODAY!
B – Full fate greek yogurt (Fage), Pumkin Seed, Strawberries, Almond Milk (Sweetened) – 252kcal
L – Walnuts, Raseberries, Wensleydale With Cranberries – 174kcal
D – Chicken, Egg, Beetroot, Spinach Salad with OO – 353kcal

Just thought I would post today’s menu:

B – yogurt, blueberries, za’atar and psyllium husk
L – Bresaola and hummus
Snack – a homemade sesame cracker
D – fried chicken (from the chip shop, so no crusty coating) and salad

Today for the first time, I had a craving for some chocolate – surprising as I have never eaten a lot of chocolate, just the very occasional cube of very dark choc (historically a bar could live in the fridge for several months before being finished). I almost went there, then remembered I have some Whittards chocolate chai in the cupboard, so made a pot of that instead, which damped down the cravings nicely. The chai is a loose infusion made up of cacao nibs and various spices – delicious!

Hi Penny,
Re the carbs/net carbs, if I remember correctly, from my brief voyage into Atkins territory a few years ago, in the UK the fibre is already shown separately – as on your label, so there is no deducting of fibre carbs to do. In USA, the fibre is included as part of the total carb count, so your label would show something like:

Total carbs: 3.8
Of which sugars: 0.4
Of which fibre: 0.9

On UK labelling, the deduction of the fibre carbs from the total carbs is already done for you, and shown separately. I do hope that makes sense, my brain is a bit addled – I have spent all day scrubbing! 😉

Hi Missay
Thanks for the clarification- that really helps.
What have you been scrubbing?!!
Penny

Hi sunnyb, I nearly bought those choco/chilli teabags today but as I had just picked up some liquorice and some rosehip teabags I thought I’d leave them for another day. I might get some now 🙂

Penny – I’ve been cleaning the cupboards for the utility room. I’m an avid Freegler, and found these last year to (nearly) match our wooden fronted kitchen cupboards. The utility room is through the breakfast room and not next to the kitchen, so they will look good enough, especially in a few months, when we are painting the whole lot to match. Anyway to return to the scrubbing – they had a pretty good layer of grease on tops and bottoms, and had been stored in our shed since November, so they were delightful! I must have used up quite a few calories though! Two left to do tomorrow.

Missay- Sounds great! Don’t work too hard!
Penny☺️

I’ll try not to Penny!

Food for yesterday:
Breakfast: 2 egg and sour cream microwaved custard with cinnamon, nutmeg, 10 raisins and 3 tspns cream

Lunch: a slice of ham, creme fraiche, pickled onions, gherkins, cherry toms, 4 almonds

Dinner: home made lamb and green lentil.soup, with onion, carrot, rosemary, mint and wild garlic

Drinks: water, still and sparkling, buttermint teas, one coffee – half and half milk and water

Snack: half an apple

Cals: 760, Carbs: 51g

Food for today:
Breakfast: Greek yogurt with half a small pear, cinnamon and 2 teaspoons cream

Lunch: a slice of ham, an ounce of cheddar, tablespoon of cream cheese, tablespoon of guacamole, gherkin, pickled onions, cherry toms with basil, pickled jalapenos

Dinner: 3 egg omelette/frittata with onion, red pepper, garlic, gammon, basil, cheddar cheese

Snack: half an apple

Drinks: sparkling water, buttermint teas, coffee with milk

I didn’t plan today’s food in advance and winged it a bit, but making sure I kept the carbs down. Calorie count was higher at 1004, but carbs were 41, so we’ll see what the scales say tomorrow.

Porridge, Greek yogurt, rhubarb
Soup
Mackerel salad.

Gram flour scones, yogurt, rhubarb
Chicken salad
Pulled pork, no sauce, green salad, avocado

Can I just say the chilli beef is to die for!!!

Today made my own breakfast

Debbie and Andrew sausage ( bad I had 2)
Scrambled egg
Mushrooms and tinned tomato

Not sure where I stand but yummy. I’m not bursting for being to full but comfortable

It was nice to have a breakfast like that.

I do miss the toast.. I have promised myself 2 stone goal is a slice of proper bread .. Toasted with butter.