Good start to the day

So, a little while ago I started to talk about my low-carb diet, and I’ve been asked a few times to go into a bit more detail on the kind of foods that this may include. It’s hard to detail everything but I will talk about the kind of foods I eat daily and what I try to avoid.

Breakfast turned out to be one of the hardest to deal with. I always thought that I was being very healthy in having a bowl of porridge with skimmed milk, but it turns out that my average bowl size was at least 3 times the size that I should be having! When I looked at the tiny 30g size of porridge that is the recommended portion size I realised that something would have to change. I had read that Oatibix cereal was low in carbs and whilst I admit that it is very tasty and oaty (if there Is such a thing!) it still doesn’t fill me up totally. So, I add berries to it, blueberries and raspberries for me, and a chopped-up banana and that seems to do the trick. For days that I am hungrier than usual I tend to have some low-carb toast as well (Fitbakes bread is good for this, and Heylo too) and sugar free marmalade. 

I try my best not to snack in between meals but if I am hungry then I do have a few things that work. The best for me is to always keep mini Babybels in my bag. Not the tastiest and they tend to have a remarkably long lifespan, but they are high in protein and do take those hunger pangs away. Some chopped up slices of Quorn or Turkey also help if you need a snack.

On to lunch. This can be quite a challenge at first because so much of what we eat at lunchtime revolves around bread or bread products and this is where we can amass the carbs. I normally eat around max 50 carbs at lunch to leave room for what is my biggest meal of the day, which is in the evening, but this may work the other way around for you of course. I rely quite heavily on the BFree wraps for lunch and fill them with turkey and salad or Quorn meats and salad. I love smoked salmon slices too or tuna. All are high in protein, and we know how good oily fish is. If you can’t get hold of the wraps, then I would recommend gluten free bread as this tends to be lower in carbs than regular bread. One of the things that I started to miss was a packet of crisps with my lunch, so I had a good look around and found that Lidl sell pea crisps and lentil crisps that average about 10 carbs per pack. They are much more delicious than they sound with flavours such as salt and vinegar and barbecue. 

All this talk about food is now making me hungry so I’m off to get something to eat! I’ll be back tomorrow with what I eat in the evening. Links to recipes will be included too.

Like with all my posts on food or diet, I need to stress that this is only based on my experience, and I am in no way a nutritionist or a dietician. These are examples that work for me as someone with Type 2 Diabetes, but you may need to consult your doctor or diabetes specialist before you embark on any weight loss programme