Extremely Low Carb Diet - Recommend Foods

Hi everyone we have had a lot of posts about diet recently. I know some of you follow extremely low carb diets. I have been dragging my feet on this but I am finally read to give it a try. Over the next week I'll be eating all the foods in my house that have carbs and slowly replacing them with other foods. I am making this post to ask you all for recommendations on foods or meals that you eat that have no carbs or extremely low carbs. Here is what I have so far:

Beverages:
- Water, I've found that I like water with a slice of lemon in it.
- Coconut milk - I can not drink dairy milk or it hurts my stomach, and I also discovered that my psoriasis got 50% better after I stopped milk. So I have been drinking coconut milk with my cereal for months now. I know I will have to give up the cereal... but I found a brand So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk, so no carbs!
- Stock, I've made chicken stock and it's easy and good.

Foods:
- Cheeses
- Butter
- Eggs

What else are staples?

My husband eats low carb, and I do the shopping, so I have some ideas. It often includes a lot of meat and eggs, especially if you are going ultra low carb. Eggs & breakfast meats in the morning, a deli plate type thing for lunch, etc. Nuts (some are lower carb than others). Beef jerky, salami, pepperoni, pickles, olives. Egg salad or deviled eggs. For sweets, they have quite a few good options now if you hunt around (we can even get low carb ice cream in our area, Clemmy's, from Whole Foods). For something different, he will make fresh whipped cream with Splenda (even adding cocoa powder sometimes), with a few strawberries. We actually have a whipped cream maker with nitrous canisters lol.

Also, depending on how many carbs you are planning to limit it to, there are some great products out there, although they can be expensive. My hubby likes the Atkins bars (they have different types, such as for a meal, candy bar replacement, or snack, as low as a few carbs each, but they do have artificial sweeteners and such if that is something you avoid). Now they even make frozen meals, including breakfast sandwiches. We even found freeze dried cheese (shelf stable) at Costco (always looking for shelf stable stuff besides bars, nuts, and jerky to make snacking easy on the go). There even have low carb bread (Sara Lee 45 calorie/slice) and yogurt (Kroger brand) in our area. Its easier to find low carb tortillas though, such as to make a wrap or quesadilla with. We order a few things online as well (Netrition is our favorite, plus they have flat rate shipping which is a plus as we often get heavy items such as jelly and even Baja Bob's sugar free drink mixes to make mixed drinks).

As far as restaurants, beyond the typical breakfast fare and meat & veggies, we like Vietnamese pho soup (everything but the noodles), Mexican (salad with meat/cheese/avocado/salsa/veggies...everything but beans & rice or chile verde or such), sandwich places (low carb wrap or lettuce wrapped), burger places (lettuce wrapped or even just on a plate with a fork & knife), etc.

For starchy replacements with dinner, try mashed cauliflower (especially with cheese mixed in) or turnips. Green beans, broccoli, artichokes, yellow squash, green salad with mushrooms & cucumber, etc. Dinner for him is usually some type of meat & veggies. We got creative the other night and made carne asada with peppers & onions & avocado. Atkins also makes pasta (treated with an enzyme so it isn't absorbed), so he'll have pasta with meat sauce (you can even get a low carb pasta sauce).

A low carb diet is still something I want to try, but the biggest hurdle for me is that I don't eat most meats. The stuff I like is the bad stuff like pepperoni and hot dogs. So I imagine I'd end up eating a lot of cheese (bad for the digestive system in large quantities) and processed stuff. I have tried Gluten & Dairy free though, and avoiding common migraine trigger foods, so that is a start. Good luck! Best wishes.

I really love chicken salad with lots of celery and mayo. Sometimes I add a few red grapes. Onion is good in it too but doesn't agree with me. Unsweetened chocolate is a great snack for me but not everyone likes it. Lettuce wraps are great for chicken, tuna or egg salad for lunch or just a big green salad with whatever left over meat you might have or the chicken, tuna or egg salad on top. I use lime juice and evo for dressing.

Spinach, and frozen is easy to stir into any low carb stew to add some phytonutrients. Love it.

Reama

Thanks!! This is helping a lot! I never thought of many of those suggestions. I will have to try unsweetened chocolate. I used to love sweets but ever since I stopped eating candy (due to food coloring) my taste for sweets has disappeared. Love the ideas for snacks such as beef jerky, maybe greek yogurt, I'll have to make a lot of hardboiled eggs.

others have given you good advice.  i wrote this yesterday and wanted to tweak it before sending.
i've been doing this for a few weeks now, and it's still hard. but  i eat all the veggies except carby ones and nightshades; spuds, yams, winter squashes, beets, corn, peas.

in other words, all the green ones, plus cauliflower & mushrooms. meat and fish.  i have no idea how vegetarians do this!  humans did not evolve being non-flesh eaters, though i would surely like to not be a flesh-eater. long ago i made my family of 7 be lacto-ovo vegetarian for 15 years.  but now, beans and legumes are OUT, for the 'ancestral' diet.  dairy is out also, but i think i'd starve without it, and i digest it just fine!

the idea, as i understand it, with extremely low-carb is to be dependent upon FAT as your energy source, not sugar/carbs.  one must re-train one's body.  eat bacon, fat on meat (preferably grass-fed, as it has the right fatty acids), olive oil.  nix the fruit/veg oils.

macadamia nuts have the best fats, but other nuts are ok in moderation. (who can afford macadamia butter, with the nuts about $20/pound?  the stores i checked locally don't carry the butter anymore, as it's way too expensive.) a little peanut butter is ok even though it's a legume.  i eat it off a spoon when i need something sweet, maybe with a little cinnamon sprinkled on.  

i also don't see how people do without dairy products.  i have to fill up on SOMETHING.  i had very little extra weight and can't afford to lose any more.  but i eat full-fat yogurt, cream cheese, and the like. avocados are now a mainstay.

i had one day, so far, of no headache, and no necessity of taking a triptan.  this is highly unusual, for the past 10-plus years.  so i have to believe the high-fat plan is what's right for me.  i read recently on one of the paleo/ketogenic sites that this diet has been known for 100 years, for children with epilepsy or seizures.  if it works for kids, why not for us migraineurs?  (the pain feels to me like a brain seizure!)

still learning what to eat and what to buy at the store, dianne

Hi Seaine,
I'm happy to contribute to this thread, and a lot of great suggestions have already been made!

Staples for me are:
-avocado
-eggs
-cheese, cream
-meat, fish
-kale, spinach, other dark leafy greens, cabbage
-nuts and seeds (but I try not to eat more than 1 serving a day)

Not a staple (but excellent to eat):
-coconut. (Oil, water, milk, cream.)

At first I avoided root vegetables, but I was reading a scientific book on low-carb diets, and they said that root veggies are okay because they digest over time so you aren't getting a bunch of carb at once. I tried eating some roasted potatoes, parsnips, and beets this week and did not get a headache

I've started using lettuce/kale to wrap food that would normally have bread or a tortilla. A simple lunch could be wraps with lunchmeat and cheese.

I really cannot emphasize spinach enough. It is SO versatile! Creamed spinach is one of my favorite foods now!

Cabbage is also pretty versatile, and I often make cole slaw. Russian food can easily be adapted for low-carb. I've made meat dumplings wrapped in cabbage and cooked in tomato sauce, and beef stroganoff served over very creamy/buttery mashed potatoes.

Like others said, if you go out to eat, order your food sans-carbohydrates (no rice, pasta, bread). Indian is the best because they use a lot of coconut and cream, just avoid the sweeter dishes.

I like to make crustless quiches, and the mashed cauliflower mentioned really is amazing. Broccoli works for this too.

I eat chocolate that is 85% dark, but 72% is okay if you only eat a square at a time. If I want something "sweet" I will put a few berries in bowl with cream, coconut shavings, and maybe some crushed nuts or chocolate. I've also made flourless chocolate cake with unsweetened cocoa instead of semisweet, and it was very good with some cream. Unsweetened cheesecake is my next challenge

I used to bake a lot and haven't experimented with this as much, but if you want to bake low-carb, substitute almond and coconut flour and add extra eggs. Be careful about "gluten free" products, because often these have just as many carbs as regular foods.

I actually got away with making a low-carb lasagna using homemade pasta, called Crispelle in my family. (Italian version of french crepes). I whisk 3-4 eggs in a bowl with some water, a pinch of salt, and no more than 1/2 c flour.

Diane mentioned that some people avoid dairy. All dairy is good except milk and some fresh cheeses. Products made from sheep's milk have a higher fat content, too.