New to this.

womanofpraise7

Hello. I am new to learning what to eat to reduce my carb intake. My doctor informed me to reduce them because i am pre diabetic. Of course most of what I ate was carbs. I need help in knowing what to eat mainly for breakfast. I dont like eggs and cannot have dairy. Any help and assistance would greatly be appreciated with the type of food I can eat.

Binkie1955

Well, start by getting smarter than your doctor. you might read Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes just to get started. easy $15 bucks on amazon but will fill you with good science. Second visit one of the ketogenic calculator websites and customize your MFP settings to the carbohydrate count best for you. I'm going to guess you want to restrict carbs to something less than what MFP's default programming is set for. A lot of folks go for 15% of daily calories or about 100 grams of carbs a day or less. But try http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/ for some insights.

Once done, use the custom feature in MFP to set your daily statistics. Switch out the default for 'sugar' and replace it with 'fiber' as you're going to want 'fiber' to calculate your 'net carbs' and 'sugar' is already captured in your 'carb count'. got that? you're going to be boosting your fat intake and your protein intake and reducing your carb (sugar) intake. That's right 'boosting' your fat intake. fat is good for you, carbs are not!

ok, now you know your numbers, you need to pick the food.

you don't like eggs (too bad) you don't like dairy. you can find lots of substitute for dairy, usually almond milk is ideal. don't use a high carbohydrate 'rice' milk substitute like 'Rice Dream' that's the bad stuff. you're stuck with low carbohydrate unsweetened Almond Milk.

Beyond that, get rid of the high carb items in your kitchen, basically ,'if its' white it ain't right' as they say. Milk, Sugar, Flour, Rice, potatoes, Bread, most grains, etc. it all goes. There are some low carb breads out there, about 7-9 grams of carb per slice. but most of it goes. HFCS goes, anything with corn syrup or ingrediants that end in '-ose' (fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose, etc.).

Kick the fruit, throw out the juicer, you're eating meat and green vegetables as your mainstay and you're steering clear of fruit, grain, sugar and alcohol.

that's it. good luck.

EricCowperthwaite

A good rule of thumb for whether something is okay to eat is the net carbs per serving. It works like this:

Total carbs (in grams) minus Total fiber (in grams) = net carbohydrates in that serving.

If the net carbs for the serving is more than 5 grams, avoid that particular food. Here's real life examples:

Avocado, 1 oz, edible portion

Cals - 45 Fat - 4g Protein - 1g Carbs - 2g Fiber - 2g Sugar - 0g

so, the net carbs on this is actually 0. Very healthy for a low carb diet.

Blackberries, raw, 1 cup

Cals - 62, Fat - 1g Protein - 2g Carbs - 14g Fiber - 8g Sugar - 7g

So, the net carbs on this is 6g, exceeds the 5g rule of thumb for low carb servings. I solve this problem by only having 1/2 or 3/4 cup of blackberries :-)

But it becomes obvious very fast that most fruit, starches and beans are just not going to work for a low carb diet. Since you don't like eggs for breakfast, I would highly suggest the following foods for breakfast

bacon
ground beef or sausage
heavy cream in your coffee (dairy, but doesn't taste like milk)
coconut oil or grassfed butter for cooking the beef/sausage in
Smoothie made with protein powder (make sure it's got very low net carbs), unsweetened cocoa, avocado and coconut oil

My wife also doesn't like eggs. She cooks up left over protein from last night's dinner and a tomato in olive oil, then she adds half an avocado to it. Sauteeing tomato in olive oil releases all sorts of mediterrannean diet goodness from the tomato, makes it very heart healthy. The avocado is very healthy too, plus left over steak or ground beef or whatever is nom nom. Or she makes a smoothie like I outline above.

Also, feel free to look at my food diary, which is public. However, I have to warn you that my breakfasts are a bit odd. They are either coffee with butter and oil in it, or eggs and meat.

Hope that helps.

ivory98107

Not sure if this will work for you, but I do a green smoothie with zero carb protein powder, some greek yogurt, supplements (green powder and omegas), fiber, one serving a fruit and lots of greens for breakfast. It's higher carb than the keto type diets will allow, but it gives me a good kickstart in the morning and the protein (30 grams) keeps me full until lunchtime. It makes me feel way better than a bread product which used to be my go-to breakfast. Good luck!

raventwo

My first advice would be to find a lower carb eating plan that you like and can stick to. There are some very different approaches to this!
That said, I eat quite a variety of things for breakfast (I only eat eggs 2-3 times per week). This morning I had homemade bone broth with 1/2 cup of spinach, my coffee with some half and half (yes, I know that isn 't an option for you), I also had an ultra-thin slice of cheese. For a non-dairy breakfast, I'd try a couple of ounces of cooked chicken rolled up in a romaine leaf with a bit of mustard or mayo, or veggie stir-fry of say baby bok choy, or asparagus with scallion and mushroom, and a bit of protein.

I love things like smoked oysters - the brand I use - Brunswick is 130 calories for one drained can, and I find them great for a light meal (with veggies on the side - I eat a lot of celery sticks..lol) or a snack.

Best wishes to you, I'm pre-diabetic as well, and have maintained there for some years by working on losing (I've lost 19 since starting to use MFP, but am 103 lbs. lost in 2+ years) and having really changed my carb intake. The plan I follow is CALP (Carbohydrateaddicts Lifespan Program by Dr. Richard and Dr. Rachel Heller). For good reading, I also recommend Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution - quite informative, imho.

nancycaregiver

Google low carb recipes. Or download an app called Spark Recipes. You can type low carb in the search box then add the ones you like to favorites so you can find them easily. Try not to eat more than 10 carbs in any one meal or snack. If you allow yourself 40 carbs a day, you do not want to eat 1 or 2 carbs for breakfast and lunch then have 35 for dinner! Even though you stay under your carbs for the day, you get a huge spike in blood sugar. Spread them out. You've got this. You can add me if you'd like. Good luck!
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