low sugar, low carb lunch ideas

almorrow1s

Hey folks, I've been loving my smoothies for lunch recently because they're easy and cheap and low calorie, but they're really high in sugar due to the fruit. I've been absolutely stuck at this weight for a little while and I'm wondering if sugar and carbs might be the culprit. My dad and grandpa are type 2 diabetics also, so keeping an eye on sugar wouldn't hurt me. Anyone have some awesome low carb and low sugar lunch ideas? Bonus points if they're cheap/low cost ideas. And if you have any ideas why I'm plateauing majorly, I'd love advice and feel free to look at the diary.
p.s. yesterday's popcorn lunch is not typical, so please don't judge me

almorrow1s

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rubyautumn4

What about a salad? Greens, veggies and chicken/tuna? Or if you like smoothies maybe reduce some of the fruit and add in veggies like spinach or kale?

bacitracin

Join us over at www.reddit.com/r/paleo and www.reddit.com/r/keto for low-carb and natural eating support? We also have a pretty active low-carb community on here, just mostly on non-default public forums because low-carb is apparently the devil to most people on MFP.

nikkit321

I have no lunch ideas really, but I would suggest you add sodium to your list of macronutrients. It doesn't look like you eat vegetables, but adding those would increase your fiber. Good luck!

iksworbez

Whole Rotisserie Chicken from your local grocery store (the cooked in store kind) usually only run between $6-$8 and there are at least two meals per chicken...

kathyrunsfast

I find that soups make great low carb, low cal options. Make a big batch and then eat the soup all week for lunch. I doubt if it is the fruit that is keeping you at a plateau. Maybe you need to eat more for lunch. Have a lean protein lunch and pair it with a big salad or fresh vegetables. Some soups that work well might be white chicken chili, chili made with lean, white ground turkey, chicken and sweet potato soup, bean soup, etc.

klamarius

Hey there. I am also watching my sugar and carbs - just started watching carbs much more closely today. I am not going crazy with it, just eating a little less than I normally would! I have been watching my sugar intake for a while now and just recently switched out a lot of things in my diet. I used to dump buckets of coffee creamer into my coffee but now I'm using plain old 1/2 & 1/2. Tastes awesome and only has 1 gram of sugar per serving (2 TBSP). We shall see how cutting out a lot of sugar from my diet works. Giving it a few weeks. :sad:

One thing I do on occasion for lunch is cook up some canned chicken and some vegetables. According to the nutrition label on the chicken, there are 0 grams of sugar in a serving (2oz) and IMO, canned chicken is relatively inexpensive. I would just watch the sodium content as well. (Sodium affects my body terribly!!) You could even mix up a serving of the chicken in a salad with some veggies. Cucumbers and carrots are my go-to choices. Or you could do a chicken wrap - get low carb tortillas, add the chicken, some lettuce, maybe an ounce of cheese and you're good to go!

P.S. I had popcorn for lunch yesterday too. Took my daughter to the movies. Not a typical lunch for me, either! Feel free to add me if you want!

SanteMulberry

Hey folks, I've been loving my smoothies for lunch recently because they're easy and cheap and low calorie, but they're really high in sugar due to the fruit. I've been absolutely stuck at this weight for a little while and I'm wondering if sugar and carbs might be the culprit. My dad and grandpa are type 2 diabetics also, so keeping an eye on sugar wouldn't hurt me. Anyone have some awesome low carb and low sugar lunch ideas? Bonus points if they're cheap/low cost ideas. And if you have any ideas why I'm plateauing majorly, I'd love advice and feel free to look at the diary.
p.s. yesterday's popcorn lunch is not typical, so please don't judge me

I usually have 2 oz. of organic cheddar and a piece of fruit for lunch--usually a low-fructose fruit. If I feel like having a higher-fructose fruit, I just cut the portion in half and save the half for later. The cheddar will suppress your appetite for several reasons. The butterfat is a natural blood sugar/insulin swing inhibitor and the calcium speeds the loss of belly fat. Organic cheese also has much higher levels of CLA---which has been shown to boost fat loss. I also might have some cut up vegetables like celery and green pepper. That carries me right through to my mid-afternoon slump when I grab a handful of some kind of nuts. Macadamia nuts have been shown to boost metabolism, so I will eat 7-10 of those most commonly. But walnuts and pistachios are good too. I don't worry about fat because I am on a lower-carb plan. I usually aim for 15 grams or less of fructose which means I eat a lot of citrus---especially, my favorite for fat loss---grapefruit. Grapefruit is magical for helping one to burn fat. Haven't looked into the biochemistry of grapefruit but I just know that eating it has been shown to boost fat loss.

SUSANSIZZY

How about a Thomas Whole Wheat English Muffin with 3.0 oz of "Extra Lean" Ham and Slice of reduced fat Lorraine Swiss Cheese. Toast Muffin first, then layer muffin-ham-cheese and put under broiler or microwave until cheese is partially melted. Good, Filling, and is balanced. Can add 1/2 cup of low fat cottage cheese if you want. I sometimes eat this for breakfast or lunch. I too have a problem limiting the carbs because of fruits and veggies. Sorrento low fat cheese sticks work well too.

SanteMulberry

Join us over at www.reddit.com/r/paleo and www.reddit.com/r/keto for low-carb and natural eating support? We also have a pretty active low-carb community on here, just mostly on non-default public forums because low-carb is apparently the devil to most people on MFP.

Yes, it seems that the body builders and runners dominate the forums here (and they can be as domineering as the body builders at the gym) Body builders and runners apparently HATE low-carb plans. While carbs are great for high-performance athletes, they are not so good for the obese---particularly obese women.

almorrow1s

you guys are awesome. As some pointed out, yes, i gotta eat more veggies, I just suck at that. I don't want to go too low carb because I'd like to do another triathlon in the spring and I just become a raging b#$%h when i cut out carbs completely. I'm not a huge fan of salads, but I can eat them if I have to, haha. The English muffin sandwich sounds awesome. I'm trying to keep sodium low and i try to stick to brown rice and whole wheat pasta when I do have those types of carbs, I just felt like maybe my sugar was getting too high. Thanks for the advice mfpers!

SanteMulberry

I find that soups make great low carb, low cal options. Make a big batch and then eat the soup all week for lunch. I doubt if it is the fruit that is keeping you at a plateau. Maybe you need to eat more for lunch. Have a lean protein lunch and pair it with a big salad or fresh vegetables. Some soups that work well might be white chicken chili, chili made with lean, white ground turkey, chicken and sweet potato soup, bean soup, etc.

A fruit smoothie can yield a whopping 45 grams of fructose per meal and can derail fat loss. Especially need to beware of commercial "fruit smoothies" which can be made of a little fruit, a LOT of high-fructose corn syrup, artificial flavorings, and ice.

Koldnomore

Meat is great or eggs. I usually have dinner leftovers so mostly I bring meat and veggies or a salad with meat. You could make a great Cobb salad with meat, eggs AND cheese

I do about 200g /day of carbs (no Idea what's low) - most of which I tend to try and eat earlier in the day (breakfast/lunch) and around 30g of sugar (I try to keep under 24) .

almorrow1s

aroundthemulb, I know. I'm trying to get away from them, but they are my fall back lunch. I never bought the pre packaged ones, just made ones from plain fat free yogurt, frozen mixed fruit, and a banana. But bananas have like 20 grams of sugar in them alone, so they were always high in sugar. Gotta move away from them.

MelisMusing

I like deli rolls for lunch- just turkey and cheese rolled up. Sometimes I'll add some avocado. I also try and do my best to make sure my sugars come from natural sources, and arent added sugars. Doesn't always work that way, but I follow a 80/20 success rate most of the time. I'll send you a friend request if you want to take a peek at my diary and get some ideas.

AZKristi

Soups and salads are great lunch ideas.

You can make salads very different by changing the greens (mixed greens, spinach, romaine, etc), the dressing (I love Ken's Steakhouse Lights - especially the Northern Italian), and the toppings.

I love jalapenos, olives, scallions, shredded chicken and salsa with romaine lettuce for a taco salad. Or, spinach with feta, tomatoes, craisins and light italian dressing.

In the winter I love to make a pot of soup and take that with me. Today I am making Red Lentil Curry that I will split into 5 servings and take with me to work each day.

SanteMulberry

Meat is great or eggs. I usually have dinner leftovers so mostly I bring meat and veggies or a salad with meat. You could make a great Cobb salad with meat, eggs AND cheese

I do about 200g /day of carbs (no Idea what's low) - most of which I tend to try and eat earlier in the day (breakfast/lunch) and around 30g of sugar (I try to keep under 24) .

Below 60 grams of carb per day is "very low" and is not particularly healthy for the long term--but it can be okay for a few days to boost weight loss at the beginning of a lower-carb diet, if appetite control is a problem.

60-100 is what many "lower carb" plans recommend and this level has the advantage of boosting fat loss without eliminating fruit. Most people on this type of plan elect for eliminating grain and sugar and consume a couple of pieces of low-fructose fruit per day.

100-200 grams of carbs would still result in some fat loss over an extended period--depending on the activity level. Those who are very active, would probably perform better at the upper end of this carb range. The 200 gram range would not be a fat-loss plan per se, but would result in fat loss if the person were running a lot and restricting fat although depletion of essential fatty acids could be a problem in that scenario.

I personally cannot eat over 100 grams of carb per day or my fat loss just comes to a screeching halt, even if I stay well below my calorie allowance.

doubleduofa

All great ideas here. I love the idea of a rotisserie chicken. I have some snack/meal ideas. It really depends on how much you eat in one sitting. It depends on how low carb you are going too.

- 1/2 -1 cup cottage cheese with spinach, tomatoes, and sunflower seeds
- 1/2 chicken breast (I butterfly them and cooke them on the foreman grill) with a salad (I like spinach salads) with balsamic vinaigrette, or zucchini/squash sauteed in butter and a little salt, or creamed spinach. Easy creamed spinach - sautee shallot/onion and garlic in olive oil or butter until translucent and the garlic is fragrant, add spinach and wilt. When wilted add some cream cheese 2 tbl is probably enough - I use 1 of those packets. Salt and pepper to taste. Heat up well too.
- pork chop w/ 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce.
- 1-2 oz of cheese, 1/4 cup nuts, and an apple or strawberries
- celery and 2 tbl peanut butter or cream cheese
- turkey and cheese rolled up in a lettuce leaf, and 1/2 cup nuts
- greek yogurt with some fruit and slivered almonds (you will probably have to add a sweetener...I can't eat it plain)

Ok, and these two might sounds strange but...
- BLT salad in a cheese roll. I mix 1 avocado with 4-5 pieces of bacon and chopped tomato. I then roll that up in a cheese slice with some spinach leaves.
- Tuna salad in a cheese roll. Tuna salad (or chicken) made however you like, rolled up in a cheese slice.

almorrow1s

Those sound really yummy doubleduofa! thanks for the suggestions!

Koldnomore

60-100 is what many "lower carb" plans recommend and this level has the advantage of boosting fat loss without eliminating fruit. Most people on this type of plan elect for eliminating grain and sugar and consume a couple of pieces of low-fructose fruit per day.

100-200 grams of carbs would still result in some fat loss over an extended period--depending on the activity level. Those who are very active, would probably perform better at the upper end of this carb range. The 200 gram range would not be a fat-loss plan per se, but would result in fat loss if the person were running a lot and restricting fat although depletion of essential fatty acids could be a problem in that scenario.

I personally cannot eat over 100 grams of carb per day or my fat loss just comes to a screeching halt, even if I stay well below my calorie allowance.

Interesting. What number of calories is this based on? surely if you are eating 2000 calories you will be having more carbs than someone eating say 1200 no? I'm at 1800 - set to 45% carbs. Lower carb is something I am likely going to be looking into but quite honestly I am not sure how much lower I could go and still eat 'normally'. My family have no need to be on a reduced carb diet so I have very few things I could change. Just curious

KeepingChocolate

I like doubledoufa's suggestions. Printing those out now. : )

I enjoy making low carb pizza (it isn't exactly like pizza since the "crust" is mostly egg and cheese, but it tastes really good - even my teenagers enjoy it and it smells great). Drawback is that it takes awhile to make, but if you make one the night before, it does reheat well. Here's a link to a recipe (I don't have the one I use since I'm not at home right now): http://www.food.com/recipe/low-carb-pizza-84516

SanteMulberry

60-100 is what many "lower carb" plans recommend and this level has the advantage of boosting fat loss without eliminating fruit. Most people on this type of plan elect for eliminating grain and sugar and consume a couple of pieces of low-fructose fruit per day.

100-200 grams of carbs would still result in some fat loss over an extended period--depending on the activity level. Those who are very active, would probably perform better at the upper end of this carb range. The 200 gram range would not be a fat-loss plan per se, but would result in fat loss if the person were running a lot and restricting fat although depletion of essential fatty acids could be a problem in that scenario.

I personally cannot eat over 100 grams of carb per day or my fat loss just comes to a screeching halt, even if I stay well below my calorie allowance.

Interesting. What number of calories is this based on? surely if you are eating 2000 calories you will be having more carbs than someone eating say 1200 no? I'm at 1800 - set to 45% carbs. Lower carb is something I am likely going to be looking into but quite honestly I am not sure how much lower I could go and still eat 'normally'. My family have no need to be on a reduced carb diet so I have very few things I could change. Just curious

Most lower carb plans do not emphasize counting calories but if you eliminate sugary foods and grain, you will find that it is difficult to even MEET your calorie allowance on MFP, let alone exceed it. I restrict fruit to two servings of low-fructose fruit because the new research shows that fructose can be something of a "trigger" for the obese person to turn carbs into fat instead of burning them for energy. That is why high fructose corn syrup (the sweetener in soda pop and in many processed foods) is especially bad for anyone who battles obesity. I generally end up eating about 1200-1300 calories a day---more on days when I am very active. But again, I am not particularly concerned about calories. I don't get on the scale a lot, but I use fat calipers to judge the loss of body fat. I have lost about 20 pounds of body fat so far (I have "beefed up" my muscles at the same time with weight lifting). Most of my friends tell me that they can't believe that I have only lost 20 pounds as it looks like a lot more. Previous to starting on the low-carb plan, my muscle mass had shrunk to pathetic proportions because I was on blood pressure medication---which really did a job on my muscle mass. I think it is likely a big reason why older people experience "sarcopenia" (loss of lean tissue) and become weak and clumsy---the majority of older people are on B.P. medication. (Note to anyone reading this who is on B.P. medication---don't go off cold turkey---you could get a stroke! You need to lose some body fat and increase your activity level and home monitor your B.P. if you are going to taper off the medication.) While I didn't gain a lot of weight while I was on them, I gained a lot of fat---particularly belly fat. I have lost 4 inches off my waist in about six months and my muscles don't hurt anymore since I was able to get off my B.P. meds.

It is pretty easy to do lower carb with a family. When they have spaghetti, you have spaghetti sauce on some kind of cooked vegetable (sounds awful but it is yummy). When they have grilled cheese sandwiches, you have just plain cheese and fruit.

MoniMoni2u

I just had a 2 egg omelet for lunch. (1/2 green pepper chopped, 2 slices onion, chopped, 1 tomato chopped. 1 t coconut oil to saute veggies. 2 whole eggs and a slice (1 oz) of cheese of choice. (Today's was smoked gouda! YUMMY!) Easy, added a little bit of veggies and is very filling.

I've been using the whole grain sandwich thins that are on the market. I do different things with it:
Toast and add peanut butter (1 T)
Turkey (baked not deli meat) and a 1/2 a wedge of laughing cow flavor of the day! Depends on my mood!
Toasted with mashed avacado, then sliced onion and tomato

Love Cottage cheese. I normally add pineapple but that won't work with your qualifications!
I also enjoy a mix of the following: cucumber (thick chunks), onion chunks, sweet pepper chunks and tomato chunks I add a little sweetener salt and pepper on top and then douse with tarragon vinegar and sometimes add 1 T of olive oil. I love this medley with cottage cheese.

SanteMulberry

I just had a 2 egg omelet for lunch. (1/2 green pepper chopped, 2 slices onion, chopped, 1 tomato chopped. 1 t coconut oil to saute veggies. 2 whole eggs and a slice (1 oz) of cheese of choice. (Today's was smoked gouda! YUMMY!) Easy, added a little bit of veggies and is very filling.

I've been using the whole grain sandwich thins that are on the market. I do different things with it:
Toast and add peanut butter (1 T)
Turkey (baked not deli meat) and a 1/2 a wedge of laughing cow flavor of the day! Depends on my mood!
Toasted with mashed avacado, then sliced onion and tomato

Love Cottage cheese. I normally add pineapple but that won't work with your qualifications!
I also enjoy a mix of the following: cucumber (thick chunks), onion chunks, sweet pepper chunks and tomato chunks I add a little sweetener salt and pepper on top and then douse with tarragon vinegar and sometimes add 1 T of olive oil. I love this medley with cottage cheese.

Yep--I have scrambled eggs with cheese and sauteed onion and spinach almost every morning for breakfast. I love cottage cheese too (4% is lower in carbs--simple cheeses like cottage cheese or ricotta always have some carbs) but I put vegetables in it--instead of fruit--to keep the carbs down. I put in scallions, minced raw carrots, chopped tomatoes, chopped cucumber, chopped green pepper, a little bit of chopped beets---or whatever other vegetables I have around that appeal to me. I also like cottage cheese with a handful of unsalted organic peanuts or other nuts. The natural sugar in cottage cheese is galactose but the good news is that galactose is metabolized very slowly, so you don't get blood sugar spikes from it. Hard cheeses like cheddar don't have any carbs at all. I normally have fruit with hard cheese.

almorrow1s

In college I used to love tomatoes and cottage cheese or green peppers and cottage cheese, so maybe I should bring those back into the lunch rotation!

SanteMulberry

In college I used to love tomatoes and cottage cheese or green peppers and cottage cheese, so maybe I should bring those back into the lunch rotation!

Yes--cottage cheese is very adaptable. On a day when I haven't had too many carbs and I have craving for a potato, for dinner, I will have a microwaved baked potato "smothered" in cottage cheese and caramelized onions with a generous topping of hand grated parmesan (I don't like the canned kind--too salty). Sometimes I will saute onions, green peppers and mushrooms and add those to my cottage cheese on potato. Mmmmm. When I've had a busy day and I don't feel like cooking, it is a FAST dinner for me, while my hubby eats leftovers (which I hate).

chickiec28

My recipes are dinners, but I usually bring leftovers for lunch. I love pizza and couldn't bear the thought of giving it up, so i make a casserole with the same flavors.

1 pound hamburger
5 large mushrooms, sliced
1/2 bell pepper (whatever color you prefer), chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cups shredded mozzerella
about 20 pepperoni
Hunt's traditional spaghetti sauce (i use about 1/2 can which is 1 1/2 cups)
Pizza seasoning
2 Tbsp minced garlic

Brown the hamburger with Italian seasoning and garlic. Drain and place in an 8X8 glass pan. Cover with spaghetti sauce. Layer veggies. Cover with cheese and put pepperoni on top. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes at 400, or until cheese is bubbly.

If you divide by 4 servings, 595 calories and 15 carbs
If you divide by 6 servings, 397 calories and 10 carbs

Everyone loves this recipe and nobody seems to notice that it's low-carb.

Laffinhippiegurl

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CorvusCorax77

salad.

1223345

I love to have a little snack tray sort of. Cheese, almonds, berries of some kind or grapes, maybe carrot sticks too. It's nice and lite but satisfying as well.