low sugar, low carb lunch ideas

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.

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.

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).

bump

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.

If it has to be sweet though, try some Ezekial bread toasted with some almond butter, topped with my favorite sweet... organic blue agave. It's awesome!! You get good fats with the almond butter, get the sweet from the agave (super low glycemic), and some real, true grains with the Ezekial bread. You will definitely feel full!

FYI as a Type II diabetic myself I can attest that Ezekial (and other sprouted-grain) breads are lower in net carbs (more fiber) and glycemic index than regular breads made with flour, even one's claiming to be "whole grain" ...

However they still spike my blood sugar in quantities greater than 1/2 slice at a time. So for people like the OP worried about glycemic control, make sure you test with a meter before/after eating to ensure it fits in your glycemic 'window' of control.

My 'go-to' low-carb lunch is typically full-fat cheese, some meat and either a handful of berries or crisp veggies with some cream-cheese based onion or ranch dip. I'll also make myself some lettuce wraps with a high-fat/low-carb chicken salad or something else similar.

... that being said this thread is from October 2012

my favorites

taco salad in a bowl instead of a tostada.

hot and sour soup with lots of tofu and egg

asian chicken wraps (wrapped in napa cabbage)

chicken cordon bleu with grilled chicken

sausage and peppers in marinara

tofu stir fry in a thai peanut sauce

plus loads of salads