Low Carb Ideas

Without seeing your diary, it is hard to say. I mostly just have regular home cooked meals, without the starches. For example, one of my meals yesterday was grilled chicken breast and asparagus. Lots of asparagus. Another example is to make tuna fish salad, but eat it with celery sticks, instead of putting it in between slices of bread. When I make green salads, I add nuts or seeds, rather than croutons, and lots of protein. If you add can add olives, you don't even need a dressing.

Open faced omelette:
-veggies sauteed in olive oil: start these first, but just put them on top the eggs and cheese
-one egg with one egg white: beat together and poor into heated skillet. When it sets, flip it over and turn the burner off
-one laughing cow cheese wedge: spread on the omelette

(my alternative breakfast is steel cut oats with fruit and a half serving of nuts; not low carb, but a similar result for blood chemistry)

Nachos:
-prepare any kind of lean meat
-make a side dish by heating together one can refried beans, one cup salsa* and a dash of cumin. When hot, top with cheese and continue to cook until the cheese melts. (*to lower salt content, sautee your own onions, green peppers, cilantro, tomatoes and chile to suit your taste (pasilla is much more mild than jalapeño, for example)
-if you like, greek yogurt makes an excellent substitute for sour cream.
-use a fork as a delivery vehicle, rather than tortillas. When I am really craving that corn taste, as well, I use polenta and make it into a layered casserole: polenta, meat, beans, salsa, cheese.

For proteins, I find Turkey Breast tenderloins are very filling. Tuna or Chicken salad (no bread). Chicken breasts or small steaks. I will make a Juicy Lucy, usually with spicy cheese, and eat it with a knife and fork instead of a bun. I will have yogurt for breakfast 4-5 times a week.

Salads. Steamed green veggies. I limit my fruit intake because of the sugar content, and only include bananas as a rare treat.

To echo above, I make omelettes with whatever protein I am in the mood for. I ALWAYS have Laughing Cow in my fridge, so that wedge works well. I try to limit the Laughing Cow because it has a sneaky amount of Sodium. Since I too am trying to control HTN, I watch out for that.

For snacks, I will have raw carrots and celery. I will sometimes spread the Laughing Cow on the celery, or Almond Butter and Celery is pretty tasty and helps to control the sweet tooth. I keep a variety of nuts to nibble on.

I will typically only drink water and coffee, but I have been that way for a while. As a rare treat, I will use a Crystal Light Peach Tea flavor packet. That is only once or twice a month, tho.

I try to limit my carbs to under 80g a day. When I have the most success, I have a string of days reaching that goal.

For me, when I started going low carb, I did get some headaches as my body adjusted. I just took Advial PRN and was fine. I don't get them anymore.