Review Left Me Feeling Depressed!

[Docb]

Agree with @Inka, there look to be opportunities to cut carbs in your diet without making wholesale changes.

One of my hacks is to use frozen french fries to make chips. If you use size of a portion as your gauge, the there is a lot less potato (i.e. the carby bit) in the portion of French fries than there is in the portion of chips. I've got my chip shop to add a very small portion of chips on their system, just for me. Lightly battered fish with a small portion of chips with some of my coleslaw waiting at home to go with it is my Friday night standdby!

What takeaways do you go for? If it is pizza, then you have a fundamental problem- the pizza base used by the chains. Other takeaways - Indian, Chinese, burgers etc - they all have opportunities to create a lower carb option.

 

[Martin.A]

I do think BMI can be a bit mis-leading BECAUSE you can be a healthy but muscley person but have a BMI that is over what you should be. If I got down to what the NHS thinks is a healthy weight for me, I would look positively ill.

The other measure that's often used is waist-to-height ratio. Waist should be no more than half height, and preferably less. There's a calculator on the NHS website:-

Calculate your waist to height ratio - NHS

Check your waist to height ratio to find out if you’re carrying too much fat around your tummy.

www.nhs.uk

 

[salsa81]

Agree with @Inka, there look to be opportunities to cut carbs in your diet without making wholesale changes.

One of my hacks is to use frozen french fries to make chips. If you use size of a portion as your gauge, the there is a lot less potato (i.e. the carby bit) in the portion of French fries than there is in the portion of chips. I've got my chip shop to add a very small portion of chips on their system, just for me. Lightly battered fish with a small portion of chips with some of my coleslaw waiting at home to go with it is my Friday night standdby!

What takeaways do you go for? If it is pizza, then you have a fundamental problem- the pizza base used by the chains. Other takeaways - Indian, Chinese, burgers etc - they all have opportunities to create a lower carb option.

I go for asda skin on fries, which are the ones we've both found we like.

If it's fish and chips, we have a fish each and share what is known over here as a Yorkshire Fishcake - essentially a slice of fish sandwiched between 2 slices of potatoes, plus a curry sauce. I find if I eat any white carbs - fried chips included - I can feel empty about half an hour after eating.

Takeaways can be anything, kebab sharing box with mainly meat, half a pitta and salad, pizza - very occaisionally as hubby not a fan - Indian but maybe 2 or 3 times a year, Chinese, again only a few times a year. We've found in the last year that the quality of takeaways has decreased while the price has increased so we try and cook some at home if we have time.

Although we don't have a takeaway every Saturday, we do have cooked things at home as well.

 

[salsa81]

You must be around 5ft 7? Perhaps your best weight is near the top of the given range. I doubt you’d look ill 🙂

Yes 5ft 7, and I'm quite broad shouldered and have wide hips so even at about 11 and a half stone, I don't think I'd look right.
My aim at the moment is to get down to 13stone. As I have previously mentioned it's taking me about a month to lose a pound at the moment, which can be very disheartening but I'm trying to at least be consistent with my eating, even if my work and my horse put my exercise plans off balance!

 

[Drummer]

Thanks for the advice.
I have a soup maker and make homemade soups for winter but I don't like having something hot in summer - yes it may sound strange but if I'm warm, I don't want something that will be hot!
The other 'bits' sound ok but I would have to alter as beetroot is on my list of "don't like" foods I'm not picky but there are somethings I just can't stand!
My current dinner is a sandwich with protein - usually wholemeal or seeded bread - cherry tomatoes, cucumber, a bit of pepper and half a carrot and then a bit of watermelon and kiwi. Plus usually a small pack of crips, something like squares or hula hoops puft.
In winter, homemade soup + 1 slice of bread made using our breadmaker.

There are several changes you could make to go low carb - the sandwich, the fruit - even swapping the cherry tomatoes for salad ones, the crisps and other snacks, perhaps even the soup if you are using starch to thicken it, or high carb veges.

I don' t buy things with coatings, never fish fingers, always solid fish. As a true Yorkshire tyke I resent paying the same for breadcrumbs as the fish.

 

[Inka]

Carbs are healthy @Drummer chosen well and eaten in the appropriate portion size for the individual. There’s absolutely no need to demonise carbs as a food group.

Thread 'A broad church - low carb is not the only way'

Feb 12, 2021

Just a gentle reminder to members that our forum is supposed to be a friendly and supportive place, which encourages members to find their own way through the available options to find a diabetes management approach that meets their ambitions, and is appealing and sustainable for them.

While there may be some common ground between approaches, there is no one way that works for everyone, and is appropriate for every situation. Specifically carbohydrates are not inherently ‘bad’, and should not be unfairly demonised any more than any other macronutrient. Some people will have a very...

• everydayupsanddowns
• Replies: 103
• Forum: General Message Board

• 

.

 

[helli]

Yes 5ft 7, and I'm quite broad shouldered and have wide hips so even at about 11 and a half stone, I don't think I'd look right.

Sorry you feel your weight loss has plateaued. You have done amazingly well so far.
Like you, I am broad shouldered (people have "prodded" what they thought was a shoulder pad, only to discover it was bone) and hipped. However, my BMI puts me in the middle of the healthy weight without looking ill.
I believe we have become used to seeing larger people and larger versions of ourselves so think smaller is not right.
Only you know what your target weight should be and what you can/want to maintain. But don't judge future salsa by past salsa 😎

 

[EMcKT]

Very interesting thread . As has been suggested there are various changes that you can made to achieve the goal, but it's sometimes the goal that has wider posts!!!!!! .,My nurse is quite happy with my last reading, 61, down from,,91. Weight could be better, is about + / - 14 stone, but I was not hugely overweight to start, and managed 13 stone + BUT I looked and felt awful. Old, lined, wrinkled and haggard!!!!!! I'm 77 years old and really feel that unless unwell, one just needs to keep a watchful eye and not get overdriven by graphs, charts, NHS suggestions from well minded people but who are not living with Diabetes. I'm T2, so I realise T1s might look at this differently.

 

[Drummer]

Carbs are healthy @Drummer chosen well and eaten in the appropriate portion size for the individual. There’s absolutely no need to demonise carbs as a food group.

Thread 'A broad church - low carb is not the only way'

Feb 12, 2021

Just a gentle reminder to members that our forum is supposed to be a friendly and supportive place, which encourages members to find their own way through the available options to find a diabetes management approach that meets their ambitions, and is appealing and sustainable for them.

While there may be some common ground between approaches, there is no one way that works for everyone, and is appropriate for every situation. Specifically carbohydrates are not inherently ‘bad’, and should not be unfairly demonised any more than any other macronutrient. Some people will have a very...

• everydayupsanddowns
• Replies: 103
• Forum: General Message Board

• 

.

If a diabetic can cope with carbs I am all for them eating healthy ones, salad, stir fry, berries, low carb selections of veges in stews - all highly nutritious.

I regard a lot of modern day carbs as problematic, and believe they chip away at well being, have little nutritive value and could lead to unpleasant medical consequences but that is just my opinion - probably highly skewed after my grandmother suffered for years with numerous amputations, blindness and kidney failure due to her uncontrolled glucose levels. It was 70 years ago now, but there were some real horrors I can still recall vividly even at this distance.

 

[Inka]

If carbs were unfit for human consumption, they wouldn’t be sold. In fact, healthy carbs are an important part of the diet.

 

[salsa81]

Thanks all for the suggestions and advice.
I have altered my dinners from sandwiches to a salad, with protein - whatever I put in hubby's sandwich - with a wholemeal pitta. Swapped out the cherry tomatoes for a salad tomato.
I've also remembered to get some zero sugar pop for when I fancy a sweet drink at a weekend. Alcohol doesn't really agree with me so I don't have to worry there
Luckily hubby is being really helpful and trying to come up with suggestions for teas that aren't carb heavy so slow changes will be made there but I want to see initially what the changes at dinner are like.
I want to find an breakfast that I can alternate with egg and cheddar omlette but struggling as a lot of suggestions involve things I don't like - nuts / avocado / greek yogurt - so going to do a bit more internet searching on that.
Once it gets colder, I'll revert back to homemade soups. I also want to find a recipe to make pittas rather than having to buy them every week as I'm sure they'll be better than the supermarket ones.
Back to finger pricking tests at the moment and logging on an app, with a food diary.
I do have an extra sensor but I'm keeping that for when I'm off work for 2 weeks in September to make sure that even if I slip slightly, I'm not slipping too much!

 

[helli]

It might be worth checking the carb content of pittas. They may not be any less than the bread in your sandwiches.
However, I have seen mini-pittas in the shops (or, if you bake them yourself you can make them as small as you want) which may help.

Is there a reason why you want to alternate your breakfast omelette?
If it is so you have something cold and quicker, you could try "egg muffins". The ingredients are nearly the same as omelettes but you bake them in muffin cases and can have them hot or cold over the next week. Just like with omelettes, I tend to chop up whatever I have in the cupboard to put in them - onions, peppers, tomoatoes, hame, cheddar, feta, herbs, chilli (I always have chillis in my fridge, freezer and cupboards).

Alternatively, someone has suggested a low carb granola although that probably contains nuts and/or seeds.

 

[salsa81]

Is there a reason why you want to alternate your breakfast omelette?
If it is so you have something cold and quicker, you could try "egg muffins". The ingredients are nearly the same as omelettes but you bake them in muffin cases and can have them hot or cold over the next week. Just like with omelettes, I tend to chop up whatever I have in the cupboard to put in them - onions, peppers, tomoatoes, hame, cheddar, feta, herbs, chilli (I always have chillis in my fridge, freezer and cupboards).

Alternatively, someone has suggested a low carb granola although that probably contains nuts and/or seeds.

Yes cos I know in a month or so I'll be bored of what I'm eating and go back to bad habits. I need a variety of what I'm eating otherwise I have trouble to stay on track and start wandering to the naughty but nice things!

Eggs 5 times a week for me is a bit tedious even though I know they're better than a lot of other breakfasts.

Yeah low carb granola with nuts and seeds not good. I can't stand the texture of most nuts unless very finely chopped or ground, loathe the taste of peanuts. The only ones I do like whole are pistachios but even then I can only eat a few at a time.

I generally think of myself as someone who will eat most things but nuts are a bit no no for me.

 

[Leadinglights]

Yes cos I know in a month or so I'll be bored of what I'm eating and go back to bad habits. I need a variety of what I'm eating otherwise I have trouble to stay on track and start wandering to the naughty but nice things!

Eggs 5 times a week for me is a bit tedious even though I know they're better than a lot of other breakfasts.

Yeah low carb granola with nuts and seeds not good. I can't stand the texture of most nuts unless very finely chopped or ground, loathe the taste of peanuts. The only ones I do like whole are pistachios but even then I can only eat a few at a time.

I generally think of myself as someone who will eat most things but nuts are a bit no no for me.

I wonder if the reason you don't like Greek yoghurt is you have had the low or zero fat ones which I agree are very acidic but the full fat creamy ones are a different kettle of fish. The other thing to try would be the high protein yoghurts or Kvarg deserts as they are low carb and low fat and you could add some berries to those.
When I took salads for lunch at work I used to have a couple of crackers like ryvita thins or there are Mr Kargs protein crackers which are quite big and lowish carb.

 

[debs248]

Yes 5ft 7, and I'm quite broad shouldered and have wide hips so even at about 11 and a half stone, I don't think I'd look right.
My aim at the moment is to get down to 13stone. As I have previously mentioned it's taking me about a month to lose a pound at the moment, which can be very disheartening but I'm trying to at least be consistent with my eating, even if my work and my horse put my exercise plans off balance!

I'm also 5'7" give or take half an inch and have always been overweight by NHS standards. I felt healthiest at around 13 stone and would never want to go any lower. BMI is a very blunt measure and does not work for everybody.

Edited to add

Eggs are a fantastic breakfast food but I too would be bored with them every day. I like savoury breakfasts and leftovers are ideal - today it was a cold sausage with some coleslaw, other times it might be curry or pasta sauce (no pasta!) or a cold chicken thigh.

 

[salsa81]

I'm also 5'7" give or take half an inch and have always been overweight by NHS standards. I felt healthiest at around 13 stone and would never want to go any lower. BMI is a very blunt measure and does not work for everybody.

Edited to add

Eggs are a fantastic breakfast food but I too would be bored with them every day. I like savoury breakfasts and leftovers are ideal - today it was a cold sausage with some coleslaw, other times it might be curry or pasta sauce (no pasta!) or a cold chicken thigh.

13 stone is the figure I had in my head and is my current goal at the moment. I think any lower than that wouldn't look good on me but I'll see when I get there.

I have been wondering about whether to have something like cold sausages in the fridge that I can just grab and eat a few of. Don't get me wrong, I like eggs but having the same thing everyday is just monotonous for me.

I don't have time to cook much on a morning - I do my omlette in the microwave - especially in winter as I have to get up and get to the yard to sort my horse out and I start work at 8 so mornings are pretty hectic.

This morning I was really craving toast as I haven't had it for ages but managed to overcome the feeling and just decided to do a 16:8 fast today instead

 

[salsa81]

I wonder if the reason you don't like Greek yoghurt is you have had the low or zero fat ones which I agree are very acidic but the full fat creamy ones are a different kettle of fish. The other thing to try would be the high protein yoghurts or Kvarg deserts as they are low carb and low fat and you could add some berries to those.
When I took salads for lunch at work I used to have a couple of crackers like ryvita thins or there are Mr Kargs protein crackers which are quite big and lowish carb.

No, I always buy full fat in things like yogurt and it just isn't to my taste. The only way I like it is with frozen fruits and drizzled with a bit honey but obviously that isn't good for sugars.

I may swap out the pittas next week for ryvitas and see how I get on with that but so far, testing my sugars before tea, they have started to drop, they were 6 last night, so the changes I've made are already starting to work

 

[Leadinglights]

No, I always buy full fat in things like yogurt and it just isn't to my taste. The only way I like it is with frozen fruits and drizzled with a bit honey but obviously that isn't good for sugars.

I may swap out the pittas next week for ryvitas and see how I get on with that but so far, testing my sugars before tea, they have started to drop, they were 6 last night, so the changes I've made are already starting to work

Sausages if high meat content are pretty low carb, check the carbs on the pack because some even if high meat content have additions like apple which can make a big difference. For many a couple of sausages will be less than 5g carbs.

 

[helli]

If you are happy with cold sausages, what about other "cold meats" like ham? Or cheese or smoked salmon?

 

[rebrascora]

I sometimes have slices of cold meat with coleslaw on it and rolled up maybe with a couple of cherry tomatoes and some cucumber. I love leftover room temperature curry for breakfast.