Low carb diets gain traction (and Scrambled eggs for lunch)

According to this guy we should be cutting out the sugar and simple carbohydrates and eating more fat. Having watched a bunch of videos and discussed this with a few friends I am inclined to agree. Getting people to accept this notion en masse is going to be a struggle. Not just because it involves cutting out cakes, biscuits and most processed foods, but because of the powerful lobby groups who would like to keep things the way they are - only more so.

The idea however seems to be gaining momentum. There was an Irish Times article this week discussing the idea and Scientific American ran this story in September. The science behind this is compelling and people have been searching in increasing numbers for a solution to weight gain and more recently metabolic syndrome. This may be 'it'. Hopefully all this activity this signals a change.

If the idea does get widespread adoption supermarkets are going to have to change. There are whole swathes of them filled with sugar and simple carbs.

Although this is extremely simple, it tastes great. We only discovered it recently, so I thought it was worth sharing. So with low carbohydrate diets in mind here is a delicious weekend lunch for 1.

Smoked Salmon scrambled eggs

Ingredients:
3 eggs
About 4 slices of smoked salmon
A tablespoon of full fat cream
A large knob of butter for cooking
Pepper

Method:
Beat the eggs lightly in the bowl. Add pepper to your taste, but no salt. Smoked salmon is very salty already. Now tear up the smoked salmon into bite sized pieces. Melt the large knob of butter into a non stick pan on high heat. When the butter foams add the eggs and scrape the bottom of the pan continuously with a wooden spoon until the eggs are almost cooked. Add the smoked salmon and the cream. Mix the whole lot until cooked - don't over do them. Serve immediately as the eggs will keep cooking if you leave them hanging around. No bread to accompany, but it is filling enough in itself.

Ideas for no sugar/ low carb lunches

This is just a list of stuff that I pick from now that I am trying a low carb diet as espoused by Robert Lustig at UCSF.

Smoked mackerel
Smoked salmon
Sardines
Tinned mackerel
Pickled onions - unsugared
Kimchi
Brie
Cheddar
Olives
Ham slices
Peanut butter
Brazil nuts, pistachios, walnuts - all unsalted.
Raw carrot

I basically eat a bunch of this - whatever we have - until I think I have had enough. No bread or other flour in there. This fills me up fine and I might have a piece of fruit in the afternoon between lunch and dinner. I am finding I that after dinner (which I usually supplement with some nuts, smoked salmon or whatever I fancy from the above list) that I don't want to snack later on. This can only be a good thing.
I will add to this list as I find more foods that are suitable for this diet.

Low Carb Beef Stew

This dinner is one of our staples, but a recent change to low carb/no sugar requires a few changes.

Ingredients:

600g stewing beef
1 Tin of tomatoes
Half a celeriac
4 carrots
2 onions
1 beef stock cube - made up as per instructions
3 sticks celery
Handful of sage leaves chopped finely
Small handful of marjoram chopped finely (leave the stalks out)
Small glass of red wine

Method:

Peel and roughly chop all of the vegetables.
Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil (not extra virgin) to a large casserole on high heat. Fry the onions and beef for a few minutes until the beef is well coloured. Add all the other ingredients and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to very low and leave it to cook for 2 to 3 hours. Exact time will depend on the cut of beef used.

Differences from 'Normal':

• No potatoes used 
• No tomato puree used - this usually has added sugar
• We just serve this on its own. It has enough veg without side dishes
• It contains more beef than we would normally use for this size of casserole
• Check all ingredients used for sugar
• The red wine might be a bit of a rule breaker, but we add it early so most of the alcohol is gone and besides, it really lifts this dish

No Sugar/Low Carb Lunch

I tend to eat some protein and some vegetables for lunch on this low carb diet. Yesterday I had half a packet of smoked mackerel fillets, some pickled onions, a raw carrot and come coconut. Not a very substantial lunch, but it was enough for me as I was snacking on the coconut during the day.

I have been on this diet for a full week now. No slip ups yet, including the weekend when we went out for lunch. Feel very good.

Weighed myself last weekend and I was just over 11.5 stone. Will weigh in again at the weekend to see if there is any change.

Still not getting much exercise, but this is because I don't want to confound the results of the diet. I can get back to exercising when I have demonstrated that this works.

I watched the end of one of the Robert Lustig videos last night. You can find details on him here. If you are interested in trying this diet out it is well worth your while taking an hour or 2 to watch some of his stuff.

No sugar breakfast

This has been one of the easiest things about cutting out sugar. Breakfast. I have always liked porridge, I just had to have it without sugar. This sounded like it would be rough, but it ended up being very nice. It keeps me full until lunchtime most days. If I am peckish at mid morning I have a banana.

On this type of diet many people eat bacon, eggs, sardines. I like those foods, but don't think they would work early in the morning. So I am sticking with my porridge.

Finding specific consistent information on what to eat while trying to cut out sugar is not easy, so I am taking some liberty with what I have. The diet is not exactly paleo - it includes some grains. Not exactly Atkins - we eat beans and legumes. It's more of our own take on this. The only solid rule is no added sugar. I reckon I have lost some weight in the first week, which is something of a miracle considering how much meat, fish, eggs and nuts I have been eating. Today is day 7, so not even a full week yet. I reckon this will get easier as I get used to making different food choices.

Update, April 13th 2014

The results of this diet have been better than anything i have tried before. My weight dropped from 12 to 11 stone in about a month. And has stayed there. We arent following the low carb diet rigorously,  but mid week we stick to it pretty closely. 
It is not hard to do once you decide on some meal options. We plan on sticking to this in the long term.

Cutting out the sugar

Having watched a bunch of you tube videos on the subject I have decided to cut sugar out of my diet. I am not sure how long this will last, but I suppose that depends on how I feel on the diet. I have been at it for almost a week so far. Not too difficult up to now, but the weekend is a bit more challenging. I suppose we eat more treat type food at the weekend.
Anyway, what has this got to do with a cooking blog? Well I won't stop being interested in cooking just because I am cutting out the sugar. In fact the restriction might just help conjure up some recipes that are a bit different.
To start with a recipe that is not mine at all. Well just a link really. The Hairy Bikers did a series recently where they tried to lose weight while still loving food. One of the things they were doing was cutting down on carbs - the entire focus of my current diet. This is their recipe for Cassoulet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/our_special_cassoulet_05208

I made it today and it smells great. Going to have plenty of steamed veggies on the side to make it a balanced meal, but based on the smell this one seems like a winner.

Superquinn name change - what about the bread?

I read today that SuperValue will finally drop the Superquinn name and rebrand the stores. This was a while in the works I reckon, but is still a bit of a worry. The crown jewels for SQ has always been the bread. Some people go on about the sausages, but they are not the best thing about SQ for me.

I never understood why someone else could not make a good sausage. All the butchers in the country could not beat a supermarket. Bizarre.

Bread on the other hand is a big deal. Irish bread has traditionally been white sliced rubbish. A variety of brands selling the same muck under different names. SQ was different. They had an attitude to bread that made it seem like it mattered. I have tried to find good bread in Dublin before. And have had a hard time of it. There is a bakery near my house, but the bread is no good. I don't know why they bother other than that the shop is already rented. So if you like good bread make sure to buy some in SuperQuinn. We are probably safe though - Musgraves are not going to lower the quality on this without turning a lot of their customers away.

The bottom end of the market is getting crowded in Ireland so the only place for a retailer to go is up.