<p>I eat a lot of carbs. I am not really overweight but I don’t eat very healthily.
I know better -I just don’t make it happen.</p>
<p>I think I would eat healthier if I didn’t eat so many carbs (making room for more veggies etc…) It also seems that the more carbs I eat -the more I want.</p>
<p>I can’t seem to get started though. </p>
<p>Does anyone eat low carb? What do you eat for breakfast? Any other thoughts?</p>
<p>Carbs are addictive. They raise your blood sugar quickly, your body sends a surge of insulin to combat the high sugar and your sugar drops…this leads to you wanting more carbs as you feel hungry again. I try to eat as low carb as possible since I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic. Though this way of eating is likely too drastic for most, I do not eat any bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, cakes and anything made with flour. Breakfast is eggs with cheese or spinach or other veggies. Lunch is a mixed salad with a protein and dinner is meat, chicken or fish with veggies and salad. You might not need to stop carbs…just reduce your portion size of carbs and increase veggies/salad portion.</p>
<p>It’s hard to cut carbs at first but it gets easier. Try switching from white bread and white pasta to grainier stuff - its better for you and seems to produce fewer cravings in my experience. </p>
<p>If you’re used to feeling “full” from carbs, you may have trouble filling up on other stuff at first. So throw in a few more filling or even higher fat nutritional foods. If you have a salad, add hard boiled eggs, beans, avocado, cheese. </p>
<p>Don’t restrict yourself to “breakfast foods” at breakfast. A turkey and avocado wrap (on whole grain wrap) has way fewer carbs than a bagel or big bowl of cereal. And it will fill you up, too. I like a handful of nuts (almonds, cashews) and a fruit smoothie or some yogurt at breakfast. Nuts are filling, have protein, and are very satisfying. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks!
This is helpful</p>
<p>interresteddad has the low carb thing down pat. Maybe he will chime in. I think between eating low carb and a vigorous excercise program, he has lost a significant amount of body fat.</p>
<p>^^yes. Check out the Diet and Exercise thread. </p>
<p>I am not totally carb free but have given up pretty much everything justforthis mentioned above…no pasta,rice,potatoes,cookies,cakes,breads,pizza,ice cream…nothing containing white flour or hydrogenated corn oil. My daily carb. splurge is one cup of Kashi cereal (9 grams of protein and lots of fiber though) for breakfast, a piece of fruit and a fatfree greek yogurt daily and whatever carbs are in my salad dressing. I also eat very little red meat…maybe eat it once a month.</p>
<p>I went cold turkey…gave it all up at once. After a week, I didn’t miss it.<br>
Started exercising at same time…lost 50 pounds. DH had to eat what I cooked which resulted in a 30 pound weight loss for him.
We both feel so much better since giving up the junk.</p>
<p>My suggestion is to start tracking everything you eat on something like MyPlate so you can see the amount of carbs you are actually eating - it’s kind of fun and very interesting to see:
[MyPlate</a> - Food Diary & Food Calorie Counter | LIVESTRONG.COM](<a href=“http://www.livestrong.com/myplate/]MyPlate”>MyPlate Calorie Counter)</p>
<p>Then do everything you can to cut out most carbs for one or two weeks - splurge in other areas - eat more protein you like, get some delicious cheese - whatever - but get rid of the carbs. In most cases you will truly lose your craving for carbs in that time. Then you can tryout do “low carb”, not “no carb”</p>
<p>Wow some impressive stories
What are some of your favorite low carb things to eat?</p>
<p>No sweets at all?</p>
<p>veruca, this is my favorite breakfast: steel-cut oats mixed with nonfat Greek yogurt. I add cinnamon, chia seeds, a few walnuts. No sugar. If you use a lot of cinnamon, you won’t miss the sugar.</p>
<p>Edited to add: It occurred to me after I posted that oatmeal was not low-carb. I was thinking of gluten-free. I do think that oatmeal is very good for you, though. It seems to me to be in a different category than bagels, regular cereal, white bread.</p>
<p>IMO if you’re going to eat some carbs, breakfast is the place to do it. Limited carbs, but also higher quality like steel cut oats.</p>
<p>Typical low carb breakfast for me:
Microwaved scrambled egg or two with some grated cheese and some crumbled bacon one turkey sausage or ham.
Hard boiled egg, an apple and some crunchy peanut butter
Whole milk plain yogurt with fresh fruit and a little homemade granola sprinkled on top</p>
<p>If you happen to be on Pinterest search for "low carb breakfast " boards and you will find lots of ideas.</p>
<p>I do not believe in low carb as a continuing lifestyle. It is useful for losing weight and for learning new eating habits, mostly because it helps wean you off sugar. But carbs include vegetables and grains. </p>
<p>I do believe in eating whole and multi-grain but mostly because they have more flavor and that helps you eat less. They have some glycemic advantages but it’s more that exposure to them trains you to prefer the taste and that fits into a healthier diet of moderation with less sugar, fat and salt.</p>
<p>Much of what we eat is habit. As an example, I have tried many brands of vegetarian hot dogs but eventually decided I prefer the ones that don’t try to mimic the taste of meat. Why? Because I can learn to associate their actual taste with pleasure instead of thinking “Oh, this isn’t meat.” I feel the same about veggie hamburgers: they need to taste good for what they actually are and stop trying to be pretend meat. If I want meat, I’ll eat meat. But when your mind opens up to more tastes, then the old tastes become boring.</p>
<p>Thanks
I didn’t think of pinterest</p>
<p>There are varying definitions of low-carb. On the diet/exercise thread, I think that many of us went down to 30% (which is lower than average for the US) and some have played around with about 20%. Mine usually runs from about 18% to 34% with spikes higher if I don’t plan well. Some low-carb diets have carbs in the under 10% range which I’d consider extreme.</p>
<p>The USDA (2010) recommendation (“Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010”) is for 60% carbs, 20% protein and 20% fat. I think that the typical US diet is around 50% - 55% carbs and the recommendations for higher carbs in US diets several decades ago has contributed to our obesity problem today. We have a considerable amount of experience with low-carb and other diets on the diet and exercise thread and quite a bit of experience in losing weight over 50. We use a variety of approaches on diet and exercise.</p>
<p>Low-carb stuff that I’ve had lately: fish, beef, eggs, chicken, soy, protein shakes, avocado, nuts, Greek yogurt, turkey bacon, peanut butter, cheese, olive oil, tofu.</p>
<p>Again low carb doesn’t mean no carb. Have a sandwich but make it open faced and on a whole grain fiber bread instead of a white flour a based bread. Have some rice with your protein but make it brown instead of white and a 1/4 cup serving instead 3/4 cup. Have some cereal for breakfast but make it a high fiber whole grain low sugar one and cut down on the amount and add fruit or plain/Greek yogurt to it.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone
I watch my calories already -I just make most of them carbs! Too many 100 calorie pack snacks , bagels, crackers etc… I crave them!</p>
<p>I don’t want to cut out a whole food group -just find a way to even it up a bit </p>
<p>I am getting a lot of “empty calories” right now</p>
<p>The good thing about temporarily cutting carbs way down is that, as others have said, you really do lose that craving.</p>
<p>I haven’t been as diligent as many of the posters here, but since I first followed a South Beach approach about 10 years ago, I have permanently altered my approach to food. Sometimes I totally eschew pasta, rice, etc, but even when I do eat them, I just naturally put less on my plate and am satisfied with less. I never eat the rolls, bread, etc that accompany restaurant meals, or eat pastry type foods as breakfast (I literally find that abhorrent now, so it’s not a matter of willpower.)</p>
<p>Weight loss is extremely difficult for me for some specific metabolic/medical reasons, but since I started thinking/following a lower-carb approach, I’ve been able to avoid weight gain, and that itself is a win for me.</p>
<p>Not all carbs are created equal. There is nothing wrong with food with carbs unless it’s primarily sugar-ful cookies, deserts and things. I’ve landed, much like garland, on a modified South Beach approach. If I have rice or pasta on my plate, I pass on the bread. I rarely eat deserts like cookies, cakes, etc. I also gained weight between 40 and 50 even though I lowered my daily caloric intake but I did find that eating my carbs wisely has enabled me to keep my weight stable. I’m probably ten pounds outside a weight that would put me in the normal BMI range and I can get an incentive reducing my medical insurance if I take those ten pounds off this year so we’ll see. My only naughty is eating a large raisin oatmeal cookie every morning with my yogurt because I’m too lazy to make a bowl of oatmeal when I get to work…so that is the first thing I need to change or substitute a piece of fruit for the oatmeal or cookie. Haven’t decided which fits my lifestyle more 
but I know if I drop even just alittle weight my clothes will thank me. I managed to gain the weight in my thirties without changing clothing size which is always deadly, but happens when you are really tall sometimes.</p>
<p>I did the South Beach a few years ago, too. It worked for me. I found that having the South Beach diet book was very helpful. It had meal plans and easy but tasty recipes, so I didn’t have to think too much about what to eat, and it changed the psychology from “don’t eat this, and avoid that” to “try this new recipe”.</p>
<p>I eat an egg, sometimes bacon and 1/2 an Eng Muffin or a 1/2 a bagel at breakfast, because I miss bread too much if I cut it out all together. For a while I ate fruit instead of the bread though. I’ve never had a problem with chloresterol counts.</p>
<p>For lunch and dinner I generally eat 4 oz. of meat, a big helping of cooked vegetable and a salad. If I need a snack I like hummus with raw vegetables, though some times I have Greek yogurt with fresh fruit, or peanut butter on a half a banana.</p>
<p>I rarely eat pasta because dh cut it out of his diet years ago. We don’t eat much rice either for the same reason. </p>
<p>I think the US dietary recommendations are crazy. I generally eat 25-40% carbs in a day. My Saturdays are generally higher since I always start the day with blueberry pancakes and always have wine with dinner. Today I’ll have a fruit filled puff pastry for dessert as well. (Made them for Valentine’s Day dinner which we are celebrating late as DH was out of town.) Even so carbs will be at 38% according to the calculations done at MyPlate on the Livestrong website, which I highly recommend. Lunch was a boneless pork chop and steam cauliflower with zahtar (spice mix) sprinkled on top. So no carbs at all there - makes up for the rest of the day!</p>
<p>For me what works is to decide what carbs I can’t live with out and then make up food rules to allow them. I’m allowed 1/2 a bread thing for weekday breakfasts, pancakes or waffles on Saturday, a whole bread thing on Sunday, 1 small chocolate every night (if they are in the house, I’ve got a box of Godiva truffles right now), and wine on weekends. Other carbs I eat (mostly) only when we go out or are at parties or neighborhood meetings - which is one to two times a month I’d guess.</p>
<p>I think I am going to give it a try -maybe I can stick with it long enough to banish the cravings</p>