I'd like to hear what your favorite low carb breakfast and dinner meals are. By the way, I am Mexican and do eat lots of Mexican foods. Any ideas on how to substitute high fat Mexican food(i.e. refried beans, fried sunny side up eggs, chiles rellenos). Also, what kind of tortillas do you like to have? The kind I eat have 11g of carbs per tortilla. Any other low carb meal ideas would be greatly appreciated! :)
I lived in Guatemala for two years, marlene, so I eat lots of Latino dishes too! It's not so important to worry about fat, so much as carbs. So refried beans (sigh) are 15 carbs for 1/2 cup which isn't much! Chiles rellanos are a perfect food (and a yummy one) and what I always order if at a Mexican restaurant. I've tried the low carb flour tortillas and like them ok as wraps, but don't care for them used for quesadillas because the texture is odd when fried. Mexican soups and stews are good, and chicken dishes if you eat meat just skip the arroz! At my store in the boonies the best tortillas I've found are La Tortilla Factory "hand made style corn tortillas" though each is 14 carbs. Another breakfast treat I like is cutting up and frying one then putting it in eggs (like chilaquillas).I also use one on top of sopa de tortilla (vegetarian version for me) as one gives the crunch and taste and if the rest of the ingredients are just vegies it's low carb.
I cook a lot, but don't have specific recipes because I usually doctor ones I find and I lean towards gourmet vegetarian dishes which are spicy and too time consuming for most people, and, well....vegetarian!
I like fajitas without beans, rice, or tortillas, with a small green salad on the side. You can find low carb versions of lots of recipes here on TuD or on the internet.
Thank you again! I'll keep that in mind. I used to be vegetarian too, for about 2 years. Quit last year. Not really because I wanted to but because I wanted to cut back on starches, which was what I was kinda of eating a lot of. My mom was happy when I decided to eat chicken, turkey, and fish again. I don't eat red meat or pork because I don't like it. I have considered going vegetarian again to support my sister who is still vegetarian, but I might do that once I'm living own my own and don't have to worry about my mom wanting me to eat meat again.
Yes it's hard to be vegetarian and keep carbs down. I ate a lot of carbs before my diagnosis (rice, pasta, cereal, etc). I've been able to stay vegetarian by being very resourceful and doing a fair amount of cooking, which most people don't have time for. It's hard when you have to coordinate your diet with someone else's whether it's vegetarianism or low carb. I live alone which makes it much easier. It seems like my friends and family can only keep track of one restriction. My nephew said about a restaurant we all were going to, "It's got really good vegetarian pizza for you, Zoe." Right.
That's true. It's tough. Haha what a cute comment. At least it was thoughtful. I'm majoring in Nutritional Science. I want to be a RD and hope to work my way to becoming a CDE as well.
Yes, he definitely meant well. Sounds like a great career path for a Type 1, Marlene - I'm sure you'll have a lot to offer. If I were younger I would definitely gear my career to something D related (like therapy for people with D).
Marlene, you might be interested in this website, the "Low Carb Dietitian" , by a member of tuD. I find the blog particularly interesting as she discusses the results of studies and how they pertain to diet in general and diabetes in particular. I think being T1 gives a CDE a perspective impossible to get any other way, and wish you luck in pursuing this career path.
My typical breakfast: huevos a la mexicana (or any egg dish w/ alot of vegetables) & 1/2 C black beans, with salsa. That portion of beans (especially if homemade) is so satisfying & nutritious. The high protein & fiber keeps me going all morning.
At a Mexican restaurant, I'll order a guisado (stew), ie bistek ala mexicana or chile verde. I ask the waiter to hold the rice; if the rice is on my plate, I'll probably eat some. Instead I just eat some of the frijoles. I might order a side of avocado as a treat.
I eat tortillas very infrequently now.
Caldo tlalpeno: chicken soup w/ lotza veggies, finished off with some lime & chipotle. Sounds perfect on a superstorm kind of day.
I go for the thinner tortillas as well. One thing that we ate almost every weekend over the summer that's borderline low-crab was tuna (canned, although you could use fresh...) w/ chopped avocado and sriracha sauce. Quicky, easy, tasty and very light. When I was running more I'd also eat it on a few Wheat Thins, which are loaded with carbs, but it's pretty filling straight up, which I've had since fall/winter/ hurricane running season has hit for the last couple of weeks. Eggs or egg beaters are breakfast most days. I chop up spinach and broccoli and fry that up with some chia seeds, pepper and red pepper flakes to give it some zip. It takes a bit of time I don't always have but I kind of have a routine and like to eat something tasty for breakfast and usually feel better afterwards.
First, you have to accept that on a low carb diet, fat is good. You should stay away from bad fats, trans fats, hydrogenated oils and most vegetable oils. The good fats are olive oil, coconut oil, butter, lard and other animal fats. You will need to increase your fat intake. Below is a recipe I posted some years ago on "another forum" but I posted it here not too very long ago. These are made with low carb tortillas from "La Tortilla." They are 10g carbs, 7 g fiber. Although I generally make a more elaborate version, here is my enchilada recipe
BSC's Beef, Cheese and Onion Enchiladas
2 lbs hamburger
2 packs taco seasoning
10 8" low carb tortillas
1/2 c water
1/2 lb cheddar cheese
2 large onions, diced
1 28 oz can low carb enchilada sauce (almost all are low carb)
Seasoning to taste
Brown and drain crumbled hamburger, add taco seasoning and recommended water (check the taco seasoning pack). Cook according to seasoning directions. Grate cheese into a large bowl. Fill each tortilla with a generous helping of beef, onions and cheese. Try to use about 2/3 of the cheese, leaving a generous amount for topping. I'll often use more than a 1/2 lb. Wrap tightly and pack into 9x14 pan. Make sure the ends of the enchiladas are snug. Pour and spread enchilada sauce on top. Add additional seasoning if you wish (ie. chili powder) and then spread the remainin cheese on top. Bake at 325 degrees for a half hour. Serve immediately.
Total (for 2 enchiladas) 38 g carbs, 18 g fiber (making your own taco seasoning can drop it down to 14 g net carbs).
You might take a look at Martha Rose Shulman's cookbook MEXICAN LIGHT. The book features alot of veggies, lean protein, lower fat, and is pretty true to much central Mexican cooking. Recipes also carry nutritional info.
Thanks for this.
There's good reason to be looking for more fat rather than less. Your calories have to come from somewhere and if it's not carbs you've only got protein and fat to choose from. If you eat too much protein, you may as well be eating carbs because after your body uses what it needs for maintenance, growth, etc, it will start turning it into glucose. Plus, fats are great for you and will help you feel satisfied. But you want to go for the good fats, no vegetable oils.
I think I'm a little lower low carb than most (usually under 10 g a day), but one of my favorite meals is to go through the drive through taco stand down the street (I'm in san diego, so they're pretty good here, no velveta like at the "mexican" restaurants where I lived in alabama) and get two carnitas tacos, but hold the tortillas. It's just a pile of carnitas with pico de gallo, and I squeeze a ton of lime over it. Yumm!
A non-mexican (or at least not particularly so) stand by for me is scrambled eggs with cheese and sometimes sauteed onions.
ETA: Sorry... I just looked back through the thread and saw that you're majoring in nutritional sciences. Are they still saying low fat is where it's at??? :(
Yes, I agree with you. Fat is good. I keep forgetting that fat is good for you, so long as you have the good fats. I'm curious - how do you only have 10g of carbs in one day? Do you mind me asking what you usually eat or give me an example of what you'd have in one day? :) I'd love to know. I've been trying to cut back on carbs because I find that it helps keep my bg under better control. I have about 3 meals every day and try to keep each meal under 45g, but when I go to school (I do a lot of walking when I go to school) I tend to want to snack more.
I am majoring in nutritional science but I am not taking nutritional science courses yet, still taking GE classes. The nutritionist I used to see when I was in pediatrics told me to always remove the skin off chicken -- even if it wasn't breaded -- because of the calories and fat in it. But isn't that fat good for you?
Take a medium sized potato, microwave it for 2 or 3 minutes. Put it in your fridge til morning. Grate it using a cheese grater. Throw away the potato skin and fry the rest in a non-stick pan. I don't know exactly what the carbs are but I know the time it takes to break down into blood sugar works perfectly compared to my humalog absorbtion rate. Works even better if I make an omelet to go with it.
Do those tortilas jack up your bs?
I love mexican food but it usually jacks up my blood sugar. I do have better luck with shredded chicken enchiladas. Dang, I'm getting hungry.....