Does anyone have any low-carb breakfast ideas that do not involve eggs, cheese, or peanuts?
I've been instructed by my allergist to avoid dairy, eggs, wheat, and peanuts to try and get my EOE condition under control. I don't know if this will be a temporary or permanent change yet - it depends on how my body responds to them. We are basically trying to figure out what foods are triggering my immune system.
So far oatmeal and berries has sent me high every time I eat it. I tried gluten-free cereal and almond milk this morning knowing it probably wouldn't work. Sure enough, 15.7 (283) an hour and a half after eating.
I've done a grocery run and found dairy-free "cheese" but it's not real cheese and has carbs. Haven't yet found a substitution for eggs. I don't like the idea of eating pure meat for breakfast every morning. :/ I'm unfortunately not a huge cook, and even though I have a goal to learn, this is probably the worst time for me to have all this stuff happening just due to how busy my schedule is.
I think I could probably do some sort of low-carb cereal/granola and almond milk, in fact that would be ideal for me, but all the recipes I'm finding have one of the things I need to avoid, even the dairy-free/gluten-free/low-carb recipes I'm finding have eggs.
I know this goes beyond diabetes, but this would be no problem if I didn't have to worry about my blood sugar spiking. Any ideas, especially for breakfasts, would be hugely appreciated!
My usual breakfast is scrambled tofu. With lots of sautéed veggies and seasoning for flavor. It definitely doesn't have the taste of eggs, but is enjoyable in its own way. Also not very hard to cook.
Personally, I have trouble with regular oatmeal but have found that steel cut oats with sunflower butter mixed in is OK most days. The fat and protein from the sun butter slows down the spike.
I haven't tried them but you could also check out the soy or coconut yogurts for a grab-and-go breakfast.
Jen-The only thing I can think of to suggest to you is a baked apple and couple of rice cakes. I make baked apples in the microwave with cinnamon and nutmeg on top. You could put apple butter on the rice cake. The baked apple is about 15-18carbs and the rice cakes are 8carbs/cake. If you like apple butter there are more fruit butters, too. That has about 8carbs/ tbsp. Hope this helps you.
There are also nut butters if you can have them. I like almond, cashew, and sunflower.
http://http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipes.asp?food=low+carb+dairy+free+&anyall=ALL&c1=0&c3=0&c5=0&c4=0&prep_time=0&total_time=0&calories_operation=&fiber_operation=&carbs_operation=&c2=0&fat_operation=&protein_operation=&sort=newest&pg= I found this link by googling up "low carb dairy free recipes." There were several others, I JUST POSTED THE ONE THAT LOOKED LIKE IT HAD MORE RECIPES. I noted that only two or three of the recipes have much protein, from a cursory review. Look up some celiac recipe boards, they may have some suggestions for low-carb, gluten free and dairy free dishes. Dr. Bernstein has some in his latest book, I was told. but I do not know how easy it will be to find the ingredients. Looks like you may have to cook...but see if you can do it on the weekends and freeze some in little plastic containers, or just alumnimum foil, freezer bags, etc. I wish there more economical AND quick recipe solutions for you ,Jen...Maybe others on TuD will know.
Jen - That's quite a dietary limitation. Dairy, eggs, and nuts make up a large part of my diet.
One thought I had does not really sound like breakfast but does meet your limitations: salmon with peach/mango salsa and mixed veggies. The portion size I fix comes in at 18 grams of carbs but you could reduce the carbs more by limiting the veggies and/or the salsa. This is a meal that I love to eat and having it for breakfast does not turn me off.
Can you eat butter? Butter can add a lot of flavorful calories to many dishes and without the carbs. Are legumes OK? Like lentils and peas. They do have more carbs but are very nutritious.
I understand your lack of appetite for pure meat in the morning but perhaps mixing cut up pieces of meat with veggies will make it more palatable to you. Meat and fish are great for post meal BGs but I find I need to use and extended dose of insulin for protein and fat. You could eat some of the traditional breakfast meat like bacon and sausage. One of my current favorites is hot Italian sausage with mustard. I've eaten it for breakfast along with carmelized onions and lightly fried small tomatoes.
As far as your failed experiment with berries and oatmeal, do you know if the primary BG offender is the oatmeal or the berries? I suspect the oatmeal since it's much heavier in carbs. I generally limit my berry consumption to about 85 grams (3 oz.) and that only contains 5 net grams of carbs. I always subtract fiber grams no matter the amount when I calculate my insulin dose. PWDs, as you know, vary in how they deal with carb fiber.
Now that I'm on a roll, I have another carb friendly food that I love: avocados. There's a ton of ideas based on avocados. They are high in fiber and contain few net grams of carbs. They're also high in fat a leave me feeling satiated. Bacon, avocado and tomatoes sound delicious to me, breakfast or any meal!
Good luck. that is a daunting challenge that you face. You don't appear to be a person to shy away from challenges! Please provide updates.
I have another idea that may help you. Over the last few years I've found that I'm not hungry in the morning. I drink my coffee and read online. Over time I found that I delayed my first meal until 11 a.m. and sometimes later. I found that it made controlling my post-breakfast BGs much easier.
I'm retired so I have more flexibility with my eating schedule. I realize that a work schedule can force an eating routine that's less than ideal.
My eating habits evolved into just eating two meals a day. I eat a high fat, low carb diet so I am not hungry in between meals. In fact I can easily skip one of my two meals without difficulty. I also eat one or two snacks per day, primarily an ounce or two of mixed nuts.
Why don't you like the idea of meat? Do you think it is bad? What about seafood? Do you like a good kippered herring?
And most important, I think it is perfectly fine to just think out of the box and anything you would consider eating for lunch or dinner should be considered for breakfast. If you want a bowl of soup or roasted brussels sprouts in butter then why not. And opening up to eating leftovers can mean you can just heat up a quick meal.
This sounds really restrictive and difficult, especially if you are running out the door. Can you skip breakfast? Years of MDI and DP have led to me skipping breakfast a lot. Or if that does not work, what about popcorn? Fast, easy and low carb. I also have eaten some low carb protein bars with some succes. The one I used was the Detour Whey Protein bar (17 g carbs). The one I ate had milk and peanuts, but they have 3-4 diferent types and one might work for you.
Can you have soy? Because if you can have soy, tofu would be an amazing breakfast option for you, as Roodgirl said. Tofu's very filling and you can scramble it similarly to eggs (I mean it's a bit different but there's something about it that's similar) with veggies. Something like this? Though replacing the soy sauce with gluten free soy sauce or using something else? If you can't eat something in that other than the soy sauce try swapping some things out, but that's one I found that seems really good and has the carb info and everything.
Before I got into the habit of eating egg for breakfast I used to buy frozen pre-cooked sausages and they're quite good and ready to go in a minute out of the microwave. Eat with a big scoop of salsa. Or cook mushrooms or other vegs if you have the time.
I also like the idea of scrambled tofu, also with salsa or vegs, though that will take more time to prepare.
Thanks for the ideas! I have coconut yogurt but am eating that as part of my lunch, and the only store that has them is not easy for me to get to, so I don't want to eat it too fast. :( But I like the idea of scrambled tofu, will have to look into that when I get home.
Apparently (from the research I've done and people I've talked to) most oats contain wheat because they are all grown in the same fields. I got one brand of oats that doesn't have wheat, but they are spiking me a lot more than the ones I used to eat are. I'll have to see if they have a different variety, as you're right, it might be something about how they are prepared.
I may try pre-bolusing more. Today I spiked to 15.7 but then dropped to 2.5 after my correction. The portion sizes I'm using are those listed on packages or in some cases 1/2 of that, so already fairly small.
Thanks for the links - I'll check them out when I get home. I agree, I am probably going to have to learn to cook, especially if this is going to be a permanent change (not sure, I see the allergist again in a month).
Hi Jen. As I've said before, I have Celiacs. I have found two brands of oats that work for me: Bob's Red Mill--marked Gluten Free--and McCann's. McCann's is from Ireland, and while not marked Gluten Free, I'm absolutely sure that it is. Carbs can be an issue, but if you have a small slow cooker, you can start with the Steel-cut or Rolled oats (Bob's Red Mill), and have your oatmeal ready for you in the morning; their glycemic index is good. Maybe even though you are trying for dairy-free you can manage yogurt?
Breakfast is a problem for me, too. I often have left-over dinner.
Thanks for the ideas. One issue I am finding with a lot of the processed meat is that a lot of them contain either wheat or potato starch. I didn't put it above, but I'm very allergic to potatoes as well.
I also can't STAND the texture of raw meat. UGH. So I won't be cooking meat from scratch anytime soon!
I'm still allowed legumes (besides peanuts) and tree nuts, and all fruits. The allergist did say to cut out anything else I think might be causing a reactions, so this may change, but for now those are all good. I can't have butter, though.
I'm pretty sure my BG problem is the oatmeal. I've had oatmeal for breakfast before and been fine, before I started using this wheat-free oatmeal. I usually only use about 50g of berries so about 4-5g of carbs.
Unfortunately, I find my BG spikes a LOT if I go to work without eating. I tried it (as it's quicker) and was advised by my endo to try my best to eat breakfast at my last appointment. :)
My big limitation on meant is that I hate touching raw meat, and I'm forever nervous that I won't cook it until its done because f my vision, so I basically don't eat meat unless it's pre-cooked or someone else makes it for me. A limitation I may have to overcome, yes ... I looked at a lot of the breakfast or pre-prepared meats on the weekend and they all seem to have wheat, egg, or potato starch in them. Plus, I don't like the idea of eating meat "alone" but if it was part of something, maybe a breakfast "sandwich" of some sort, it would be great.
Also, I can't have butter as it has milk protein in it, so that's kind of limiting.
