Hunger and the low carb diet

Hello all, just sitting here in Ireland on a cold, windy, wet day. All I can think about is toast and soup. I would dearly love to follow a low carb diet, but find it near impossible at times. It is slightly easier in the Summertime. Any advice on how to combat the hunger pangs. At the moment I eat about 120g of carbs per day. I try to avoid protein because I have early kidney damage. Any suggestions would be welcome.

I've been eating ~40g / day for the last 4 months. Not always easy, but eventually my appetite subsided and my BG control improved.

I found shiritaki noodles very helpful when I am hungry, and they have almost no carb.

http://www.house-foods.com/tofu/tofu_shirataki.aspx

Maybe something similar is available in Ireland?

It is important to rinse them out, Then heat them in an ungreased pan, until they're fairly dry. They are good for chicken soup. Good luck.

I must admit I am going through a soup phase at the moment, so this sounds good Sam. I could be just thinking of the nights closing in and staying warm. Sometimes I have no cravings at all, but it just seems at the moment that if I ate 40g a day, I may actually kill someone.

what about veggie sticks and dips, hummus is good, recipe in this link:

http://allrecipes.com.au/recipes/tag-2425/chickpea-recipes.aspx

Very difficult to keep the protein low as well as carbs.

You'd be surprised. I am finding it much easier to eat 30-40g than it was to stay down to 100. Carbs are addictive. But once I quit them, the craving goes away. Just tastes like cardboard to me, now.

I actually think that a good strategy is to restrict carbs, but not calories. With sufficiently low carb intake, you should be able to pretty much eat as much as you want, particularly fat. I have some "goto" snacks, like deli roll-ups.

Thank you all for your input. I haven't been hungry today once, probably because the sun is out and I've been gardening all day.

I have gone lower carb but not low carb. When I experimented with low carb, I was crazed with hunger all the time, cranky, and had terrible headaches. Not pretty, not a preferable way to live. What are you trying to achieve by lowering carbs? I think it is important to listen to your body and what it tells you with the response to different foods.

I think my blood sugars are easier to control when I limit carbs. I can eat one slice of bread without raising my blood too high, ( it stays under 7mmols )so I don't think I could completely cut it out altogether. I read Dr. Bernstein's book and agree with a lot of his principles. Think small numbers, take small amounts of insulin, eat small amounts of carbs. It works.