Our New Low Carb Lifestyle

Seasoned tilapia with tons of green veggies. Yum!

As part of our adoption process Mike and I were each required to get a notarized letter from our doctor declaring our health to be not something that should interfere with our ability to parent. I’ve had regular physicals every couple years and because of my regular exercise my bloodwork always comes back really good. I’m hyper vigilant because my dad passed away from a heart attack at a very young age.

Mike has not been so careful with his health since we moved to Texas and the results of his physical were predictably bad. He is cursed with bad genes and on top of that here in Houston he has a very long commute and an abundance of great food. The good news is that Mike is extremely self-disciplined when he wants to be and he has reversed bad cholesterol and blood glucose results before with exercise and careful eating. This physical was just the impetus he needed to change things up in a big way.

So now Mike has embarked on a very scientific analysis of what affects his blood sugar. He tests twice a day, goes for long walks around our neighborhood, and has cut his carbs to extremely low levels. His diet is almost paleo, except for some cheese and beer. He can’t give up beer and he has found that it doesn’t seem to have much effect on his sugar.

Sausage, asparagus and a foil packet of carrots and snap peas.

The natural by-product of Mike’s diet changes is eating at home more and me cooking very differently than I’m used to. I relied heavily on pasta, rice and bread as a staple of every meal and now those are completely cut from our dinners. We have discovered some cool helps like Egg Beaters egg whites in a carton, which make breakfasts a little faster and more delicious. We eat more meat and veggies than I ever dreamed possible. Even the kids are eating a ton more vegetables now that there is no pasta and only a tiny bit of bread available to them.

I confess that I still eat grains, especially when Mike isn’t around. On our date night the other night I had an ice cream cone while poor Mike had nothing. Now if he eats something high in refined sugar he feels sick. He didn’t have a huge sweet tooth before anyway. But I am eating a lot less grains and it feels pretty good. Mike is losing weight pretty fast, of course. Sometimes he gets sick of almonds and peanut butter but his habits have changed and the diet is the new normal.

And thank goodness for Pinterest, a visual plethora of awesome paleo recipes!

Now I need your help…any good suggestions for low-carb breakfasts, lunches or snacks? 

4 thoughts on “Our New Low Carb Lifestyle”

  1. We follow the basics at Marks Daily Apple (http://www.marksdailyapple.com). The science is solid.

    Most people find that they don’t need snacks, and for those who do (like Ryan), he uses nuts, dark chocolate, and fruit as his snack. Hawk doesn’t usually snack, but we offer fruit or cut veggies for him. Kids need more carbohydrates than adults, so he’s not restricted in any way. But, he usually just eats very large meals. I find that I don’t snack, and I’m generally having 2-3 meals a day. 

    For our lunches, we use our crock pot and make things in advance. Right now, we make brisket on Sunday (since it takes about 8-10 hours), which we then eat for lunch on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Wednesday, we make meat balls, which we have for thursday and Friday. 

    I like to use different spice combinations for these two meals, and you can make the meat balls out of basically anything you’d like. It’s great served with slaw or salads, and it’s easy enough to package into the containers for each person to take with them to work or school. 

    We only send some with Hawk to his friend’s house on Wednesday, and he shares it with his friend. Otherwise, we all eat lunch together at the office, and so we only have one big container. We reheat the meat, serve it with salad or slaw, and it’s quite simple. Finish off with some fruit. 

    Ryan and I are currently dairy free, Hawk has raw (unpasturized) dairy. We don’t buy cheese except as a treat, as it is stupidly expensive here (for good cheese anyway). We do use butter for our breakfasts. 

    Our breakfasts are whole eggs. There is information about why it’s best to eat the whole egg, and cracking an egg is not more difficult than opening a carton. 🙂 We hard boil at least 18 eggs a week (possibly 24), and we ultimately eat 6 dozen eggs between the three of us in a week. On the weekends, I have butter with the eggs (scrambled) when we have our big, family breakfast which is eggs in butter, bacon, salad or steamed veggies. Usually, Ryan and I only have two meals on weekends, though Hawk usually has 3 and that is often left-over bacon or burgers. 

    For dinners we usually have fish or chicken. For lunches, it’s either beef or venison. This is largely based on that which is least expensive. In the US, you could get ground turkey, for example, for very little money. But here, turkey is hard to find, and a turkey (like a thanksgiving roaster) costs about $80 for the smaller-sized birds. So, it’s cost-prohibitive. So, you’ll shop around and find what is right for you. 

    Brisket was a nice find. Pulled pork is another option, but for whatever reason, we’ve been put off pork, and while we do have bacon, we’re thinking of moving over to nice sausages made with other-than-pork. This is intuitive, btw, and not based on any science. We just felt that backing off pork would be a good plan. 

    We still eat regular cake when it’s a birthday or special occasion. On occasion, we have ice cream or other sweets — usually once a month or so. We don’t drink beer, so it’s not on the radar. Ryan will have some if he wants; I never drank it anyway. 🙂 

    Have I rambled enough? 😀

  2. http://Www.100daysofrealfood.com is a really good website. It is basically a blog about a family that gave up processed foods a few years ago and has blogged about it. She has some really easy recipes. I have made quite a few since we recently gave up processed foods and just doing that Byron lost over 10lbs. Ethan (our 3 year old) loves the chicken nuggets so I make those for him instead of fast food. The cockpot chicken is awesome and could not get any easier. The veggie fajitas recipe is my favorite…I even make homemade whole wheat tortillas (another recipe) to go with them. I do have some other super healthy more paleo friendly recipes if you are interested. Let me know!

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