low carb grocery

[mansi]

hi low carbers,
I want to buy some low carb grocery such as flax seed flour. soy flour, wheat gluten and other stuff.

actually buying Atkins stuff is turning out to be very .expensive and when i searched on the internet , it gave me some very simple recipes of low carb muffins, but i could not find these ingredients.

Can you please help me with that.
My hubby wants to do struct low carbing and is geting tired of meats all the time. so want to make some low catb breads and cakes and muffins etc.

please help
Mansi

[Wahaika]

Mansi,

There is no such thing as a low carb muffin or low carb bread/starch product of any kind. Possibly lower than usual, but not considered "low".

If your husband wants to avoid/lower carbs, he needs to avoid all corn, rice, wheat, potatoes and sugars. He can get what carbs he needs from small amounts of fruit and large amounts of dark leafy green salads. It's a miserable diet for the first two weeks and then something happens and the cravings go away.

Also, don't make your hubby into a Soy Boy. If your hubby wants some good protein bars, try HiHealth or GNC. Labradda bars (Carb Watchers) and Designer bars are the best both in taste and nutrition. They are high quality whey bars - no soy last I checked except for one variety of the Labradda bars.

They also carry ProBlend55 protein powder if he is in the market for a really good one. If you are in the Phoenix area, you can get Lance Dreher on Saturday mornings - 960AM at 7:00AM.

I don't know what meats he is getting tired of but the best thing to do is to vary the way that they are prepared. You can steam chicken breasts with Italian seasonings and it comes out real well. Have him grill some Salmon outside (so it doesn't smell up your house) a couple of times per week. Serve the protein source with a good dark green salad.

And don't let him get away without exercising!!! Very important.

Is he interested in low carb/Atkins to lower weight or to lower cholesterol? Or just interested in getting healthy & fit?

Wahaika

[fawnmarie]

There are a TON of low-carb muffins, breads, totillas, cookies, pastas etc. You just need to know where to look and how to properly calculate carbs.

Wonder Light Italian bread is pretty inexpensive and is only 7 grams per slice! (Cheaper than those labeled for low carb.)

Also - you can buy mixes at Walmart supercenters for pizza dough (3 grams per slice), muffins, bread, etc. (Carbsense is cheaper - Atkins is expensive).

They are made with soy flour, nut flours, wheat gluten, and flax meal. (Wheat gluten & flax meal all have high fiber, which is subtracted from the total carb count.)

I also buy the Russell Stover's candy - but I get them in the little bags from Walmart super center for about 1.50 per 3 oz. bag.

There's also a ton of different products at Netrition:
www.netrition.com/cgi/goto.cgi?aid=1434&url=lowcarb_page.html

And I find a LOT of my low-carb stuff at Walmart.

You'd be surprised how many things to eat are low in carbs. Blue Bunny sugarfree yogurt (that brand ONLY) has only 5-6 carbs (the bacteria eats the milk sugar before you consume it and it's sweetened with splenda).

Nuts and nut butters are low in carbohydrate.

As for making a lot of it yourself - Karen Rysavy (sp) and Dana Carpender both have EXCELLENT low carb cookbooks out. Karen makes "home fries" out of rutabagas and "mashed potatoes" out of cauliflower and they are both EXCELLENT side dishes. She also has a recipe for "Mockaroni & cheese" that is low carb, but I've never tried it. Sounds good.

I think Karen's book is at www.trulylowcarb.com
and Dana's is at www.holdthetoast.com

You can probably get the ingredients you are looking for at your local health food store, organic market, etc. Most large towns have at least ONE market where they sell such ingredients. You will probably not be able to find them at your regular grocery - you'll have to go to a health food market. Check in your local yellow pages and call around for what you need.

Of course if your hubby wants to do "strict" low carb - many of the breads and stuff will put him over the 20 gram limit. However, if his limit is 30-50, then you should be able to sneak some baked goods in there.

Also - don't forget sugar free jello and popsicles - both of which are good for a low-carb sweet tooth.

Just remember:

Subtract dietary fiber
Subtract sugar alcohols
= Net Grams Carbs

Fawn
Atkid since 1996!

[Wahaika]

Yep, that's all relatively low in carbs. When it comes to men, watch the cholesterol! We need to watch what we eat with the starchy carbs, even low ones, so that it metabolizes slower.

I enjoyed your reply Fawn. Lots of good resources!

Wahaika
Studying the subject since 1993 and still learning.

[fawnmarie]

Cholesterol and/or arterial placque in generally created in the presence of insulin. And thyroid function (and liver function) affect serum cholesterol too. If you are not producing enough T3, your serum cholesterol levels will elevate.

Not sure about men, but for most women, especially those of a "certain age" - elevated cholesterol is one of the first signs of hypothyroidism.

Fawn

[mansi]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for your reply.

Fawn my hubby is in the range of taking 30-50 gms of carb everyday. he is not doign Atkins. He wants to do soemthign which he can commit throughout his life.

so he takes around 30-50 gms of carbs everyday. I even make some lentils soup for him in the dinner if he has had zero carbs throughout the day (eggs for breakfast and grilled chicken for lunch- that leaves a lot of scope for carbs in dinner).

The thing is we don't eat any red meat. I can manage dinner of chicken, turkey, fish and vegetables.

But i have no idea what i should give him for breakfast. I give him eggs, but you can't eat eggs everyday. and even lunch is little hard. but stilllunch is usually salad with grilled chicken. but i wanted to make some low carb muffins and pancakes etc for breakfast.

sepcially on weekends i like to kae proper breakfast and it is hard to make low carb ones.
i will have to search sme health stores here in Tucson and seehow it goes.

Thanks a lot for your advice.

Mansi

[Wahaika]

Mansi,

I'm sure you will get lots of other suggestions, but here is one of my breakfast favorites:

COTTAGE CHEESE DIP
------------------------
BIG container (32 oz) of cottage cheese dip
7 oz can ortega green chiles
2 medium sized red ripe tomatoes
1 bunch green onions
salt, pepper

• Chop green part of green onions. Do not use white part.
  
• Dice the tomatoes.
  
• Put cottage cheese in large mixing bowl.
  
• Salt and pepper to taste, should get sweet.
  
• Stir in chiles, chopped green onion ends, and tomatoes.
  
• Marinate over night but if you can't wait that long then 2 hours will do.
  

I eat about a cup of this with a cup of strawberries or an apple or a peach.

It can also serve as a dip with salted corn chips (on his "off day/meal"). Santa Fe Gold works great for this. They are in any grocery store.

Happy Easter everyone!

Wahaika

[fawnmarie]

At 30-50 grams, he could handle cottage cheese or blue bunny yogurt. And you can get a box of the muffin mix and make it last a couple of days. And although they are expensive, Entemenn's low carb baked goodies contain a lot of portions.

What do you mean, not doing Atkins? Atkins is NOT 20 grams or less! Atkins is 20 grams to START - then you add more after the first two weeks. Even though I'm more of a Protein Power fan, I think people have a lot of misconceptions about what "Atkins" is.

Fawn

[mansi]

Hi Fawn,
Well my hubby is doing more "south beach" kind of diet with more bend towards proteins. so he is not doing atkins. I don't know much about what he does, he just reads books and tell me to do things and that is what i try to do.

Have you checked on new low carb yoghurt by Dannon? it is just 3 net carbs and very delicious. even i love it.

Thanks a lot
Mansi

[fawnmarie]

Yep - heard of it and it looks good. Blue Bunny is cheaper though - only 44 cents for a cup size carton at Walmart superstore.

Well - if this is your husband's idea, maybe you should make him come up with things he can eat.

I like egg burritos in low-carb tortillas (La Tortilla Factory - I think you need to buy them online.)

Fawn