Low-carb January - 3 days in

Hi readers,

How’s it going? Hope this finds you well. Feeling tip top. Groovy. And happy.

As I write, we’re three days into 2018, and I’m three days into a low-carb January. This post is the first of a series over the next month, which I intend to write, charting my voyage into the world of eating well – but without so many carbs. Hold tight, readers. There are few carbs where we're going. 

Why am I trying to eat low-carb?

As a friend eloquently put it, while we sat drinking champagne on New Year’s Eve, we are the fittest and fattest we’ve maybe ever been right now. This follows a summer spent training for our first 10K, in 2017, and then smashing the race in September. We got much fitter while training for this race, but clothes do seem smaller now. Which I dislike.

And in films, readers, the skinny beautiful starlet always proclaims they haven’t eaten carbs in years, don’t they? It happens in the Lizzie Maguire Movie, in The Holiday, in the new Jumanji film. Carbs? Yuk! So, there must be something to this idea of ditching the carbs.

I’ve literally made a diet decision based on the films I watched over Christmas. 

Literally.

 What did I think eating low-carb meant, on Boxing Day?

On Boxing Day, with a Christmas roast still weighing me down, I’d say that’s when this idea of a low-carb January first came to me. I was shopping the sales for fitness gear, while lying on the settee with chocolates and wine. And sensed a health kick looming.

I thought: Low-carb. No pizza, pasta, pastry, potatoes, bread, rice, noodles, porridge, cereals, cakes, biscuits. All the things that coeliac people can’t eat? Heavy foods with flour in them? And I thought – yeah! The cereal part worried me, I won’t lie. But I was otherwise on board with giving that a go. I’ve survived Veganuary before. Easy peasy, right?

Beginning to be concerned.

What did I think eating low-carb meant, on New Year’s Eve?

By New Year’s Eve, I’d been doing some light googling. I’d realised that ‘starchy foods’ extends a little further that I’d first anticipated. I was thinking I’d switch potatoes for sweet potatoes, but then I read online that all vegetables which grow underground are high-carb. And that crackers, crispbreads, oatcakes all have carbs in them. Along with grains and pulses – so couscous and baked beans are out.

I’d also read that people eating low-carb avoid sugary foods, containing fructose or lactose, as well as the starchy foods. Which was a blow. So, this means avoiding all fruits other than berries. And I can’t have fruit juice. Or dried fruits. And not too much milk, either.

So, a lot like being gluten free and also diabetic too. What joy. But I was still determined to power on! My friends suggested I do more googling about what I could eat in January, seeing as I was starting the diet that next morning. 

A fair point.

What did I think eating low-carb meant, on New Year’s Day?

On New Year’s Day, I woke up with a sore sore head. Craving carbs, probably because we’d been talking about them so much the night before. And due to my severe hangover.

I decided to venture out, find a shop that was open, and stock up on foods to see me through the next couple of days. I came home – feeling even worse than before – with some strawberries, seafood, soups (not containing vegetables that grow under the ground), and the ingredients for a veggie fry up (minus any toast or baked beans).

Fishy stir fry... without any rice or noodles

A cracking veggie fry up!

And I could have a tomato soup, I think, too

And I have, thus far, survived a few days into the new year. But limited culinary prospects drove me back to google. And I found lots of things that I can (I think) eat going forwards.

I formed a basic survival plan:

Breakfast: yoghurt, seeds, berries

Lunch: Cheesy soup / cheesy salad

Snacks: Nuts, veg sticks with dip, quorn cocktail sausages

Tea: Fish, eggs, veg that grow above the ground

I’m hoping this plan will get me through the return to work and getting back into a routine, and then I plan on throwing myself into experimenting with some more ambitious low-carb cooking in January. Stay tuned for low-carb recipes to come, readers.

And if anyone knows anything about eating low-carb, please do share any tips or insights you have! I’d love to hear your ideas! Help me, please.

Drop the carbs safely,

Hayley