How to Survive a Carb Attack

How to Survive a Carb Attack

When most people first try to reduce their carbs, they find it hard to give up the convenience of all those grains. What do you eat instead of SANDWICHES for lunch? How do you give up PASTA or RICE as a dinner-time staple? What do you eat instead of CEREAL or MUFFINS or pancakes for breakfast? How do you go without dessert????!!! Here are a few tips to help when you get hit with a carb craving!!

LOW-CARB BREAKFAST TIPS

1) Eggs are your friends!! They taste great with healthy fat on them (grassfed butter & coconut oil are my faves), and they cook fast! So, get creative:

~ Eggs can be scrambled with onions, peppers, & tomatoes, but they can also be scrambled with spinach or kale.

~ Use herbs! Salt & pepper are good as far as they go, but try an omelet or a baked egg made with rosemary & basil (& I love Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning too!)

~ Take them “to-go” by making them portable!! Bake a batch in muffin-tins. Pre-fill the tins with grated cheese, chopped veggies, then pour the stirred eggs on top. 

2) Go coconut! Coconut flour is low in carbs and makes excellent waffles, pancakes, and muffins. Use low-sugar fruits like berries to make your “syrup” or sweeten up your muffins.

3) Faux “hash Browns” are the BOMB!! Sauté some onion in coconut oil then add some shredded cauliflower! Serve with an egg on the side! It only takes about 5 minutes to cook!! My hubby even said it tastes just like potato hash browns!

LOW-CARB LUNCH TIPS

1) Leftovers make life easy! It can be as simple as eating the same thing you ate for dinner the night before. Keep your meats & veggies separate when you cook them for dinner, mixing them only on your dinner plates as you serve them. Then store them separately in your fridge. After a few days of doing this, you’ll have a variety of meats and cooked vegetables.

2) Eat salads. Big ones. Pile them with whatever vegetables turn you on and top with a source of protein. That can be leftover grilled chicken, hard boiled eggs, salmon, tuna, walnuts, you get the picture. Dress the salad with your own healthy homemade dressing.

LOW-CARB DINNER TIPS

1) Replace rice with grated cauliflower! It cooks in a lot less time, has almost no carbs, and serves well to replace rice in 95% of recipes. 

2) Most of us love tacos, fajitas, burritos, and everything else you put in a tortilla, right? Try using a lettuce as a wrap instead or put the insides in a bowl and enjoy it without the extra carbs. *Be sure to measure out the correct amount of cheese!!!

3) Use “pasta” that’s made from vegetables. Or you could use spaghetti squash or spiralized zucchini, squash and carrots to get your “pasta” fix. Try this topped with homemade marinara sauce! It's the bomb!!

4) What about pizza? How can you give that up? There are quite a few recipes out there for tasty cauliflower crusts!  Have fun experimenting!!

LOW-CARB SWEETS

1) You’ll really need to kick your sweet tooth, and it’s best to do that cold-turkey. I promise it only takes a week (two at most)! Shakeology REALLY helps curb that sweet tooth!

2) If you find yourself craving sweets, eat a little healthy fat! Cook those eggs in grassfed butter, drizzle your steamed veggies with coconut oil, stir coconut oil or full-fat raw cream into your hot tea or coffee. Eating more healthy fat will clear your foggy-headed brain and make that carb craving disappear. 

FINAL NOTES ON LOW-CARB EATING

Stick to eating REAL FOOD. DO NOT buy into the low-carb “alternatives” like prepackage snack bars or artificially sweetened foods.