Need recipes ideas for higher fat/low carb/glycemic index foods/meals

[Ottakee]

We saw a dietician today for my 2 girls with mitochondrial disorders. What they have is so far they don't have a "prognosis".

 

There is some evidence that a high fat diet might be helpful. We could go as strict as the Ketogenic diet but that is VERY VERY tough for an older child. We also talked about a low GI diet and a modified Atkins diet.

 

What we decided for now is to try to reduce the number of carbs in their diet and add more fats.

 

This just seems to go against "conventional" wisdom to load on the fats but I certainly see the thinking behind this and they will be monitored for any adverse things.

 

Now, I need ideas for meals, snacks, sack lunches, etc. that are high in fat but low in carbs and the carbs should be lower on the glycemic index. They can have some carbs but for example, instead of a large serving of rice with stir fry on top, I need to serve them a big serving of stir fry (meat and low carb veggies) fried in LOTS of oil on top of a little bit of rice.

 

If we can make this more of a lifestyle for the whole family, it will be much easier for them. It will also help dh as he is type 2 diabetes.

 

It just means more work for mom. I esp. need super quick and easy ideas for lunches on the go, sack lunches, and SNACKS. When you are a teen, so many social activities involve food---chips, pop, etc.--all stuff to avoid.

 

Help me out all you can.

[Joanne]

If you want some reading material to get comfortable with the science behind why high fat does not equal sudden cardiac death, let me know.

 

The Low Carb Friends site has a great recipe collection.

 

Linda Sue's low carb site is helpful. So is Cleohatra's.

[wapiti]

I like the Zone bars for very quick snacks grab-and-go-out-the-door. (the Target version in my pantry has 12g protein, 14g sugar, 6 g fat) Maybe look for a similar type of bar in the diabetic food section that has less sugar.

 

cheese (or cheese on whole grain crackers?)

 

avocado

 

just my first thoughts off the top of my head....

[happypamama]

As long as finances are allowing for it, we generally eat a lowish carb diet as a general family rule. DH, in particular, tends to gain weight with a lot of carbs, so he really prefers to eat very few grains and little fruit (mainly he just eats fruit occasionally, and it's whatever's in season locally and therefore Really Good). Whenever he feels that his weight is creeping up, it's because we've had more carbs, and when he drops them back again, he loses the weight and feels healthier. (And he's not stick-thin; I know he is not starving himself.)

 

DH typically eats several eggs (preferably free range) fried in real butter for breakfast. Occasionally we'll have nitrate-free bacon or good sausage with breakfast on the weekends. The kids and I do eggs for breakfast as well, but we also will do regular non-sweetened oatmeal, with some combination of milk, butter, unsweetened shredded coconut, blueberries, cinnamon, and chopped nuts added. (I've tested my blood sugars after eating this a few times, and it does not seem to spike them, as there is plenty of fat and protein.)

 

 

Lunch for DH is usually leftovers from dinner the night before. Some of the things we eat for lunches and snacks: cheese, hard-boiled eggs/deviled eggs/egg salad, sometimes salad, fresh veggies (with homemade bleu cheese dressing), peanut butter on celery, nuts, olives, avocadoes, beans/chickpeas, soups, fruit, smoothies. (Not sure how beans, fruit and smoothies fit into the glycemic index though, and I think carrots are pretty high on it too, but if they're too high, there's broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, celery, peppers, all of which are great for dipping.) My children are still all pretty young, so we haven't had tuna in ages because of the mercury, but that's a good option. Sometimes we'll have the nitrate-free hot dogs. I like cottage cheese with blueberries mixed in. Lunch is not usually anything too fancy.

 

Dinner is the biggest area where we've made changes. I used to do a lot of stir-fry-type dishes over rice or pasta, and I really had to shift my thinking there. Some dishes will still work without rice/pasta, but some are lacking. I used to make spaghetti with meat sauce; that's not so great without the spaghetti, but I made meatballs and sauce instead (with pasta on the side for those who wanted it), and DH found that to be satisfying. On the ideal days, our dinners look like this: some sort of meat (grass-fed when possible)/poultry/fish, a green veggie, and a salad (with homemade dressing). Pork chops, ham steaks, baked fish fillets, roast beef/pork/chicken, salmon cakes, meatloaf, burgers, peppers stuffed with refried beans, grilled chicken/shrimp to put over a salad. . . I often just omit the filler oats/bread crumbs in things like meatloaf, and we don't miss them.

 

We go heavy on the healthy fats -- real butter (organic/pastured when possible, but never margarine), non-hydrogenated lard when we can (it's not hard to make yourself, and it freezes well), olive oil, nuts, coconut oil, avocadoes, olives, cheese, and cream from raw milk. I do not buy into the "saturated fat is all terrible" philosophy; it makes no logical sense to me. I do try to get pastured/organic/grass-fed meat, poultry, and dairy products, and I have read that they are totally different from conventional animals. We do try to avoid hydrogenated oils and trans fats -- that kind of saturated fat I do think is bad for you.

 

Hope that helps. I am not an expert, but those are things that our family has done that have worked. I like Nourishing Traditions for ideas on how to use natural fats and such too.

 

ETA: DH doesn't snack much during the day; I think the fats and proteins help fill him up. The children seem happier too when they have a lot of fat and protein, but when they have more carby meals, they seem to get cranky and hungry faster. Some eggs and milk, or a big bowl of oatmeal, and they're full for several hours, but give them cheerios, and they'll eat two or three large bowls and then be begging for more an hour later. I notice a huge difference in how I feel as well when I eat eggs or cottage cheese for breakfast vs. cereal. So that is encouraging to me when I'm sick of eggs. :)

Edited June 30, 2011 by happypamama

[HeathenMom]

i eat a ketogenic diet as a lifestyle. here are some examples of what i might eat any day:

 

breakfast:

eggs fried in butter or coconut oil

bacon,

ham, or

sausage

coffee with whole cream

 

 

lunch:

1 cup whole fat bulgarian or greek yogurt

1 oz walnuts

1tbsp flaxseed or chia seed

1 scoop flavored whey protein

or

a big salad with tuna in olive oil and a high fat dressing

 

snack:

nuts

peanut butter and celery

cheese

veggie sticks and ranch dip

 

dinner:

any meat in any amount. lamb is my favorite :001_wub:

any veggies minus potatoes

 

if i make chicken i usually incorporate bacon and cheese. chicken with homemade alfredo sauce is great too.

 

you can do some interesting dessert things with whey protein as well. the bodybuilding.com forums has a keto recipes section has some good stuff.

 

HTH

good luck!

[i.love.lucy]

I'm doing Atkins Induction phase. (I've lost 29lbs!!) What I like to keep my carbs ultra low are minimal "products" but there are a few: EAS Body For Life Advantage Edge Shakes. It's these. Those are $8 online but I find them easily at my local grocery store for only $4.50/4. I use it for breakfast, but you could use them for a snack. Very low carb, high protein, low cal. I use them as a meal replacement to keep my cals somewhat lower while I lose weight, but they'd be a yummy snack. I also use the Mission Carb Control tortillas in place of any bread. So I can make a roll up of turkey, swiss cheese, and mustard and it would make a good snack or sandwich. I also make a roll up of turkey, cheddar and pico. YUM! The small size has only 4 net carbs.

 

To snack on I love a few apple slices with unsweetened natural peanut butter and cheddar cheese. I also keep sliced bell peppers (all the colors) on hand with some veggie cream cheese.

 

You have to be careful because dairy has carbs, but cheese and greek yogurt are great for keeping the protein high. Make a good breakfast smoothie with some whey protein, coconut oil, spinach and berries. High in fat and protein, low in carbs.

 

My favorite dinner is a protein (like a burger, small steak or chicken breast) with veggies roasted in olive oil. I can make such a variety: peppers, cauliflower, brussell sprouts, asparagus, onions, zucchini. I also make lots of veggie soups and add in some protein.

 

I think it's a matter of looking at your plate and not expecting to see the starch there. As mentioned nuts, avocado, coconut oil, butter, olive oil, flax oil, etc can all be added to your foods to up the fat content. Now that I have been doing it this way I don't miss the carbs so much and the fat helps you stay satisfied!

[Mama Geek]

low gi carbs include sweet potatoes, brown rice and peanut m&m's. Dh and I usually split a sweet potato and still have small servings of brown rice and try to limit to 1 serving of peanut M&M's a day. You have to be careful with fruits, berries are great, small servings of melons & grapes are OK. You can use spaghetti squash instead of noodles for spaghetti. We ate lots of cheese dannon plain yogurt (not low or no fat). We did use some splenda to sweeten things like the yogurt.

 

I often mixed protein, veggies, and cheese together for a meal in a frying pan. Hamburger, chicken or pork, onions, green pepper, green beans or corn, tomatoes and melted cheese on the top.

[ZooRho]

Hey just realized I know you from SL days.

 

any way, I'm no real help my son has had to go on a super low fat diet for several months. he is still eating fairly low fat.

 

But some things you may want to check out.

THis is a fat count place, but I'm not sure of all the info you may need and it may help with the other information you need.

http://www.ntwrks.com/~mikev/chart1a.htm

 

 

I also had to do some calorie counting cause he wasn't getting nearly enough for his athletics so I joined sparkpeople. They have reciepes there too. Again- I was looking in the opposite direction but they probably have low carb stuff there.

 

Lance Armstrong has a website for diet stuff to Livestrong. you might see what is there.

 

The other thing I found helpful was that I found a yahoo group for his issue. That had lots of helpful links and other information, so you might try to see if something is out there like that.