Need food ideas: low fat, low carb?

[Spryte]

I have been on a ketogenic diet for 4 mos. I love it, I find it easy, and my body likes it. I've felt great, and lost weight. HFLC, essentially.

 

But (Ugh!) I am now dealing with what appears to be a gallstone in my bile duct. Will be having more tests soon to determine course of action, but in the meantime, I've been advised to do a low fat diet.

 

I really don't want to go carb crazy. Can I do low fat and low carb?

 

Can you point me in the direction of some good recipes and food lists?

 

I'm not feeling well, lots of pain, and am loopy from meds, so thinking about what to eat is a chore. I'd be grateful for help!

 

ETA: I can't have peanuts, nuts or sesame in the house.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Spryte

[Ali in OR]

I'm remembering from my dd's keto days that calories come either from fat, carbs, or protein. You're trying to eliminate 2 of the 3--I don't think that's really possible in a healthy way. You can't get all calories from protein. But it might steer you in a particular direction for awhile--a higher protein diet. If it were me, I'd relax low-carb while dealing with the gallstones, but maybe give myself some limits on what types of carbs. No white flour or rice, lots of fruit and veggies. More veggies than fruit if you're worried about that. Good luck and hope you heal up soon.

[Spryte]

Yes, you're right about keto. The majority of calories come from fat. I'll need to do a radical shift in eating and thinking.

 

Adding lots of veggies seems the way to go.

[Laura Corin]

If you went very high fibre then many of the carbs wouldn't 'count' but would fill you up.  It's easy to make things like beans and lentils without fat, because they naturally contribute starch to a sauce for a creamy mouth feel.

[Pawz4me]

Lots of soups can be very filling and still relatively low in net carbs. Make them with lots of rich broth and lots of veggies.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Oh bummer.  Well I do think it would be difficult to go very low carb and very low fat.  Try looking for South Beach recipes.  They tend to also watch the fat. 

[kiana]

I'm remembering from my dd's keto days that calories come either from fat, carbs, or protein. You're trying to eliminate 2 of the 3--I don't think that's really possible in a healthy way. You can't get all calories from protein. But it might steer you in a particular direction for awhile--a higher protein diet. If it were me, I'd relax low-carb while dealing with the gallstones, but maybe give myself some limits on what types of carbs. No white flour or rice, lots of fruit and veggies. More veggies than fruit if you're worried about that. Good luck and hope you heal up soon.

 

This. It's really not possible to eat only protein -- it leads to serious medical issues (rabbit starvation in extreme cases). But you can keep processed carbs eliminated and cut fat down, by using a lot of complex carbs.Check out glycemic index/glycemic load and eat carbs low on that scale. 

[ktgrok]

Bariatric patients tend to eat that way. I eat full fat cheese, but not tons of it. Low fat low sugar yogurt, some fruit, veggies, leaner cuts of meat. 

 

The World According to Eggface is a blog with tons of bariatric recipes...you could look through there for more inspiration. Or some of the earlier paleo books were lower fat. 

Edited October 3, 2016 by ktgrok

[wapiti]

If you're interested in supplements, look at chlorophyll for gallstones

[Lawana]

What about something like Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman. It is low fat but not low carb. The bulk of carbs come from fruit and limited amounts of starchy vegetables and whole grains. It would definitely be a radical change from what you are doing now, but has many health advantages.

[Spryte]

Thanks, all! I will check out and/or do some of the above right away, and am grateful for some ideas.

 

I had forgotten about South Beach. That might work. If all else fails, I'll just do low fat until this is resolved and I get the ok to move on.

 

I'm so bummed.

[Katy]

Look for low calorie recipes, or the vegan recipes without sugar, oil, or salt.  Those should both fit the bill.

[redsquirrel]

I've done low fat and low carb and it isn't sustainable. I've personally found it much more effective than say, atkins induction if I am carrying a lot of extra water weight.

 

It pretty much means eating boiled skinless chicken breast and whey protein shakes.

 

You can google 'stillman diet', which was around before Atkins and was the first attempt at low carb, but it is VERY 1960s. He suggests cottage cheese, which is not low carb nor low fat...so...?  But I think he was dealing with what was available to him at the time.  So, you can look at it and then try to apply modern low carb ideas to it, kwim?

 

But, yeah, it's mostly meat and protein shakes.  Good to bust through a plateau, but not a way of life.

 

I would think that something like South Beach and/or 'eat to live' would be much more sustainable if only for the variety.

 

ETA: I am so sorry you are dealing with gallstones. Those are NO FUN.  In your shoes, I would be eating whatever was necessary to deal with that. I've had exactly one gallbladder attack in my life, when I was pregnant, and it was a minor one. I didn't care, I did NOT want to go through that again.

Edited October 3, 2016 by redsquirrel

[SparklyUnicorn]

Did they give you an idea of the range of fat you should be aiming for?

 

If you did lean meat and lots of veg with only a bit of fat you probably could be ok and wouldn't have to eat tons of carbs outside of what you are getting with veg (which for a lot of veg is not bad). 

 

You could buy liquid egg whites and do egg white veggie omelets.  Lot of deli hams are almost zero fat.  Could add that in. 

 

 

[Spryte]

These are great ideas, thank you!

 

I'm not intending for this to be forever, just till this gallstone issue is resolved. And then if I have to rethink low carb, I will - but I hope not.

 

Food does not feel like a friend at the moment. I have very little appetite. :(

[Ravin]

I would bring in carbs, but stick to complex carbs and keep it low glycemic index/no processed sugars or simple starch.

[Spryte]

I would bring in carbs, but stick to complex carbs and keep it low glycemic index/no processed sugars or simple starch.

Yes, that's the way I'm heading. Sort of a slow carb approach. It hurts bad enough today that I can't believe I even cared about sticking to my diet yesterday!