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, or you can get creative. 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. Mix & match your leftovers with different sauces and it’s like eating a whole new meal.
2) Eat salads. Big ones. Pile them with whatever vegetables turn you on and top with a source of protein. That can be leftover taco meat, leftover bits of diced steak, leftover pulled chicken, leftover diced pork chops, hard boiled eggs, smoked salmon, tuna, nuts, you get the picture. Dress the salad with something REALLY fattening. I make all my own salad dressings on-the-go with whatever inspires me. Sour cream or enzyme-rich mayonnaisemixed with healthy oils make for a tasty, creamy base to which you can add various herbs or spices. Check out this Bacon, Avocado, & Egg Salad to see what I’m talking about.
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) You love pasta because of the SAUCES. So keep eating all those sauces, but pour them over your meat & veggies instead of over the pasta.
3) The same thing is true for tacos, fajitas, burritos, and everything else you put in a tortilla. You love it because of what’s INSIDE it, so put the insides in a bowl and enjoy it without the extra carbs.
4) Use “pasta” that’s made from vegetables. Asian markets sell a kelp/seaweed pasta and a mushroom pasta. Or you could use spaghetti squash or stringed zucchini to get your “pasta” fix.
5) Get a good cookbook to jog your creative juices. Most low-carb cookbooks aren’t into Real Food, but the Paleo Eats Cookbook is!
6) What about pizza? How can you give that up? There are quite a few recipes out there for decent cauliflower crusts, or you can do what I do: make pizza soup! All the ingredients I love in my pizza, but with extra “sauce” serving as the soup base.
LOW-CARB SWEETS
1) You’ll 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)! See How To Cure A Sugar Fiend.
2) If you find yourself craving sweets, eat fat! Cook those eggs in extra butter, drizzle your steamed veggies with bacon grease, stir coconut oil or full-fat raw cream into your hot tea or coffee. Eating more fat will clear your foggy-headed brain and make that carb craving disappear.
LOW-CARB SNACKS
1) Pick snack foods you actually like.
2) Make them protein-rich. Hard-boiled eggs, slices of hard cheese, a handful of nuts.
3) Explore other cultures. Asian markets have a slew of inexpensive, interesting snack-ish foods that are quite nutrient-dense — everything from dried anchovies (taste like little chips!) to kelp chips fried in palm or coconut oil.
4) Fry your own snacks! Fry cheese in coconut oil or bacon grease. WOW. Fry veggies (I like fried onions & peppers) in coconut oil or lard until crisp.
For recipes and practical instructions for eating this way (dairy-free and grain-free), I highly recommend the Paleo Eats Cookbook.
It’s the simplest way to get started, and at the moment, the hardback version of this cookbook is 100% free to Food Renegade readers.
(CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE COPY OF THE PALEO EATS COOKBOOK.)
FINAL NOTES ON LOW-CARB EATING
1) Stick to eating Real Food. Don’t buy into the low-carb “alternatives” to things like pre-prackaged snack bars or Splenda.
2) Check out these tips for eating Real Food on a budget.
3) Source your foods well. Check out this series on Healthy Foods: What to Buy. It’s got the low-down on the best options for buying quality meats, eggs, cheeses, seafood, etc.
4) If raw milk is too high in carbs for your low-carb diet, check out these recipes for Healthy Milk Substitutes.
Source: http://www.foodrenegade.com