His diet is going to make me CRAZY (low carb menu planning)

[NayneeNoo]

Menu planning is already difficult for me as it is....especially when pregnant. DH HAS to lose weight (5'11", nearly 300 pounds:( ). My two cousins were telling him at Christmas how much weight they've lost by doing a low carb diet (not no carb, but low carb--and no specific program just paying attention to carb count). Soooo last week he decided he wanted to try it and see how it went.

This is week 2 of menu planning and it has me :crazy . You would think finding low carb recipes online would be easy but NO. Of course it isn't! I want to :hissyfit that this is, of all the diets out there, the one he chose.

Anyone successfully used a low carb diet? What on earth did you eat?

Oh, and can I just be honest here? I'm :impouting that him being on this diet requires me to give up pizza and pasta for dinners (they're so easy...and yummy). It makes me want to stomp my feet and have a good old fashioned temper tantrum over it.....but in the end, I'll do it 'cause his weight is causing him major health issues.

So, again, any recipe/menu planning help from someone else who was successful with a low carb (or even no carb) diet?

[RealLifeMama]

Have you looked into the Saving Dinner Menu mailer low carb option?
I used to follow it a few years ago. She also adds in regular serving suggestions for side dishes. Everything was really good. DH, who is not "low carb" but loves meat based meals, really enjoyed it.

ETA: Sorry I was so short in my response, my toddler was calling for me.
Anyway, I think it is great that you are willing to support your DH in this way so that he can get healthy. :tu
The link to Saving Dinner is just http://savingdinner.com/
I think that now, if you sign up for a menu mailer, you get all the menu options, not just the low carb one. I am guessing she still does a low carb menu. You can get a sample one for free.

Anyway, basically, it is not that difficult to do low carb dinners if you are OK with eating meat. There are good low carb pastas and tortillas and stuff like that now, too, so you can still include those things occasionally. Side dishes for us were lots of veggies. Cauliflower mashed up with cream cheese (think fake mashed potatoes) is really good, DH likes that a lot. Also, lots of roasted vegetables. This is a great time of year for that, anyway. Roasted root veggies are so yummy.
You can roast rutabaga, parsnips, carrots, onion, beets and potatoes (that he can pick out ) all together after tossing them in some olive oil and garlic and whatever fresh herbs you like. You can do a chicken at the same time, and maybe serve with a salad or some cooked greens, and you can add a roll for yourself. It is a very quick prep and hands off meal.

[Serafine]

If you cut out casseroles, pastas, etc....you can stick with the more "classic" meals. Like:

Stir-fry (no rice or whole brown rice, if he can have that)
meat (steak, roast, chicken, etc.) plus veggie (broccoli, sauteed greens, peppers, brussel sprouts, beets - if he is allowed, etc.) plus a salad (you can fancy these up with avocado, nuts, etc.)

If you check out paleo diets, you will find lots of ideas: like http://brandyellenphotography.com/blog/?p=280

[Mollycurls]

When I'm eating this way I eat *a lot* of different kinds of salads with lots of beans, legumes, nuts and other veggies that I don't usually incorporate into my usual meals. I also make a lot of soups, and freeze them in portion size containers to grab quickly. As a previous poster mentioned, I also do a lot of traditional meat and veggie type meals. One thing that helped me was to go onto allrecipes.com and do into their special diet section and pick the low carb option and I got a lot of meal ideas from there. :)

[gpsings]

Here's some ideas
http://sugarfreesheila . com/

Also, there are teams on Sparkpeople . com who do low carb and have lots of recipes...
I can tell you this - the higher fat content, the easier the cravings for the time being. Get some red meats...put a big roast in your crockpot. Turkey bacon and deviled eggs are great to keep on hand, and there are a LOT of great recipes that are lower in fat once he's through the detox phase.
Try the 'oopsie rolls' recipe for bread substitues...then you can do hamburgers! (salsa instead of katsup)

Oopsie rolls are
4 egg whites (whipped with cream of tartar like a merangue)
4 oz cream cheese folded in (try not to let the eggs break down)
whatever seasonings you like - cinnamon and splenda, garlic, whatever...
drop on a greased baking sheet and flatten a little and bake on 350 for 1-12 minutes or until a bit browned on the edges.
These are very much like bread in a pinch, they make good hamburger buns, or bisquits for an eggs sandwich, etc...
let them cool and put them in a bag in the fridge for when you need them. :)
HTH!

As far as pizza and pasta goes....there are lots of things you can do to seperate him from the pasta. He's gonna have to use SOME willpower.....:haha

[mamacat]

If he is going low carb will you do things like wraps instead of sandwich bread or sandwich or bagel thins instead of sandwich rolls or bread? You can make him little pizzas of his own with those kinds of things.Instead of sugary,jarred pasta sauces I use tomato puree and make my own quick sauce with spices and garlic.Will he be eating fruit? Any kind of starchy vegies at all? Sometimes it helps to do some things in degrees instead of cold turkey.I dont know what his current diet is like but if a lot of sweets and sodas or stuff like that you may want to cut that stuff 1st for a week or so at a time and then see what else to cut back on.Try switching to things without high fructose corn syrup and obvious sugars like sweets and doing something like an apple and (sugar free) peanut butter for a snack.Seems like it will be more successful to give his body time to adjust and gaining healthier eating habits than to just sweat out a low carb diet and lose weight and go back to old habits.

---------- Post added at 08:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:23 PM ----------

Also you could try lower carb pastas that are whole grained and added to soups and things rather than being a huge portion of the meal and you can make yummy salad dressings out of things like olive oil and lime juice and spices.If he is seriously addicted to sugar it may help to use non HFCS things and cut in 1/2 with the tomato puree.My ds likes BBQ sauce and Ketchup and I do this with both

[gpsings]

If he is going low carb will you do things like wraps instead of sandwich bread or sandwich or bagel thins instead of sandwich rolls or bread? You can make him little pizzas of his own with those kinds of things.Instead of sugary,jarred pasta sauces I use tomato puree and make my own quick sauce with spices and garlic.Will he be eating fruit? Any kind of starchy vegies at all? Sometimes it helps to do some things in degrees instead of cold turkey.I dont know what his current diet is like but if a lot of sweets and sodas or stuff like that you may want to cut that stuff 1st for a week or so at a time and then see what else to cut back on.Try switching to things without high fructose corn syrup and obvious sugars like sweets and doing something like an apple and (sugar free) peanut butter for a snack.Seems like it will be more successful to give his body time to adjust and gaining healthier eating habits than to just sweat out a low carb diet and lose weight and go back to old habits.

---------- Post added at 08:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:23 PM ----------

Also you could try lower carb pastas that are whole grained and added to soups and things rather than being a huge portion of the meal and you can make yummy salad dressings out of things like olive oil and lime juice and spices.If he is seriously addicted to sugar it may help to use non HFCS things and cut in 1/2 with the tomato puree.My ds likes BBQ sauce and Ketchup and I do this with both

If he's doing Atkins, he's gonna have to kick it off the hard way. Lettuce wraps. Celery and dip. :( no fruits and no root vegetables.

I forgot another thing that helps is the buffalo chicken dip...make a pan of that for him to heat up when he's hungry with celery!
Buffalo Chicken Dip
chicken cooked and shredded
1 cup shredded cheddar
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup Texas Pete or some other buffalo type sauce
mix and bake for 1 hour on 325

yum. and for you, eat with tortilla chips!

[expatmom]

When I was eating low carb last year, I basically stopped eating white stuff. White bread, white pasta, white rice. I started each meal plan with veggies first & fixed the rest of the meal around that. We ate a lot of salads with meat thrown on top, which was actually very yummy and pretty quick to fix. I bet you could do that & save your pizza/pasta for lunchtime when he is at work.:)

[SilverMoon]

I've been low carb for 12 years. My family is not. Most nights I make a meal that all of us can eat by having a main meat plus sides either all of us can have or a salad for me and their favorite sides.
I still make their favorites, like lasagna, but then I make a side of meatballs or Italian sausages so I can eat with them. I used to make a low-carb type pizza for myself, but gave that up. The family can have pizza and on those days I make myself something separate.
Chicken and/or steak fajitas are yummy and everyone can eat them. My family has them with soft tortillas, I have it in a bowl without tortilla. La Tortilla Factory makes a yummy low carb whole wheat that those who aren't sensitive to wheat or can have a few more carbs can enjoy. I do the same with tacos, but also enjoy refried beans if my body is ok with the extra carbs that day.

[RealLifeMama]

I forgot another thing that helps is the buffalo chicken dip...make a pan of that for him to heat up when he's hungry with celery!
Buffalo Chicken Dip
chicken cooked and shredded
1 cup shredded cheddar
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup Texas Pete or some other buffalo type sauce
mix and bake for 1 hour on 325

yum. and for you, eat with tortilla chips!

This dip is awesome! Franks Red Hot is yummy in it. I must make some soon!

[Forsynthianicki]

My Dh prefers to eat this way; it's not so easy for me because I am not much of a meat eater. Sometimes I will cook a family pack of meat with simple seasonings and freeze individual portions; easy to reheat and add a serving of veggies. It's simple and he doesn't complain, I change up the seasonings and veggie and then thow in an egg dish once in a while. I am not a big meat eater so it works nicely to have smaller portions ready in the freezer, I don't feel like I am fixing two meals each time.

[~yogamom~]

there are some great low carb forums with yummy recipes, like low-carb "pizza" (egg an cream cheese crust) and whipped cream and fruit for dessert (with stevia for sweetener in the whipped cream). if you guys can do dairy and eggs, there are LOTS of options. have one high protein / high fat entree with a side of a lot of veggies (raw salad or cooked veggies) and he should be off to a good start and you can hopefully find recipes you really like.

[Lady TS]

Dh is in the induction phase of Atkins. I'm almost thru week 1 of cooking for him. :phew

I do NOT make us all eat the way he is eating.:no We still have pizza and nachos and other carby stuff--I just make him have leftovers for himself or fix a simple meal for him.

I tend to do a big pan of meat and work off of that for a few days.

My meals for us looked like this (his meal in parenthesis):

Wed: Venison Pot Pie (browned ground venison w/jalapeno's/chili pepper/cheese and lettuce)
Thurs: Venison Steak, Broccoli, Lettuce w/cheese(we all had the same)
Friday: Nacho's w/ground beef and cheese/salsa (ground venison/jalapenos/cheese and salad with cucumbers/broccoli/mushroom/blue cheese dressing)
Saturday: (Roast with onions and cabbage, green beans) and sweet potatoes

Sunday: (Leftover roast and cabbage and green beans)
Monday: Sloppy joes with sweet potato fries and salad (browned ground venison and jalapenos, cheese, lettuce with cucumbers and mushrooms and blue cheese dressing)


For lunches, he's been having crustless spinach quiche and for snacks he's been having cheese sticks and pork rinds. At least for the induction phase. I am hoping to replace the pork rinds(or at least some of them) with some nuts/seeds after the first two weeks.

This time around I haven't done dessert yet, but I use the cheesecake recipe from the Knox plain gelatin packet for special occasions(substituting low-carb stuff). I'll have to go dig up that recipe soon...

[The Tickle Momster]

You might look at South Beach Diet. It's much more manageable than Atkins and Phase 2 has limited carbs. You can get the original book for pretty cheap at halfpricebooks or other book store.