Give me some complex carb recommendations

Ha - I thought your eyes would pop out at Patti's whole recipe nutritional info!! Did anybody mention oat bran? Or steel cut oats? I eat oat bran every morning - it is not processed and easier to cook. I put some ground flax in it for my old lady joints :rolleyes: Stick to the comlex carbs and avoid refined, and I think you will feel so much better. I would think that sticking to low glycemic carbs will help you stay away from a sugar binge too, if you like sweets (which are certainly my weekness). Also, I found this...so eating MORE carbs may actually help you achieve the body you want, and enjoy some bread meanwhile :p

The worst dieting tips ever repeated to me:

1. "Carbs are bad for you." A carryover from the massively popular Atkins Diet, this is perhaps the most destructive single piece of dieting advice ever popularized. I've actually seen websites on which users support each other in their mutual quests to eat less than 50g of carbs per day. Carbohydrates fuel your body. If you don't eat them you'll be too tired to exercise, or even think straight. What's more, if you quit getting enough of them, your body will start cannibalizing your muscle. That's right -- not eating carbs IS bad for you!
 
Oh, and Whole Foods makes a great frozen brown rice that you can choose your serving size from and it is rice only - no added junk, plus it is organic and brown rice is one of the foods that holds on to pesticides so organic is great for the brown rice. And Alexia (I think it is spelled) makes the best sweet potato fries.
 
Ha - I thought your eyes would pop out at Patti's whole recipe nutritional info!! Did anybody mention oat bran? Or steel cut oats? I eat oat bran every morning - it is not processed and easier to cook. I put some ground flax in it for my old lady joints :rolleyes: Stick to the comlex carbs and avoid refined, and I think you will feel so much better. I would think that sticking to low glycemic carbs will help you stay away from a sugar binge too, if you like sweets (which are certainly my weekness). Also, I found this...so eating MORE carbs may actually help you achieve the body you want, and enjoy some bread meanwhile :p

The worst dieting tips ever repeated to me:

1. "Carbs are bad for you." A carryover from the massively popular Atkins Diet, this is perhaps the most destructive single piece of dieting advice ever popularized. I've actually seen websites on which users support each other in their mutual quests to eat less than 50g of carbs per day. Carbohydrates fuel your body. If you don't eat them you'll be too tired to exercise, or even think straight. What's more, if you quit getting enough of them, your body will start cannibalizing your muscle. That's right -- not eating carbs IS bad for you!

UGH! Where did you get that? Tom Venuto? It's wrong! I'm sorry, but it's just wrongwrongwrong. I have never been too tired to exercise! Even at 10 carbs a day I still worked out 10-12 hours a week & felt pretty good. (although I rarely think straight, but I don't think that's a product of my diet ;))

I'm also not buying into the "cannibilizing muscle" thing. I keep trying to get clarification on this, but I didn't think muscle was a real source of fuel for your body. I thought it was carbs & fat. I haven't been short on fat for quite some time. :(

I do like sweets, but I think my real weakness is pizza. And pasta, b/c I've deprived myself of it for so long.

Anyway, thread drift.........more food suggestions please. :)
 
Oh, and Whole Foods makes a great frozen brown rice that you can choose your serving size from and it is rice only - no added junk, plus it is organic and brown rice is one of the foods that holds on to pesticides so organic is great for the brown rice. And Alexia (I think it is spelled) makes the best sweet potato fries.

Rice! I totally forgot about rice! Seafood is a totally different meal when you have rice. :):):)
 
Laura: That soup serves 5 in my opinion, 4 if you are really hungry. I just scoop out our dinner and then put the rest in individual tupperware containers so I don't over eat it.

How about raw steel oats? I soak them overnight in almond milk- twice as much liquid as oats. I add a box of my kids' raisins and eat- tastes like granola and is really filling. I won't even list the carb count, because well, oats and raisins are basically carbs. :eek:
 
The carbs in this might make your head explode- it's from the Eating Clean Tosca Reno cookbook, which is OK but not great. I use a few recipes from it, though. I will admit that even as a carb eater, I don't eat this all the time. It's good, though, and nice to make once and eat all week long.

Dutch Muesli

½ cup barley flakes
2 cups oats (not instant)
¼ cup flax seed
¼ cup wheat germ
¼ cup oat bran
3 cups boiling water
¼ cup almonds, raw, unsalted and chopped
Juice of one fresh orange
¼ cup agave nectar or whatever sweetener you prefer (I use Splenda)
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 apple, unpeeled, grated
¼ cup raisins
½ cup chopped, pitted dates

Place barley, oatmeal, flax seed, wheat germ and oat bran in a glass bowl. Pour boiling water over it and let it sit until water is absorbed (I usually wait about 20-30 minutes). In another glass bowl, put remaining ingredients (I keep raisins and dates out and put them on the top when I eat it, but to each his own) and mix. Combine with oatmeal mixture. Stores in fridge for up to a week.

Whole recipe (without dates or raisins, using Splenda)
1637 calories / 37.5 fat / 272 carbs / 47 fiber / 69 protein

6 servings:
273 calories / 6.25 fat / 45 carbs / 8 fiber / 11.5 protein
 
Amy, salsa has carbs? What carbs? There isn't sugar in it, is there? If so I've been kidding myself for years! :eek:

Really? It's ALL carbs. Veggies are ..... hold onto your hat ..... carbs!

Unless you were kidding and I'm being dense. :)
 
Really? It's ALL carbs. Veggies are ..... hold onto your hat ..... carbs!

Unless you were kidding and I'm being dense. :)

Oh no, most veggies are low carb. With the exception of potatoes, corn (sugar), & tomatoes (moderate but still not high, thank goodness). Stuff that I like (broccoli, celery, asparagus, cukes, onions, etc.) are pretty low carb, usually less than 5 per serving. Maybe you're thinking fruits?

Patti, you are cracking me up! Can I at least start w/stuff that's maybe in the 20-30 range? :p
 
Oh no, most veggies are low carb. With the exception of potatoes, corn (sugar), & tomatoes (moderate but still not high, thank goodness). Stuff that I like (broccoli, celery, asparagus, cukes, onions, etc.) are pretty low carb, usually less than 5 per serving. Maybe you're thinking fruits?

Nope, not thinking fruit. Veggies are low calorie so overall they contain a small number of carb grams, but they are primarily carb sources if you are looking at the protein/carb/fat ratio for each (1 cup of broccoli, for example, has 6g carbs and 3g protein: 67% carb / 33% protein).

I'm being overly obnoxious I guess. :) Back to the original question, another vote here for Ezekiel bread (and wraps and bagels - all in the frozen aisle).
 
Laura - yes, I saw your question to Cathe about that. I think it has to do with glycogen stores, etc. I have also read that after a long time, your body can adapt to the very low carb diet too. Guess it depends on who you ask. Bottom line is that there is lots of evidence that a higher carb (not high but higher than what you do) diet can be beneficial. I eat over 100 g a day...low for me is low 100s, regular is probably about 150-160.

Most of mine come from the oat bran, fruits and veggies, and a very high fiber bread. I really wish you all the best with this venture of yours.
 
Laura: OK, I'll try to stop finding my highest carb recipes and posting them. :p I think I'm just deliriously happy for you- carbs are gooooood.
 
Ezekiel bread can also be found fresh at Trader Joe's. I find all different frozen Ezekiel products at Fry's Marketplace stores (but not the "regular" Fry's stores), which are a subsidiary of Kroeger. They have a very large organic/natural foods section and EZ products include English Muffins and wraps. Trader Joe's also has their own label of sprouted bread.
 
OMG! Laura, I'm jumping in on this - these recipes sound amazingly good! I eat carbs, so I don't have that problem. I switched from white potatoes to sweet potatoes, which I love! I usually have a half of one with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a drizzle of honey if I'm having a sweet tooth!

I don't have a problem eating my whole wheat pasta! I buy whichever one has nothing but wheat and no additives.

I must say, the best thing I did was cut out all the regular breads! I still eat rice, but am making the switch to brown rice, but I have reduced my weekly servings to one! I'm so proud of that!

Anyway, I digress . . . just wanted to steal some of these great ideas from you!
 
shame less thread hi-jacking

As for bread, I always bake my own, so I can't recommend any brands. I just like knowing that all that goes into my bread is flour, yeast, salt, and milk/water.

Seriously? Do you have any bread baking tips? Ok, I'm shamelessly hi-jacking this thread in the name of home baked bread. I do watch my carbs which is why I'm picky about when I do eat them and I bet that home made bread is heavenly!

In answer to the op: Favorite grain: millet is nice in bread. I'm a real fan of the steel cut oats, they are more crunchy than rolled oats. I use ground flax with whole wheat in muffins but its a bit of an acquired taste. Making your own tortillas is fun and fresh tortillas are so tasty. Either corn or whole wheat. Do you like grilled polenta? You can buy either cooked and grill or make it from scratch. I love potatoes. Especially the new red potatoes just roasted in the oven with olive oil, rosemary, and sea salt. Omg. I could just fall face first into that. My favorite fruit is honeydew with a squeeze of lime juice. I remember making myself sick on that when I was really little.
 
Laura - yes, I saw your question to Cathe about that. I think it has to do with glycogen stores, etc. I have also read that after a long time, your body can adapt to the very low carb diet too. Guess it depends on who you ask. Bottom line is that there is lots of evidence that a higher carb (not high but higher than what you do) diet can be beneficial. I eat over 100 g a day...low for me is low 100s, regular is probably about 150-160.

Most of mine come from the oat bran, fruits and veggies, and a very high fiber bread. I really wish you all the best with this venture of yours.

I'm envious of those who can eat that way and not experience bad blood sugar numbers (unlike yours truly.) I watch my carbs to avoid having insulin just run amok in my body and causing cysts on my ovaries. Someday, I will be healed (lets be positive right?) and I will enjoy carbs worry free. Pesky insulin!
 
I'm envious of those who can eat that way and not experience bad blood sugar numbers (unlike yours truly.) I watch my carbs to avoid having insulin just run amok in my body and causing cysts on my ovaries. Someday, I will be healed (lets be positive right?) and I will enjoy carbs worry free. Pesky insulin!

Sorry - that sounds like a bummer thing to have. I do not eat refined carbs (I will eat them when out, which is very occasionally and only if there aren't better choices!). I will have a baked potato before an event (triathlon or long bike ride). I try to eat almost all of my carbs in their original state. Exceptions are bread, crackers, and some chips but I am careful with what I buy. In the end, I mostly do this for health reasons myself because I feel horrid when I go and eat the wrong things, and my digestive system is so sensitive that I have to be careful there. Here's to your health- all the best to you!:)
 
mspina, I think that's why veggies are so good for a low carb diet--b/c they're low carb and low cal (BTW, 6 grams is hardly high carb, & my carb counter has all forms of broccoli under 5, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one). The point of a low carb diet is not to track the carb/cal/protien ratio. It's to track carbs only.

RapidBreath, I have the same exact problem! My PCP has given up on treating me for thyroid BS b/c we've adjusted my meds several times over the last 1.5 years & she thinks I need to be seen by an endocrinologist to be checked for insulin resistence & all the other fun stuff that goes w/it. Diabetes runs in my family so who knows? How nice it would be to be able to take a pill & be able to eat some carbs without blowing up like a balloon.

Shana & Patti--I wish I could be long, lanky blonde bombshells like you. ;) But I will def. take your "lighter" recipes into consideration.
 
I love Kashi 7 grain pilaf. You can get it pre-cooked in foil packets or boil yourself. It is all good: quinoa, brown rice, wheatberries.
 

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top