I was diagnosed with PCOS in October, and my doctor put me on Metformin for it. At the time, she didn't really say anything about my diet or anything. Just keep exercising like I was, etc.
I had a follow-up today and she told me she wants me to lose 15 lbs by July. This is a bit triggering for me, honestly. I've had a very unhealthy relationship with food in the past, lost a bunch of weight ten years ago but it was by over-restricting and obsessive working out. It wasn't sustainable. I am trying to not focus on the number she told me to lose and instead just following some of her eating advice.
She told me to reduce the number of carbs and sugar I intake and up my protein. She didn't give me a calorie goal or anything because she says it depends on your metabolism. Unfortunately, I love carbs. That is what I struggle with the most.
Does anyone have any lunch or dinner recipes or ideas that have higher protein and lower carbs that they like? I only really eat chicken and fish. I do not care for pork or beef all that much. I know I can Google, but there are so many out there, that I'd love some personal recs of things you've tried and loved.
Also, I have to give up my morning mochas. I do have a Keurig, but in the past, I have really hated the taste of fake sugar and sugar-free creamer, which is what she told me to do instead. I cannot do black coffee. But I am also unwilling to just cold turkey give up morning coffee. Are there any sugar-free creamers that don't taste super diety and shitty? LOL.
We eat a lot of meat and veggie heavy meals, and try to limit pasta, potatoes, and bread. Sometimes we’ll do tortillas. I don’t count carbs or worry too much about numbers though, because my own relationship with food pushes me to obsess over those things.
I will say that Intuitive Eating has helped me understand my relationship with food, and Noom has helped me relearn how to eat and to trust my body again. I lost 15 pounds in about 3 months with Noom .
I can't often contribute to these threads! BUT, I made last night - spaghetti squash topped with spicy ground sausage (but it was pork & you said you didn't care for that) that I fried up with diced onions and garlic. I also put some Parmesan cheese on top. To roast the squash I just brushed lightly with olive oil and sprinkled garlic, salt and pepper on it.
It was so good and the leftovers I ate for lunch today were even better!
The above recipe three of us at work have been making regularly. I eat meat, one coworker is vegan, the other is vegetarian, and all three of us love it!!! Obviously I don't include the white beans in my version to keep it lower carb, the vegan has no meat, and the vegetarian has been using the beans and Beyond sausages. The recipe is pretty quick and easy.
To keep it low carb, I have been making shirataki noodles with it as they are very very low carb, especially compared to pasta. The brand names I have used are Pasta Zero and Miracle Noodle.
I'll have to wait until I get home to post some others.
My meals are basic but I usually have roast veggies tossed with EVOO and proteins have all switched to very lean or less than 99% ground chicken and turkey. Also fish oven baked.
Al Dente Carba Nada is my favorite noodle. I also don't eat much rice. Quinoa or couscous has slightly less carbs.
I really like built bars as my sweet treat in the evening. Pricey and not for everyone so only get a sampler to see if you like them.
As for coffee creamer I use half and half with splenda but also I like to use regular flavored creamers just less and I use 1 pack of splenda.
Post by dutchgirl678 on Mar 9, 2020 16:28:37 GMT -5
Carolyn Ketchum and her All Day I Dream about Food blog (All day I dream about low carb on FB) has a lot of keto/low-carb recipes that are super easy to make, taste great (also for people not following this lifestyle). I highly recommend checking her out. Besides the free recipes on her blog, she also has several cookbooks you can buy on Amazon. Her latest The Ultimate Guide to Keto Baking is amazing.
Some dinners that I have made recently from her: - Smoked salmon chowder (with cheesy drop biscuits) - Cauliflower risotto with mushrooms - Pizza with magic mozarella dough crust - Zoodles with pesto and shrimp - Chicken broccoli casserole - Kielbasa, cabbage, and cheese soup
Re: coffee. My best suggestion would be to use half & half or even heavy cream. Slowly reduce the amount of sugar you put in until you’re just putting cream in your coffee. I did this probably 10 years ago when artificial sweetener started giving me stomachaches. I generally have sugary coffee one weekend day per week but just drink coffee with cream the rest of the time.
I would recommend finding a new doctor. It’s outdated to recommend limiting carbs with PCOS - there’s so much more to managing PCOS and regulating hormones than focusing on carbs. Not only that but fiber is very beneficial to gut health and if you’re cutting down carbs then you’re likely not getting enough. We now see a tie between poor gut health and PCOS which is why the fiber can be important.
Also, doctors should really be assessing someone’s nutritional status and relationship towards foods before making nutrition recommendations. If her recommendation was triggering to you then 100% it will not help you long-term.
A couple responses to folks - I do love eggs! I have them every morning for breakfast.
And as far as my doc goes, she is my gyn and I have always really liked her, and she didn't really say anything to me that was rude or judging but yeah. I wish she would have just given me some tips for substitutions or meals or what not without giving me a timeline with how much weight I need to lose by that time. She also recommended I read a book called The Sugar Crush. I noticed it was free with Kindle Unlimited, so I DLed it and skimmed it (it's not very long). Obviously cutting back on sugar is a good thing - I am not arguing that at all - but the guy who wrote it sounded kind of like a dick who recommended having butter almost every day but said you should only eat pizza if you are on a desert island and have no other option. He also pushed the Keto Diet. And I am not trying to ignore true health issues or anything like that, but it came across as a lot of "You need to stop eating sugar now or you will die and I will be cutting your feet off," and....it's just not really what I needed to hear right now! So blah. I wish I wouldn't have looked at that book.
Post by wanderingback on Mar 9, 2020 17:31:25 GMT -5
Are you able to find a registered dietician? I would probably do that so you can have someone go over things with you that are specific to your medical needs. I'm lucky that my office has a grant that we have a few registered dietitians available to patients and I always offer for them to see one of them because they can be really helpful. However, a lot of insurances also cover them as well. Unfortunately in short visit times I have with patients it's hard to go over dietary things in depth for 30 min to an hour, plus registered dietitians have a lot of knowledge. I also recommend my patients keep a food journal for a week or 2 before they meet with the dietician in case they want to review it.
Post by sotally tober on Mar 9, 2020 17:33:13 GMT -5
I'm actually eating primarily meat and animal products right now because I have had so many GI issues from cancer treatment. Prior to all of this though, I ate low carb.
Part of it is finding stuff you like. Do you like cooking? I have found replacements for quite a few things that are actually pretty good. I also am Celiac and my H does a version of Keto.
I really like peace love and low carb's books and website. I would suggest that if you're going to lower carbs, up your fat intake a bit so you feel satiated. I feel like everyone says that, for me it took a bit to get it right.
In regards to your morning mocha - I used to drink Premier Protein Shakes as a creamer with my coffee. I did the whole shake and 2 shots of espresso; but you could easily just pour your coffee and add enough of a shake to get the flavor you like. Then, you're also getting added protein.
Are there meals you already like to cook often that we can see if there are good subs for? The idea of chicken and broccoli personally makes me cringe, but adding cheese or something to my broccoli made it better. And instead of doing plain chicken I would do chicken that wasn't dry and boring (like jalapeno popper chicken or cracklin' chicken thighs from nom nom paleo).
I'm sorry your doctor was so brutal - obviously not taking into account any history that you may have. Hopefully you can find something that works for you.
I hate cooking and do not cook, but my DH loves to cook and he does cook for both of us. He is on board with eating the same way I am going to as he wants to lose a bit of weight as well. Honestly, I like the carbs - potatoes, rice, noodles. We always have a starch with our meal. Tonight we're doing salmon, asparagus, and a rice pilaf with a salad. I am going to try to eat less of the rice, but I just don't feel like it's a complete meal without it, you know? And that is probably a mental thing for me.
Like the thought of doing our chicken and veggie stir fry not over rice like my doc suggested doesn't even seem like a meal to me! I know this is a "me" issue lol. I also worry about it not filling me up enough without it. But I am willing to try. I saw a recipe just now for like taco zucchini boats that looked good, for instance.
I can't recommend Cook Once Eat All Week to enough people - t's my FAVE cookbook and while it's all naturally GF, you can replace things like potato, rice based dishes with cauliflower, etc, adjust to paleo, etc. Recipes are delish and the idea of prepping once a week but always having a new fresh menu is amazing. We've been using it for about 7 months but recently went on a meal plan where we have lo carb days and we're able to work in most recipes with super easy planning and adjustments.
I make what I call Italian Tuna. I get the good imported tuna in oil and drain it well. Regular tuna is ok too. Add fresh tomatoes cut up into small bite size pieces, diced red onion, black olives.@, with a splash of red vinegar or even balsamic. Sometimes I add chick peas.
Another lunch I love is ground chicken burgers. I add ranch seasoning to the meat. And I dip in tzatziki sauce.
I second the new doctor-- or really, finding an endocrinologist that really understands the syndrome better. It'd be really great if we could all just snap our fingers and lose 10% of our body weight, but with PCOS weight loss is really damn hard. PCOS is complicated and needs the help from someone who gets the struggle and who is really informed.
For morning coffee, I like to add premier protein shakes for an iced coffee. My regular morning coffee hot is just with half and half.
My favorite lunches are salads, but I do love a good grain bowl with farro as the base. One of my favorites is a farro bowl with fresh spinach, shredded carrots, red bell pepper, and shrimp with spicy peanut sauce.
I don't really have specific recipes, but we've greatly reduced our intake of "white" carbs* like white rice, potatoes, and white bread or anything made with white flour, so I do have some tips.
*I know fruit and vegetables are also carbs, but there isn't really a good term for just this particular group of foods, so I'm referring to them as carbs.
The easiest way to do get into it IMO is to just leave the starchy item out of a meal. Just make and eat more of the protein and vegetable portions. If that doesn't seem like a full meal, try making two different vegetables. It might just be that you want two sides.
You don't have to completely eliminate carbs, if that's what you're thinking. I would be so unhappy on a zero carb diet. If you currently have a carb side with dinner every day, start by skipping it twice a week, then three times. And change to brown rice, sweet potatoes, quinoa, etc. Each of these has beneficial nutrients, and the fiber is good for you.
And we do have a carb side, I make a *way* smaller portion than I used to. Like I'll cut up two baby potatoes per person and roast them along with vegetables. So we're still getting some bites of potato, so it's satisfying, but we're eating waaaay less of it than we used to. Tonight we had fries as a side, and I cooked one serving's worth and we split it along with our main dish and a giant pile of broccoli. I enjoyed every one of my like 8 fries, lol, and I don't feel deprived.
Or I'll mix a little bit of a carb into a dish. I make southwestern stuffed peppers, most of the filling is seasoned ground turkey, tomato sauce, chopped onion, tomatoes, and zucchini, but I'll add like 1/4 cup of cooked brown rice per pepper. So there's still yummy rice in there, soaking up the flavors, but not a whole huge bowl of it.
I don't like black coffee either, but I discovered that I like it without sugar as long as I have cream. So I use half and half and no sweetener of any kind. Another big thing I learned is to never have sugar on an empty stomach because it can really make your blood sugar spike. So maybe eat your high protein breakfast first, then have your mocha afterward.
Tonight we're doing salmon, asparagus, and a rice pilaf with a salad. I am going to try to eat less of the rice, but I just don't feel like it's a complete meal without it, you know? And that is probably a mental thing for me.
SO many of my eating issues are mental / emotional. Like, probably all of them. Exploring my emotional attachment to food has been hard, enlightening, and frankly, humbling. It's worth it though.
Now that we've been making adjustments for a while, I feel so bloated / gross afterward when I eat a huge pile of rice or potatoes. So as you modify your eating, your body and brain will adjust. Not immediately, but over time. You might have some meals in the meantime that aren't perfect or comforting, but not every meal needs to be, you know? It just has to fill you up and provide nutrients. You can do this.
I eat a lot of salads, usually with either chicken or shrimp. I also make all of my own salad dressings. Sounds daunting but it’s really so easy and so much healthier. Check Pinterest for salad ideas, there’s so many and I’ll bet you find several that look interesting.
I do like salad; I worry that it isn’t enough to fill me up for lunch. I think the bigger issue is that at work (I teach), I don’t really have any time to eat during the day except to scarf something down at lunch, which isn’t healthy and I’m always starving by the time I sit down to eat. Maybe I can try to eat something quick during a passing period as a snack so I’m not quite so hungry at lunch? I have to eat breakfast around 6 AM and don’t eat again until lunch at noon. Tomorrow I am going to try it though. I have a salad with chicken, veggies, nuts and eggs so hopefully that’ll be a bit more substantial.
Seriously, thanks so much for all the ideas, thoughts, and advice!
I had a lot of the same thoughts-- but trust, a salad IS filling. The fiber and bulk from the veggies (and additional protein) definitely fills you up. I eat a salad and a Greek yogurt every single day for lunch. I get a lot of salad ideas from undercoverweightwatcher on Instagram and cook a ton from Skinnytaste.
I didn't check the sugar levels but there's a grain free granola at Costco right now. It looks tasty. I'm not a teacher but sometimes have virtually no time to eat for several hours at a time. Beef jerky or those Fatty meat sticks are good to keep me going. The meat sticks are nice because they're portioned. I know the plastic is wasteful but if I can't get to a restroom to wash my hands, I don't mind eating them with unwashed hands.
I had a lot of the same thoughts-- but trust, a salad IS filling. The fiber and bulk from the veggies (and additional protein) definitely fills you up. I eat a salad and a Greek yogurt every single day for lunch. I get a lot of salad ideas from undercoverweightwatcher on Instagram and cook a ton from Skinnytaste.
Some fat in a salad (avocado, cheese, etc.) along with the protein is key for me.