Any Fellow UKer's out there?
 

Hi Everyone,
Been trying to find a support forum for low carb but there doesn't seem to be lot around.

I have been doing low carb on and off for a few years and recently have been a bit more serious and started going towards a bit more ketogenic. After a few weeks I feel so much better, have a lot more motivation and energy..hope it lasts!

I do the diet for health reasons as I suffer a rare condition called reactive hypoglycaemia and the doctors here in the UK don't know much about it, I'm also pre-diabetic. I've been to see a few dieticians but they just put me on the standard diet for diabetes which I believe is all wrong. Just by cutting down on carbs I already have less hypo's and my Hba1c has come down.

I feel I'm basically intolerant to carbs hence trying the more keto diet at the moment,

I live on my own with my two children and have no support around me with this lifestyle. My parents are still eating a fairly poor diet and my dad has just been diagnosed with type 2, unfortunately they don't seem to listen to anything I tell them and are stuck in their old ways.

Ive gained a lot of ideas and advice from the internet, twitter, youtube etc, however the majority of recipes/cooking tutorials are American.
It would be lovely to have someone from the UK to share advice and ideas, where you shop etc so please if anyone is around please say hi :)

Hi from Scorland.
must be so hard being a single parent!
I shop at lidl, I'm always amazed at the price and quality. Excellent cold meat selection and all their fresh meat is Scottish. :thup:
It must be quality because we supply them with carrots :lol:

I'm the same with trying to convince my parents, they don't get it. I want to get my son eating stricter lc than he is at the moment. I weaned him strict, and all the super foods, liver, fish eggs, greens, cream, etc and he's thrived.
Do you try to keep your kids on it?

Hi!,
Yes it can be hard being on my own with the kids, have good days and bad days. I try my best to keep them away from the processed stuff and sugary treats though they do still have them, I try and keep them as healthy as possible but its very hard but hoping when I get more energy and more motivation it will be easier to make them more homemade stuff to substitute the baddies. They are gradually making healthy choices themselves and know more about what's in their food than the average kids their age :lol:

I'm unsure on how much to restrict their carbs, specially as this will go out of the window when they are round family, parties etc. What sort of things does your son eat in the average day?

I mainly shop at Tesco but pop to Lidl every few weeks, their smoked salmon is a good price and I also stock up on cream cheese from there. I also love their full fat greek yogurt, again good price, but they are usually out of stock!

Ive made a few new recipes this week and feeling motivated...hope it lasts

Another UK Lidl fan here! I tend to do most of my shopping there and use Tesco now and again for certain stuff - lately I have been buying their sugarfree jelly powder and I like their "no added sugar" fiery ginger beer for an occasional treat.

Although that has a nice ginger 'kick' to it, I do find it is overpoweringly sweet.

I drink Morrison's No Added Sugar Tropical Crush for preference. Less sweet, good flavour, .3g carbs and 4kc per 250ml glass.

Hello, don't know how I missed your post!

I live a bit south of the border. I like Lidl and Aldi, but after years of turning up my nose at Morrison's, I recently discovered they are good at selling fatty meats (pigs trotters and pork rind, lamb bones for stew/broth). They sometimes have organic chicken which saves a trip to Tescos. Tescos unlike Sainsbury's will sell you organic chicken leg/thighs with the skin on. If you do veg, Aldi has organic carrot, onion and broccoli, Morrison's organic tomatoes, gem lettuce, celery, leek and cauliflower/broccoli florets. And organic avocado, but they mostly look rock hard to me - Aldi are usually ripe and creamy.

Morrison's value avocados are great - the ones in a green net bag.
They are small and I find they ripen perfectly, though it takes a while.
I leave them for at least five days then put in the fridge to hold them.
I buy some more offbeat meat items at Morrison's too. They are great for that.
I get the pork rind (for making noodles), and trotters sometimes (great for making broth) also beef heart, beef ribs, tripe, ox kidney, etc.
I love nose to tail eating.

You likely know about the great work Dr David Unwin is doing using LC for diabetes. On June 4th there is going to be a LC lunch at an Italian Restaurant in London (Marylebone area) where he will speak. This chef also gives LC cookery classes, but this date is just lunch. Wish I could go :)

http://www.caldesi.com/caldesishop/...a-cookery-class

Hello! I'm a London based low-carber. After years eating low carb, I've never quite been able to shake the fluctuations in energy I'd suffer - with regular bouts of extreme fatigue. It's taken me a long time to come around to the idea of committing to the keto diet - but I've now decided to tackle it head on - so it's strict keto for me for six months.

Looking forward to meeting some of you around here 😀

Back to it
 

I joined this site some time ago but have recently been well and truly off the rails. Need to get back into it but this wont happen until after our weekly shopping trip tomorrow night.

I never know what to cook to be honest so my food is really plain and probably boring to a lot of people but then I am rather a fussy eater anyway.

Off to make my usual bacon and eggs for breakfast (usually have this regardless of whether on the plan or not) but does get boring sometimes

I live near Birmingham, shop mainly at Sainsburys but also a butcher outlet so always got lots of meat in the freezer but need not to eat so much of it maybe

Sue

Another UK low carber here. Love shopping in Lidl, particularly recommend their cheese coleslaw, yummy and pretty good on the carb count.

I'm 11 weeks in, over 30 pounds down and enjoying the freedom from cravings. I think this is the longest I've ever stuck to a plan properly.

Hello Skulder, welcome to the forum and the little band of UKers

Somerset - lovely place, my best friend moved there from Lincolnshire when we were still at school and I went to visit in the holidays.

Another great thing about Lidl is cheap mascarpone - if you are allowed soft cheese.

Thanks Ambulo, I will try the marscapone out next time I go. I can heartily recommend Lidl's belly pork slices too - very tasty and pretty cheap.

I'm originally from Swansea, South Wales so I do appreciate how beautiful it is around here - if we drive for 3 minutes we end up in the lovely rolling countryside, so different from where I grew up!

Whoo hoo! Morrison's (or just the bigger branches) now sell organic chicken legs in skin. And I now know of 2 farmers markets in the Carlisle area where you can get organic beef, lamb and pork. The pork belly looked good, but I couldn't buy any as I had no coolbag. And finally found organic offal.

Hi, another uk low carb er here. Joined the site 5 years ago, but seriously got into it about 3 years ago. I've recently gone off the rails though as ive been plunged into the world of caring for my 90 year old mum full time. It's taken me from my home, man and dog, and for various reasons made me miserable, even though I know I'm doing the right thing. Anyway...
I started on atkins originally, then edged into paleo. Maintained a happy weight easily for 3 years but went off plan bit by bit over the past 5 months, comfort eating and not bothering to cook properly for myself. I've ballooned, and so I'm back, and starting again in about a week when I've got rid of my carby stuff. Going to try atkins induction again, ish, but with a bit more veg perhaps, I can't take the constipation! I have a journal here if anyone feels like dropping by.
I've always used aldi really, but mum likes morrisons. Never looked much at their food except for her shopping. I deem it out of my price bracket. My partner and I survive only on my carers allowance, (long story of why, some of which is explained in my j, going back a bit) so money is very tight. Very. A bit easier while I'm at mums, saves commuting diesel, and she pays for some of my normal food that we both eat, but that will change now. She won't approve or understand how I'll be eating. Will be in need of a bit of encouragement and support I guess, as caring is very isolating. I don't know her village community, and as she's on home oxygen, don't get out much! My highlight is a quick chat to the milkman when he comes to be paid!
Good to mix up with some fellow low carers in the uk, im in leicestershire btw. :)

Hi Hallyth, glad to have you here :)

I too suffer with constipation on occasions. I try and get round it by adding coconut oil to my morning coffee and occasionally, when I'm feeling salt-deprived, I will concoct a disgusting drink with some orange squash, water, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon of Lo Salt with about 6 grams of psyllium husk. It is truly rank but it does the job lol.

I find I spend less when doing low carb as I just don't need to eat as much. The challenge is to not over-buy for me, I hate wasting food.

Hope your mum is a bit more tolerant this time, explain to her the health benefits and perhaps she'll accept it more?

Anyway, welcome :)

Thanks. Mum has little choice or say really in what I eat, after all she never enters the kitchen these days, I shop, cook, do everything, so while I will make her whatever she fancies, she has no right to criticise my food. Those days are long gone!
Thanks to whoever suggested morrisons for bones etc, I looked today and came away with meaty beef bones, and lamb neck rings.never seen or had them, and I love lamb but never ever buy it because of cost (though mum has it a couple of times a month!) But neck rings were cheap! Long slow cooking but hey, they can cook while I do other stuff, can't wait to see how they are. Now I need to learn how to make beef broth or stock with these bones...fair bit of meat on them too! I looked at trotters, but no, couldn't bring myself to try them yet. Maybe one day. But yes, good on morrisons for different seldom seen cheap cuts!

Hi SugarSpike

I've noticed exactly the same thing as you in that I couldn't find any UK based support sites on low carb or specifically Wheat Belly and the American ones I found, like you, have American measurements, ingredients and retail outlets which are not feasible for us UK folk.
I wanted to be able to read about other people's experiences and successes before I commit myself to going grain free. I know I am going to find it really difficult to give up grains.....

BigPansey, I find American measurements in cups easier than dragging out the weighing scales. I got a set of plastic ones cheap from Poundland, or was it B and M or Yorkshire Trading? Ground almonds (almond flour) can be had from Aldi - it is not cheap! Coconut flour from Holland and Barratt or Grapevine. Worth sleeping an eye on Aldi, they are stocking more exotic stuff like coconut oil and coconut water.

Hello my U.K. Friends. I'm subscribed to this thread because I posted before about Dr. Unwin.
http://healthinsightuk.org/2014/11/...tes-a-gps-tale/
His surgery is in Southport, I follow him on Twitter, don't think he has a website but he posts on diabetes.uk.org.

About recipes, Note that all the DietDoctor recipes have a built-in measurement converter, can also adjust for number of servings, and if you join, has 45 weekly meal plans with shopping lists. Tips to help you with recipe conversions here: https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/recipes

Another LC GP. Dr McCormack practices in the Cheshire area.
http://www.fatismyfriend.co.uk. She has a FB group and is doing a LC programme locally.

Another new LC GP: https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb-journey-gp
Believe he is in Bristol.

Emily McGuire is a dietitian in Edinburgh, but can coach via skype anywhere. (She's lovely, I met her here a few years ago) Also has a good blog with recipes and basic LC info. https://lowcarbgenesis.com

Hello JEY100

Thank you very much for that information and those very helpful links; isn't it interesting that you know more about UK LC endorsing GP's than some of us Brits?
I think it says a lot that SugarSpike and I both found when looking that UK based sites were in short supply, if not totally non-existent; it makes me wonder if following the LC WOE is, in general, more patronised by the USA and people from other countries.

Hi Ambulo

Thanks for the tip on the very cheap American weighing cups; I've noticed that Almond flour is not cheap or even reasonable but it's ground nuts so it's not too surprising.
I was watching some really interesting videos on YT last night by a couple calling themselves Keto something (don't remember the something bit) and the young man was telling us how cheap the coconut flour he was using was; I thought to myself 'not in the UK matey'.
Every thing we get imported tends to be just the opposite; however the pizzas he was making with said coconut flour looked absolutely delicious and way more appetising than the cauliflower one I had a go at last week - my OH and I didn't manage to finish it because of the 'crust' element.

Hi Ambulo

Thanks for the tip on the very cheap American weighing cups; I've noticed that Almond flour is not cheap or even reasonable but it's ground nuts so it's not too surprising.
I was watching some really interesting videos on YT last night by a couple calling themselves Keto something (don't remember the something bit) and the young man was telling us how cheap the coconut flour he was using was; I thought to myself 'not in the UK matey'.
Every thing we get imported tends to be just the opposite; however the pizzas he was making with said coconut flour looked absolutely delicious and way more appetising than the cauliflower one I had a go at last week - my OH and I didn't manage to finish it because of the 'crust' element.

I lived in London in the 1980s and still read U.K. Papers and Dr Zoe Harcombe's website. Read back through the Research and Media forum and you will find Demi, others and me posting LC related articles there.

Dr. Aseem Malhotra http://doctoraseem.com
Dr Ranjan Chatterjee http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=470766. http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=477537

You should also check the Public Health Collaboration's website...loaded with info now including a map of many doctors all over the U.K. https://phcuk.org/map/

Some of my tips come from DietDoctor News, I read it everyday, and often see U.K. Low Carb news there. https://www.dietdoctor.com/news
Worth going back a few months in his news feed and joining his website.

Hi Big Pansy
If you have a Poundland near you, check out their baking section.
The one near me usually has 200g packs of ground almond. They cost £1, obvs!
Very very cheap compared to ordinary supermarkets, and Holland and Barrett should hang their heads in shame.

http://www.poundland.co.uk/store-finder/

Hi neo crone

Thank you for that - that is what is great about a forum the fact that you can share the information you have already painstakingly gleaned. It wouldn't have occurred to me to look in Poundland for something as 'exotic' as almond flour but there you go.
If only they'd start selling coconut flour....

I've found all kinds of flours in a local international supermarket. It's mostly asian, and it's huge (in leicester ) but has maybe 15 different flours, many are grain free and really cheap. Great for cheap spices and olives too!
Aldi have started doing 800+ grams of cooking bacon for 89p....it may not be the ideal organic, grass fed etc, but if you're on a budget.... also their bratwurst fresh sausage is very very low carb.

Oh, by the way, I never fancied coconut oil in my coffee, but tried it today. Using aldi coconut oil, which seems very good, it was ok actually, coconut flavour/aroma coffee...not as yucky as I expected!

Lidl have ground almond for £1.65 per 200g pack, and raw almonds in their skin for £1.39 a 200g pack.

Hi I'm a bit of a late arrival but a quick skim read through this post has been encouraging in that

a) I'm type 2 diabetic
b) Doing Keto/lchf/if
c) LOVE Lidl lol
d) Have problems with my diabetic nurse who was busy plugging the Ancel Keys food triangle. She's lovely but stuck in the same old rhetoric.
e) find it hard to access some of the stuff in recipes from across the pond.

Generally speaking I've tried to follow the advice of Butter Bob Briggs who has videos on You Tube and I KIS ... Keep it Simple. Sometimes though it is good to have something a little different.

I hope everyone is doing ok and being the best losers. I'm based over in N Ireland and know of no other Keto/Low Carbers/Atkins followers in my area. There is a high level of Slimming World and other conventional "diet" organisations available but most of my time has been spent on Diet Doctor where I have access to most of the things I need. Hope this finds everyone in good fettle and ready for a bright New Year.