Any low carbers in India?
 

Hi everyone, :wave:
I'm from Calcutta, India. Anyone out there from this country/city? I'd love to get in touch and see if we can indianise the Atkins cuisine. :yum:
There's only so much of cold soggy spinach or cabbage an Indian can stomach, right?
Anu

Cassava
 

Hi Edu,

Do you have any idea how many carbs per 100g there are in Cassava? I cant find an answer anywhere!

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Thanks,

Mark.

Sorry Mark, no idea, but I would imagine about 80-85% because I do know that Cassava is almost all pure starch.
Best of luck in your search.
Anu

Hiya, not indian here, but just wanted to wish you well on your quest for fellow LC indian folk - I would imagine that indian cookery is very difficult to adapt as you tend to use a lot of corn starch/flour/rice in your cooking don't you?
What made you want to go LC in the first place?
Emma xx

Hi Mark,

According to DietClub, cassava has 30.5g carbs per 100g. (Bear in mind we Aussies presubtract the fibre, so the 30.5 is net carbs.)
http://www.dietclub.com.au/foods/fo...d=1550&partner=

Cheers,

Rosebud

[QUOTE=I would imagine that indian cookery is very difficult to adapt as you tend to use a lot of corn starch/flour/rice in your cooking don't you?
What made you want to go LC in the first place?
Emma xx[/QUOTE]

Hi Emma,
Nice to meet you.
About the Indian cookery........actually, its not really hard to adapt to LC. We use rice or wheat flour rotis as a staple to eat things with....y'know curry WITH rice or vegetables WITh rice and so on, just as you folks use bread or pasta. So adapting to LC means just upping the vegetable and meat/fish portions and dropping the rice. Not hard to do at all once you realize that one's food habits are well....just habits!

What made me go LC in the first place? Same reason most everyone else is on this band wagon....to loose weight, get a bit healthier (maybe!) etc

Bye for now and do keep in touch
With greetings from India, Anu

hi..since u r from cal, r u bengali ( I am)....i am lCing managed to lose just few pounds (153 to150)...i also suffer from insulin resistance/PCOS so i think i will adapt this LC way as it has stated to normalise my periods

[QUOTE=..since u r from cal, r u bengali ( I am)...[/QUOTE]

Hi and welcome :wave:
Yep....very much a bongo sontan. Nice to meet another from this part of the world. Where are you based?
I notice you said you haven't lost much.......150 from 180 is not much? You've done so well already :thup: I wish I could go half the distance you have already covered. When did u start LCing? I started last July. In the first month I lost rapidly but stalled for a long time after that. In Nov I had some upsets in my family and I suddenly lost 3 kgs then. I've put most of that back but the original loss has stayed.
Anyway, nice of you to join up. Do stay in touch, maybe we can exchange some indianised LC friendly recipes! :yum:
bye and greetings from Cal
Anu

I'm indian too! I live in Australia
 

Hi there,

Really nice to hear some other indian on the forum. Although I dont live in India I have at some stage faced problems trying to adapt indian food to LC WOL. I'm ok if its just me and hubby at home, but when the parents come to visit and mum cooks, then the problems start! I substitute shirotake noodles for rice (may be difficult to get hold of in India) and it means I can have some gravy. We use less tomatoes in the curries and add in coconut cream etc to increase fat and reduce carbs.

Have been at an all time low on the LC WOE, have had a change of jobs etc and have succumbed to temptation. Thinking of going back on induction at the weekend, easier at the weekend as dont have to plan for work etc. Take care and good to hear from you.

hello anu and all fellow indians...actually anu i had lost weight more from excercising than LCing ( my opnion )...i had lost weight from 180 to 150 pounds by doing treadmil daily for 2 hours ( 1 hour morning and 1 hour evening , 7 days a weeks , no excuses )then i stumbled upon LCing...where r u based, in south or north calcutta ...i am in east coast, USA...i feel it is difficult to LC based on our daily diet where rice and potato are used freely...i try to watch all the high carbohydrate stuff like rice etal that i have minimised, forced myself to drink 10 glasses of water and increase protein uptake...i started LC in january but had start excercising last october

what steps have u taken, are there any major changes in ur diet ...please share ..i am sure if we all inspire each other we can reach our goals (weight ) .......... :D :thup:

HI Chebbles, Ohno,
Greeeeaaaat to hear from u guys. Ohno, to answer your question: I live in Salt lake, Calcutta. I have a sis in New Jersey....anywhere near u?
Chebbles.....you've done great already, you dont want to disappear do you? i agree, adapting indian food to LC is difficult, and we also have this huge mental block about eating oil (yuck, ugh, and other expletives flow freely!!) But I guess, if one drops rice, roti, bread, potatoes, one is fairly ok. One thing good about India is that we dont have temptations like dunkin donuts and starbucks lurking at every street corner! If you want a chocolate covered lump of dough you have to move your butt and actually make an expetition to go and get it. Often it's not worth the effort. Is it like that in Australia too?
More later and do keep in touch,
Take care,
Anu

hi anu and all
i stay in rhode island that is near new jersey ( 4 hours )...we also have relatives staying in new jersey ....basically my huband is skinny ( genetically thin ) and can eat chips and pizza all day and not gain one pound....but now days i have managed to control temptation...i think if manage to control "Temptation" major battle is won............after the birth of my son last year i touched 180 pound then i styarted going to gym and LCing as once u hit middle age ur body refuses to loose weight ...i feel u have to drive real hard to loose wieght...hard try but not impossible

Hey Anu,

I have actually put on a little bit since my stats were last posted (I have now amended them) and have changed my goal weight down as I still had a couple of rolls around the midriff at my old goal weight, and really I mean rolls - mainly I want to tone up but I'm sure there is a bit of fat to come off too. Re the donut shops, the australia situation is much more like the american one, temptation is everywhere.

Hi Guys,
Sorry about the long delay. I've been nose to the grindstone....y'know how it is sometmes. And the worst of it is one doesn't get the time to do LC planning....one just grabs whatever is available and runs.....
So how have you been doing? Great progress i notice....good show!!!
But I guess there's something to be said for not getting obsessed....one life after all!!
Gotta run now, I'll catch up with u all later. Stay well,
Anu

Okay, gals, so I don't live in India . . . but I am SO interested to know how you are doing on a LC plan in India? For the naive, it would seem so hard . . . so, I am asking. Thanks for any insight. To set things straight, I am truly interested; hopefully I do not seem nosey.

I love ethnic food so if you post some of your recipes, that would be great.

Hi,
Not at all, I dont think you're nosey.
Well in India, there aren't very many LCers....in fact I haven't come across ANY! (Except for me ofcourse!!) The diet scene in this country is skewed towards lo fat not lo carb. Well, us enlightened ones (Ha ha!!) hog the cheeses, tandoori stuff, veggies etc and "TRY " to avoid the rice and other carby cereals. How're you doing? do keep in touch
With greetings from from India
Anu

Thanks for the info. I am so glad to know that tandoori is on the approved list, as I absolutely love it. Actually, this past weekend I had some delicious tandoori chicken and didn't want to know if was approved or not . . . I just wanted it! Nice to know I didn't make any mistake!

It has to been hard for you to adjust to higher fat consumption if, in your culture, you are generally low fat. How do you supplement your menus?

Hi Whammy,
Eat on, gorge on the tandoori and dont suffer any pangs.....tandoori is high protein AND high fat! Just what the doctor ordered, eh!
In my country, we're mentally conditioned to "HIGH FAT IS BAAAAAAAD". All the mags and other literature extoll the virtues of a low fat diet. So switching to high fat is quite a mental jump. So to start with, I atleast tried to boost the protein content at the expense of fat, until I realised that I was putting quite a strain on my kidneys. Having lost a parent recently to kidney disease, this is a risk I'm not quite willing to take. So it's back to experimentation. Basically, now I'm piling on the butter/oil/other fats on veggies rather than fish & chicken.
I see from your stats that you're pretty near ideal weight anyway. I would seriously suggest not getting obsessed, unless ofcourse you're in an industry that lays a lot of stress on appearances. Anyway, who am I to talk?
Bye now and greetings from India,
Anu

Hi JAnn,
I'm not much of a cook so I dont really have a lot of recipes. I can only suggest that putting a fair amount of butter/olive oil on veggies/fish/chicken makes the stuff pretty yummy and serves the Atkins purpose. Putting on some pepper or other spices makes it even better!
I see you've made good progress already. Congrats and keep up the good work.
Bye, Anu

Hi anu,

Thanks for the reply. I, like you, was terrified of fats at the beginning. Here we have also been indoctrinated to believe that zero-low fat is the key to health. Consequently, since protein is higher in fat, we have been taught that carbs must be good. So basically the common wisdom, for many years, has been that we should eat high carbs, low protein; plus, since sugar does not have fats, then sugar must be relatively okay (after all, it only has 16 calories per teaspon, right?). Neither I nor many others see any positive proof in following that doctrine. Otherwise we would not have such an obesity problem in this country. Nor can I say that I benefitted from that practice. I was always hungry, always.

Anyway, it did take me a while to learn to not be afraid of good fats, good protein and good carbs in veggies. Any I feel SO much better. How about you?

Hi,
I agree....I felt tons better too after starting Atkins. I started in July last year and I followed the regimen very faithfully for about four months. I also lost a fair bit of weight. in oct last year i lost my mother and somehow after that i haven't been able to motivate myself to get back on the LC wagon. Particularly, lunch in office becomes a real pain....one can carry a lunch box with some chicken or fish but how do you bone up on fats in office? One can hardly carry a lump of butter to work!
What about you? Do you have the same problem?
Anu

Anu,

So sorry for your loss. I sympathize completely; the death of a mother is life-altering for the surviving children. Mine passed away five years ago and not a day goes by when I don't think of her.

I was thinking about your predicament with the lump of butter and work. I, too, used to wonder how to overcome the inability to readily incorporate fats at lunchtime. Ultimately, I bought a small bottle of olive oil and kept it at my desk; I just poured a bit on my food or, if the food was not compatible, I swallowed a spoonful with the meal. Nowadays, it is not so difficult for me because I changed jobs. Plus, this country has become much more sympathetic to low-carbing, so I find that it is not so difficult.

Oh, now that I think of it, I also used to carry flaxseed oil capsules and chew them. They are actually quite tasty. What I mean is that flaxseed oil itself--- as well as ground flaxseed--- is really delicious. The "tastiness" I mention is due to the brand I found, i.e., GNC's brand. Also, some capsules of fish oil supplements can compensate.

Look forward to hearing about your solutions.

whammy

Hi and a zillion thanks for your suggestions. The bottle of OO in your desk was quite an innovative idea, I must say. I think I will try that.
I've been dousing my lunch box with frozen butter when i leave for work, madly hoping that the darn thing doesn't melt by the time grub time comes around. Mostly, i find that the lid is smeared with melted butter and some oozing out. (I give the lid a quick lick when no one's looking!!)
I'ts very nice talking to you....do keep in touch.
Anu

I am not Indian, but I cook a lot of Indian food because I had an Indian fiance once and learnt how to cook many indian foods from him. I also have a very good indian cookbook, and I have to say, Indian foods is one of the easiest to modify for low-carbing for me. I do have to cut down on onions and for some dishes I limit the coconut milk, but mostly I find it convenient to cook indian food at home rather than eat in a restaurant because they have hidden sugars and carbs here. Most of my serving are around 7g carbs (I count them because I'm doing Atkins), and I don't add salt to the food, so i can eat the foods without rice. (yes, I know it's much more enjoyable with rice) but most of the meat curries I treat like I'm eating a "steak with curry sauce" so with no salt in the food, it is very nice to eat without rice. For veggie curries, I avoid potatoes. I do a lot of vegetable dishes with just curry leaves ,mustard seeds, garlic and bit of onion. Same with the fish dishes.
Do you know once I took some left over pork curry and took it to work the next morning, and mixed ith with 3 egg and made a "curry pork omelette" in the microwave? I tasted very nice and i was very surprised.

Hi Lite and welcome to the forum. Even though you are new to this site, I see that you have got the hang of LCing quite well. Have you been doing this long?
Well i must confess that I've not been really consistent with my diet for the past few months. I promise myself that I will restart, I do start and then some office lunch or birthday or some such other temptation comes along.....wham, i fall off the wagon. I think my problem is basically one of motivation. i guess I need work there. Oh well......
It was nice talking to you, do keep in touch.
With greetings from India,
Anu

Anu!!! I am in India too!!

I live in Hyderabad, so pretty far away from you. But I am sure we deal with similar stresses, food-wise. I am actually an American in India, so I have to say, I don't cook many Indian dishes (don't know how). You can read my journal for my story. I am trying to spread the word of low-carb in this part of India, and people are at least a little receptive to hearing about it (seeing my progress helps to convince them!).

Have a good day,
Alison

Hi Alison,
It's really nice to hear from you...I'm really sorry about the long delay. Actually I didn't visit this site for a while....quite a few holidays in between. Anyway, welcome to India, this forum and this thread!!
I see you've made stunning progress. Congratulations! keep it up! How's your success been in spreading the lo-carb word in Hyderabad? I've tried at this end and i must say there is a lot of resistance. Since you've been in India, you must have read the write-ups in the newspapers, mags, journals etc that low fat is the way to a dieters paradise. This view is very ingrained in the folks around here. But I have a couple of friends whom i persuaded to give Atkins a try - they are now total converts!
Bye for now Alison, nice chatting with you.
Anu

Hey Anu

Am i glad to find some Indian lo-carbers arnd !! So good to see you.How's it going for you? I see this WOL is doing you a lot of good.Are you enjoying it? It must be tuff doing it while you're in India. :)

I could never do it for more than a week or so while i was there....lol...BUT nevertheless i MISS being there. :yum:

Share with us a typical menu of yours,it might help a lot of us in our weight loss journey.

Cheers !!! :wave:

Sandhya

Hi Sandhya, (I went to the "advanced mode" so that I could give you the a smiley HI but there were some errors on the page, so I'm back in the quick mode!) Anyway, pls read this as a BIG HI from Anu in India! Great chatting with you!.
From your "here" and "there" remarks I understand that you are from "here" but live "there".....the US right? Well I live in good 'ole Calcutta and let me tell you it's not at all difficult to lc in India....apart from the fact that one doesn't have too much support from friends and family. Sooo much butter, eeks, you'll get fat (and have a heart attack). You get the drift......I would think that it's lots more difficult to lc in the US...all those starbucks coffee shops, dunkin donuts and other such temptations lurking around every corner waiting to pounce on hungry lc'ers!
Regarding recipes...I'm not much of a cook, but it basically helps if one's a non veg. Baingan bharta with lots of mustard oil, yesterday's left over fish or chicken, some lettuce and cheese does it very well!
Bye now, hope to chat with u again, and wish you a very happy new year.
Anu
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