Month: February 2013

Eggs- A Low Carb Dieter’s Best Friend

When on a low carb diet, it can sometimes be difficult to make a wide selection of foods. When this happens, you may feel like you are stuck in a food rut, and you will be more likely to splurge on a food that doesn’t fit into your low carb lifestyle. One way to prevent this from happening is to get creative with common staples in your low carb diet. A simple protein food, such as eggs, may seem boring and lose its great flavor after a while. But the ways of preparing an egg can vary so widely, it truly can be the low carb dieter’s best friend. Read on for just a sampling of the ways you can prepare an egg to add variety to your meals and help you stick with your low carb plan:

Variety in Fried Eggs – A fried egg can be boring if you make it the same way every time, but there are actually many ways to prepare a fried egg that will make it seem like a different type of food every time. You can fry it over easy, over medium, over well, break the yolk or leave the yolk intact. Changing up the type of grease you use can also change the flavor. An egg fried in butter will taste different than an egg fried in olive oil, for example. You can also use bacon grease as a great way to change the flavor of your fried egg.

Egg Salads – While many people make egg salad with ingredients that aren’t low carb, there are many ways you can make an egg salad without interfering with your daily carb count. A quick search on the Internet will turn up many different types of egg salads, and you can expand on them to create your own special recipe that is low in carbs and adds variety to your weekly meal selection.

Poached Eggs – If you have never poached an egg, it is definitely worth trying – you essentially boil an egg without the shell. But the egg can be boiled in a variety of liquid options, each of which adding their own twist on the egg. Serving it atop a slice of low carb toast will give added flavor.

Boiled Eggs – While boiled eggs are typically only made one of two ways – hard or soft – making your eggs this way periodically can help prevent you from getting bored with other methods of preparing your eggs. Boiled eggs also work great in certain types of salads, or they can be eaten on their own.

Scrambled Eggs or Omelettes – This is a type of making eggs in which there really are virtually no limits. You can add in other low carb friendly foods, including cheese, ham, bacon, turkey, sausage, spices, and much more. Create different combinations and it help you achieve a new appreciation for the egg.

Thanks for reading our blog! To find great additions for eggs that are low in carbs, such as sauces, dressings and more, visit us at Linda’s Diet Delites! 

Low Carb Shopping on a Budget

The cost of foods are steadily increasing – particularly fresh and healthy foods. If you are buying foods for many people in a household, it can seem nearly impossible to maintain a healthy lifestyle without going broke. There are ways you can continue to eat healthfully without breaking the bank, however. Read on for tips on maintaining your low carb lifestyle on a budget: 

Purchase in bulk – If you evaluate your diet and determine the types of foods you eat most often, you can pick the foods that are consumed the most and purchase them in bulk to save. Eggs, for example, are a staple of any low carb diet, but can be quite expensive. By joining a local bulk store club, you can purchase these by the case and ultimately save money. In order to truly capitalize on buying in bulk, however, you only want to purchase food items your family consumes regularly or those that are nonperishable. If you purchase items in bulk that go bad before your family can eat them, you won’t be saving any money overall. 

Purchase fresh – Certain vegetables can be an important part of a low carb diet, and these can be quite expensive, particularly during colder months of the year. Consider purchasing in-season vegetables from local farmers to save money. You can visit your local farmer’s market to find great deals on vegetables. The same holds true on some types of protein, such as eggs. If you can find a local seller in your area, you can save on farm fresh eggs that will offer you nutrition and great flavor on your low carb diet. 

Purchase online – Big grocery stores typically have a limited selection of low carb foods available, and the prices can be outrageous. Online stores have more competition for customers, so you can often find the same great low carb staples on your list at an online store for a much lower price than at your local physical grocery store. Although you may have to pay extra for shipping, you can typically still save money by purchasing your low carb items this way. In addition, many online stores selling low carb foods will offer periodic discounts on select items, saving you even more.  

Thanks for reading our blog! Are you ready to start saving on your low carb foods so you can eat on a budget but still enjoy your healthy lifestyle? Visit us at Linda’s Diet Delites!  

What is Carb Cycling? – The Basics

There are many different types of diets out there to choose from, including many that restirct or regulate carbs. If you have tried a traditional low carb diet, but you have a hard time eliminating carbs altogether and typically end up stopping the diet, there is another option. Carb cycling is a type of low carb dieting that doesn’t cut carbohydrates out of your diet completely, but instead regulates how many you take in each day. Carb cycling is often a method used by body builders that want to achieve the health a low carb diet can provide, but need those carbohydrates for fuel for pushing weights. You don’t have to be a weight lifter to get the benefits of carb cycling, however. Read on to learn about carb cycling to decide if it is a good low carb diet option for you.

Carb cycling diets consist of exactly what the name implies – you cycle your carbohydrate intake. There are a few different ways to do this, however. For some, they have low carb days and high carb days and these are rotated equally. For others, they will have no carb days, moderate carb days, and high carb days. When this type of carb cycling diet is followed, the days can be rotated equally, or you can opt for more low carb days than high carb days. 

The carb cycling diet is good for those who exercise a lot (particularly those who lift weights), and the higher carbohydrate days can be beneficial on days that training is strenuous. For off days or light days of working out, the low carb/no carb option is the best. If you don’t typically do strenuous workouts, but you are interested in carb cycling because you think you might be able to stick to this type of diet longer than a completely low carb diet, it is best to have fewer of the higher carb days. You may want to opt for one no carb day, followed by two low carb days, followed by one higher carb day. Repeating this cycle for carb intake can allow you those “cheat days” you may need to help you stick to a prominently low carb diet. 

When you opt for carb cycling, your protein intake stays consistent throughout and is not limited, but many will opt for lower fat foods on the days that they allow a higher carb intake. Traditionally, carb cycling diets are based on eating smaller meals throughout the day instead of just a few larger ones. This helps aid digestion and keeps the metabolism at a high level, which prevents those higher carb days from causing unwanted weight gain or fat storage. Many carb cycling dieters will consume 6-8 small meals throughout the day, and they do so on low carb days as well as the higher carb days.

 If you decide to try carb cycling, you can find a wide selection of great-tasting low carb foods that will make those low carb days easier than ever by visiting us at Linda’s Diet Delites! 

Healthy Kids, Happy Parents – Tips for Getting Your Kids to Eat Healthy

Whether you are trying to get your children to follow a low sugar diet, or simply eat their vegetables more often, it can be a difficult endeavor. Anything that has the word “healthy” in it might immediately lead a child to believe they will hate it and even refuse to eat it. Many children don’t like change, so even switching noodles to a different type can be enough to cause them to not want to eat the healthy food you feed them. This doesn’t have to mean that getting children to eat in a healthier way is impossible, however. Read on for a few things you can do to encourage healthier eating in children.

Make healthy eating fun – 

Carrots, broccoli, and other sugar-free snacks for kids are boring and many kids simply hate the way they taste. Presenting these types of healthy foods in a unique and fun way, however, can lead them to actually want to try it. By organizing fruits or veggies in a unique way, it becomes more fun for kids to eat it – so much so that they won’t even realize you have taken the sugar out of their snack time! The pictures to the left and below show some great options and another fun idea is to do “ants on a log.” This healthy snack is made up of celery sticks filled with peanut butter. Placing raisins periodically on the peanut butter makes them appear to be ants walking on a log, which may entice a child who otherwise hates celery to actually eat the snack. 

 

Make a gradual change – 

If your child eats a lot of unhealthy sugar-filled foods, it’s not necessary the best idea to simply eliminate all sugar intake one day. Instead, you can gradually make the change by first replacing one unhealthy snack in your cabinet with a healthier option, or one sugar-filled drink a day with a healthier option of water or sugar-free juice. Over time, you can incorporate more sugar-free foods into their diet, or other types of healthy foods, until they have an overall healthier diet without even noticing it happened. 

When all else fails, count on trickery – 

There are many cookbooks available on the market that offer recipes for sneaking in healthy foods where kids least expect them. In addition, you can replace their unhealthy snacks with healthier versions. If they know you are offering a sugar-free chocolate instead of their favorite, they may balk at it. But if you put it in the same container as their favorite, they may never notice the difference.

Getting kids to eat healthy can be difficult. Finding foods that are healthy but actually taste good is one key step to success. Visit us online at Linda’s Diet Delites to find some great-tasting healthy options your kids are sure to love!