A meal plan to cut the carbs

It is time to cut the carbs! Regular readers will know that I ate a low carb diet for several months last year. I found it massively helped with the aches and pains from fibromyalgia, as well as allowing me to easily lose a stone. New meds from the doctor over the past few months has meant that I have been able to eat more carbs with no ill effects.

I’m not overweight, but tend to get a lot of fat sitting around my middle. Being able to eat carbs again has meant that my intake of junk has gradually crept up: chocolate, mainly, but also cakes and crisps, as well as pasta and bread. By eating this way my stone weight loss has very quickly come back, and this extra fat is making my jeans too tight around the waist!

Something needs to be done. I don’t want to cut the carbs altogether as it costs more and requires a lot of organisation to eat that way. However, I have given up chocolate for Lent and am reducing my carbs to one meal a day, whilst also making what I eat better quality.

So, I will eat rice, preferably brown, will stick to rye crackers rather than bread, and I am knocking the biscuits and crisps on the head. I will snack – I always do and it’s pointless thinking I will give this up. However, I will get plenty of nuts, olives, cheese and humous in. Not necessarily low fat, but lower in carbs and this type of snack is more filling.

So here is this week’s meal plan to cut the carbs.

This week’s meal plan

Saturday

I won’t be going shopping until Monday, so we will have to make the best of what we have for my plan to cut the carbs. Tonight I will make a cheese omelette with grilled tomatoes, peas and a baked sweet potato.

Sunday

Spaghetti bolognese with keto garlic bread. Mr S will have pasta too, but I will just sprinkle some cheese on top. We are a bit short of fresh stuff, so I might make a winter carrot salad to go with this.

Monday

Grilled halloumi cheese with large field mushrooms, tomatoes and a big green salad.

Tuesday

Chicken curry with some ready made sweet potato rice I picked up in Aldi a while back. I like this recipe, as it uses cheaper (and I think tastier) chicken thighs, rather than breasts. It also contains yogurt, which is good in low carb recipes as it makes them richer and ups the fat content. Good to help cut the carbs.

Wednesday

Mushroom stroganoff with brown rice. Again, this recipe contains sour cream to enrich and slightly up the fat content, making it more filling.

Thursday

We have a huge bag of potatoes, so they will have to feature in this week’s meal plan. They won’t help me cut the carbs, but I don’t like food waste!

I will make this potato and salmon tray bake from BBC Good Food. I will hold the leeks as I can’t eat them (shame, as I love them!). Instead I will slice up some celery.

Friday

I will make a large pot of chunky vegetable and bacon soup today and make some 90 second keto bread to go alongside it, with melted cheddar on top.

So, a fairly cheap and easy meal plan this week to help me cut the carbs. I have been eating porridge for breakfast, but now that the weather has improved it will be easy enough to revert to frozen berries with Greek yogurt and seeds. This fills me up until lunchtime and is delicious.

What are you eating this week?

I am joining in with Katy Kicker’s meal planning linky. Check out her meal plan this week too. You can see more of my favourite food ideas and recipes here.