Back to low carb eating for fibromyalgia

I have done three weeks of eating a ‘normal diet’ – healthy food generally, but also unhealthy treats, including chocolate, crisps and wine. But with the return of all the aches and exhaustion that came with my fibromyalgia diagnosis, I am going back to low carb eating!

The benefits of low carb eating

Regular readers of my blog will remember that I started following the keto regime and was really happy with the results. I was steadily losing weight, especially the stubborn bit around my middle. But I had discovered that eating high fat and low carb had other benefits.

My energy levels, which had become so low over the past few years, were high again. I could get lots done without needing an afternoon nap!

The regular headaches and aching joints disappeared almost completely. Even the brain fog associated with fibromyalgia went too. I started feeling like my old self.

Then the world got turned upside down by You Know What and I decided it would be more practical and frugal to just eat what we had. Over the past year or so I have been preparing for a Brexit doomsday scenario and have a large emergency stash of canned and dried foods cramming the kitchen cupboards, as well as under the bed in the spare room.

Of course, I was anticipating the wrong doomsday situation… Who could possibly have foreseen this?

A new plan

I am happy to have all the food in the house as I haven’t had to go out to the supermarket much at all. However, I am going to begin to choose just what is low carb to incorporate into this week’s meal plan.

My daughter picked up lots of reduced meat for me when she went to Asda this week, as well as vegetables and salads. It is going to be easy for me to revert to low carb eating, and Mr S will take some of the items from the stores that I won’t eat for his mum. The rest will go to the food bank.

I won’t be strictly keto but I will cut out the carbs. No more chocolate, crisps, bread, pasta or rice. Instead I will eat lots of vegetables, meat, fish, Greek yogurt, cream, cheese, eggs, nuts and seeds. I can still use some of the canned fish, meat and vegetables on a low carb regime.

I don’t want to feel old and achy all the time! So this is a new plan for the future that I am going to stick to whatever. The benefits are really worth it for me.

A low carb eating meal plan

Saturday

My daughter got me some ready cooked chicken in the reduced section at Asda yesterday. This needs eating up today, so we will have this with a large salad made of lettuce, rocket, celery, tomatoes, grated carrots and olives. 

I am making a dinner for Mr S and his mum so will do a few potatoes for them. We have a large bag from the farm shop, and I don’t want to waste them!

The weather forecast is fabulous all weekend, so it will be nice to have a salad.

Sunday

Easter Sunday! Normally we would have a family gathering and a roast, but today I plan to do some gardening and need easy food. So tonight’s feast will consist of a cheese omelette with steamed broccoli and spinach.

Monday

Salmon fried in herb butter with more broccoli and some mixed veg from the freezer. I will whizz up parsley, as this is growing in the garden, plus a little garlic to make the herb butter.

Tuesday

Pork loin fillets with a cheesy mustard topping, chard from the garden and carrots. This is one of the most simple yet tasty keto friendly dinners I have found so far. 

When I am cooking this for Mr S I hold the cheese though, as he doesn’t want too much fat in his food.

Wednesday

Another large salad tonight so that all the ingredients get used up, with hard boiled eggs and tinned tuna mixed with mayonnaise.

Thursday

Courgetti Bolognese! My daughters bought me a spiralizer for my birthday, which I haven’t had the chance to use yet. Normally when I am eating low carb I just slice the courgettes really thin with my peeler, but it will be nice to have something that looks like actual spaghetti.

Friday

My daughter picked up some large field mushrooms on her trip to Asda – I love these! I have decided to try these keto stuffed mushrooms. They are stuffed with bacon and cream cheese, which  sounds yummy. I still have a lot of carrots so will make a carrot salad and steam some broccoli to eat with this meal.

Other meals and snacks

Another nice birthday gift from one of my daughters was an interesting keto cookbook, Quick Keto Meals in 30 Minutes or Less: 100 Easy Prep-and-Cook Low-Carb Recipes for Maximum Weight Loss and Improved Health*. It contains a recipe for quick keto crackers. This is the kind of thing I miss to nibble on in the evenings, so I was happy to try making them.

They were made with flax and chia, parmesan cheese, pumpkin and sunflower seeds and water.

They came out crunchy and really moreish. I loved the toasted seeds in them, but found them slightly bitter. However, it didn’t stop me scoffing the lot with butter on them! Next time I am going to experiment by replacing half of the flax and chia with ground almonds.

My standard breakfast is a berry smoothie made with Greek yogurt and coconut milk, plus frozen fruit. I make two or three at a time.

Lunches are likely to be a large mixed salad with some form of protein like eggs, bacon, cheese or nuts. Or maybe eggs, bacon, mushrooms and grilled tomatoes.

I also regularly make vegetable soups. My favourite is broccoli and stilton, but I don’t have any blue cheese at all. I have a lot of celery for some reason so will probably make a pot of creamy celery soup.

I am so glad to be going back to a low carb way of eating. After just a couple of days I have started having fewer aches and pains. If you are interested in this way of eating but stuck at home, there is an interesting documentary on the keto diet on Netflix, called The Magic Pill. It’s well worth a look.

Whatever you are eating this week, I hope you are well and surviving lock down. Stay safe!

As usual, I am linking up with Katy Kicker for her meal planning linky. For more of my frugal food ideas see here.

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