Ditch the Bread

The First Step to Going Low Carb

There are many of you out there that like the idea of going Keto or Low Carb; you see people around you, who have lost weight, feel more energetic and have cured health issues, and you want to get in on that. But you have tried before and couldn’t stick with it or you feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start.

Here’s the good news. Your health isn’t a race or a competition. It isn’t about losing weight as fast as you can, it’s about losing enough weight so that your blood pressure goes down, so you aren’t pre-diabetic anymore, so you don’t feel like you need a coffee or a nap every afternoon and so you have the energy to do the things you enjoy. If it takes you a year to get there, that’s okay, at least a year from now, you will be feeling better about yourself than you are today.

My number one recommendation for getting started on a low carb eating plan is to ditch the bread. This means no bread, buns, bagels, wraps, muffins, donuts, croissants, pizza crust, pastries, English muffins, cake and pancakes.

That seems simple enough but you need to have some strategies and substitutions to make this first step stick.

First, you must solidify in your mind that you “no longer eat bread” and you must voice that when you are faced with the temptation of bread or pastries and be able to tell others that you “no longer eat that”.

Next, you must find substitutions so you don’t feel totally deprived. While there isn’t a keto bread recipe that I have found that really tastes like white bread, there are many on Pinterest that taste pretty good and you can make yourself a sandwich with. I personally prefer making flax bread with an egg, 1 tbsp flax meal and 1 tsp of psyllium husk fiber. It is quick and easy and I just make one in the fry pan like you would a pancake. Speaking of pancakes, if you add ½ scoop of flavoured protein powder such as banana or chocolate, then you have yourself a decent pancake!

When it comes to eating out, many places have lettuce wrapped burgers now or you can order a double burger and throw away the bun. Sometimes you’ll get a funny look but who cares, after a while, you won’t even notice and with more and more people turning to low carb, you certainly won’t be alone.

For breakfast why not try sliced ham, an egg and cheese baked in a muffin tin or make an omelette. You can add so many things to omelettes; I even make a pizza omelette with tomato sauce, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese, it’s delicious.

If you need to pack a lunch and often resort to sandwiches, try cutting up kielbasa and cheese instead or wrap cheese and a pickle with cold meat. You can also make some satiating salads like a Cobb salad with hardboiled eggs, ham, cheese or a taco salad with ground beef, cheese, ranch dressing, salsa and sour cream. I like hot peppers on mine too!

There are many options for  dinners without bread, but if you feel you need bread or buns, to dip in your Chile or stew, experiment with some flax bread or other keto breads. There are plenty of recipes online.

If you’re missing pizza for dinner, there are many recipes for pizza crust, like cauliflower and chicken crust  but the easiest thing to do is to take a boneless chicken breast and pound it as flat as you can, then add tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and any toppings that you want and bake it in the oven.

If you’re craving something sweet, have some dark chocolate or yogurt sweetened with stevia with some blueberries on top or some sugar free jello with whipping cream. There are also many other keto dessert recipes on Pinterest you can try if you like to bake. I personally like things that are simple and easy, so I’ll just make small keto pancakes and pretend their cookies to dip in my tea, but if you’re more adventurous, you will soon find a few recipes that you really enjoy and will become your new favourites.

So now it’s up to you…ditch the breads and take that first step towards a low carb diet and living a healthier lifestyle. I encourage you to try this for at least 30 days and then if you feel you’re ready to take the next step, read my blog about ditching sugar.