Low Carb Diet Ideas : Snacks, Meals

You do have to be careful though, if you follow a low carb diet, to stick to the principle as closely as you can, or else your diet will be for naught.  Once in a while we do get in a slump on ideas for what to eat for meals, especially lunches, and we also get a little sick of the same old low carb snacks. So I figured I would share some of my ideas with my fellow low carbers.  And maybe you can post some for us as well!

My first idea, which I absolutely love, is a low carb lunch idea. My husband actually came up with this one, so I can’t take all the kudos for it. Take a Mission brand low carb wrap, or any other low carb wrap.  You’re going to make a roll out of this. You can use low fat cream cheese or full fat in the tub so it’s spreadable - the full fat actually has less carbs.


Then, buy either turkey pepperoni if you like to watch your fat intake more, or the regular pizza pepperoni from the deli.  All you are going to do is spread a layer of cream cheese down the center of the wrap, about two inches wide.  Then, take your pepperoni, and being generous, layer the pepperoni on top of the cream cheese. 

Then, just take the wrap and make a skinny little pizza wrap out of it.  It’s dee-lish. You can also use this recipe with ham from the deli (I like mine thin sliced).  If you really want to add some interesting flavor to the ham and cream cheese wrap, then add some of those Vlasic stackers in dill flavor (these have no carbs, the sweet bread and butter ones do).  Yumm!

Other types of wraps that are really handy for lunch time, which you an easily take to work without a problem, or you can assemble them at work are as follows. You can make a packet of tuna with mayo, and add some provolone cheese and some spinach leaves. This is really filling because you’re using fish, and this tends to stick with me longer than most of the other low carb wraps.

You can also use basically any deli meat and make your own combination of wrap.  Sometimes I will take a big salad to work, with leftover cut up chicken, lots of shredded cheese, some red onion, and a blue cheese dressing. Blue cheese dressing has almost no carbs, while ranch (full fat) also has very few carbs.  If you want to make your ranch dressing more interesting, spice it up with a southwestern spice and make a nice spicy chicken salad.

If you’re eating out for lunch, ’cause you didn’t bring anything with you, here are my best “eating out low carb” suggestions and ideas.  My first, and probably favorite, is to get two McDonald’s double cheeseburgers, and take the bun off of them. I’ve tried getting these already bunless, but they always gip me out of a piece of cheese, and they’re cold.

It’s much easier to just get them with the bun, ask for a fork and knife, and peel the buns off shortly after you get them. I wash it down with a Diet Coke, and it’s delicious and surprisingly satisfying.  I might add a side salad on if I’m starving, and I like that this adds some fiber to the meal.

I’ve also eaten at Boston Market for lunch when I’m low carbing it.  I would get the chicken platter with creamed spinach and green beans, and ask for them to skip the corn bread.  Barbecue restaurants are also great for us low carb dieters. 

I can go to Old Carolina and get some pulled pork, with the golden mustard sauce since the sweet barbecue is loaded with carbs, and a little malt vinegar on the side.  You can order green beans to go with it and it’s very satisfying. The meat is so good, you’ll want seconds, and no carbs because there are no sauces added prior. 

LOW CARB DIET SNACK IDEAS

How about low carb snack ideas, you ask?  One of my favorite staples, which not only has no carbs, but also barely any calories at all, are dill pickle spears.  I love them, but I only like them at room temperature.  That way they have more flavor and you only need one or two (they are high in sodium, one of the drawbacks of the low carb diet, a lot of the foods tend to be higher in sodium).

One of my favorite low carb snacks is sliced cheese. There is a great cheese out there by Heini’s which is excellent for low carb dieteres because it contains active cultures (probiotics) which help keep you regular. You all know that cheese can have a constipating effect, so it’s terrific that this cheese has probiotics!

Cottage cheese, 4% milkfat, small curd is also an excellent low carb snack. I also like to eat this for breakfast a lot, with a chopped up hard boiled egg. It ends up tasting like creamy egg salad.  Which brings me to another great low carb snack – deviled eggs, and egg salad!  YUMMMM!!!  I’m making myself hungry now….

So, there you have it. Hopefully I offered you at least one fresh idea to add to your repertoire of low carb recipes and meal ideas. Lunch ideas and snacks can be particularly hard when you’re trying to eat low carb, so you definitely want to mix it up when you can so you’re not tempted to fall off the wagon.