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Hi. I'm interested in what VeryLow Carbers eat in a day. And wanna see if this would fit with me. Can you list your foods you eat in a day?

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Alan can you define VLC? I see people posting about eating apples and carrots on VLC which to me is not VLC. Just wondering what you are interesting in. I define VLC as less than 20g/day CHO but clearly others define it differently. – Shari Bambino Dec 29 2011 at 17:02
Shari - I have found that a small amount of carrots will not push you over 20 net carbs a day. An apple might, but 1/2 a carrot will not. – Jesse Dec 29 2011 at 18:05
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Jesse I hope my comment didn't sound like criticism. It wasn't meant that way. Traditionally LC/VLC diets eschew higher carb produce like carrots just so you have a greater volume of food to eat. If you can work carrots into a 20g a day plan and that works for you then that's great. – Shari Bambino Dec 29 2011 at 20:56

13 Answers

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Lets take today:

Breakfast:

  • Green Tea
  • Fried chicken breasts with green asparagus in lots of lard, seasoned with turmeric
  • took me 10min, all in one wok

Lunch:

  • Steamed herring and carrots in melted ghee

Dinner:

  • Not sure at the moment, maybe pork loin and brussel sprouts in lard, that was delicious the last time :-)

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Very nice menu! I'd have to give up the honey in my coffee and the yogurt with fruit ... NO. :-)) Or maybe later in the year if I plateau. – Nance Dec 29 2011 at 15:55
Thanks! What about stevia in your coffee? Well, not sure if its 100% paleo, but at least it has no carbs. And some fruit now and then shoudn't be a problem..let's enjoy life :-) – Thomy Dec 29 2011 at 16:34
I tried Stevia and it made me very ill; terrible pain around/behind my eyes and flu-like feeling. Never again. – Nance Dec 29 2011 at 18:27
What about cinnamon? It's sweet enough for me. But, I also love honey :-) – smartcookie Dec 29 2011 at 19:41
Really? I thought stevia was completely harmless... good to know it isn't – Thomy Dec 29 2011 at 20:01
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The easiest way to think of it is “meat and veggies”. Just think of your meals as one or two primary meats and then some veggies on the side. (Sometimes I even forgo the veggies.)

For breakfast this morning I seared some beef liver, left them unsalted, and paired with fresh seaweed (which is… quite salty). I’ll probably skip lunch since I’m usually not hungry during lunch, then for dinner I’m going to have mussels cooked in butter and whatever vegetable I pick up on my way home from work.

It’s all very simple. =) Cycle through as many different kinds of veggies as you can, and for your proteins just try to balance your 3:6 ratios (I try to make roughly half of my proteins seafood to get my 3’s and the other half a mix of beef and eggs… I only eat chicken or pork when I eat out since they’re omega-6 bombs without the price savings you get from eggs).

I also occasionally snack on quality cheese to get some vitamin K2. I rarely snack otherwise though.

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+1 for organs and sea vegetables – smartcookie Dec 29 2011 at 19:41
Haha thanks! Yeah I decided to be especially healthy this morning because I've had a couple semi-SAD meals the past few days, but getting back on track now. Luckily I always end up craving liver if I get too far off course. – Seiji Dec 29 2011 at 22:54
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First off, I LOVE the food I eat and I am a real foodie. Today's food eaten and planned:

Breakfast was a handful of salad greens, chopped tomato, chopped bacon w/ bacon fat poured on, and a egg fried in lots Kerry Gold unsalted butter and poured on top of salad. Coffee w/heavy cream

Going out for a Mexican late lunch of beef fajitas w/onions & peppers & guacamole. Hold the tortillas, beans and rice, sour cream and cheese.

Tonight's dinner will be baked chicken breast on the bone w/skin. And salad. Plus a mug of turkey broth that has been cooking on the stove for 3 days w/turkey carcass, onions, celery & kale.

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Natasha - where do you buy Kerry Gold butter? – PaleoGal Dec 29 2011 at 19:07
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Whole Foods a.k.a. my second home. – April S. Dec 29 2011 at 19:46
I LOVE bacon fat as salad dressing :) – Jesse Dec 29 2011 at 21:10
Whole Foods, Fresh Market, Publix, & Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's & Whole Foods sell it for $2.97. Fresh Market $3.99 and Publix $4.99. I live in Atlanta. – Natasha Dec 29 2011 at 22:10
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For me its the following:

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs, 1 tpsn coconut oil, 2 strips of bacon and coffee or just the coconut oil with coffee Lunch: 1 whole avocado, 2 hard boiled eggs, 8 or so ounces of rotisserie chicken Dinner: 'Burrito bowl' ground beef with taco seasoning, salsa, guac, lettuce, sometimes cheese, yellow bell peppers, onions, jalepenos

I also like to have a pear with almond butter for a snack and/or some walnuts, or 1 cube of 60% dark chocolate which I know is low but...

I have been eating strict paleo for only a few months but I absolutely love how I feel. I do have a cheat day with my non-paleo husband once a week and I will get my weakness: ice cream, but otherwise I don't feel ravenous like I used to.

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This is the routine I’ve been settling in to the last week or so, and I feel amazing:

Morning: 8 ounces Kevita water kefir and tea at home, 2 bowls of Bone broth at work (sometimes a hard boiled egg and ½ an avocado as the morning goes on)

Lunch: 3 oz Sliced Turkey with ½ avocado, or roasted fish and brussel sprouts, or nothing

Afternoon: 12 Macadamia nuts & 2 squares 90% dark chocolate or 1 TBSP coconut manna straight up, more tea

Dinner: 6 ounces Pork shoulder or steak or hamburgers or chicken wrapped in bacon (most cooked in coconut oil), Real Pickles fermented red cabbage, roasted veggies (asparagus, zucchini, summer squash, red onion, a little carrot, all cooked in olive oil) or 2 cups of salad greens with my own olive oil vinaigrette, more tea

A couple of notes: I am a full-on sugar addict, so the dark chocolate / coconut manna are my small concessions to my cravings.

I’m doing more research on carb-cycling, (adding some sweet potato or squash every 3 days or so) to counteract the “Low-carb stoicism” I tend to encounter. And winter in New England requires warm starches.

I’m also trying to add kale and liver to my diet on a more regular basis. The kale should be easy (Elana’s pantry has a great recipe for soup with a kale base that I’m going to try this weekend) but the liver will be a challenge.

Good luck! I think it’s worth the effort to try for 10 days or a week to see if you benefit from eating very low carb – I know I do!

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i eat twice a day. today my first meal will be beef heart with brussel sprouts and onion, a couple of brazil nuts and 99% cocoa bar. second will be tinned salmon with romaine and avocado. i have some left over turkey to add in to wither meal if need be.

tomorrow will be beef liver/spinach fist and turkey/broccoli second.

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I typically skip eating first thing in the morning; I wake up between 6 - 7am and rehydrate throughout the AM.

My break-fast occurs between 10am - 2pm, usually at least a pound of meat and a green vege is involved. Today is one pound grass fed ground beef and a couple of cups of broccoli cooked in ghee. Yesterday was more than a pound of slow cooked pork shoulder with a pound of asparagus sauteed in coconut oil.

Dinner is after I get home, between 5 - 7pm, and is a bit smaller: lately I've been having four - five eggs and a chicken sausage, cooked in ghee or tallow. Sometimes I'll just have a big plate of broccoli and/or kale cooked in fat, with a little salt and hot sauce. Some days I skip the second meal; some days I'll have another half pound or so of meat, steak and salmon are nice treats.

Any and all meals may see the addition of peppers, sauteed onions, more green&leafys, avocados, and bacon.

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Winter drinks:

Black tea w/ beef fat and a mixture of house-brand Lactaid milk and hwc (one small pot in the morning)

Beef broth and my cream mixture once or twice per day.

Hot water w/ cream mixture before retiring.


My meals are interchangeable, for breakfast, lunch, and supper. I eat the main part of my food at breakfast and lunch, and supper is smaller.

Breakfast usually at 8:30; Lunch at 12:30 or 1; Supper between 4:30 & 6.

Some typical meals:

Roast beef w/ herbs and black pepper, homemade yoghurt (incubated 24 hours to reduce lactose)

Beef sausage and braised eggs, piece of cheese or some yoghurt

Beef bacon in scrambled egg yolks with chives and white pepper, yoghurt

Wild salmon in beef fat and/or pastured butter, w/ chives and black pepper

Wild salmon in egg yolks

Veal brains in pastured butter w/ chives and white pepper

Occasionally, a bit of pumpkin or parsnip, as well as a few leaf vegetables and herbs I grow.


I eat low starch, low FODMAP, no nuts/seeds/their oils, and low-mod salicylate, no nightshades. Once in a great while I'll eat some cooked berries, or have a section or two of a grapefruit.

I take various supplements.

Hope this helps someone.

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Sounds great! ZC and low-FODMAP isn't easy. I suppose you have a sensitivity to egg whites? How do you separate the yolk? Aaand: where do you get the veal brains from, sounds delicious :-) – Thomy Dec 29 2011 at 20:41
I second the veal brains question. Hell, I'd love to find any veal, much less the brains... – Rose Dec 29 2011 at 22:40
Thomy, yes, I find egg whites don't sit well, so only eat them rarely. To separate the eggs, I just pour the white through my fingers into the trash. I buy veal brains at a local market which has many customers from other countries. They sell tongue, kidney, as well as lamb, goat, and who knows what all else. I tried ZC, but found I need at least 15g/CHO/d. The CHO grams fluctuate, ranging from 15 - 30 usually. I don't fret if I have a higher day, occasionally. If I didn't have this market, I'd have to drive a good ways, and make a special request from a rancher or butcher. – PaleoGran Dec 30 2011 at 16:49
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Here are the menus of folks who eat extreme-LC to zero-carb (including me). If you don't want to go as low as some of these folks, you could add some green or fermented veggies to one meal a day:

http://paleohacks.com/questions/41021/zero-carb-folks-what-do-you-eat-in-a-typical-day#axzz1hrcjnpRv

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Well, I'm rather predictable - as I need to take my food w/me since i'm gone +10 hrs daily (except wkends). (i have no access to fridge, portability is important as well as taking up little space).

So breakfast is usually coffee w/coconut milk, an egg muffin or two (w/veg and/or bacon) (made in muffin tin, hence the name).

Lunch deli meats/cheese w/carrots or celery... or a yogurt w/leftover meat... or lotsa beef jerky w/an apple... boiled eggs.

Dinner is the best meal w/the most variety... so it'll be fish/seafood w/greens... beef stew (usually just w/carrots, sometimes i'll add potatoes)... baked chicken w/lime & salsa... stir fry if i'm craving carbs (sometimes w/a little rice).

Desserts/snacks: jerky, cheese, boiled eggs, for fun celery & a nut butter (whatever's on hand).

In the event we're asked to visit fam/friends on the wkend - they dont like to cook, so it's a restaurant opportunity, I'll usually order steak w/butter on the side & a double helping of brocco since i dont really like potatoes. Otherwise, they tend to prefer (insert gag here) fast food... and that's either a salad w/grilled meat, a chili, or a double/triple burger no bun.
Yes, I confess... thankfully, it's not frequently.

But that's sorta what I eat most days. Quite predictable... but it keeps the worry of "what to eat" to a minimum when I've got work/school to concern myself with rather than "there's nothing at work/on campus to eat!"

Yes, I'm boring... and I'm ok with that. :)

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Not boring at all! :-) – Thomy Dec 29 2011 at 15:57
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No boring! Just a woman who isn't driven by obsession with food. I think I'm jealous! :-)) – Nance Dec 29 2011 at 16:10
I like the muffin idea :) – HippiPaleo Dec 30 2011 at 14:58
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I eat veggies with every meal (with meat + cooked in fat). Most often I eat onions, zucchini, mushrooms, asparagus, sweet potatoes, broccoli and bell peppers. I did the VLC thing for about a month (eating less than 20g/day) and realized I just felt a lot better and happier with a higher carb intake. Also, a few times a week I'll have macadamia nuts or almond butter or 100% dark chocolate, and I eat avocados every day, and I've increased the volume of how much veggies I put on my plate. So nowadays, I probably eat anywhere from 30-80 g/day. I've rarely gone above 100 and feel that this is working better for me than VLC.

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Eggs, all kinds of meats, fish, a bit of cheese, all kinds of cooked greens, all kinds of salad greens, radishes, fennel, celery, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, leeks, turnip, carrots, green onion, string beans, peppers, garlic, all kinds of squash, a few tomatoes, cucumber, artichokes, berries, olives, avocado, all kinds of nuts.

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Eggs meat and fish - some cheese ( about twice a wk ) and I cook with cream and butter. I have a salad or veg with a meal 3 times a wk but normally I just snack on Meat. I am on VLC less than 15 gms a day so not much room for veg.

I am currently trying to treat adrenal fatigue when I am better I will of course add in more veg to my diet!

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