Dealing with limited time

Ahhh, for those easy days when eating involved ripping open a box or bag, twisting a few dials, setting a timer and waiting for my warm tasty food to come to me... Let's face it, there just aren't many low carb vegetarian convenience foods on the market. There are, however, a few things you can do to save time. If you eat hard-boiled eggs buy an egg cooker right now. I fooled around with the egg-stractor and a hand tool from Japan designed to help peel eggs before I gave in a bought the egg cooker. The hard-boiled eggs made in the egg-cooker peel fast and easy every time--no more digging painfully at egg shells and losing half the flesh of the egg to a stubborn section of shell.

String cheese is another easy low carb option. And I heartily recommend Atkins shakes. Everyone in my family--except me--prefers the Chocolate Royale. I prefer the Chocolate Delight and the caramel. Easy quick meals. Give them a try.

NexGen muffins available from CarbSmart are convenient delicious treasures.

Pickled asparagus is a low-carb veggie ready to eat right from the jar.

Shirataki noodles--just cut the bag open and drop them in a colander for a good rinse in the sink. While they're being rinsed, grab your low-carb marinara and some parmesan and put them in a bowl. Now your noodles are probably ready, heat up the whole thing in the microwave and enjoy. I use this meal after long busy work days.

And hey, it's also relatively fast and easy to fry an egg or two. No, it's not as quick as dumping 2% milk on a bowl of corn flakes, but it's still not overwhelming.

If/when you decide to tackle low-carb recipes, consider making double or triple batches and storing the leftovers in the freezer. You will thank yourself later! The recipes I've found that freeze the best are the pizza, the mockafoni, the enchiladas and the soup.

Eating Out

Omelets and fried eggs can be a bit tiresome after awhile. Many restaurants have cottage cheese available if you ask for it. I've had places give me shelled hard-boiled eggs. You can have stir-fried broccoli, peppers, cauliflower and mushrooms. And, my personal favorite, you can have the Cobb salad sans meat. The Cobb salad has become my best vacation buddy and the treat I look forward to when we head out to a restaurant. It's do-able, trust me. I've been eating out with my family at least once a week the entire time I've dieted without mishap. Just make friends with eggs and salad and all will be well.

Dealing with Brain Fog

Some low carb dieters experience muddy thinking. I was one of them.

Yeah. Not fun stuff. There were times I was utterly unable to recall the most common of words. Despite the low carb gurus touting the human brain's ability to run swiftly and powerfully on ketones, my own brain plods like a sniffling garden slug on ultra low carb. My cognition picked up a little when I went from the early 35-40 net gram phase to 55-59 grams, but even then I remained much compromised in thought and deed. My typing even slowed. When I upped my intake to 80 net carbs a day for maintenance the situation did improve greatly, but still caused troubling pauses in thought. It actually took a few months at my present 105 net grams for my brain function to normalize. I would certainly not enroll in school during a low carb diet.

I should note, however, that my sister (not a vegetarian) has dieted extensively at induction level carbs (20 net grams or less) and has yet to experience any cognitive troubles. As I've said before: individual physiology varies. You may be one of the lucky many who never experience the fog.

If you do find yourself muddling about trying to recall your aunt's new husband's name is there anything to be done for it? For omnivores, probably not, but for vegetarians, yes: acetyl l-carnitine. As a vegetarian you are likely desperately deficient in this nutrient. Since it helps the brain make use of ketones as fuel, acetyl l-carnitine can be a great boon to low carb dieters. If you're experience muddy thinking, please consider this supplement.

As a vegetarian, you might also be severely low on DHA. Well-intentioned folk will try to suggest that the ALA in flax seeds and flax oil can readily convert to this all-important long-chained fatty acid, but it is unfortunately not true. There are excellent algae-derived vegetarian DHA pills available. Please, for your health and mental wellbeing, consider taking at least one a day.