Slow carb recipes

I would love to steal your time for a few minutes, but if you are in a hurry and have come just for the slow carb recipes, then just scroll down to find 8 delicious slow carb recipes.

On the other hand, if you would like to know why you should eat more slow carbs then take 3 minutes to read this - the recipes will be waiting, I promise that 🙂

Something is cooking… something big.

Since the 80’s, the official dietary guidelines have roughly looked like this:

• Eat lots of bread, rice, pasta

• Eat lots of vegetables and fruits

• Eat some meat, eggs and diary

• Eat less fat and sweets

I guess you recognize this and have seen a dietary pyramid build with these blogs.  However, things are about to change.

Two main things are getting a lot of attention right now. Carbohydrates and fats.

Fats

“Fats are bad, mkay”, as Mr Mackey would say in Southpark 🙂

This is at least what we have been taught since the 80’s. Fats are the reason why we get fat and get heart attacks.

However, this wisdom, once carved in stone, seems to be slowly changing, and why is that?

Well, there are several reasons.

First of all, we continue to get fatter, despite all the low fat products now available and all the good advice about eating less fat. Obesity rates have almost doubled since the 80’s in the US.

When it comes to heart attacks, the picture is a bit more unclear.

Basically, you can part them in two believer groups:

• The traditional recommendations say that there is a link between saturated fats (meat, cheese etc), trans fats (artificial fats in cookies etc) and cardiovascular disease, while a moderate intake (max 35%) of unsaturated fats (fish, nuts, plants & seeds) are beneficial for avoiding cardiovascular disease.

• The newer recommendations say that the only fats to show a link with cardiovascular disease are trans fats.

I guess that didn't make you any wiser. So what to believe?

Maybe we need to find the answer somewhere in between.

Carbohydrates

So for the believers that most fats are bad, the issue has been to show a link between less fat intake and less risk for cardiovascular heart diseases. Showing that a lot of fats in the blood raises the risk wasn’t the issue, but it’s the other way around.

Now a different type of study argues that what was missing is that the people who start to eat fewer fats replace it with WHAT?.

The focus is on the carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates are traditionally divided into two types.

Simple carbs: Simple structure and mostly sugars, fast to digest.

Complex carbs: Complex structure with fibre, vitamins and minerals and they take longer to digest.

So far so good but now a new way to categorize carbs has arrived.

It’s called the glycemic index.

The Harvard School of Public Health explains it like this, “The glycemic index ranks carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 based on how quickly and how much they raise blood sugar levels after eating. Foods with a high glycemic index, like white bread, are rapidly digested and cause substantial fluctuations in blood sugar. Foods with a low glycemic index, like whole oats, are digested more slowly, prompting a more gradual rise in blood sugar.”

Even though there isn't a 100% correlation between simple carbs and high glycemic loaded carbs, they are often the same. Another way to name them are:

Fast carbs (High glycemic load)

Slow carbs (Low glycemic load)

The interesting thing with this glycemic index is that it is well documented that foods with a high glycemic index have a link towards cardiovascular diseases.

So what has that to do with fats?

What some people are now suggesting is that in the studies where people were eating fewer fats, they simply started to eat more of the fast carbs so their health risks didn't lower.

How to conclude then?

Even if we can't get 100% clarity on fats, it seems pretty safe to believe the facts around fast and slow carbs. Which are:

Fast carbs are often simple carbs like refined sugar and refined flour, but also carbs high in starch (potatoes and rice) are categorized as fast carbs.

Slow carbs are often complex carbs like vegetables and whole grain products.

Fast carbs cause powerful spikes in blood sugar, which can lead to an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. There is also preliminary work linking high-glycemic diets to age-related macular degeneration, ovulatory infertility, and colorectal cancer.

So now we know why we want to replace the fast carbs with the slow ones let’s now have a look at some slow carb recipes. And by the way, if you would like to try out more recipes similar to below, you can give it a try here.

• -2 tbsp olive oil

  -600g/21oz minced meat

  -1 onion, finely chopped

  -6 large mushrooms, sliced

  -2 carrot, grated

  -1 400g/14oz tin tomatoes, chopped

  -230ml/8fl oz vegetable stock

  -2 tbsp tomato purée

  -½ tsp Worcestershire sauce

  -1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

  -250g dry wholewheat spaghetti

  -2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the mince and the onion and fry for five minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mince is browned and the onions softened.

2. Add mushrooms and carrot, cook for around one minute, then add tinned tomatoes, vegetable stock, tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce and freshly ground black pepper. Stir well and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.

3. Place the wholemeal spaghetti in a deep saucepan full of salted boiling water and cook according to packet instructions, then drain.

4. To serve, divide the cooked spaghetti between four dishes, spoon equal portions of Bolognese sauce over each and sprinkle with parsley.

• -7 oz. (200 g) kale

  -1 tablespoon olive oil

  -½ teaspoon lemon juice or white wine vinegar

Preheat the oven to 300°F or 150°C.

1. 1. Rinse and dry the kale. Remove the thick stem and tear big leaves into smaller pieces.
   2. Toss the kale in olive oil and lemon juice or white wine vinegar and sprinkle on salt.
   3. Place the kale on a baking sheet lined with piece of parchment paper and bake in oven for 10-15 minutes, until the chips are crispy but not burned. Toss the chips a few times for an even bake.

• -1 tbsp olive oil

  -1 large onion, chopped

  -2 celery sticks, chopped

  -1 yellow pepper, deseeded and diced

  -1 red pepper, deseeded and diced

  -1 garlic clove, crushed

  -2 tbsp paprika

  -400g can chopped tomato

  -150ml chicken stock

  -2 x 400g cans butter beans, drained and rinsed

  -8 skinless chicken thigh

1. Heat oven to 180C/350F/160C fan/gas 4. Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole dish. Add the onion, celery and peppers, and fry for 5 mins. Add the garlic and paprika, and cook for a further 3 mins.
2. Stir in the tomatoes, stock and butter beans, and season well. Bring to the boil, then nestle the chicken thighs into the sauce. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and put in the oven for 45 mins.

• • ½ lb (225 g) frozen mango, diced
  • ½ lb (225 g) frozen strawberries
  • 1 cup (240 ml) Greek yoghurt
  • ½ cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Let mango and strawberries thaw for 10–15 minutes.
2. Put all the ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth.
3. Serve immediately as soft serve ice cream or pour into popsicle forms and let freeze for at least a couple of hours. If you have an ice cream maker you can of course use that.

• • 2 lbs (1 kg) chicken thighs
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 5 – 10 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 1 lemon, the juice
  • ½ cup (120 ml) parsley, finely chopped
  • 4 tablespoons (55 g) butter
  • 1 teaspoon dried herbs

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F (225°C). Place the chicken pieces in a butter-greased baking pan. Salt and pepper generously. Sprinkle the garlic and parsley over the chicken pieces, and drizzle the the lemon juice and olive oil on top.
2. Bake the chicken until golden and the garlic slices have turned brown and roasted. This may take 30–40 minutes, depending on how large the pieces are. Lower the temperature a little towards the end.
3. Serve with salad or/and lentils

• • 100g bag spinach400g can chopped tomatoes

    1 tsp chilli flakes

    4 eggs

1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Put the spinach into a colander, then pour over a kettle of boiling water to wilt the leaves. Squeeze out excess water and divide between 4 small ovenproof dishes.

   Mix the tomatoes with the chilli flakes and some seasoning, then add to the dishes with the spinach. Make a small well in the centre of each and crack in an egg. Bake for 12-15 mins or more depending on how you like your eggs. Serve with crusty bread, if you like.