have just started on low carb diet as have a bit of weight to loose, i am having the atkins shakes that you make from the tin of powder and have been using a bit of cream in them to thicken them up and make them a bit more palatable, how much cream are you allowed in the first phase? i worked out i have been having about 50 mls per shake and now thinking that was probably a bit too much! although weight loss has been going very well i dont wanna blow it!
bedazzledjewels,
Sep 1, 6:37pm
From memory I think it's about 2 tablespoons a day. Sounds like you're doing well. You could try using coconut cream as well.
accroul,
Sep 1, 7:22pm
From the Atkins website: 6.In a typical day, you can have up to 4 ounces of most cheese (but not cottage cheese or ricotta), 10 black or 20 green olives, half a Haas avocado (the kind with a blackish pebbly skin), an ounce of sour cream or 2–3 tablespoons of cream, and up to 3 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice. The carbs in these foods must be counted in your 20 grams of Net Carbs.
1jack,
Sep 1, 7:33pm
ok then i think im good on that one, ill just make sure i watch what i have as i also add cream to my scrambled eggs etc but havent had those as yet since starting the diet, also anyone know why we cant have the atkins chocolate bars in phase 1? and am i also ok having a coke zero a day while in phase 1 also?
bedazzledjewels,
Sep 1, 7:45pm
You can have an Advantage bar - but their chocolate bars have maltitol, a sugar alcohol, in them and that might slow your progress in the first 2 weeks.
accroul,
Sep 1, 7:50pm
A Coke Zero per day will be ok (if you can't give it up!) There are some Atkins bars that you can have during induction but they do need to say on them that they are suitable for all phases. I have no idea why some of them are not suitable for phase 1.
accroul,
Sep 1, 7:57pm
That maltitol - if it's going to slow down progress,then it's going to slow it down irrespective of weather you have it in the first 2 weeks or 6 weeks down the track. The Coke Zero 'could' well do exactly the same thing - even though the Atkins site says that you can have it. It would be better to give up all the sweet stuff at least for the the first couple of weeks & just eat the Atkins approved 'basics' - http://www.atkins.com/Program/Phase1/WhatYouCanEatinthisPhase.aspx
bedazzledjewels,
Sep 1, 8:08pm
I've got a Atkins Day Break here and on the back it says "can be used in all phases of the Atkins diet". So just check the backs of the bar wrappers. Accroul's right - it's much better if you can do without any sweeteners, but sometimes that's a step too far when you're just beginning.
1jack,
Sep 1, 9:16pm
cool, i bought the plain chocolate bars as i do actually like them, dont like any of the other atkins bars at all lol, but when i checked it said from phase 2 onward so i was a bit dissapointed, but managed not to cave in and didnt eat it...
accroul,
Sep 1, 10:27pm
They are nice... but I can only eat 1/2 a bar per day - If I eat the whole bar, I get wicked belly cramps. Just one of the delights of sugar alcohols!
buzzy110,
Sep 1, 11:05pm
1jack. The low carb diet is still about real food not processed foods.
From your posts I am forming the opinion that your normal diet was filled with sugary foods and drinks and in your quest to go low carb you are merely looking for substitutes for those same sugary foods.
Do yourself a favour and dump the processed foods and try and learn how to cook and create healthy food from primary products. When you need to drink choose water or things like unsweetened rooibus spice tea,decaffeinated coffee with cream (if you need a dairy in it) or any of the caffeine free herbal teas. Green tea is rather nice as is jasmine tea.Throw trashy zero coke into touch. You will suffer from other health problems if you rely on that stuff and your weight loss will stall.
Re-educate your palate toward real food. I'm sure the book talks about real food. My old book does.
norton,
Sep 2, 2:14am
I agree Buzzy
I did Atikins a few years ago and year did lose heaps of weight - I have slipped off it and put it back on - and more unfortunately!! Now I try to keep foods to unprocessed and helps better not eating bread (which is hard when taking lunchs to work) and if I do eat complex carbs to do it early in the day. That is what I took out of the book is to eat unprocessed foods like our grand parents did and also exercise which we dont do much of these days
uli,
Sep 2, 3:17am
norton - you only need a fork - and then you can ditch your "bread" (I don't even call that cardboard you can buy here "bread") - so anything you had for dinner last night can be your lunch next day: fish and salad, veges and left-over meat, eggs and greens. You do not need cheap carbs to be able to "grasp and eat it" - you can just take a fork!
Hopefully this will make it much easier for you! - In case a fork is a problem - then you can go back to basics and use a spoon!
This of course means lots of lovely soups - and you will need a stove top - or even maybe a microwave (not recommended by me though!) to heat it up.
Let us know how you get on please :)
mistrycelebrity,
Sep 2, 5:11am
i find salads are the best thing to take for lunch, a container with torn lettuce, a tomato, a chunk of cucumber and a chunk of feta, and a tin of tuna or chicken or some 'real' chicken or meat, and have mayo at work or take it in a little container, mix it all together on a big plate
and maybe throw some roasted pumpkin seeds or pinenuts on it too
with the chicken, cheese, mayo and nuts/seeds, salad is really filling.
mistrycelebrity,
Sep 2, 5:12am
and the other thing I take is soup, make a big pot of pumpkin-and-coconut-cream-base- d soup on sunday night, keep it in the fridge and take a container of it to work in the morning.
brightspark,
Sep 2, 5:37pm
I have been taking my lunch to work every day for the last 5 months since I started LC. I take either leftovers from the night before or a large salad with fish, meat or homemade quiche. I often do lots of cooking on a Sunday and freeze it in meal sized portions.
I get lots of comments from colleagues about my beautiful lunches! Some even suggest I should start up a business making and selling Low Carb food packs.
buzzy110,
Sep 2, 6:21pm
mistry and brightspark - your lunches look absolutely divine.
brightspark,
Sep 2, 7:15pm
Thanks buzzy, except today... I took a meal out of the freezer and just heated it up for lunch, when I opened the lid I discovered my lovely coconut creamed fish with coriander only what I thought was cauli rice was actually brown rice! It must have been an old meal from before I started LC so I am going hungry til I get home today!
1jack,
Sep 3, 2:51am
hey there, yes i have been eating crap and a lot of it, and yes i am now eating great foods all non processed and fresh ....but going from a whole lot of sugar aint easy and it is hard to go cold turkey, so would rather have my one diet coke (and i do only have the one a day so not like im drinking litres) and if i have to rely on the odd atkins chocolate bar to keep me on track then so be it, i know if i blow this i will be back to my bad old ways am doing the best i can but it is sooo hard to start off with! im sure once i get over the majority of those initial cravings it will be a lot better, at the moment all i think of is sugar!
uli,
Sep 3, 3:36am
1jack hang in there - addictions are no fun - but it will get better!
buzzy110,
Feb 24, 9:50am
I agree with uli. Hang in there. Often the early part of these diets is difficult because it is hard to get your head around the fact that you do have to eat good amounts of fat. I'm pretty sure that NZ's only Low Carb Cooking site has a section devoted solely to low carb snacks. These are the things that help you to ease into the diet.
When I first did Atkins, many years ago, I struggled with the fact that I wanted to taste and feel the texture of the grainy and sweet foods I'd been used to. When faced with trying to substitute a piece of cheese for a pkt of crisps I used to wish I could have the chips. And going without spuds was simply awful. However, now I never even think about those foods. I never even want to eat them, even when I am in situations where that is all there is to eat.
So try some of the snacks. I personally love cheese and butter, and not just cheddar but any sort of cheese.
Since the public registrations are closed, you must have an invite from a current member to be able to register and post in this thread.
Have an account? Login here.