What 's the biggest obstacle in doing Atkins Internationally

[Desertthorn]

There are some really big obstacles when low carbs internationally. What are yours and how do you cope with them.

[Curveegrrl]

This is a tough one. It's a little of everything really.

OK, religious and cultural dietarty restrictions maybe not. there are lots of choices of meats and veggies here. Nice cheese is sometimes difficult to get, but I can manage. But wait! Flax is against the law here! AGAINST THE LAW. FLAX. Why?? Because there is arsenic in it. sigh. Fortunately my mum sends it to me. yes. My mum smuggles me flax. She sews it into little pouches and lables them as relaxation bags, with instructions to microwave them for 45 seconds and place them over your eyes. hee. Go Mum!

I know I'm not supposed to miss the frankenfoods. But they might be a nice treat once in a while, you know? Still, it'd probably be very easy for me to go overboard with them. So generally, I'm glad not to have them.

Not many people here know about Atkins. Some celebs do talk about being on low carb diets. But then you see them eating carby foods on TV (Domoto Tsuyoshi, why do you tease me so??). Most people are shocked to their very cores when I tell them that I don't eat rice. But from what I've read on these boards, most people in North America and Europe don't really understand Atkins either. Perhaps knowing nothing about it is better than "knowing how baaaaad it is."

You can't buy Splenda here. But you can get lots of artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols. And my mum sends me Splenda. Go Mum! She always giggles and says it's so cheap to send because it's so light, But the boxes make it so much bigger than the actual Splenda. She wants to take it out of the boxes and mail it in bags. But I insist that my mother does not send be big bags of unlabled white powder by post.

It is hard to get reference materials over her in book and magazine form. But the internet (this board in particular) is such a good resource, that I can't complain. Well, I can and do. But I probably shouldn't.

Personally, my biggest difficulty is not being able to read. I can recognize the kanji for carbohydrate (thanks Pammie) but sometimes it's not listed on a product. Sometimes just the sugars are listed, and I can't read those yet. And I really don't know how to ask in stores and restaurants what's in something. I just have to try it and hope for the best.

So while I voted for "Lack of support structure as diet is not understood," I probably should have voted for "Other." But I'm kinda dumb. Ah well.

[Sharni]

Opinion from Jamaica : I put "other" because it is more of a cultural norm based on what foods are available rather than a true restriction.

For example we do not have berries so you just have to substitute with a fruit which is lower in carbs. Meat is very expensive and most people use peas and beans to "stretch the pot", so to speak. The veggies which are most common are high in carbs - carrots, sweet potatoes, corn, tomatoes. You just have to make do! Our cultural heritage calls for eating ground provision - yam, green bananas, breadfruit etc with meals and everybody eats rice everyday. So eating out can be tricky.

Following Atkins to the letter is not always an option. If we really want to do well with maintanance, which is where we should all be aiming for, then we just need to learn to make smart choices based on what we have available, rather than only those set out in the book.

This was a great poll I hope that more people will give their insight. :yes

[chubbychick]

All the delicious food available, and the amazing tropical fruits, yum!

[Sharni]

Yeah, we actually have the same tropical fruit. I went to Thailand and I had a great time tasting your foods. We have the same ingredients available but use them in very different ways. Your fruit called "champoo" is light green but it tastes just like our Otahiti Apple which is the same shape but is red.