not enough carbs

[hmf]

ok, I have read the book. But I guess I keep overlooking a certain part on the carbs. I know you should have no more than 20 carbs a day during induction. What happends if you do not even get close to eating 20 carbs a day? Is that bad?

Thanks
hmf

[californiacasey]

Re: not enough carbs

Well Dr. A says in the book that he put some people on basically zero carbs for a while. I won't say it's bad, if you are feeling good and are eating enough fat and calories and veggies. It's really hard to stay under 20 AND eat all your veggies.

[Isabeau]

Re: not enough carbs

There is no way you can eat zero carbs if you're doing Atkins. Eggs have carbs, cheese has carbs. Anyways, you don't have to eat 20 grams of carbs. You DO have to eat three cups of veggies as per the rules of induction from the acceptable veggie lists. This is very important and nowhere does Dr. Atkins say not to do this. www.fitday.com is a free program that allows you to record all of the food you eat and will break down the amount of fat, protein, carbs and calories you eat each day. I found it a great tool. Hope this helps.

[Effie]

Re: not enough carbs

Welcome to ADBB, hmf! My average net carb intake while on Induction was 13g. Somedays I only ate 8 carbs, other days it was closer to 18. I found it was impossible to go over 20g unless I was eating too much cheese or too many veggies.

[SugarFreeSheila]

Re: not enough carbs

Welcome to the board, Hmf! (Love the username, by the way ... "Hmph!" ) It isn't awful to go a day or two on Induction without reaching 20 carbohydrates, but this is definitely a number to shoot for. When I did Induction, I did not measure vegetables per se, but instead limited my dressings and cheeses at 4 ounces or less a day (5 carbs, give or take), and made sure to "spend" the 15 carbs leftover on the Induction-allotted vegetables. This kept things simple and uncomplicated for me!

[Finelly]

Re: not enough carbs

I vary between about 11 carbs per day and 18. You just can't go over 20. Good luck!

[BuddhaSack]

Re: not enough carbs

It's really hard to stay under 20 AND eat all your veggies.

I don't really agree w/ this. I would say it's really HARD to go over 20 and eat all your veggies. And I mix it up w/ all diff kinds of veggies. As long as you're by the book, you should have no probs.

[maryam]

Re: not enough carbs

i have a question.....since you can have 20 grams of carbs....is it ok to eat a spinach pancake (its actually really good despite its name.) that has 5 grams of carbs? Its called a pancake but its really mostly made of spinach and a little bit of potato (which I heard is a no no) and some oat bran.

My rationale is that if I stay under 20 carbs then I am straight. Am I wrong? I havent started Atkins yet and I dont wanna mess up. Im probably gonna start in a day or two. I'm just reading up on it so I'll know exactly what to do.

[Effie]

Re: not enough carbs

i have a question.....since you can have 20 grams of carbs....is it ok to eat a spinach pancake (its actually really good despite its name.) that has 5 grams of carbs? Its called a pancake but its really mostly made of spinach and a little bit of potato (which I heard is a no no) and some oat bran.

My rationale is that if I stay under 20 carbs then I am straight. Am I wrong? I havent started Atkins yet and I dont wanna mess up. Im probably gonna start in a day or two. I'm just reading up on it so I'll know exactly what to do.

Hi Maryam,
Since we're stictly by the book on this forum, the answer to your question is no, that would not be allowed on Induction. Doing a clean induction is following all the rules of Induction, including not eating anything that isn't on the acceptable foods list. If you haven't already, get yourself a copy of the 2002 version of Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, or DANDR for short.

There are some folks who have modified Dr. Atkins' plan, and they would be able to tell you what they did to tweak it. They can be found over in the "Low Carb Dieting Other Than Atkins" thread. My suggestion to you, especially since you haven't started, is to read the book and do the diet as written. If there is some huge stumbling block and you find you can't follow it as written, then start tweaking it.

There are a number of great Induction-friendly spinach recipes. I've made a few versions of a spinach quiche, or spinach squares, that contain only induction friendly ingredients (eggs, cheese, cream, spinach) and they're absolutely delicious!

Welcome to Let us know when you start and definitely keep asking more questions!