I'm craving a drink- HELP!

[abbeyrd1]

I feel like drinking up an icy cold beer, or a delicious cucumber martini, or even a good glass of red wine- BUT, I'm only on day five- so I have some time to go- 9 days exactly. I think I'll treat myself to a couple of drinks on day 15!!!!! OOOOH I cant wait-

[not2late]

Re: I'm craving a drink- HELP!

Alcohol isn't allowed during Induction phase. Granted, I'm sure there will be a flood of posts from people who say they drink all the time on Induction and it doesn't affect them at all. But Dr. Atkins didn't allow it and you have to remember he based his rules on the thousands of dieters he helped for over 30 years.

Just remember Day 15 is not the end of Atkins. It's day 15 of your Atkins journey. If you choose to continue on Induction, then you are still bound to follow the Induction Rules----if you want to do your Atkins properly. If you choose to move to OWL, then you will have to wait until you climb the carbohydrate ladder to the appropriate time to add alcohol.

In the meantime, you might want to try to find substitutes for your alcohol cravings.

[not2late]

Re: I'm craving a drink- HELP!

Just want to add....rewarding yourself or "treating" yourself with foods or beverages is a bad habit to get into. Many of us are fat because we have been rewarded or treated with foods our entire lives: get a good grade on a test-- have few extra cookies as a treat, did all your chores---go out for pizza as a reward, feeling sad because you had a fight with your friend--have some ice cream to make you feel better.

Part of losing weight and keeping it off is changing our bad habits into good ones and changing our attitudes towards food.

[not2late]

Re: I'm craving a drink- HELP!

And one more thing because I'm sure there will be posts about "a little alcohol is good for your health". That's true...to an extent. To get the heart protection benefits from alcohol, it's 1 drink a day for women and 2 drinks a day for men. Anything more than that actually increases your risk for heart disease.

So the question is what is 1 drink?

1 drink is

5 fluid ounces of wine OR
3.5 fluid ounces of a fortified wine (port, sherry, etc.) OR
1.5 fluid ounces of a hard liquor OR
12 fluid ounces of beer

[gooniegirl]

Re: I'm craving a drink- HELP!

Keep fighting the cravings for alcohols, breads, whatever it happens to be! Drink lots of water, exercise and stay on track. You need this clean induction time to help you find your CCL later on. You will lose weight and the cravings will get less and less. You can do this!

Gigi

[gman]

Re: I'm craving a drink- HELP!

Grab some olives - it's like having a martini and they are low carb, high fat !

Megs the serial replier is right though.

[boonie stomper]

Re: I'm craving a drink- HELP!

If I can barge into this, let me suggest the heart protection benefits are more virtues of various grape products including wine, wine-vinegar, and grape juice than virtues of alcohol. Wine-vinegar if I'm not mistaken is perfectly legal and has as much heart benefit per volume as wine, more so than alcohol alone... 2 cents 0n the table... bye...

[abbeyrd1]

Re: I'm craving a drink- HELP!

So then what rung is it that I can drink? I have never done rungs before so I really don't know how they work ( I know, I know....buy the book, read the book) but in the meantime can anyone splain?

[abbeyrd1]

Re: I'm craving a drink- HELP!

And, I think I'm still going to have my cucumber martini- Vodka, with a bit of lime juice, add grated cucumber- shake and serve chilled. Oh, and I'll rim my glass with a nice hot mexican chili powder. I know what you guys mentioned in the posts, but I think this is as low carb as a drink can get (that still tastes good). Hey its better than having a margarita or a long island tea right? After my indulge day- I'll be back on track and by the book. Thanks for your support guys-

[Elizellen]

Re: I'm craving a drink- HELP!

One thing Megs didnt mention is that when we drink alcohol our body uses that as a preferred fuel, and while burning the alcohol it starts to store the fat and carbs etc we eat. so you will be postponing any weightlosses. Oh - and if you are using ketosticks to check on your ketosis state, those will register the acetones given off by utilising alcohol as being the same as ketones and give you a false positive.

[OzLover]

Re: I'm craving a drink- HELP!

So then what rung is it that I can drink? I have never done rungs before so I really don't know how they work ( I know, I know....buy the book, read the book) but in the meantime can anyone splain?

I'm going to say it~~READ THE BOOK. In the meantime read all the sticky notes in the Atkins Phases section~~quite helpful. Here is a link to the list of rungs...Alcohol is rung 5.

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/atkins-low-carb-dieting-faqs/6740-owl-carbohydrate-ladder.html

[not2late]

Re: I'm craving a drink- HELP!

RE: vinegar of all kinds....

When a food ferments in an oxygen-free environment, it will produce alcohol, water and more carbon dioxide. Eventually, it will be forced to use the alcohol as a source of fuel. The by-product for alcohol metabolism is acetic acid, or vinegar. It's really the yeast and bacteria in the food that cause the fermentation.

So, vinegars are formerly alcoholic liquids that have used up its alcohol for metabolism. That's why some some wines, particularly those that haven't been filtered enough, can "turn"---that is turn into vinegar.

[redfoxglove]

Re: I'm craving a drink- HELP!

Whoa, I had not considered that the calories from fat and carbs would be stored as fat while the alcohol was being used as fuel, I just thought, okay, burn alcohol not fat for fuel, shouldn't be a problem for one day out of 14! Subtle difference, could mean a lot. In my post of today on the STAC, I spoke about my couple of drinks had on Day 5. It was a conscious choice, I'm okay with the consequence, but had I thought about this little tidbit I might have chosen differently, maybe. Progress for me is not a straight line, and so far I'm happy with my progress. Drinks go with socializing, and I don't see myself giving that up totally, just doing it consciously. Choices require constant vigilance and feedback.