Confused. Are free foods NOT free?

[TravelingCircusof5]

Hi,
I have read the book and am on Day 13 of Induction. I have lost 8.5 pounds. But Maybe I am doing something wrong? I have not been counting the carbs in eggs or meat in my 20g. But I read on the forums of people counting them. Dr A said "free." I don't think this is explained very well in the book.

I feel like I am doing pretty well even without counting these carbs, since I have lost 8.5 of the 23 I plan to lose. I do exercise as well. Still, which is the right way to do it? Thanks, Jennifer

[OzLover]

Re: Confused. Are free foods NOT free?

Which edition of the book are you reading? Here at ADBB we use the 2002 version of Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution.

Good results! Good luck on the rest of your Atkins journey!

[maxima]

Re: Confused. Are free foods NOT free?

I figured out that eggs had carbs in them so I cut way back on it but this is the first I've heard of meat on the list having carbs in it. I need to quit reading this forum until my book gets here - it's leaving me confused about what is what.

[atkinsgal08]

Re: Confused. Are free foods NOT free?

<<I figured out that eggs had carbs in them so I cut way back on it<<

Why would you cut back?

A large egg has 0.39 net carbs.

[maxima]

Re: Confused. Are free foods NOT free?

I read elsewhere (who knows where, I've traveled all over the net for carb info) that an egg had a carb - I was eating a lot of eggs a day at that time so I cut way back - I actually feel a bit better without all the egg, I would have something like "heartburn" after eating one and I don't anymore.

[atkinsgal08]

Re: Confused. Are free foods NOT free?

>>I read elsewhere (who knows where, I've traveled all over the net for carb info) that an egg had a carb>>

That's rounding up.

If you check the USDA at www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/, you'll see what the actual count it.

Of course, when you get your DANDR, the count in there is 0.6 net carbs ... which is what I started with!

How many eggs were you eating a day?

[maxima]

Re: Confused. Are free foods NOT free?

Probably four of them throughout the day. Too much?

[atkinsgal08]

Re: Confused. Are free foods NOT free?

Not in my opinion.

However, since 4 was causing you problems, it was probably too many for you.

From a carb count perspective, it was 1.56 net carbs.

[brandywine1241]

Re: Confused. Are free foods NOT free?

Its those pesky fractions of a carb that are the culprit. They can add up if you eat a lot of that particular food. If you are really concerned, I know for sure that FitDay online or PC uses the USDA values for nutrients. Just be sure to enter all foods as "raw" or "unprocessed" and also all the ingredients you used in preparation.

For example, if you choose the "eggs, whole scrambled" entry FitDay will use a recipe that includes milk, whereas if you enter "egg whole raw" and then the cream and/or butter you use to cook it, you will get an accurate count.

There are other online logs such as "Daily Plate", but I'm not familiar with them.

[Elizellen]

Re: Confused. Are free foods NOT free?

Hi Jennifer
To get back to your original post, There are really no 'free foods' on Atkins, as we are supposed to eat from the allowed list until no longer hungry each meal or snack time with the only limit on non-carb foods being our appetite

So some days you might need to eat a lot of food and others not so much.

AS you have found, many of the foods we are allowed do have a small amount of carbs, which means we do need to limit our consumption if we are going to stick to the rule of 'eat no more than 20 net carbs, most of which are from vegetables'.

So if you choose your vegetables carefully you can get something like 12 net carbs from the up to 3 cups of them, leaving you another 8 net carbs in your 'budget' to allow some eggs, cream, avocado, olives, cheese, mayonnaise etc as well to make your menus more interesting.

However if you happen to choose just lettuce for your veggies then you would be getting far less net carbs from those 3 cups and therefore should not be eating many net carbs of all the other foods I listed.