HELP! Special Category Foods Question

[mission to lose]

"Special Category FoodsTo add variety, each day you can also eat 10 to 20 olives, half a small avocado, an ounce of sour cream or three ounces of unsweetened heavy cream, as well as two to three tablespoons of lemon juice or lime juice. But be aware that these foods occasionally slow down weight loss in some people, and may need to be avoided in the first two weeks. If you seem to be losing slowly, moderate your intake of these foods."

Taken from:

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/atkins-low-carb-dieting-faqs/6781-what-foods-can-eaten-induction.html

***I have a question about the above list. It says “each day” you can eat…
Does this mean you can have all of these things on the same day if you desired? It does not say anything like choose from this list, or pick one per day…

Also the word “or” seems to be what is throwing me off a little. Is the “or” just pertaining to a daily choice of either the sour cream or heavy cream, or is that ending the list of items as if you can have this, this, this, “or” this as in choose 1 off the list per day. And then it throws in the amount of lemon juice at the end of the sentence. It seems like too much information in one sentence that can be interpreted in more than one way.

I thought I saw a thread recently that said it is “a pick one a day” list, but when I read it over and over, it seems more like you can eat them all in one day?
Do you see my confusion? Has this been officially clarified?
*I know we do not follow the Atkins website, but I looked at it just to see what is looked like on this subject and it says:
“As part of your daily 20 grams of net carbs, you can also have the following – every day:
· Up to 4 ounces of cheese
· 10 to 20 olives - they make a great quick snack
· Half an avocado
· An ounce of sour cream or 3 ounces of unsweetened cream in your coffee
· Up to 3 tablespoons lemon or lime juice

Thanks for the help in advance.

~Mary

[Elizellen]

Re: HELP! Special Category Foods Question

I have always interpreted it to mean that we can choose one of the options offered in the list starting with olives and finishing with heavy cream plus add the lemon or lime juice.

[Elizellen]

Re: HELP! Special Category Foods Question

It looks to me as if the atkins company have completely dropped the 'special category' paragraph and warning that the foods on it may slow losses and added the foods from that list onto the main induction foods allowance.

[mission to lose]

Re: HELP! Special Category Foods Question

Hi, Elizellen,
Well the website doesn't say "Special Category Foods" just as you said. It just appears as I put it in my post. It also included in the list some reference to Atkins products, which I ignored and didn't include. I didn't see where it said it may slow losses though, at least not in that specific part of the site.

Anyway, I still wonder if it has been officially clarified, because it does not seem to be 100% one way or another, like you said you interpreted, just like me.

I don't really want to refer to the website anyway, I was just checking to see what it said to see if it may have shed any light on the subject.

We all know it is just trying to sell products now.

~Mary

[JulieB]

Re: HELP! Special Category Foods Question

I thought someone on this board had called the Atkins centre years ago & had this clarified...not2late maybe? Did you try searching the boards?

[chauber]

Re: HELP! Special Category Foods Question

I think until you have clarification I would start with picking one...for a week, then add a second for a week, and so on and see how it works with YOUR body. Because lets face it our bodies are unique and no two EXACT things will affect two people the same.

[Atkinsfann]

Re: HELP! Special Category Foods Question

HHhmmm, Looks like we need an English grammar specialist as well! to figure out what the sentence really means.

[DarlingBri]

Re: HELP! Special Category Foods Question

To add variety, each day you can also eat 10 to 20 olives, half a small avocado, an ounce of sour cream or three ounces of unsweetened heavy cream, as well as two to three tablespoons of lemon juice or lime juice.

Note: I've updated this answer upon closer reading. Sorry, the original text is not very clear but grammatically it means:

You can have 10 - 20 olives and half a small avocado, and either an ounce of sour cream or 3 ounces of heavy cream. In addition, you can also have 2 - 3 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice, regardless.

In terms of what he actually meant, I have no idea, but that's what it says. If it was a list of four things you had to choose between, it would be:

10 to 20 olives, half a small avocado, an ounce of sour cream, or three ounces of unsweetened heavy cream

I'd be interested to see what clarification anyone got from Atkins as I'm only slightly less confused now. Also, this is exactly why the semicolon is a wonderful and useful thing: 10 - 20 olives; half a small avocado; an ounce of sour cream or three ounces of heavy cream would be entirely understandable.

[mission to lose]

Re: HELP! Special Category Foods Question

"Special Category FoodsTo It says “each day” you can eat…
Does this mean you can have all of these things on the same day if you desired? It does not say anything like choose from this list, or pick one per day…


~Mary

Well for what it's worth, I called Atkins Nutritionals Inc. in Denver today and they said, yes, it means you can have all listed every day if you wished, but again, it could slow down your weight loss. Are they the "right" Atkins people to ask? I don't know.

[Elizellen]

Re: HELP! Special Category Foods Question

I am a bit confused as to what you mean, Bri - as it looks to me as if the phrase DOES mean choose one from that list, as the items are separated by commas with an 'or' at the end of the four items you can choose between. If you were allowed to choose all of those items it should say 'and' at the end, not 'or'.

[mission to lose]

Re: HELP! Special Category Foods Question

Note: I've updated this answer upon closer reading. Sorry, the original text is not very clear but grammatically it means:

You can have 10 - 20 olives and half a small avocado, and either an ounce of sour cream or 3 ounces of heavy cream. In addition, you can also have 2 - 3 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice, regardless.

In terms of what he actually meant, I have no idea, but that's what it says. If it was a list of four things you had to choose between, it would be:

10 to 20 olives, half a small avocado, an ounce of sour cream, or three ounces of unsweetened heavy cream

I'd be interested to see what clarification anyone got from Atkins as I'm only slightly less confused now. Also, this is exactly why the semicolon is a wonderful and useful thing: 10 - 20 olives; half a small avocado; an ounce of sour cream or three ounces of heavy cream would be entirely understandable.

Darling Bri,

OK, thanks I agree with you, grammatically, that's what I thought it meant. And as you say, is that what was intended?

I suppose there will always be different opinions over this.

Have a great evening!

[Elizellen]

Re: HELP! Special Category Foods Question

Well for what it's worth, I called Atkins Nutritionals Inc. in Denver today and they said, yes, it means you can have all listed every day if you wished, but again, it could slow down your weight loss. Are they the "right" Atkins people to ask? I don't know.

It would depend on whether you decide to go by what was written by Dr Atkins in DANDR as we do here on ADBB or not.

[DarlingBri]

Re: HELP! Special Category Foods Question

Elizellen, I agree that's what it should say and probably what he meant to say (an avocado, 20 olives and sour cream seems like a lot of extra calories to me), but I think you can make a compelling argument that it isn't what ultimately ended up being said.

There may also be an issue with Oxford commas here.

[Elizellen]

Re: HELP! Special Category Foods Question

Elizellen, I agree that's what it should say and probably what he meant to say (an avocado, 20 olives and sour cream seems like a lot of extra calories to me), but I think you can make a compelling argument that it isn't what ultimately ended up being said.

There may also be an issue with Oxford commas here.

Interesting link, Bri. I had never come across the comma being included before 'and' or 'or' in a list.

[DarlingBri]

Re: HELP! Special Category Foods Question

Just to complicate things, I pulled out the 1999 edition of NDR.

Olives are listed as a Salad vegetable, and avocados are listed as Additional Vegetables - so at the time, both were 100% Induction-legal foods treated as all other vegetables on the Salad and Other lists. Sour cream is listed as an allowed salad garnish. There is no Special Foods category.

Obviously this turned out to be not such a hot idea because the Special Foods category was created in the 2002 edition and limits were placed on all of these foods.

I'm inclined to believe this means you can have 10 olives and 1/2 an avocado each day as long as you count it in your carbs and it doesn't slow your weight loss.

Obviously can does not mean should and the above is not in any way a conclusive answer. I'm just looking for clues and drawing my own conclusions here. I personally would not eat those foods daily; they are pretty rich. I would rather save those foods for a weekly, planned menu treat to be conservative.