Newbie Questions

[Forrest]

I just finished my 2 week induction and this is my first post. I will weigh myself and post the results. My clothes do feel looser already though.

First: I am heavy because of carbs. I love pasta, mexican food (beans and rice and tortillas), and potatoes. I have virtually lived off of them. Are there any acceptable pastas made by anyone? If so, where can I find them. Any other type of substitute? Gonna be hard to live without these items. I already am longing for them.

Second: I am already getting a little burned out on what I am eating. I eat eggs and sausage for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and some sort of meat and veg at dinner. I work fulltime and go to school, so cooking meals is hard to do. I often don't even go home after work.

Third: I am allergic to dairy. Some dairy products don't bother me, such as white cheeses (I must limit them, however). The yellows do tend to not agree with me, though. Is this nutritionally sound? (calcium)

Fourth:I am not much of a vegetable eater. I can handle green beens and broccoli, but most of the others make me wanna say yuk! Any suggestions here? I want to be successful, but this is what I perceive to be my biggest potential cause for failure.

I appreciate any advice you have. Thank you

[not2late]

Re: Newbie Questions

I just finished my 2 week induction and this is my first post. I will weigh myself and post the results. My clothes do feel looser already though.

First: I am heavy because of carbs. I love pasta, mexican food (beans and rice and tortillas), and potatoes. I have virtually lived off of them. Are there any acceptable pastas made by anyone? If so, where can I find them. Any other type of substitute? Gonna be hard to live without these items. I already am longing for them.

Second: I am already getting a little burned out on what I am eating. I eat eggs and sausage for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and some sort of meat and veg at dinner. I work fulltime and go to school, so cooking meals is hard to do. I often don't even go home after work.

Third: I am allergic to dairy. Some dairy products don't bother me, such as white cheeses (I must limit them, however). The yellows do tend to not agree with me, though. Is this nutritionally sound? (calcium)

Fourth:I am not much of a vegetable eater. I can handle green beens and broccoli, but most of the others make me wanna say yuk! Any suggestions here? I want to be successful, but this is what I perceive to be my biggest potential cause for failure.

I appreciate any advice you have. Thank you

Hi and welcome to OWL. I hope you've read the chapters in the book about OWL and have read through the stickie threads above.

I, too, am a pasta/rice/potatoes junkie. These things made us fat. There are low carb substitutes for them, however, they are added during the appropriate OWL rung. The soy-based pastas from what I understand taste nasty. See I haven't added these things back in because I am a pasta/rice/potatoes junkie. At this point, I don't trust myself around the substitutes because I don't know if they will trigger me and I'll spiral off my weight loss course.

Try to eat a variety of foods. You don't have to eat bacon and eggs every morning. I often eat leftovers or I make foods I can re-heat or grab-and-go in the mornings. There's alot of different foods to choose from on Atkins. Now that you are moving to OWL, you will have many more food options.

You can get the appropriate amount of calcium from non-dairy foods. Dark green leafy vegetables, like kale, are loaded with calcium. So are sardines. You'll have to spend some time and effort working on your menu to make sure you are eating nutrient rich foods.

Again, you'll have to commit yourself to trying out a new veggie once in a while until you find something you like. You have two lists to eat off now, so you're bound to find something.

[KRemo]

First: I am heavy because of carbs. I love pasta, mexican food (beans and rice and tortillas), and potatoes. I have virtually lived off of them. Are there any acceptable pastas made by anyone? If so, where can I find them. Any other type of substitute? Gonna be hard to live without these items. I already am longing for them.

Since you can accept the fact that it is these simple carbs that have contributed to your problem, you should also accept that they should be an occasional treat for the rest of your life, and you should not eat them until you reach the grains rung of OWL.

Second: I am already getting a little burned out on what I am eating. I eat eggs and sausage for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and some sort of meat and veg at dinner. I work fulltime and go to school, so cooking meals is hard to do. I often don't even go home after work.

The boredom is why Dr. Atkins suggests moving onto OWL.

Third: I am allergic to dairy. Some dairy products don't bother me, such as white cheeses (I must limit them, however). The yellows do tend to not agree with me, though. Is this nutritionally sound? (calcium)

Cheese is not a mandatory food on this WOL.

Fourth:I am not much of a vegetable eater. I can handle green beens and broccoli, but most of the others make me wanna say yuk! Any suggestions here? I want to be successful, but this is what I perceive to be my biggest potential cause for failure.

I was not much of a veggie eater until I started this WOL. Then, the boredom made me want to experiment with different veggies, cooking methods & recipes. FUN FUN FUN!

Best of luck to you on your journey!

[Sarah_K]

Some good replies to your questions here already, but here's two more cents' worth...

...cheese. They make soy cheeses, so you might check those out at a health food store (ask someone in the dairy department which ones they'd recommend, because I've heard some can be icky!).

...other dairy. Fats are no prob, just substitute olive oil, canola, non-hydrogenated spread (there are several made from canola that are good) to sub for butter. Unsweetened soy milk can be relatively low-carb (Silk makes a good one, 4 net carbs per cup, in a green carton in the refrigerated section), and you might check into soy-based non-dairy creamers if you like (the rest are usually high carb and full of corn syrup solids and stuff).

...calcium. "Traditional" canned salmon (not boneless) is another good source of calcium.

...veggies. Try to think of what you like about the veggies you do like. Do you like crunchy raw veggies? Might try jicama (very crispy-crunchy and good with dip), along with celery, cucumbers, and other crunchy things. Also, buy the freshest possible produce you can get and don't overcook it(!). Often it isn't the vegetables themselves, but the way they are prepared that people don't like (slimy overcooked spinach, gray broccoli, the kind of stuff the school cafeteria used to serve).

...loving starchy foods. This is tough advice to take, I know, but try giving it another few weeks or months before looking for those low-carb versions of pasta, bread, etc. If you follow the rungs, you will be retraining yourself and creating a whole new set of healthy eating habits. You may find that your tastes change as you add more protein, healthy fats, and healthy carbs (veggies, nuts, berries, etc.) to your diet -- but you have to give yourself time and follow the plan to do it.

[2big4mysize]

welcome to the great Atkins food experiment OWL where you get to not only be the scientist doing the testing butthe lab rat too.

The first addition as you know from your DANDR is more of those induction acceptable veggies. you can make a different omellete every dsay if you wantto keep your egges and never be bored again, you can have taco salad for breakfast or any food off your acceptable lists at any meal on Atkins.

Many of us pick one day a week and cook like crazy that day bagging and freezing left overs so come a busy week day you only have to defrost and poof you got a meal. Some folk even do the shopping that day too!

The dairy allergy is it to lactose or a dairy protein? Can you eat white cheddar but not yellow? if so that is a dye allergy as they are isdnetical except for the coloring added. My mother has that along with several other food allergies. If it is lactose can you handle yogurt or kefir? they are added back on rung 2 too. you don't have to add back the fresh dairy rung if you do not plan to eat it as a part of your WOE for life. You can skip top the nut rung many of us have skipped a rung or two befause those food groups don't agree with us.

As to your pasta potato rice addcition I;m sure you have discoverd in induction the versitility of cauliflower the low carbers best friend we can rice it we can make all potatoe type dishes from it and the recipe data base is full of those. you can also boil radishes and use them in potato salad as they lose the radish taste when cooked.

there are many low carb pastas out their but we need to wait fro the propper rung to do them. Some of the better tasting ones are the actual wheat ones from muellers and then there is the dreamsfield one that may or may not have as many carbs as the muellers as they claim to have created a matrix that lets you taste the wheat but not digest it. some diabetics with blood sugar meters have actually detected the rise and some have not so it will depend on your intestinal juices and bacteria colonies as to if you do or don't but you will get a 4-6 hr delayed sugar surge much like the sugar alcohols give us when they get further along in the digestive tract. SPaghetti suash and zuchinni make great pasta subs in the mean time.

When you get to premaintneance if and only if your body and your metabolism can handle them you can add back whole grain wild rice and pastas as an occasional food but your body will be the one to decide that as many of us have different reactions to different foods then what is expected.



As to your calcium needs simply buy calcium supplements and take one with a meal and you have your porblem solved as you must have been doing with your dairy allergy already.

Happy low carbing.

[Forrest]

Thank you all so much for your wonderful posts! I did weight myself this morning and as you can see I lost 15 big ones! I am very pleased with that. Great motivation to continue and succeed!

Is spaghetti squash ok with low carb marinara?

Also, I think I have decided I don't need dieter's advantage. Anybody disagree?

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR AWESOME RESPONSES!!!!!!!!!
:clapping

[Elizellen]

Also, I think I have decided I don't need dieter's advantage. Anybody disagree?

You already have the 'advantage' you need - you are following Atkins! :yes