Question about OWL

[Theresa578]

Monday will be day 14 on induction for me and I am still unsure about what to do. I amd happy on induction foods but I would like more salad. That is the only thing that makes me want to move up. So I was wondering can I stay on rung 1 for awhile till I get bored or should I still slowly make my way through the rungs anyways ? I know it's personel preferance but I was just wondering your thoughts on it. Here is a list of the foods I plan to add on each rung and as you can see it's not much so I'm not in a big rush.

1. More salad
2. no interest
3. Almonds
4. Strawberries
   Blueberries
5. no interest
6. Hummus
7. Apples
   Oranges Grapes
8. Carrots
   Green Peas
   Corn
9. Old fashioned Oatmeal

[Elizellen]

Re: Question about OWL

You can stay on any rung you like for more than one week - and add many of that rung's foods or add more carbs while there.

I see you don't fancy any dairy to add, neither did I till soemone pointed out that I could add yogurt!

I found that useful to have added once I reached the berries rung as it is better to eat them with some sort of fat and cream is not one of my likes.

[Theresa578]

Re: Question about OWL

Thanks I thought about adding yogurt but I'm not to sure about it. I live in a small town and the stores around me carry the yogurt that is full of sugar or the fruit on the bottom kinds. I might try and shop around a bit more and see what I can find and adjust my list when I get to dairy. I usually just wash my strawberries and bluberries and eat them up.

[Georgiana]

Re: Question about OWL

Also corn is a grain, so it goes in OWL Rung 9.

I stayed quite a while on OWL Rung 1 too, mainly because I wanted to try many "new" veggies. Remember that it's max. one new food per week.

[MsUnderstood0000]

Re: Question about OWL

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...have-typo.html this stickie helped me alot. If I interpret it correctly she talks about adding new food group, not food, and no more than 3x a week for a particular food but the other 3 you can do another new food, the one day left another. It would really take a long time to go a week for each food. I did two per week, left rung one with not having added all i want to add will revisit it. Another stickie talks about that sequencing of the foods rungs etc., how you can go back. You maybe have seen that post ,well worth the read.



From that stickie:they apologiezed and said

that should be a new food to you 3 times a week not the new food group 3 times a week.

So Eat the 5 new net carbs of the rung every day but if there is a food in that food group you haven't eaten like say jicama in rung 1 you only eat it 3 days of that first week you try it and another veggies the other days. so the berry rung could be say strawberries 3 days and blueberries 3 days and raspberries the other day or 7 different berries or however you wanted to do it just so each new food in each group is never eatten more then 3 times the first week you eat that food.

[JulieB]

Re: Question about OWL

If you add 7 new foods in one week - and only eat each of them one day, how do you know if any of them cause you to stall or crave? I'd rather add one new food per week, and see if I have an issue with it, before I add another. Of couse, I have LOTS of time (1/2 my body weight to lose)

I have also heard (from someone on this board - sorry don't remember who), that some people add either 5 extra carbs OR a new food each week - then they know if its the new food or the extra carbs causing any issue that might surface.

Theresa, if you'd like more veggies, move on to rung one - you can stay there as long as you'd like.

[liv]

Re: Question about OWL

Theresa - that is a good list.
If you want more veggies that is cool you can actually try to find your CCLL just adding more veggies if you like.
Here are some of my thoughts about what you could do on the rungs (but it is all personal preference of course

1. More salad, more squashes, pumpkin (there is alot you can do with them)
2. plain yogurt if you can find it, cottage cheese, ricotta, mascarpone
3. Almonds, seeds (flax, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame) Some nuts and seeds are good ground up and used in things like muffins, pancakes. Some nuts are good in salads and use sesame seeds with my sauteed vegetables.
4. Strawberries, blueberries, melon
5. wine is good
6. Hummus, chili, soy beans, soy milk, soy flour, peanuts and peanut butter
7. Apples
   Oranges Grapes grapefruit, pears
8. Carrots
   Green Peas
   yams, small amount of potato
9. Old fashioned Oatmeal, different brans, whole wheat, corn (popcorn)

Good luck - owl is fun

[MsUnderstood0000]

Re: Question about OWL

JulieB ,
I totally agree with you. I added two new veggies a week and stayed on rung 1 for 4 weeks, just last weekend i moved up to Rung 2. I moved up only because I wanted to make a lasagna recipe that had ricotta in it, i found on Linda's site. I have veggies I want to still introduce and will revisit Rung 1 at a later date. I have not as yet added anymore dairy. Still trying to get thru the lasagna i made , every other day, one serving, that one casserole is lasting me all week. I would think the effects of the particular foods would last until it was digested. You would know within hours if it was going to cause you to crave, or was unagreeable. I remember someone asking that question but never saw the answer. How long do foods affect your bloodsugar/ craving? You would have to wait to weigh yourself at the end of the week for the gain/loss factor of food, but then again that is so variable too, with TOM, salt intake of other foods you eat, weather. Seems like a crapshoot to me almost. I just see a downward trend and roll with it happily. I posted that stickie because it makes sense that IF you wanted to add foods that fast you could. That one food a week is not mandatory. Smart, but not mandatory as I undertand the stickie. If I am misunderstanding it I want to be corrected, cause i want to do this the right way. I am like you have half my body to lose. Two a week still seemed moderate to me. I would like to get to some berries and melons while they are in season this summer, however I do not want to skip rungs either. In the nut rung I am only interested in nuts i can cook with, I do not think I can control nuts just to eat as snacks and such. This is why this is so wonderful, we can accomodate our own personal style of eating and still "stay on plan"

[momof3chicks]

Re: Question about OWL

JulieB ,
I moved up only because I wanted to make a lasagna recipe that had ricotta in it, i found on Linda's site.

How could you make lasagna without pasta?

[MsUnderstood0000]

Re: Question about OWL

The recipe called for zucchini slices, I used eggplant instead.

Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes

I know that I have done atkins in the past and not stuck with it. Trying this different approach, of moving up the rungs of owl has really opened alot of doors for me, there just seems to be a substitute for almost anything you'd want. This is going to be a lifetime of compromise, but its not giving up anything, you gain so much by learning new tricks. Linda's site is a priceless resource.

[liv]

Re: Question about OWL

I think the rule is that when you introduce a new food in a food group you eat it three times a week and you do NOT introduce anything else new that week. This is the only way to find out if you have an issue with that particular food.

[MsUnderstood0000]

Re: Question about OWL

That is what I am confused about. I must have misread the stickie.

[JulieB]

Re: Question about OWL

I have made Linda's spinach lasagna - it is noodle-less (no noodle substitute), its just a layered casserole. It was awesome - it will be a staple for us. I think I like it better than "real" lasagna

Linda's site is a total life-saver for me. I LOVE good food. I also like that a lot of the recipes can be frozen...I make one for a meal, then freeze the extra portions for days I don't have time to cook, or for work-day lunches.

Theresa, are you using recipes at all? There may be some foods that you would like to use in recipes that you wouldn't usually eat 'on their own'. For me, the resipes are life-savers...but to each his own

[Theresa578]

Re: Question about OWL

no reciepes for me. I really haven't found many that I like. I'm not big on big fancy meals and fancy foods lol. I usually cook something for the hubby and kids and then make my dinner. I am more of a "hey lets throw some chicken and corn on the grill tonight" kinda girl. With 4 kids and three of them in sports I don't have alot of time to cook or deal with a recipe.

[ShannonK]

Re: Question about OWL

Linda's web-site is absolutely priceless. I just love it and I have for years. I am also going to move through the rungs quicker than I did last time I did Atkins. I think that having the options makes things a lot better and easier.