OWL question

[Rob64]

Hi, First off I'm new to this forum and this is my intial post. Thanks to all for great info.

My question on OWL is: Can I get my daily carb intake by any combo of vegies, nuts and fruits or do the rules of induction apply about eating so many salads a day. Because to be honest I'm tired of lettuce and salads after 4 weeks of induction and eating other vegies would be great.

[Elleth Faewen]

Hi, Rob. Welcome to the board! Your first week of OWL you are going to add up to five net carbs of veggies. You can add any veggies that are not starchy veggies. I recommend you read through the stickies above to get a good idea of how to go through OWL. Also, it is very important to read the book to learn how to do the diet correctly. Once you understand why you are making the choices you do, it will make it a lot easier for you to select the right foods.

[Rob64]

Thanks Elleth, I have read about Atkins and I followed induction as close as I could with lots of success. (25 pounds lost in 3 + weeks) I feel the diets getting stale for me and I don't want to give up so I am moving to OWL. I read the how to posts and what you can eat posts on OWL. I just wanted to know if when I up my carbs to 25 grams this week can I use any allowable vegies, nuts and fruits to get my total or do I need to eat the salads still? I did not see where this says you have too.

[Elizellen]

I just wanted to know if when I up my carbs to 25 grams this week can I use any allowable vegies, nuts and fruits to get my total or do I need to eat the salads still? I did not see where this says you have too.

You won't be able to add fruits or nuts in this first (veggie) rung of OWL.

You can add 5 carbs of any of the one-cup veggie list or 2-cup list though - which isnt just lettuce you know - you can add:
alfalfa sprouts , daikon , mushrooms, peppers , celery , fennel , bok choy , jicama , radishes , chives etc without using any more lettuce if you are bored with plain old salads.

Remember you don't have to eat them raw - chop peppers and saute them and add cream to make a sauce. boil radishes and treat them as new potatoes and saute them in butter, make a stirfry with the sprouts and some broccoli or saute any of them then process them to a puree and add cream to make soup.
We cant buy daikon or jicama in UK but there are many delicious ways of using those 'salad' veggies too.

And if you are a veggie lover you dont have to stop at one 'extra 5 carb' serving and move on up the OWL ladder - many of us stayed on that rung for several additions and now eat 5 or 6 servings or more a day!

[Elleth Faewen]

Rob,
You need to follow the rungs of the OWL ladder in order. You can eat anything off the rung you are on. Since you are just coming off of induction, that means this week you are on veggies. Elizellen gave you some good examples of veggies you can have. Some of the stickies above give you per-rung examples. The reason I mentioned reading about it is because you are asking about fruit, nuts, etc. and if you look at the rungs, you will see that the first fruits you add are on rung 4, and nuts are rung 3, so just coming off induction it is not yet time for them. It doesn't take long, though, to get up the rungs if you want to climb them fast. I do recommend spending some time on each rung experimenting with the foods, especially dairy and nuts as those two can be troublesome for some people.

[moonwish]

Well, dont beat me up now, but that's how I did it (after getting so bored of lettuce as this is almost the only salad vege available here during winter) - I kept eating just 1 cup salad and added more "other" veggies to meet 5+ net carbs a day. This gave so much more variety and as I don't eat any low-carb products or much cream/cheese, I could eat quite a lot veggies within 20 or 25 g carbs - which was less calories by the way and kept me losing nicely :joy .

[2big4mysize]

Welcomne to OWL the great food experiment part of Atkins where you in a controlled manner learn how foods withing food groups based on their AGR effect you, your metabolism cravings and weight loss while in persuit of your CCLL.

Exactly who said you had to eat salad at all? you never have to eat a salad on Atkins. you hav to eat those salad veggies but the list is huge you could have made a sauce out of them, soup. stuffed your meats with them grilled them or whatever else you like to do with them.

Now that you are in OWL you get to take that induction list and select 5 more net carbs of any of those vegies so try some you haven't had yet but rememeber when you have a news to you food you can only eat it 3 days the first week you try it and then id you didn't have any trouble with that food you can add it every day if you like.
Shiskabo is great as are fajitas the first week of OWL rung 1.

Happy OWling.