I bought the Book!

[love777]

I ordered the book online!
I'm excited.

Is it a long book?

My ? to all of you. Do those of you who have been on this way of living for a while just NEVER eat bread? I mean whole grain sometimes right?

But otherwise do you NEVER have another piece of cake, donut, cinnamin roll or anything that is not made in a low carb, low sugar way? You know do you EVER splurge at a restaurant or store?

[Splandrea]

Re: I bought the Book!

Even Dr. ATkins talks in the book about having a very very ocasional something special. I am sure everyone does it at some point. Well, not EVERYone (some people here are practically saints =D) Not a good idea to even think about those things until after induction, and then for as long as you can after that. Falling off the wagon is very difficult with Atkins because youre body actually tricks you into wanting more carbs when you cheat. Like.... I don't know,... getting addicted to drugs or whatever. One bite of wedding cake, and you're hooked! =D

That being said, Dr. Atkin's discusses things like this in the book...

[moniegail]

Re: I bought the Book!

Splandrea is right, it truly is not good to even be thinking about those things during induction, as that is what got us to this place to begin with. however, as you move up the OWL rungs there are great recipes on ADBB that can be of great comfort to you, and you will not miss the sweets and breads that you crave now. there are some great substitutes to many favorite sugar laden treats.

for me though as far as breads go, when i was last doing this way of eating and reached rung 9 the whole grains rung, i did enjoy a piece of whole grain bread every once in a while. not often though.

the cake, donuts and cinnamon rolls and the like are what finally was my downfall and caused me to fall off the wagon last time. i restarted last july and done very well until thanksgiving. then my mindset became "well the holiday season is coming up and i don't want to miss all my favorite chirstmas treats" so i am going to go off atkins woe for a month and get back on in january. then january came and went and i was still eating junk. it took me until now to get back on the wagon and i am basically back to square one.

i guess what i am really trying to say is don't think of what you are missing with not having sweets, but be thankful of what you are gaining, which is self control over your food not food controlling you.

good luck and happy low carbing

[love777]

Re: I bought the Book!

thanks for the post.

do you think IF a person could take one day to eat what they wanted. And let's say that's like 4 times a year - spread out. and they REALLY went back to being strict that it would be okay? I'm just wondering.
I mean does having 1 day of indulgence really hurt you that much? Or is the only worry is that you will fall off the wagon. If a person TRULY was back to the atkins way the next day for months....would it be feasible?

[losetocruise]

Re: I bought the Book!

The muffin in a Minute in the recipe section has satisfied all my needs for bread from both a taste and fiber stand point. Also a lot of the things you miss from "regular" eating can be made using low carb substitutes or at least an acceptable version, once you reach the proper stage.

[Splandrea]

Re: I bought the Book!

1 day will not do that much damage, maybe a few pounds. But Dr. Atkins explains in his book that you can reach a stage , after cheating, where you don't even recognize yourself because your carb cravings can get so strong from cheating...
Plenty of people cheat and then get back on the wagon, so if you are asking if that's possible, sure it is =)

Beware though that you can also alter your metabolism and ability to burn fat as quickly by going on and off, too. But like you said, its only four days a year, soo.. that does not really apply here.

[love777]

Re: I bought the Book!

thanks for the reply.
I of course don't plan to cheat. I may want to just eat one dessert or something but it just seems that when talking about cheating the main concern seems to be falling off the wagon. I also have to think that one sitting of just eating what you want 2-3 times a year if it's jsut one meal and you truly go back - it will set you back but if you go back on the wagon you can be where you were at again in no time. It's the fact that having that ability would be difficult if not impossible - am I correct?

I definately can see where cheating makes you want to fall off.

I personally cannot imagine NEVER not crave any indulgence again. I dont think that could ever happen after how ever many years! kinda like quitting smoking! =)

[sadie147]

Re: I bought the Book!

Read the book and go through the plan as it's written, make sure you go through the various levels and Ongoing Weight Loss, take your time adding each food group and find what foods you can and can't tolerate.

I'm in maintenance and had no food intolerances, I eat 2 slices of whole grain toast every day, eat various fruits etc without issue. I also exercise regularily, and try to eat mostly whole foods. I do have the occaisional treat , and am able to go right back to plan, but many cannot do this. It took me quite a while to get where I am with food and my thinking... but it ws well worth it.

It does depend on your relationship with food, how your body reacts to certain foods, blood sugar issues, etc.

It's best not to try to think now about what you CANT have..but concentrate on following the plan and eating healthy whole foods that are allowed for each level and eat a wide variety of foods including your allowed veggies. Find some new recipes that will help....

If you think of it as the 'oh my god i'll never have bread again diet' you will most likely not be successful. Think of it as changing your eating habits for the better for the rest of your life.

[SunnySmile501]

Re: I bought the Book!

If you do this right, you might not want to eat white flour and sugar carbage any more. Just like you learned to like that kind of stuff over many years, you can learn to like low carb just as well. For the few times I have eaten off plan over the last two and a half years, it never tasted as good as I remembered, it made me sick, and I started craving Atkins friendly foods and couldn't wait to get back on track.

When you first start Atkins, you get induction flu symptoms until your body gets enough enzymes on board to digest protein and fat. The body requires different enzymes to digest and utilize carbs than it does protein and fat. After being low carb for a long time, you no longer have the right enzymes to digest simple carbs, so you will get sick and sluggish as your body tries to digest carbage with the enzymes it has in quantity to digest protein and fats. It's really not worth it.

I can't imagine ever eating any other way than the way I do now. No--I don't ever eat regular bread. I do once in a while make bread with almond flour and flax, but I tend to over-indulge that, too. I didn't know that for my whole life, my asthma and severe digestive problems were from an allergy to wheat and grain. I never would have known it if I didn't follow Induction by the book and the relief that I had by the end of induction was so dramatic, there was no doubt in my mind that I was intolerant and allergic.

I have never eaten so well or so luxuriously in my whole life. I am in the middle of creating a low carb cookbook with all the divinely delicious dishes I have been cooking for the last year. I don't have any obese friends or family, so I have been testing these recipes on regular people. None of them can tell that it is "diet" food, even desserts. When I recently made chicken curry with low carb mango chutney for a friend, she said it was very like, but better than the same dish in her favorite Indian restaurant. She didn't even guess that the 'rice' was really shredded cauliflower.

I make my famous 'potato' salad with turnips and my family all but licks the bowl and never knows the difference. I recently made awesome jambalaya using cauli-rice in place of rice.

If you are one of the lucky ones, you might be able to eat a potato once in a while and small servings of whole grain bread and pasta, but most of us can't. I have so many delicious substitutes, that I couldn't possibly feel deprived.

Sunny!

[love777]

Re: I bought the Book!

Thanks Sunny and Jen for both your replies! They were great.

I have no problem eating lo carb and I love the substitutes. I like flax and all that stuff. So that won't be a problem.

But and I know I posted about this before there are a few times where I can see I would like to just eat. And know if I go back on the wagon FOR SURE that I will be ok. I mite be set back a little but I'm not going to blow up for that one time.

You know obviously I would not over do it. But if I'm going to attend a restaurant that I will NEVER go to again. Or on Christmas have that one a year get togehter with all the traditional foods only made by my aunts, then I want to by means have some. As long as I can go back to being strict would be my deal.

But if you told me - you have one and you totally will suffer and ruin your entire diet and might as well get off of it...that's a different story.
I do understand if I do splurge and then keep splurging I've obviously ruined it.

I am trying to make this a life style change not a "diet". So in that lifestyle change I would like to allow myself 3-4 free meals a year. Not even the entire day just one meal.

[Elsie150]

Re: I bought the Book!

I wonder how many of us STAC'ers (second time around) failed the first time because we thought we were just going to cheat this one time and then get right back on Atkins because we that we were strong enough to do that.

Count me as 1!