Want to help my husband

[eejmom]

Hi I'm Terri. I just joined - my husband reached his all-time high weight a couple of weeks ago and was so upset. He's in his mid-50's and you know how the weight creeps up over the years, not to mention the cholesterol and blood pressure. We have belonged to a CSA for 2 years (it's organic and it's nice to know where your food comes from without worrying about salmonella, e-coli and gmo foods). Not to mention being able to eat seasonally. We get all of our fruits and vegetables for 20 weeks from mid-June to the first week of December. A lot of them are Atkins-favorable (so many greens, bok choy, celery, leeks and such) but also many potatoes and other starchy vegs and some fruits that are high carb. Initially, before he reached his all-time high, he thought getting fruits and vegs from the CSA would help him lose weight, but now he thinks he may be carbo addicted. I also suspect he may be. So I have gone out and gotten a few cookbooks, Sharron Long, Dana Carpender and all of the Atkins books and have tried in the past couple of weeks to cook that way. He's actually lost a few pounds this way and he's happy about it. He also bought a book called "The Drinking Man's Diet" because he likes 2 or 3 hard liquor cocktails before dinner. He also loves bread and I'm looking forward to finding low carb bread recipes, especially rye (purchasing them online is sooooo expensive and I like to bake). I'm also having trouble finding things like ketostix and thicken thin not/starch at our local stores, even though we live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. I'm very happy to have this community to rely on and I'm looking forward to checking out all the forums for help. This is the second forum I've been on so I guess I'll figure out all the tags & trackbacks & icons as I go along. Thank you all for your help.

[mission to lose]

Re: Want to help my husband

Hi Terri,

I bought ketostix at my Super Walmart, I live in the West Suburbs of Chicago.

[atkinsgal08]

Re: Want to help my husband

Welcome!

Keep in mind you don't "need" Ketosticks. You should be able to buy them at Target or Osco. You may have to ask.

>>thicken thin not/starch>>

Here's another item you don't really "need". I've owned it for years (it doesn't really go bad) ... and only used it once.

I've actually seen guar gum and xanathan gum at Jewel ... so maybe you don't really need to search any further?

Also ... does your husband want to do low carb?

Is he willing to give up alcohol during Induction?

Does you both realize that bread is one of the last foods added back in on OWL? And that many people NEVER get to add grains back in?

Of course, there are many wonderful things, even "bread-like" things you can do with flax meal.

It's important to read Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution (2002), along with the cookbooks you have ...

[blueberrylady]

Re: Want to help my husband

Welcome to the ADBB, Terri!

You really do need to read the book and start reading the food forum for what you can and cannot eat.

[miliem]

Re: Want to help my husband

you have taken a great step in the right direction, 1st u have to decide on do u wanna longer sustainable lifestyle or a quick fix.in my experience quick is a quick step to disater. then if u have decided to follow dr atkins book, read it back to back,byheart all the rule, go back to it when in doubt, or in other words its gonna be your "bible" or indispensible book in ur life.
clean the whole kitchen , ask csa to give u more of the acceptable foods instead of the starchy ones. and come back to the forum whenever u r in need
safe and happy induction and atkins life

[liv]

Re: Want to help my husband

Are you both doing Atkins?
Did you guys talk about doing it by the book. (2002 book) You would need to go through induction which is a very restrictive phase. But very, very helpful - especially for carb addicts or insulin resistive people.
I really suggest you guys try it. But if that is not what you want to do - You can try to start with more carbs and perhaps move down if needed.
Anyways - good luck - hope to hear more about your journey. We are here for help and support.

[imagood1]

Re: Want to help my husband

welcome -- I hope you do read the book and follow the plan the way it was written.

good luck to both of you.

[eejmom]

Re: Want to help my husband

Thank you all for your replies. He is starting to read the book cover to cover right now. At first, he just wanted to do low carb, but now he is checking out the induction phase. I'm not really doing this diet - My stomach and bowels do not handle meat very well and I tend to limit it (too much information?). I will try not to eat bad food in front of him and I'm finding there's a lot of stuff that isn't all meat, meals we can both have and be happy. He loves bread, but is willing to give that up. I'll read the food forum for help. Thanks everybody for all of your help, and Happy Holidays!

[imagood1]

Re: Want to help my husband

Atkins isn't all meat - it's easy for anyone to follow it, whether you need to or not. check this recipe sites for meal ideas: http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/menus.html (Linda’s). The stuffed green peppers and mock-a-foni and cheese are wonderful. Actually I haven't made anything from Linda's site that my family hasn't liked. We had Texas chili for lunch with a little cheddar cheese and green onion on a Nathan's hot dog. There is a whole group of meatless recipes you might like.