Atkins

[gpsings]

I make taco shells out of cheese. Just a small handful, like an ounce...fry it on the stovetop in a skillet or pan until it's firm enough to flip. Flip it for 30 seconds or so, and when you remove it, bend it around a tin foil or something. I usually make 2 of them when my family is having tacos, and really...they are GOOD!
I sometimes make it without bending it into a shell, and make 'nachos' on my taco salad.
Pizza crust is the one with cauliflower. It's a cup of riced cauliflower cooked, add a cup of cheese and a couple of eggs, spread it on a well greased pan (THATS IMPORTANT) and bake it. Exact recipe is on my pinterest, but it's not hard. Also, my kids love it, and it's even good cold the next day.

[Leslie_JJKs_mom]

wow thanks I can't wait to try it.

[BlissfullyEsther]

I went on Atkins twice and now, for some reason, I can't stick to it. Can I blame the kids who love to eat homemade cupcakes? I really need to stick to it, though, since it gets rid of all my pain and lethargy. I'll be making cauliflower cheese for dinner tonight to try to kick-start my resolve.

I've found one of the best things to help me get through the initial cravings was to cut out anything sweet altogether. I find that sugar substitutes, no matter how carb-free, keep your tastebuds craving the sweet. Much better to get over that quickly and let your tastebuds readjust. The other thing is cream. Just plain, pure cream. With a spoon. I had so much fun eating cream out of a tub while people stared at me because the weight was falling off so fast they thought I was sick or doing some extreme diet.

[Leslie_JJKs_mom]

Sweets have never been my downfall. Not that I do not like them but my cravings go when I pull a brand new hot loaf of bread out of the oven. I want a slice with butter.

---------- Post added at 08:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:37 PM ----------

Originally Posted by BlissfullyEsther

I went on Atkins twice and now, for some reason, I can't stick to it. Can I blame the kids who love to eat homemade cupcakes? I really need to stick to it, though, since it gets rid of all my pain and lethargy. I'll be making cauliflower cheese for dinner tonight to try to kick-start my resolve.

Have you ever thought of having a day or two where you plan on being able to eat whatever you want? I have heard that is the key to getting through. Also I have been using Carbohydrate addicts diet where you get one meal a day where you can eat what you want including desert. That takes weight off but it is slower. You may want to look into it once you get to a point you don't mind the weight loss slowing down or maintaining your weight. That is my plan. I lost my initial weight and it has slowed down so I am going to kick start it again.

[Leslie_JJKs_mom]

I made pancakes and syrup for breakfast. Even DD liked them although I gave her regular syrup. The pancakes were good but the syrup was a little bland. I will have to play with it a bit.

pancakes
2 eggs
2 tablespoons low fat cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
vanilla flavoring
cinnamon



Blend in a blender until batter smooth then cook like pancakes


Maple syrup

2 T butter, melted
1/4 tsp maple extract
4 tsp splenda

[SilverMoon]

DaVinci has sugar-free syrups. I haven't tried them, but many people seem to like the flavor. I've seen them in Walmart and regular grocery stores.

[gpsings]

Originally Posted by Leslie_JnJs_mom

Sweets have never been my downfall. Not that I do not like them but my cravings go when I pull a brand new hot loaf of bread out of the oven. I want a slice with butter.

---------- Post added at 08:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:37 PM ----------



Have you ever thought of having a day or two where you plan on being able to eat whatever you want? I have heard that is the key to getting through. Also I have been using Carbohydrate addicts diet where you get one meal a day where you can eat what you want including desert. That takes weight off but it is slower. You may want to look into it once you get to a point you don't mind the weight loss slowing down or maintaining your weight. That is my plan. I lost my initial weight and it has slowed down so I am going to kick start it again.

Atkins actually is a lot more lenient than most people think. I believe the induction 2 weeks are only supposed to be a very short term addiction breaker and get your metabolism rolling in a state of ketosis so you can introduce a moderate amount of 'anything you want' and still be burning. I am certainly not planning to eat induction past the first 2 weeks! (I just barely got into ketosis yesterday!)

Regarding pancakes, you can also make them out of a low carb/ sugar protein powder and eggs, and you can use simmered berries (strawberries are my favorite) in place of syrup.

[Leslie_JJKs_mom]

How do you know you gave gotten there?

And wow you can have juice from berries? Isn't that loaded with sugar?

---------- Post added at 08:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:34 PM ----------

Do you actually count every carb? I try but I loose count and some dishes have 7 or 8 in them, so that is half of what you are suppose to be allowed. It says to eat several cups of vegetables a day but I dont see how with only 20 grams allowed a day. I have breakfast and dinner and still I am hoping I dont go over.

[Can'tTurnLeft]

Originally Posted by Leslie_JnJs_mom

And wow you can have juice from berries? Isn't that loaded with sugar?

Berries are one of the lowest carb fruits out there! I was so happy when I found that out too.

Do you actually count every carb? I try but I loose count and some dishes have 7 or 8 in them, so that is half of what you are suppose to be allowed. It says to eat several cups of vegetables a day but I dont see how with only 20 grams allowed a day. I have breakfast and dinner and still I am hoping I dont go over.

I count every carb when I'm doing the induction phase of Atkins yes. Lettuce and other veggies have carbs, so I limit those quite severely in the first two weeks. It is something like two cups of lettuce and one cup of other non starchy veggie (no carrots even) in the first two weeks. It is a HUGE salad when you put it together, but if I'm coming off of a serious carb binge where my carb intake has been above 200 for a while, I can't even eat all those carbs at one time without having massive sugar cravings. I need to spread it out over the day.

When I get further into the program I know, by just paying attention to my body, when I've had enough carbs for the day. The only carbs that I really avoid most of the time are bread, white potatoes, grains, and sugary sweets. But even there, I have exceptions. Once the initial sugar craving is broken, it is way easier for me to cheat here and there, and be able to jump right back into healthier eating without getting the cravings again. Last night I went to a meeting and my friend had made a Pavlova. And that is seriously one of my favorite desserts and this woman makes a pavlova to DIE for. So I had a big ol' serving of it. And it was delicious And today I will cut back on my carbs, watch myself a bit closer, and be good. If I would have tried that in the induction phase, I wouldn't have been able to just bounce back the next day and then return to my regular eating habits again.

To lose on a regular basis, I've found my body does really well on 50 g carbs a day right now. I'm still nursing 5 or so times in a 24 hour period though. When I've done atkins before, not nursing, I really can't go over 40 g a day to lose 1-1.5 lbs a week. And honestly, it depends so MUCH on your body type. My husband consistently does well on 60 g of carbs a day. He also runs 10 miles a day. 20 g of carbs, with 10 miles a day of running is really not healthy for him, probably not for most people. But, even with him exercising that much, he has still done the induction, strictly, three different times, to insure that he breaks his sugar addiction.

---------- Post added at 10:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:38 AM ----------

I would suggest getting the book and reading it. The advice and recipes for the induction phase alone is worth it. I personally lean toward diets that have more carbs and whole foods on them for a long term diet, but that isn't going to work for everybody. I like diets that look more like Paleo/Primal/Nourishing Traditions for long term. But they are all low carb/low grain too.

Ultimately Atkins gave me a new and healthier perspective on a long term dietary change. I went from eating a processed food diet, to a more whole foods based diet with real ingredients. That being said, there are seasons where it is more difficult to do it, where my time constraints, stresses, weaknesses, etc...make me return to processed foods. But overall it doesn't last very long, and even when we are eating a diet that has more processed foods, it is better than 90% of the SAD, so we are still good

[gpsings]

Exactly what CTL said.

Truthfully, after so long of doing low carb type diets, I don't look at cake the same way.

[chasingbutterflies]

http://www.atkins.com/Program/Phase-...Induction.aspx

So I'm reading that, and it makes sense, except that I know that at least in the past, Atkins Phase 1 also involved Keto sticks...does it still and that's something talked about in the book, or has it changed?

[Can'tTurnLeft]

Originally Posted by gpsings

Truthfully, after so long of doing low carb type diets, I don't look at cake the same way.

Yup. I can take cake or leave cake. I like it. But I'm not obsessed with it from the moment I see it anymore. I don't crave it. I don't think about sugar all that often.

There are moments. If I'm having a *really* bad PMS cycle I'll sometimes crave carbs. And I typically give in too. I'm of the belief at this point in my life if I'm really craving something that my body is lacking something. Since I feel like I've really reset my body in so many ways, it is easier to listen to by body and respond appropriately to those cravings. I read an article a while ago that the reason that women crave sweets during their cycle is because the sugar is an analgesic! It makes sense. But now I can manage that craving better than I used to. If I'm really craving something sweet, I try a teaspoon of honey first, then move on to heaver fuel if the honey doesn't work. It usually does

[gpsings]

or apples with almond butter. Sometimes I do go for that chocolate...but really really dark chocolate.
I still use ketostix, only to guage whether or not I'm in 'fat-burning mode' I used to be obsessive about it, but I know it goes up and down and sometimes it doesn't register at all, but an hour later it might be purple, so it's not the 'be all end all' of diet success, but a barometer. They are about 6.00 at Walmart.
I've lost 3 pounds as of this morning!

[Leslie_JJKs_mom]

Years ago before I started a different low carb diet I had a serious sugar addiction. I had horrid withdrawls my first few days. Thankfully even going on an even more strict low carb diet I have not had any withdrawls at all. I was worried cutting out my one regular meal would.

I can't stand sugar soda hardly at all. I drink diet rite when I have some simply because it has no sodium and is made with splenda. I have read several places that if you must use a sugar substitute splenda is the one to go with. I tried stevia and it caused horrible stomach cramps. I didn't realize it was the stevia until after a few days. I could not figure out why every afternoon my stomach hurt so bad then I realized it started after I had my coffee. I quit using stevia and sure enough my stomach pain stopped.

But DH is a stick. He can eat what he wants and how much he wants and still wears a 32 waist. So he gets regular pop. Every now and then I accidentally drink from his glass and YUCK. It tastes like pure syrup.

I hope I am not going over. I have followed the recipes for induction safe foods and read the carb content on every ingredient.

I made a mexican casserole last night. For DH's I used the corn tortilla's and beans like normal. For mine I used a layer of spinach, and I used a couple stalks of celery and green peppers to add filler instead of corn and tomatoes, and black olives instead of beans and a bit more cheese. The enchalada sauce only had 3 grams of carbs so I poured most of it on DH's casserole and used mostly meat on mine. I am shocked at how I do not even miss the carbs. I went back for seconds a few hours later and I felt like I had a regular meal. I was so scared I would feel deprived. While researching and trying to build myself up with I can do this I saw one comment that said to think about what you can eat instead of focusing on what you can't. That was a duh moment and I started looking a induction recipes and for the first time I was thinking wow that looks good, I CAN do this. This is day 3 and I am still going this is not bad at all, I can do this without suffering.

I have been trying to pick the lowest carb vegies for now. Spinach was pretty low and I used it sparingly. I used the celery and green peppers on the whole recipe for both pans of the casserole so the carb count was even lower for me.

[SilverMoon]

This recipe was posted by MaiMama on FB today:
http://www.plantoeat.com/recipes/410...K50aM.facebook

It looks like a really good Atkins chili. My husband would eat this, actually. He puts up with beans in chili because that's how it comes, though I know he'd prefer no beans if possible.