[kiki22702]

my mother who is on the atkins diet was telling me about these bars called carb delites and carb solutions..they have 0 carbs and 0 sugar....and then the "chips" have 0 carbs....my question is this...has anyone ever heard of these and do you know if they are legal on phase one? just wondering because these might help my cravings..thanks again

[Suzanne 3FC]

A lot of the 0 carb bars and other foods that you see actually do have carbs, so you need to look at the label carefully. Atkins followers count what is considered a "net carb" which as far as I know, is only valid for Atkins followers. I believe what they do is take the total number of carbs and deduct from that the number of grams of fiber, and what is left is considered a net carb. They can zero out that way, but only for Atkins followers.

For the rest of the population, a carb is still a carb With South Beach diet, you don't count carbs and it is not a low carb plan, so you are not looking for low carb foods. What you are looking for are good carbs, which are low to moderate on the glycemic index. To find out if the bars you are looking at are acceptable, you should look at the ingredient list and see if the ingredients are on the allowed list. You would normally consider the sugar amount as well, but you've already noticed that those items don't have sugar, so that's a plus.

[Ruthxxx]

Kiki, don't mess around with Frankenfoods! Keep it simple on Phase 1 of the plan. When you hit Phase 2, you can experiment, carefully!
(Just some motherly advice from one who has been there!)

[frannymae]

Kiki, I have always been leery of "engineered" food, or "frankenfood" as Ellis put it!

It isn't so much what is in them or what isn't in them, but the fact that my fervent desire is to change the way I eat forever! Part of that was getting through my cravings and finding other ways to deal with them.

You may be able to find foods on the phase 1 list that will satisfy your cravings. If is a craving for a sweet, try a sugar free fudgsicle or a ricotta desert. Crunchy craving? Celery with LF Laughing Cow or pepper strips dipped in hummus. Salty? Nuts...but don't go overboard...stick to counting them out and enjoy every last nibble!

From what I have seen on these boards, the people who have the most long-term success are those that stick to food in it's most natural state, eat a wide variety of healthy food, and don't look for low carb substitutes for the foods they used to eat. But like Suzanne said, once you are on phase 2 you can experiment a bit and see how it goes!

Good luck!

[LadyOnFire]

I agree with suzanne and franny, and ruth.

Stick to P1- I am a chocoholic and my cravings are under control. The fat free fudgesicle in the evening is the best. Savor it slowly...you CAN do it!!!

[twodogmom]

Can I chime in my 2 cents too? I agree 100% with what everyone has already said. And if you look closely at the ingredients, you'll also see that many of these bars contain a lot of fat, and quite often it is saturarated fat, or even worse, trans fat. When I tried Atkins several months ago, I ate a lot of these bars (several a week), so I've read a lot of the labels, and I was amazed by the amount of fat some of them had. And to be honest, most of them really weren't that tasty....I had just convinced myself that they were good when I was eating them, but the thought of them right now kind of makes me gag.

Phase 1 can be hard for someone who is truly a carb addict, believe me I know, I am the poster girl for carbohydrate addiction! But it's only for 2 weeks, and you can do anything for 2 weeks if you really want to. After Phase 1 flushes the garbage from your system and "detoxifies" you, you'll be amazed that you honestly don't have any bad cravings.

Hang in there Kiki, you can do it. Many of us here have already done it, and we'll help you get through it.