South Beach Diet - Hello and crab question

Hello All!

So, I've been lurking on the site for about a week and have decided that I'm ready to get started - yay! Up until about 6 months ago, I ate whatever I wanted and was fine because I never really wanted all that much. The whole concept of eating when I wasn't hungry was completely foreign to me. Then, all of a sudden, I discovered how comforting food can be and started eating for all sorts of weird reasons. Not good. I'm excited to banish those sugar cravings and cravings in general, to gain some control back and to seek out other ways to deal with boredom, stress, etc.

Anyway... my real question of the moment is about imitation crab - is it ok on Phase 1? Sugar is about 5th on the ingredient list, so I didn't know. Any thoughts?

Thanks - and I look forward to starting this journey with you all.

Welcome to The Beach. I like your nickname.

Sorry but the fake crab is NOT OK. It has sugar and other bad carbs in it. If you want to ditch the cravings, you must be pure on Phase I. A four ounce serving has 8 grams of carbs and 17 grams of protein. The same amount of salmon has 0 carbs and 24 grams of protein.

Welcome, mophead!

The imitation crab is tricky. The general rule of thumb for foods on South Beach is to watch that the sugar per serving is under 3 grams. Phase one, however, eliminates all sugar to get rid of your cravings.

When I was in phase one, one of my favorite snacks was to have pieces of imitation crab on slices of cucumber with a little bit of low-fat cheese (swiss was good); fyi, that was also good with smoked salmon in place of the crab. I still lost 12 pounds in phase one, but I realized later on that the sugar per serving was closer to 5 g per serving.

So I would say, if you can find the imitation crab with less than 3 grams of sugar, go for it, but maybe wait for phase 2?

Best of luck to you!

Here is an ingredient list for the Lois Kemp brand: Ingredients : Fish protein (pollock, cod and/or whiting), water, sugar, wheat starch, sorbitol, contains 2% or less of the following: Modified food starch, whey protein concentrate, artificial crab flavor, salt, fructose, potassium chloride, egg whites, sodium tripolyphosphate, corn starch, tetrasodium pyrophosphate, glucose, artificial color

I would worry a lot about the starches as well as the sugar. They list 0 grams of sugar but wheat starch (and sugar) is a major ingredient and there are several other starches in the minor ingredients. It's also pretty high in sodium.

I'd have to look at the Good Fats/Good Carbs book to see if it is okay in a limited (or very limited manner) for phase 2 but I would definitely avoid it in phase 1.

Thanks! I had a feeling they weren't good... Salmon is on the menu for dinner tonight, though. Yum!

Welcome to the Beach.

Welcome to the beach! I wish imitation crabmeat was on there also!

You can have REAL crab as long as you rinse and drain right? Who wants imitation if you can have the real thing?