Mio Liquid
Low fat/low carb chicken italian sausage
Torani sugar free syrups
Canned tomatoes (replacing fresh tomato as a restricted item)

Allowed or not? Any other items that people use that fit within the guidelines for Phase 1 that are not listed on the IP Phase 1 handout materials?

Love the tips/tricks/recipes and support on this forum.

Mio - yes
Torani sugar free syrups - yes
canned tomatoes - yes

I think the low fat / low carb chicken sausage would be okay but look closely at the nutritional values and ingredients. Post them here if you can so we can help look too.

Double check your canned tomatoes to make sure that they don't contain sugar. Sometimes they sneak that in there.

All the right answers already posted. Make sure the fat calories (9 calories per gram) don't exceed 30% of the total calories. Low carb, I only buy sausage/deli meats that have ZER0 carbs because carbs in meat products means filler and/or usually some form of sugar. I might give in if it were only 1 carb, but not over that.

Agreed. It is super easy to make your own "sausage" with ground meat and spices. Then you don't have to read labels for fillers.

Thanks for the feedback. The italian sausage is from Al Fresco:

Total Cal: 130
Cal from fat: 60
Fat: 7g
Carb: 1g
Prot: 15g

They are higher than 30% fat, but look good on carbs and protein. I would consider them a treat every 2-3 weeks. They are delish with sauteed mushrooms, peppers, green onions, and tomato. Made a nice "spaghetti sauce" over zucchini "noodles" last week.

I would be careful with them. They seem too high in fat.

Remember, we need 8 oz of lean protein for dinner. I'm assuming the serving size, however many links the package calls for, doesn't equal the full allowance we need.

If you need to double or triple the serving size then it would be a definite no.

Here's the thing. Your dinner protein should be about 40-50g protein. So you'd have to eat 3X the serving size in order to get the correct amount of protein. Calorie-wise that wouldn't be too bad (390 calories is around what an 8oz turkey burger has) - BUT then you are talking 21g fat (180 calories just from fat). If you were going to use them occasionally, I would suggest using a single serving and then adding 5oz of a lean protein like chicken - use it more for the flavoring than as your main meat protein.

Great answers here. I have to add that I LOVE the Toriani SF syrups. I add the raspberry and white chocolate to my puddings and make delicious shakes blended with water and ice. Another favorite is the chocolate pudding with the black cherry syrup.

I'm always wary of adding processed meats. There's ONE bacon that I'll have and only once a week because there's almost nothing in it and it's good with eggs after weigh in day. But I get too worried about all the little extras that might be lurking, waiting to derail me.

Syrups and Mio I'm okay with but in moderation. The canned tomatoes again are a crapshoot - you really have to read the label for sugars and for sodium. Often lots and lots and lots hidden there.

That is a great idea. Use the sausages for the flavoring and add lean chicken. Thanks!

I bought several flavors and make something like a frappe/shake with them to drink. The chocolate and black cherry sounds great, I will add that to the rotation. I like them too! I am having the vanilla pudding with peppermint and extra water as a drink this morning. Refreshing.

This is also a great reminder for me. I buy the sausages. However, we raise our own beef (grass fed, very healthy) and pork (lean, very healthy) as one way to control the quality of our food. I need to find a good recipe to make italian sausage myself then I won't have to worry as much about the content. I don't like most sausages, just the flavor of the sweet italian ones.

I really appreciate the help from everyone. I am in this journey for a while (probably at least a year) and am seeking a variety of quality food choices so I can stick with it.