regarding sweetners, it is up to your coach. In general the rule is only sucralose (white splenda) or stevia. All sweetener should be used in moderation as it can create carb values as it accumulates in your day. Reason for this is, 1 packet is just under a carb but 2 packets is more than 1.5 carbs. Stevia is general a truly zero carb and a zero glycemic load. Many coaches do prefer it but only a few insist on its use.

Acesulphame K (potassium) is also used to sweeten the products. It is acceptable if you find it in a similar product.

Aspartame is an "if coach permits". It is generally not permitted under the belief it can cause a spike in insulin for some people. Some coaches have spoken directly to Dr. Tran and have learned at one point aspartame was in the products and did not effect weight loss. It is also learned that in general, aspartame will not slow you down. This is not the current preferred sweetener with Ideal Protein and the use of it falls in the "if your coach allows" realm. If using it helps you to stay on program and avoid sugars and you are able to have moderation in using it, many would rather you do that than cheat with something sugary.

Sugar alcohols are acceptable to some extent. AVOID maltodextrin. It causes a glycemic load and insulin spike similar to white table sugar. Some people are sensitive to other sugar alcohols so if you use them, monitor how your body is responding, it you feel a sugar high, or if you stall, perhaps you should avoid that one too.

Regarding the water additive. It has been used the way you describe by a few on the program. One a day like that is definitely not a problem however, 3 might be. When it says zero carb per serving it means 1/2 packet. If you are using the equivalent of 4 - 6 servings a day you could be sneaking in carbs. Just watch it in case you slow down and maybe, gradually use 1/2 packet per liter if you enjoy the flavored water so much.

Enjoy the program! Sounds like you have great preparation happening!




Your recipes sound GREAT!!! We would love to reference them again in the future! Would you please add them to the recipes2 thread! I can't wait to try the broccoli!

here is the recipes link!
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...cipes-2-a.html

Carla - I just posted those recipes and have more I'll try to add later. I like having variety!

I am so excited to have found this forum of people doing this with me!! I have been finding the veggies a hard thing, but some of the recipes on here sound awesome!! I even cooked with zucchini for the first time last night! Thanks everyone!
4 weeks, 21 pounds, 17.5 inches lost!

Hi, this is my first time posting. I started the IP diet yesterday and it went well. I am not much of a veggi person so maybe this will help me appritiate them more.

Well aboard! My husband and I have been on IP for 8 weeks. He was never a veggie person. He really only ate them when I drug him out to Sweet Tomatoes (a salad bar restaurant.) He has totally taken to eatting veggies. We bought a bunch of new kinds and taste tested them. He also created his own italian dressing and stir fry. Experimenting and finding the tastes and flavors you like is really key. Tonya

I started eatting zuchini on this program too! My friend that referred my husband and I to the IP coach created a really yummy dish. I am happy to share the recipee...

• Lay out 2 zuchinis sliced lengthwise on bottom of 9x11 baking dish
• 2-3 tbsp tomato sause (no sugar added, of course) or fresh sliced tomatoes spread over zucchini
• Spinkle Italian spices (oregano & parsley), salt and pepper
• Lay fresh basil leaves over tomato & spices
• Spread 2 cups lightly sauteed mushrooms (I am not a big fan, so I just laid a few)
• 1 lb sauteed italian chicken sausage (I used turkey)
• sprinkle with rice cheese (I used veggie cheese)
• Bake 20 min at 350, let stand 5 minutes, Enjoy! (I baked for a bit longer to soften the zuchini)

You can also replace the zuchini with peppers and stuff them with the ingredients. My husband is not a huge fan, so I had zuchini and he had stuffed green peppers. Tonya

I have always been bad about drinking water.... on day 5 of this diet and everything is going well - except the water!! I found a drink called ICE that has no calories, fat, carbs, sugar.... it is a flavored sparkling water. Do you think that I can use that as an addition to my water intake for the day?

When making your Choc. Pudding....add a smidge of sugar-free hazelnut syrup.......OHHHHHH! It tastes so much like Nutella! Yummy!

Hi,

I'm a newbie as well (1st day - so far so good) and have a couple of questions, one very similar to montanagirly. I wondered if Perrier was allowed (since it's carbonated) and if it is counted as part of our water.
Also, how do most people take in their olive oil? I'm not a big oil and viniger dressing fan. I did try drizzling some on cooked broccoli but wouldn't mind other ideas.
Last, just to clarify, lettuce, celery and cucumber is IN ADDITION to the two cups required veggies?

By the way, what a wonderful site this is! I am so excited about this diet!

I have been using my olive oil to cook my meats when I do chicken and fish. Otherwise I found a great salad dressing for my salad
1/2 c. olive oil
1/2 c. vinegar
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. Splenda
1 t. seasalt
Mix altogether. Can add garlic, oregano, hotsauce, etc. to your taste.

First of all, I think the reason your questions have gone unanswered is because most people, who aren't newbies, don't read this thread. It is specifically for tips. If they have questions they post them in the daily chat (or cat, as it's called today). You'd be better off posting there. Likewise, recipes go in the recipe section so they can be shared with all IPers.

Regardless, here are some answers I hope help. ICE, if I recall correctly, is allowed. An easy way to find out is to Google site:3fatchicks.com "ideal Protein" ICE. Perrier, because it's carbonated, is not.

Lettuce, preferably Romaine because of the variety and quality of the nutrients, is a separate category of allowed food and should be part of the daily diet. Cucumbers and celery are allowed vegetables and should be counted as such.

If you don't use olive oil in salads the best use for it is to poach or simmer your meats with it or use in a stir fry. You don't want to fry anything, and you don't want to get the olive oil above 140 degrees (unless you're using special high heat olive oil) because it can become carcinogenic.

And one other suggestion -- if you don't get a daily e-mail from 3FatChicks that allows you to go to all the threads then use this URL: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/ideal-protein-diet-236/

It will open up a wide range of [really educational and, occasionally, funny] topics. Bon voyage as you set out on this adventure.

IMHO, the things that work best (at least for me) are the preparation and staying committed to this treatment program til you reach maintenance. Do the program as strictly as you can tolerate to have the biggest losses. My tips are:

get a salt shaker and daily (or the night before) measure ½ tsp of REAL salt into the shaker; use it by the time you go to sleep even if you have to lick it from your hand or have a hot salt water drink. It will stave off any headaches, fatigue, and may help with any bowel issues down the line.

get a pill box with removable day slots or something portable, every night or for the whole week, lay out the supplements you need, plan a place you are at often during your day and remember to take them.

get a high quality omega 3/6/9 oil like udo’s, barleans omega twin, or a flax oil. Use it for your 1 -2 tsp of oil per day and use the olive oil sparingly for cooking.

find online or at a local store some Walden Farms (WF) dressings in packets togo. I like the regular Italian best but everyone is different. Keep it handy. You may also want to keep a bottle or two at home if you like their flavors.

Prepare a purse pack (Ziploc bag works) with: several packets of your on program sweetner, a few WF to go dressings, some hot tea bags, and 1 or 2 IP drink packets. This will be your lifeline if you are out to eat or get caught out at a meal or snack time. The dressing helps you when restaurants offer nothing, the tea gives you a variety choice to water and coffee and usually hot water is free, the sweetener saves you if the restaurant only offers off plan equal , saccharine, or sugar, and the packets are great for a quick fix with a purchased bottled water from anywhere!

Plan to prepare your food on two set days a week. By this I mean, measure your meat into portions of appropriate weight for you to grab and cook with (keep in fridge or freezer). I cook for two so, I know I need a portion for me and a portion for him. I just work in weights of 5 or 7 oz now instead of 1 or 2 pounds. ALSO, wash and chop your veggies for a couple of days at a time (kind of like home prepping those prepared grocery kits) . This makes it easy to cook the veggies quickly and to incorporate them because, it is now less work. as a new mom (Cadensmom) you will like having things quick/handy because doing a lot of prep with a baby is hard to keep up on! I know this from experience! Keep handy the things you plan to use a lot. Also, having things ready to go allows you to grab a Ziploc baggy when you are rushing out of the house and might wish you had an on program snack with you. Keep one extra portion of meat cooked/ready in the fridge. It is great if you get in and are starved and have gone way past when you should have eaten. It takes the pressure off and prevents you from choosing a food you shouldn't if you don't have the meat handy and like eggs make 2 whole eggs and 2 egg whites. It is fast and on program. ALSO, when you make up a salad, I have found it helpful to make an extra one or two without dressing and put them in plastic containers or baggies. This way they are ready if I have to plan a to go meal and If I am tired I don't have the issue of making one.

EAT OFTEN: plan to eat every 2.5 to 3 hours no more than 4 if you can avoid it especially the first weeks. it will help keep you in control of the cravings as you go through sugar/carb withdrawal. Eat breakfast, a morning snack of veggies, lunch, afternoonsnack of veggie or IP drink, dinner, evening snack of veggies or IP snack if you didn’t have it in the afternoon.

DRINK AT LEAST 64 oz of water every day.. try for 3 liters or more. It will help flush fat and toxins from your body and reduce the weight. I prepare 2 liter bottles and a 2 liter jug of water the night before and keep it in the fridge because I love cold water! Then it is ready to go when I need to leave the house and I KNOW by looking where I am on my water for the day.

Keep a daily notebook of how you are feeling and what you are eating. Note if something makes you feel better or worse and at the end of the weeks your weight loss. you will start to notice what foods you metabolize best.
ALSO take pictures and measurements when you start! You will be amazed how many inches you lose and how fast. It will happen even on weeks you aren’t dropping much weight.

Keep your preparation sheet and foods list on or near the fridge. It works great for quick reference and helps family members too.

Set alarm times on your phone if you are busy and need to remember when to eat or drink. It works great and, especially with a baby or work, it is easy to lose track of time and then wonder why you didn’t eat or how you got so hungry.

To start, consider not having any salmon or tuna for the first month. The fat is a little higher than they want you to have. ONLY have the select vegetables and none from the occasional section for at least 2 to 3 weeks, until your coach advises otherwise or as long as you can. AVOID THE ROOT VEGGIES these have high starches by the nature of what they are and are designed to do for plant growth. Use splenda or stevia/truvia/purevia as sweetners only. NO GUM, MINTS, SODA. NO RESTRICTED FOODS until your coach advises and even then think about not using them til you are past 90 days if you want the biggest program results. These are great for keeping you interested in the program but will slow you down a little or more if you use them too often.

Keep an assortment of hot teas and herbal/decaf teas that you like. When a craving strikes have a cup of hot tea. It really helps calm the stomach. I find the good earth decaf original spice works great to kill most all of my sugar wishes!

Buy salt free/sugar free spices and herbs. Read the ingredients list as much or more the the nutrition chart to make sure that is what you are getting.

Buy some of the torani, da vinci, or artisan flavored sugar free (splenda based) coffee/Italian soda syrups. They are great for doctoring up coffee, water, and IP drinks and puddings.

Great kitchen tools to consider or drag out if you own but haven't used in awhile: Ziploc baggies, scale, good measuring spoons, cups, ladels, etc. , steamer, food processor, magic bullet, George foreman like grill, turbo cooker, garlic press, shaker containers ( I use old peanut butter and spaghetti sauce jars at home because the pour out so well and clean nice. I use an old spice jar to keep my homemade salad dressing pre-prepared in and waiting in the fridge. I use other old spice jars for my personal spice mixes I use often. I buy the prepared jar ginger and minced garlic at the store, I use a lot and this is fast and easy and I get the jar for later. I have 2 liter bottles for my water and 3 shaker containers for mixing drinks. It keeps things available. I got them at the dollar store. I also have 2 soft side coolers, small and large with ice blocks( in the freezer), so that if I am going to be out running around all day, at meetings, or at work, etc. I can keep my on program food handy. It only takes a few minutes to grab a snack or drink and maybe 20 to eat an IP drink/salad lunch. I can usually get away from anywhere for that long. A SHOEBOX! I love my IP FOOD shoebox. Silly but it made a great way to organize all my packets and took up less space and I wasn’t knocking boxes down all the time in my pantry! LOL

Don’t exercise. Keep things light and easy for a few weeks at least while your body makes its new adjustments! It may seem counter intuitive but you will have the results you want and can add the toning and exercise back a short while down the road. If you must exercise keep your heart rate between 50 an 75% of your maximum.

Another tip I have found useful, cook a whole turkey/chicken/roast and portion out the meat per serving then freeze... super easy for a supper on the go or when ya just dont feel like cooking

Dear showgirlaz and other Senior members...

After spending days reading all the newbie posts, FAQ posts and several daily posts... I admit to being in awe of you and all the other senior members... not only for your informative, insightful and personable posts, but also for your willingness to assist those of us who have entered these sacred halls in search of sanctuary from our ignorance, comfort for our ills and fellowship in our successes. Humbly, I join countless others in saying "THANK YOU" for all you have done.

Sincerely,
Aslang

Carla, I have used so much of your helpful information in a "cookbook" and "tip book" I have compiled for friends we have referred to the weight loss clinic we go to for our Ideal Protein program. You are such a wealth of information, and I cannot express adequately to you just how much you have helped me with our program. We love IP and what it has done for our health and our looks. I absolutely believe it saved my hubby's life. He is a new man (not only about 65 lbs thinner, but a whole new attitude!)