[carb slayer]

Hi everybody!

I am a brand new member and a brand new south beach dieter. I have a few questions but want to introduce myself first. I am 46 years old and have been a diabetic since the age of 9. I had a kidney transplant back in 1983, which means I now take steroids in order to maintain the kidney. That is not so good when you don’t want to gain weight. I also recently lost my beloved guide dog, Jaala following a bout of cancer and laryngeal paralysis and that has contribute to my weight gain as well. I have been blind for 23 years now and food is one of my pleasures and downfalls! I use a screen reader in order to use a computer and it reads the screen to me. I live in Georgia and down here, we cook things fat, fat, fat!

OK, I have been reading the SBD book on tape and I am a bit confused about a couple of things. My husband and I are planning on Sunday to be our begin date so I want to make sure I know what I am doing. The following things have me confused and I would appreciate any answers you all can provide:

1. In the book, it says that eggs are OK but yet it uses Egg Beaters in many of the recipes. This makes no sense to me. Can I use real eggs if I prefer? If not, why not?

2. It mentions that bread is a no-no except for certain types. Is this true in Phase 1 as well or do I have to leave all breads completely out until I get to phase II?

3. It talks of bacon, Canadian bacon, turkey bacon and other things. Is there any reason to use one over the other? Can real bacon be used? I don’t mind for myself but my husband is gonna be one tough cookie if he has to give up his bacon and “real” eggs.

I have been reading some of the recipes on this site and they sound delicious. I love to cook and think I will make a lot of this even when we are into Phase II. Can someone please give me just a basic list of what is a can do list for Phase I? I hear the tape telling me that nuts and cheesses and meats are A OK to eat but I’m not sure if that means you can eat as much as you want or is that limited as well? I listened to the meal plans for phase I and I see they list snacks and meals but I seem to remember hearing that you could have all you wanted of these things (the nuts, cheeses, meats). But it is saying 1 cheese stick as a snack. Am I totally wrong on this?

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. Once I figure out what our meal plan is going to be, I am going to make up a big list for my hubby to go to the store after and hopefully, Sunday will be our start date. Oh yes, btw, I weigh 217 right now. I put on 25 lbs. After I quit smoking this past December following a medium stroke which I am pretty much over now. No permanent damage other than I seem to have a bit of a problem in my throat, (vocal chords). Thanks for listening to all my rabbling.’

Best Regards,
Lynn in Georgia
a.k.a. Carb Slayer

[Rosalie]

Hi Lynn

First of all welcome to the boards and I hope you will find the help that you are looking for.

I am afraid that I cannot help you with the South Beach Diet as I am not too familiar with it although I have heard people say that the first phase is similar to Atkins and the second phase similar to Sugar Busters! The thread that you have posted to is actually the Sugar Busters Weekly Support Board. There is a separate messge board for SOUTH BEACH DIET and I will put the link at the end of this message.

That being said you are more than welcome to join us on the Sugar Busters boards. Most of us follow SB but we have had people who have also tried/changed from Atkins, WW, etc. If you decide to join us here go to the current Sugar Busters Weekly Support board. When you are in that thread click reply to add your message to that thread. This way you will be more likely to get a reply than you will by starting a new thread.

Good luck and look forward to seeing you around.

SOUTH BEACH DIET MESSAGE BOARD

Marie.