Hey ladies. I was wondering about nitrates and what not. How many of you REALLY watch for them and don't use them?

I know you are supposed to find lunch meat and bacon that is nitrate free, but I can only seem to find that in meatless soy-bacon. I bought some to try but I paid the same price for 5 oz that I do for a pound of regular! So in all honesty, how many of you do NOT use regular bacon, ham or lunch meat and have you noticed a difference? I am not an egg person at all, so I need to find something else for breakfast 6 out of 7 days a week.

Where do you find Zcarb bars? Is that a certain brand? I scoured the store tonight and could find a couple kinds with no carbs, including Atkins Endulge, but nothing called Zcarb? Any other alternative recommendations to the Zcarb bars?


Also, for you Stevia users, I can't seem to find it in the grocery store so I bought a small thing of Splenda until I can. Do you have to buy it in a healthfood store?

Cinny - I use regular bacon. I searched high and low for nitrate free bacon and in my corner of the world it doesnt exist. As for Ham I buy Hillshire Farms packed in natural juices. It is the only ham around that I found with 0carbs. I slice it up, bag and freeze it, leaving a bit out to munch on. I swear this ham has saved my sanity more then once.
The only place I've seen Stevia is at a little natural foods store around here and Zcab bars are at 7-11's, Walgreens and SuperWalmarts.
Hope this helps some

Yeah I think I am going to buy regular bacon too. Especially with Dh starting. I have a feeling he won't like the meatless kind. Yuck! I will probably just pick up ham and stuff at the Wild Oats here since that seems to be the place for Stevia as well.

I never checked Walmart for the zcarb bars and I live there. Thanks for the info, it helped a lot!

Hi there. In the Atkin's for life (yellow cover) paper back, he said that bacon didn't matter with the nitrates and sugar (just me passing on 2nd had info here), but the ham did matter. It was all about the way it's cooked? Hmmm...so I just get Schwan's thick bacon and it works for us.

I've found that I can only obsess about so many things. So I don't watch the nitrates. I figure that if I want to have a "normal" life, I need to relax. So I watch my carbs, make sure I'm eating lots of good, whole foods and just a few "frankenfoods" and get my exercise. That's good enough for me

Randi - I saw Stevia at GNC when I was there over the weekend

Thanks!