Hi -- I was told we could only have stevia and splenda. Some people use a splash or two of the Vanilla drink as a substitute for cream and sugar in their coffee. You might consider trying that. I kind of like heating the entire vanilla drink, adding a bit of cinnamon frothing it and adding it to a few shots of espresso - makes it taste like a vanilla latte. I use this as my breakfast a few times a week - it is a nice change from the herb omelette which I love. I also like to blend the cappuccino drink with ice and a few shots of espresso (notice a pattern -- I blame it on my Seattle barista days :)).

I too wonder about the gallon of water thing - that is how much I normally drink even when I am not on this eating plan - thankfully that is something very manageable for me on this diet.

I just started this program so I am certainly not an expert - but this is what I have been told by my coach. Also as an FYI to your wife I just finished breast feeding and decided it was time to kick it into gear since breastfeeding did not help me one bit with losing the pregnancy weight - as a matter of fact I gained weight breastfeeding --ugggggg

Also I forgot to mention this but it might help -- I never eat the soups by themselves I always add steamed or sauteed veggies -- the leek soup tastes better with a bit more water mushrooms (I use ****ake and crimini) asparagus tips and broccoli - kind of tastes like cream of broccoli soup that way. Same with the mushroom soup - add 1 cup of your lunch veggies to the soup it helps - I find adding mushrooms, green onions, cabbage and zucchini and cauliflower to this soup makes it taste like a veggie stew -- I also top it with kale chips (I found the recipe for kale chips on the recipe thread - which is very helpful) - anyway I serve it up proud and think I am eating something very fancy (I should add I used to be a chef so I am taking this diet as a culinary challenge to see if I can re-engineer my thoughts on food and ingredients) I am willing to try anything and everything to make these meals as restaurant worthy as possible :)

The omelette and leek soup are not restricted. just FYI

cooked protein twice a day? Interesting. What is the reason your coach has you doing that? Just curious.

My coach allows restricteds right off the bat, but I chose to stay away from them, and still do for the most part.

I have to have my water ICE cold to drink it, and then chug it fast. I recently bought a 32 oz bottle at walmart with a straw, and the straw seems to make it easier to get my water in. I've always hated water. I would also agree that different waters have different tastes. Never quite believed it until we bought a Brita, and the water has "no" flavor!

I didn't have a pill box to begin with either, just crossed the boxes off in my book as I took them.

Sweeteners
 

It sounds like coaches vary on the sweeteners they allow.

I've been told that stevia and Splenda are on the IP protocol.

Aspartame is O carb, 0 calories, but has gotten bad press for being an appetite stimulant. (!) Do some research online, lots of info available.

Xylitol and Erythritol are not allowed because they are sugar alcohols and have carbs. This seems to be under controversy as of late.

Read all your packages faithfully... some sweeteners are blends of allowed and not allowed sweeteners, like Truvia.

Hope this helps!

Thank you. I will just stick with Splenda or Stevia. So is there no chewing gums available that are acceptable to protocol?

There is a chewing gum my coach allows called "Spry" chewing gum -- typically we are not supposed to have gum but since I am in front of people all day she lets me chew 1 piece a day -- I take little tiny nibbles of the gum. Ask your coach I think each coach is different regarding this issue - but this is what mine allows -- I keep reminding myself that my goal is to reset the pancreas and if chewing gum does something biologically to hinder that then it is better to just hang tight and stick to one piece of gum if I need it.

Have any of you all had your coach tell you that you can use Ken's salad dressing? My coach told me that, but I can't find anything else that supports that. She even wrote it on my diet plan. I know it is low in carbs, but has a good bit of fat. I haven't used it, have used Walden farms, she said that was okay too.

Have been having a mother of a headache the last few days... any suggestions on how to help alleviate that or does it eventually go away?

Aletoid Smalls may be a better choice for you, especially if you get the dry mouth syndrome that affects some people for a short while.

I thought for sure no questions asked i would get headaches with how my diet consisted of all carbs and all sugar. but i didn't. the ONLY thing i can think that helped was the fact that i was sure to have sea salt on everything. I have heard people say take 1/2tsp or maybe a bit more of sea salt and put it in warm water and slam it and within 30 min the headache is gone. Like i said i just have been putting sea salt on all my veggies and in the omelette or soups that i eat too. good luck!

Thanks! I had such a bad headache and nausea this evening that I couldn't eat dinner and went to bed. I read your post when I got up and did put the salt in some water and salted my salad and forced it down. I actually feel better now! I haven't been using the salt very well. I am a cardiac nurse educator for patients and it goes against everything I teach to add salt to my food!! But it did make a difference, thanks!

I am so glad to hear that. I'm the same way as far as salt goes. i NEVER used it before. I just didn't feel the need or desire to put it on my food. and now i'm like ok sprinkle here...sprinkle there. I hope this easy change will keep the headaches away ;)

a great alternative to chewing gum is tea tree oil chewing sticks. you can get these at most health food stores. they freshen your breath and give you something to chew on. i started using these after i quit smoking as an urge suppressant, but my coach said they are fine to use on IP to kill the ketosis breath.

Thanks! I too quit smoking and used sunflower seeds as my crutch, but can no longer eat sunflower seeds as they are not on protocol. I will see if I can find these in my area. My ink pens are taking a beating or chewing I should say. Thanks again.