I restrict myself to one serving a day because it is sooooo good! That's a half cup of ricotta! Calories DO count. Sorry! Once I had it for breakfast so you know I understand your addiction.
The ricotta desert is not considered part of our "sweets" allowance, as it is built in to the daily menus. But you have to remember that even though you don't count calories on SBD, calories are the bottom line no matter what eating plan you follow!
I read somewhere recently that Dr. Agatson said he sometimes has 2 ricotta deserts a day, but that he also cuts back somewhere else to "make room" for the extra intake of food. So if you want ricotta twice a day, go for it, but you may want to adjust your food intake to "make room!"
Agreed -- while calories aren't the main focus, it's unreasonable to think we can consume unlimited amounts of food. The whole idea is to eat until you're satisfied, no more, and if we do that, counting calories usually isn't necessary. Out of curiousity, I counted the number of calories I consume in a day on the South Beach Diet (Phase II) and was shocked to see that it is between 1300 and 1500, sometimes even less. What shocked me about it is that I'm not restricting myself, I eat until I'm full, I don't count calories, and I'm amazed that it's possible to be satisfied on 1300 or so calories. I know that when I was on Slim-Fast and actually counting calories, I could never stay under 1500, as hard as I tried! Kind of weird... anyway, I got sidetracked. Sorry! :-D
I don't eat any of the sweets on the menu, such as fudgebars and such...it's the old inner atkins voice. Perhaps since I'm indulging in extra ricotta dessert this is a good thing.
The low carb plans work well for me because I can eat until I am sated but I do't binge eat on the allowed foods.
I still can't get used to all the choices I have! Imagine, after weeks of Atkins induction I'm like a kid in a candy ( suga free, of course) candy store!
I too love the ricotta cheese and was having almost one cup for dinner dessert. That is about 400 calories. I have cut back to 1/4 cup. . Nuts are a real diet buster for me. Even though they are allowed , for me they hamper my weight loss.
If you are losing i would not worry about the ricotta. If however you are like me and at a stall for a couple of weeks, check your portions.
If you think the gummy bears were bad, I had an experience with Hershey's sugar free chocolates last night that I do NOT care to repeat.... if you eat those, be careful. Ugh. They did nasty things to my stomach!