Hi there!

[purple_mog]

Hey folks,

my first post on these forums for quite a while now :wave: I've done Atkins previously for about a year and a half and found it worked wonders for my weight and health - BUT I didn't like relying on l/c prepacked foods and really missed a lot of the things I love like fruit and oatcakes.

So, after a bunch of stuff happening including separating from husband I'm back on the smart eating plan wagon and opting for South Beach this time as it seems much more suitable for me :yum: Have the main book, and enjoying reading the recipes in this forum - its always good to know there's other folks out there!

Only little blip has been when I tried the sweetened ricotta cheese for dessert - yeuch! The taste and texture was all wrong :( I have sf jelly so thats fine for now - but any other good hints, or have I done something terribly wrong with the ricotta?

cheers!

Morag

[Charran]

Welcome Morag! Hope you have lots of success on the beach! As far as your ricotta desert, I have to tell you I felt the same way upon trying it. I think it's an acquired taste/texture thing myself.

[Judynyc]

HI and Welcome!! :wave:

I had the same reaction to the ricotta cream dessert...not for me...but there are other ways of having sweet treats that work well.

Sugar free chocolate pudding
no sugar added fudgsicles
sugar free jello

You may have trouble finding the fudgsicles on your side of the pond but shop around to see that they do have in no sugar added items.

Truth be told, even on Atkins, whole and fresh food is best....packaged foods are bad :thdown: ;)

My best to you!! :D

[sundancerk]

Welcome! I think the ricotta thing is a bit hit and miss as far as finding a consistency/preparation of it that you like. I use ricotta, cocoa powder, S/F Torani syrup (I like the hazelnut), a little Splenda, and just a dollop or two of Cool Whip Lite. It makes it really creamy and yummy.

I'm not sure what I did back when I did phase one for the first time, but I remember not liking it much then.

Good luck on your weight loss journey! :)

[icemanjs4]

I'm actually one of the few people that likes the ricotta, but I've pretty much made up my own recipe that I call Brownie Batter.

I take the ricotta and add to it around 1 Tbsp of DARK Chocolate cocoa powder. Hershey's makes a special dark cocoa powder that's SO much better than the normal stuff

Here's a random Ebay link showing the picture
http://cgi.ebay.com/Hersheys-Special-Dark-Cocoa-Natural-and-Dutched-Cocoas_W0QQitemZ160108295064QQihZ006QQcategoryZ14307QQcmdZViewItem

Add in about 1-2 tsp of vanilla extract and some artificial sweetener and stir well. If it's too thick and dry add a splash of milk.

It becomes rich and chocolatey, and with the texture of the ricotta, it really feels like you're scraping the bottom of the bowl of brownie batter.

Try it and see if you like it. Best of luck.

[purple_mog]

thanks for the welcome ;) and especially the revised ricotta dessert from iceman - will try that later this weekend I think.


One quick question - when I did Atkins I tended to find that I just didn't really get hungry at all. Now on SB I am noticing that I am hungry more often, its not a horrid sugar level crash hunger, but my belly is making itself heard! :agree:

for example: this morning I swam about 1000 metres front crawl fairly continuously, then had breakfast out on a 1 hr walk with my dogs. Breakfast was two quorn sausages (low carb and low fat), a tomato and two triangles of lite Laughing Cow cheese, and lots of water.

So I swam about 8am, ate about 9am and now its 11.30am and I am definitely hungry! Is this okay? Should I just be snacking? Am off now to boil an egg :yum:

ta :)

[droppin]

Welcome aboard

[Annie1gi]

Good luck to you hon!!!!!

[ValerieL]

I've found the ricotta too grainy too. I got around it by putting it in a high powered blender (like a Magic Bullet (http://www.buythebullet.com/), not sure if you have that in the UK). It really smooths it out and makes it creamy. I use it as a topping on fruit, lower fat that whipped cream.

[Judynyc]

thanks for the welcome ;) and especially the revised ricotta dessert from iceman - will try that later this weekend I think.


One quick question - when I did Atkins I tended to find that I just didn't really get hungry at all. Now on SB I am noticing that I am hungry more often, its not a horrid sugar level crash hunger, but my belly is making itself heard! :agree:

for example: this morning I swam about 1000 metres front crawl fairly continuously, then had breakfast out on a 1 hr walk with my dogs. Breakfast was two quorn sausages (low carb and low fat), a tomato and two triangles of lite Laughing Cow cheese, and lots of water.

So I swam about 8am, ate about 9am and now its 11.30am and I am definitely hungry! Is this okay? Should I just be snacking? Am off now to boil an egg :yum:
ta :)

Yes!! Eat!! :agree:

If you haven't already done so, please go up top and look at the Meal Plan Guide for phase I and phase II. They are located with the Updated Food lists pinned near the top of this forum.

In the SBD book, Dr Agatson talkes about the fact that staying on any diet/ food plan does not have to be painful. That when we are hungry, we should eat. The Meal Plan Guide requires that we snack and eat meals every 2-3 hours.

Before I found the Meal Plan Guides at the main SBD web site, I was very confused but after finding it, life became much easier for me. The way its laid out works well for me as I'm a grazer and end up eating mini-meals all day. 200-300 calories approx at a time, 5-6 times a day.

Your morning sounds lovely with a swim and walk with your dogs. Enjoy your day.:sunny:

[scorpio381]

Blech! I also tried and hated the ricotta cheese recipe, but I tried it with regular cottage cheese, sugar free almond syrup, splenda and slivered almonds, and it was MUCH better.

Good luck!!