Hello all

I have been low carbing for a couple of weeks now but I'm still not sure I'm on the right tracks- I find the book unclear.

The 'Free Foods' listed in the book say all meats, creams, eggs and most cheeses are free. Does that mean that any carb value found in them should be ignored. I e-mailed the Atkins centre and they said the foods weren't free and only 6oz should be eaten per serving but any carb value could be ingnored. I am confused!

Also, for the likes of sausages, where there is a afirly high carb count, are they free?

I am liking what I see so far and feel so much better for this lifestyle change but I just want to make sure I'm understanding what I'm doing.

Thanks everyone

Annie

Hiya

The cheese is not fee as it has carbs after induction you could eat a lot of it but to start with I would just have a few pieces. Most people when they eat a lot of cheese find it quite hard to lose. The thing that always makes me stay the same is cream don't know why but I try to avoid to much of it only a little amount on top of sugar free jelly. you have to be carefull with sausages as over here they stretch out the meat and add starches . And also a lot of sugar to make them taste good there is little meat in them . Hope this helps I am not an expert but altogether I have don it for eight months and this is my experience. Keep up the good work and hope you lose loads.

Thanks for the advice

Will bear all that in mind, sure I will get the hang of this soon.

Annie

Hiya,

You will need to check the carb count on everything you eat as if you were counting calories or points or sins if you've been on any other diets and each 0.1 carb counts I'm afraid as all those 0.1's and 0.6's add up at the end of the day.

It is hard but you will get used to it, I made the same mistake at the start with eggs and cream. Eggs are about 0.5 and fresh double cream is about 2.6 Per 100ml. The only thing that is really safe is fresh meat and even some bacon has about 0.3 carbs.

Most of the cheddar cheese I buy is zero carbs but you must have a good look around the cheese counter. I also find Bavarian smoked cheese and some Brie has zero carbs too if you like that sort of cheese.

Also watch out for deli meats as these are loaded with hidden carbs, buy the pre-packed ones and they will tell you the carb count on the packs. if your a fan of chicken tikka, Sainsbury's do a lovely ready made one as a treat and that's about 0.9 carbs per 100g.

Hope this helps,

Bez

Hi Bez,

Thanks for your pointers, yeah I have counted many a point in my time so I'm sure I can get the hang of this! I enjoy it much more but occasionally do find it frustration I don't have any bread or biscuits to put all this butter and cheese on!!

Useful info, shame the book isn't so clear- perhaps they should do a UK version- there seems to be a growing community of us low carbers here.

Thanks again, much appreciated- Annie