I hadn't planned for lunch and got really hungry so I went and bought a scoop of chicken salad and a scoop of tuna salad from the local deli. The line was long and I didn't have a chance to ask about content.

However, both salads have a sweet taste, as if there is sweet pickle relish in them (I also see the pickles).

How much carb will each scoop have in terms of the pickle relish? How much will this harm me during induction?

Another question...

I'm going to my mom's tonight. Not knowing I'm dieting she made my favorite snack food, marinated smelts. They are marinated in vinegar/water/onions but I never eat the onions. However, the smelts are made by dipping into egg, dipping into flour (which coats them rather thinly), and deep fried in oil. Then, they are marinated in the vinegar and water for several days before eating.

I have no way of judging how much carb the flour has. If it has been deeply fried in oil, and then soaked in vinegar/water for several days, does this cut the carb content? I'd love to have some, but would like an idea as to what I'm risking.

Thanks....

AJ

On the 'salads', I've found that the store-made salad in the Superstore Deli (an example) is made with a Miracle-Whip type dressing instead of mayonnaise. Bad news. Furthermore, you will have to go back sometime and get the ingredient list and nutrition info if you can because everybody's recipe is different! More Bad news. If you haven't gone out of ketosis, maybe it's not an issue. I find, in an emergency deli situation, the safest thing to do is buy 6-8 ounces (~300-450g) of roast chicken or turkey breast, and get a fork and a mustard packet.

As for the marinated smelts, I come from a Dutch background myself and am familiar with the marinated fish problem and have actually seen containers/cans of the fried and marinated smelts or other small fish (sardines) in the store. Nutrition info can probably be had from those containers, although I'd be careful and check for sugar in the marinade, that's very usual (a sweet and sour approach).

As for the carbs in the flour, the only thing that might change the carb count would be setting the stuff on fire, pretty well but on the bright side, it ought to be fairly low if you don't eat more than 1!

Hope this helps some.

Thanks, IslandGirl...it helps a lot.

I'm only learning the ins and outs of this, and the concept of Miracle Whip never occurred to me! Yes, the taste could very well have been miracle whip.

I'm not too concerned about getting out of ketosis, since I wasn't in...seem to be having a difficult time getting there. However, I seem to have put on 2 lbs since yesterday, and I'm hoping the salads weren't the reason, though I can't imagine what else it would have been...perhaps water gain, dunno.

Also, thanks on the fish advice. In Estonia I tasted a lot of the sweet/sour marinades, which I don't particularly like. My mother doesn't make the sweet/sour kind...only sour, and very tasty. I think I may be better off with no fish, rather than one, since I'm the kind of person where "one is too many, and a thousand never enough," with certain things and the fish actually border on a binge thing for me at times (because they are soooo good!)

Ah well. Does anyone know of a "flour" that could be used for coating fish that is low/no carb?

Thanks again.....

AJ

Greetings again, AJ...

Live and learn, don't we and it all seems so complicated, but really really really it gets to be pretty straight forward after a while.

I've been converting recipes and playing with my food for a few years now and here's the deal... first thing to look at is "what's the flour for?"... Is it absolutely needed for the texture or flavour (usually not the flavour, flour hasn't got any by itself)?? I always try the recipe first (at least in my mind's eye) without the "filler" or the flour. If I can't even conceive of such a notion, then I look for substitutes... Sooooooo:

1) try the fishlets fried and marinated (there's where the flavour comes in) without the flour, and only if that doesn't work for you, look for a sub, such as:
2) commonly used flour substitutes in lowcarb:
soya flour, soya or whey protein isolate powder, a mix of the above, Atkins' Bake Mix, pseudo-Atkins Bake Mix (see recipe section), finely crushed pork rinds (plain), finely ground nuts (almonds work well with lots of things), OR maybe
3) marinate 'em first and THEN fry them in one of the above.

Hope this gives you some ideas. I've never coated and fried anything that needed to hold up through a marinating, but I have used just about every one of the above coatings... liked the pork rind crumbs and the ground almonds the best

Good luck!