Please Explain: 3 cups of salad does not equal 20 carbs
 

I've been following PP (loosely) but have hit a long stall. I'm considering switching to Atkins in order to break the stall. I've read atkins book, and browsed various websites.....they all say that induction should be no more than 20 carbs a day....and that its OK to deduct fiber from the carb count. But at the same time it says you can only have 3 cups of salad, or 2 cups of salad and 1 cup of cooked vegetable per day. But that is nowhere near 20 carbs! (3 cups of salad greens only has about 2 carbs after you subtract the fiber.) I tried staying with just 3 cups of veggies per day, but had a very hard time. When you actually measure 1 cup of loosely packed salad greens, its a very tiny amount. It takes about 3 cups to fill up my salad bowl. one salad a day feels awfully skimpy.
(But if I use the figures from fitday, you can have pretty generous amounts of veggies for 20 carbs.)

So can I have 20 carbs of veggies or not? (obviously, will lose a few carbs a day to things like cheese, eggs, salad dressing, etc. but even 12-17 carbs from veggies would be an improvement.)
Thanks for your input. :-)

Atkins induction includes more carbs than in veggies which is why there is a limit on those. I personally believe - via fitday that you can have more than the limits shown but that is because I haven't had everything listed here in one day.

eggs - 1=.6 and most people have more than one, cheese - 3-4 oz a day is 3-4 carbs a day, Olives, Avocados, Sour Cream, lemon juice, each artificial sweetner has a carb, each cup of decaf or regular coffee has a carb an oz, heavy cream, Salad Dressing under 1 carb per 2 tbsps, even vinegar has some carb count...

It's true that salad doesn't get you up to 20, which is why it's fun to get to eat high fat carbs like cheese, olives, and avocado. I rarely got up to 20 on induction myself. Personally, I would just eat one big lunch salad and then have a small veggie portion for dinner. That way I got different veggies and wouldn't feel so bogged down by salad.

It's good to stay below 20, gets that carb ache right outta ya!

:)

If you check the carb counters you will find that broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, yellow squash, green beans etc etc all have a lot more carbs in them than what lettuce does.

Which is why you are allowed 20 carbs a day for variety. Lettuce alone can be pretty boring and if that is all you had to look forward to I wonder just how many of us would stick to this WOL.

So enjoy the variety, endulge in something other than that bowl of lettuce leaves. Reach out and try something new.