Anybody doing Atkins without counting carbs in veggies?
 

Hi there,
I've been LCing off and on since Jan 2002 and started with Atkins but have not been back on it since. The last 4 weeks I've been doing South Beach Diet (which I consider low-carb even if the author of the book does not :lol: . What I like about it is that you don't count anything - carbs, calories, etc. What I don't like about it is that it is a low-fat diet - mainly for the saturated and trans fats being unhealthy, etc. I can go with the lean meats and no butter (actually like it better) but the low fat dairy is not something I enjoy. I eat quite a bit of dairy (though not excessively - probably something like 3-4 oz of cheese a day, 1 oz of sour cream a couple of times a week, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese a couple of times a week, and a low-fat plain yogurt a couple of times a week - ok, I guess that's quite a bit :lol: ) and I'm having a hard time with the low fat dairy. So I want to go back to OWL and do that with the full fat dairy except not count carbs in veggies (I find it motivates me to eat a lot more of them - at every meal and snacks).

I'm wondering if there are others on Atkins here who don't count carbs in the veggies but do in everything else. Do you find you're still getting all the benefits of LCing?

Thanks,
Tam

Yes. But don't really count at all on maintenance.
 

I don't count most vegetables but don't eat root vegetables -- potatoes, beets, most turnips,etc. -- at all. Didn't on induction. On maintenance, I don't really count anything. I just don't eat any starch: rice, pasta, bread, etc. Eat a lot of lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, eggplant, ad lib. Trans fats are bad but easily avoided. The dangers in saturated fat, however, are greatly exaggerated. Substituting carbs in place of saturated fat-containing foods (like butter) increases risk for cardiovascular disease.

I quit counting green vegetables around the time I finished induction. I've never met anyone who got fat eating broccoli and spinach! I was a little more careful with squash and such, but I've been eating all the green leafy stuff I wanted for months and months -- 20-30g net of veggies on average, which is a LOT of green stuff. I limited my other carbs pretty strictly while losing weight, so veggies really were my primary carb source. As for getting all the benefits of LCing, of course I do -- LCing is about getting HEALTHY carbs, not NO carbs! Veggies are good for you, and 20g of veggie carbs has a lot less impact on blood sugar (and thus weight loss) than 20g of, say, dairy carbs. I say eat all the green veggies you can stand!

I agree with everyone else. Pretty much after I stopped doing induction, I stopped tracking my veggie carbs. I just eat what feels right and stay away from the veggies that I know to be high in carbs (like carrots, corn, potatoes).

I don't count anything either. I do check my calories occasionally to make sure I'm not eating too much altogether. I also eat as many vegies as I want. That's what makes this WOE so easy. It's a great WOL!!

LOL....of course not. I mean, who in his/her right mind could stand eating so much of the stuff to actually create an energy surplus? Geez, ever try to meet a CCL level of 100 carbs with just green veggies? Impossible....unless one were a gazelle or something like that.

I'm not all that sure you can do that even if you include starchy veggies and fruits. I'm trying to move into maintenance mode, but I seem to be losing faster at 50-60g, so I'm trying to increase it a bit more. Since I don't really like whole grains and legumes, I'm getting all my carbs from veggies, fruits, nuts, and dairy, and it is a lot harder to get significant carbs from that stuff than you'd think!

I know exactly what you mean. I've been on Maintenance (trying for 100 - 120 carbs) and finding it impossible to reach with just fruits and veggies. On most days, unless I have some kind of refined carbs, I only end up with about 70 or 80 grams of carbs.

Like you, I never cared to much for grains. Even as a kid, I would never eat wheat bread, brown rice, or anything which wasn't refined. And, without refined carbs, I'm really at a lost over what carbs to reintroduce into my eating since I don't really like or miss any of them--the ONLY carbs I miss are the refined ones, like refined pasta (no wheat ones for me), white rice (will never eat brown rice), white bread (can't stand wheat or grainy breads), and real ice cream, cakes, and pastries.

Never thought I'd miss the good ole potato, but I do. Imagine that? LOL

Regards,

Frederick

I do include veggies in my carb counts, but I dont feel guilty if I eat a few extra veggies either....I totally avoid the root veggies too!

Thanks everyone for the replies. I'm glad to see I'm making some sense :). I don't plan on eating any root veggies either or any startchy carbs - most of my carbs will come from dairy.

Tam