Hi Minus30,

I'm sure there are people here, Bill L for instance, who have more in depth knowledge of good carbs-bad carbs and good fat-bad fat than I do. I'll give it a shot anyway and hope they chime in.

Good carbs are those foods that are low on the glysemic index...if you look at pages 70-74 of the SBD book you will find such an index...there are several more comprehensive ones on the internet that you can find by doing a quick search.

At the point I am at in Phase II I try to eat foods that are low for the most part...50 and under...I allow myself to eat foods in the 75 range occaisionally and foods that are over 75 rarely. The exception to this is whole wheat bread...I have around 3 servings per week. I've seen information somewhere stating that 70 and under is ok...I try to be more careful than that for now.

If you look at the foods allowed list for phase I they are for the most part very low on the glysemic index on pages 70-74.

One of the things I have done is to eat meals that I always have liked and modify them to be low carb...for most of meals I used to eat it is usually only a matter of changing them to not include, potatoes, corn, peas, white bread, white flour, sugar of any kind, etc...you know, all the bad carbs...The trick is to find other good carb foods to take the place of the bad ones. I've found that stir fried vegetables or fresh vegitables, along with a salad or whatever other cooked veg I have does the trick. I've had to get used to having multiple veg dishes at the same meal along with whatever meat dish I'm having.

Example: Last night I had pan fried tenderized round steak. Before SBD I would have had mashed potatoes, gravy, some sort of cooked veg and bread/butter. Instead, last night I had a double serving of steamed asparagus and 8 sweet potatoe oven fries (sweet potatoes cut like french fries, sprayed with a little PAM and baked at 450 until golden brown). I could just as easily have a celery, onion, pepper, and squash stir fry instead of the sweet potato. This type of eating has become very satisfying to me.

Another example...I love chili...used to make it with both pinto and kidney beans and bought whatever tomato products that were on sale...I now leave out the pintos because I know they are higher on the glysemic index than kidneys. I also make sure that the canned tomatos and or tomato sauce has no added sugar and is the lowest in carbs I can find.

If you start on page 32 of the SBD book, you find the section on good fats, bad fats. The book says it better than I ever could.

Basically I eat all of the meat and fish items I always have...I've never been a fan of fatty meats...I use LF or 1% dairy products and smart balance spread in small quantities instead of butter. The exception is cheese...I don't like LF and use regular.

I think the key is to avoid saturated fats and of course the Trans fats.

As Bill L has said in an earlier post somewhere "read all product labels" we need to be very educated about what we buy.

I'll confess here that I don't always avoid the saturated fats as maybe I should, but I do make an attempt to make them a very small amount of what I eat. I use blue cheese salad dressing with no carbs but all of the fat and I use regular cheese...both in moderation.

I hope this helps a little...I would recommend reading the book until you really understand what it says...I use it every day...when there are things you don't understand, get on the internet and research the particular subject there is a ton of information out there...this is what has worked for me...my knowledge about this WOE has increased as I've gone through the process...I started out somewhat confused and now 42 days later I feel that I'm finally starting understand what this WOE is really all about.

and as usual...YMMV