muddauv3: "I love my fruit and ((( SHHH carbs))).. sooo it was hard for me."

Yea....we all love them....and that's why we're here!

Carbs are addictive and you will go thru actual physical withdrawal (some of us worse than others) when you give them up That's the whole thing with the food industry AND the food guidelines! They want you to eat their product so they advertise it. Because of the thigh carb counts your clood sugars go all out of wack and you end up craving! Since you can't have that "bad" fat, you eat more carbs....and the cycle starts all over again.

How about this. Reread Atkins, Protein Power, whatever one you preferred, and read it thoroughly. Not just the parts about the meal plan, but the parts about the science behind LC (I think PP is better for this).

After you've read the book and understand exactly what too eat and when, gie it 2 weeks. If you don't notice a dramatic difference in how you look and feel, give it up. But you MUST follow induction as written, no "illegal" foods at all! If you slip, get right back on LC and go back to day 1 count.

You can give somethign up for 2 weeks! It may be hard, especially at first, but you can do it! The first few days you might want to cut back on your normal exercise routine (play it by ear). I've done induction twice and both times, by the end of the 4th day felt pretty lousy, but day 5 I woke up feeling great!

Right now I'm on day 13 and I've noticed a dramatic decrease in GI symptoms, have less joint pain, virtually no cravings, and am often not hungry at all between meals.

As for the foods on the plan? Just don't eat them. You don't HAVE to eat anything you don't like! I don't like artificial sweeteners, and have noticed sweet taste sets off my cravings, so I don't eat them. I don't like most cheeses, but the ones I like I love, so I don't ahve it every day, but when I do I have 3-4 oz for the day. I'm also very picky on veggies, so I eat mostly salads and just have a non-salad veggie 4-5 times/week. I eat at least 2 salads a day tho. Make sure you get enough to eat tho! If you don't like something, substitute, don't just drop it. And don't worry about fats! Natural foods are the best!

Give it a shot....but stick with it for the 2 weeks. I think you'll be glad you did! If you want to get your triglycerides down, LC is the way to go. Triglycerides are directly realted to carb intake....and some consider it more dangerous than TC, LDL or HDL.

And let us know how you're doing! This is a great place for support!!!!!