hi Tam,

Not a stupid question. I think I recall the discussioin you're referring to, and I believe that the "eat 20g carbs of vegetables" was given as a general encouragement to someone who wasn't eating any veggies at all. This recommendation of course goes along with reading the program book for specific guidelines

I don't have the 2002 edtion of DANDR yet, but the most recent prior to that states your 20g carbs will come from all sources, meaning the cheese, eggs, cream and packets of sweetener must be accounted for in the 20g total. However, when selecting vegetables, try to choose those that are high in fiber. You may subtract the grams of fiber from the total, since it's not absorbed and does not contribute carbs or calories. For example, one cup of broccoli has 4.6g total carbs, but 2.6 is fiber. So you count 2g net carbs. Spinach is the king of lowcarb veggies .. great cooked and raw in salads. 1/2 of a 10 oz bag has 4.9g total carb, minus 3.8g fiber .. so only 1.1g net carbs.

If you are working with a previous version of Atkins, it's still the same diet, but a few new rules introduced in the 2002 edition .. such as limiting cheese to 3 - 4 oz daily, cream to 3 - 4 Tbsp and NO nuts. And you can subtract fiber grams, which means more veggies

Doreen