Hi there --

I don't know about Illinois, but here in North Jersey the Trader Joes has at least some LC products. Not nearly enough, but they do have some. They have TJs brand protein powder, which is OK. And they have Designer Whey at the best price I have seen in the area.

I buy other products there as well: salmon patties, canned herring (kippers, for breakfast); buffalo patties, chicken sausage, buffalo wings -- all high protein, low carb, and at a good price.
Finally, I buy my no-sugar peanut butter there too -- I use it to make homemade protein bars that, if they have a fault, it is that they are just too damn good!

And lest you think that this message is an advert for Trader Joes, let me suggest some other places I get LC food. There is a local "health" food store here that is about 99% in the Low Fat world, but the other 1% includes some good shakes, including both Atkins and Designer Whey, plus some bread mixes and the like. You have to look, but it is there!.

And then there the Vitamin Shoppe, a place I never looked at twice until a felow LCer steered me there. they have shakes, bars (which you probably want to keep away from, if you don't know that already) and all sorts of other LC products. And of course vitamins and supplements. The Dr. Eades, authors of Protein Power, go into quite a bit of detail on supplements and vitamins, and I get most of mine at the Vitamin Shoppe (the rest at Trader Joes, BTW).

Which brings me to my last point -- LC friends. I did not know that Jerry at the gym was an LCer until he noticed I;d lost some weight -- so I told him about the Taubes article in the NY Times and described my new diet -- then he told me he had been on essentially the same thing since the early 60s! We shared lots of information, not the least of which was the existance of the Vitamin Shoppe, which I had passed a million times and never noticed. Now, not all of his information was good -- he has been in maintenence for decades, for one thing, and had never heard of ketosis, for another. So I had to learn to take his advice with a grain of salt, but I value his friendship and the tips he has given me.

The friends we make on this forum are great, and I can attest that the advice is really great, but there is one thing lacking: most don't live in your area, work out in your gym! So keep your online LC friends, but make some local ones as well -- they can be a font of good information and friendship.

Hope this helps -- RA Vimala