Hi,

I just have a couple questions - I'm on day 10 of Atkins Induction - after a couple "warm-up" tries . . . and I'm confused on a couple issues:

1) Cream - I buy the heavy whipping cream, that contains no milk - cream only (I have to, I'd allergic to casein) - from what I read on the label, there are 0 carbs . . . it reads 50 calories total - calories from fat = 50 (6g) . . . so doesn't these mean no carbs? I've read several posts and questions, and many people have said that cream does have a small amount of carbs - fitday also calculates in 1 carb. I've seen cartons of "cream" that contain milk & they usually have a carb per tbsp. Am I getting this right?

2) Diet soda - just discovered some at the low carb store. The nutritional information reports 0 everything - no calories, no carbs. No real fruit juice is used, and both brands are made with splenda. I'm not a big pop drinker - I drink water all day, but it is nice once in a while to have a fizzy drink . . . will drinking splenda sweetened drinks cause an insulin response? I've used quite a bit of splenda in the no-bake cheesecake, the chocolate truffles, Atkins vanilla ice cream and chocolate-mint cream cheese balls - and I've been losing - so what do you think?

3) Low-carb cereals & baking mixes - many of these that I found today at the LC store contain around 8-12 carbs per serving, but they are so high in fiber (6-10g) that they claim this reduces the carb count to 2. My question is, should I avoid these while on Induction & OWL - and wait until I've lost all my weight, or can I eat them now & count them as only 2 carbs?

TIA for any answers & helpful suggestions!

If you're still losing, I'd say you're okay. If you find that you're weight stalls at some future time, and you're eating these sweet treats 1-2x a day (or more), that's the first thing I"d eliminate.

You should avoid them while on induction (are they on the list of allowed foods?) but you can add them in OWL. You can count the NET carb content...e.g., 2 carbs.

We call these foods "frankenfoods".... they're low-carb imitations of high-carb foods that we're trying to wean ourselves from. It really is best if you learn to eliminate these things from your diet or only use them occasionally. They are notorious stallers. So venture forth carefully.

When I was new to LC I did just what you're doing....and as a matter of fact have about $60 worth of frankenfoods in my pantry right now that have been gathering dust. I learned quickly to just enjoy the whole foods that I'm allowed, 'cause the frankefoods just weren't cutting it for me. But it's definitely a YMMV thing.

I think I'm already using enough artificial sweetener - so I think I'll avoid these diet drinks until after losing the weight - unless we have a family get-together & I'm tempted again to have Champagne . . . I'll use the diet soda as my replacement.

I'm sure you are right about the artificial foods - I've been trying to avoid any type of processed foods - I get all my meats (including bacon & lunchmeat) from Natures - no sugar, no preseratives, no nitrites, etc. I think only my decaf coffee, unsweetened cocoa, cream cheese and splenda are the artificial foods I include in my diet - and I think I'll just keep it this way.

Thanks again for your reply. You didn't mention anything about the cream - but I'm feeling confident that it doesn't contain carbs - when using the rule for discovering hidden carbs - my cream doesn't have any.