I have been following the Atkins diet successfully for about 4 weeks now, however I am having problems trying to source some basic ingredients in Australia which pop up in your recipes.The most important of these is Soy Protein Isolate. All I keep getting offered are protein drinks which are way too expensive to use for cooking by the cupful, (especially since our dollar is so low compared to yours). Are protein drinks the only form that this ingredient can be purchased in? Is there something I can substitute for Soy protein isolate when cooking - (eg baking) that will give similar results? As we do not have manufactured low carb foods available, I basically have to make my own. Please help.

Hi Jo, welcome aboard. Soy protein isolate is not known as a low-carb product, even though it's very low in carbs. Try to look for it at nutrition shops like bodybuilding type of stores, or at any supermarkets with a focus on vegetarian/organic products and you might find them. So protein products have unflavoured poder, which can be used on recipes.

There a good chance you'll be able to find it locally, and once you do, please let me know where you found it. I'm trying to build a database that will list such information and make available so people can do search by city/country etc.

Wa'il

Hi there

I've only been doing this about as long as you but it does seem to take some tracking down. Heres what I've found so far, dont know how perfect it is but I'm going to give some baking a whirl as I feel like I'm starving to death. Which I'm not at all but something other than meat and veg would be nice.

I havent used it yet but I will tomorrow but I found "Natures Way" instant Natural protein, in Safeways. It is natural isolated soy protein, high in protein and low in fat and I'm pretty sure it's the stuff Wa'il was talking about. I think it was about $8 so it isnt cheap but I must admit that nice low carbing isnt the cheapest diet you can go on. Also at Safeways I found Lowans (Aussie made as well) Gluten Flour which I hope is the same as the Vital Gluten Flour that turns up in various of the recipes. Its fairly low in Carbs but high in protein. Lowan also does natural oatbran which I think maybe able to be used as Oat Flour but I'm waiting to hear as its very high in carbs. Apparently whey protein can be used in place of soy protein and tastes better so I'm currently trying to track that down and in fact am hopeful that my husband may have found it on his way to work tonight. I am tracking Stevia via the Aussie distributor who is here in melbourne and will let you know when I find some and whether its any good.

I have already made a nice cheesecake without anything special and find that karens recipes in particular are life savers and not difficult to do. Safeways own brand soda water and diet lemonade are 2 of the best tasting around but are really cheap at around 89c. safeways also sells hazelnut and almond meal if you dont have a coffee grinder. Apparently nut flour is much nicer in cooking than some of this other stuff.

I'm currently also tracking unsweetened dark chocolate so if you find it please let me know as I am determined to make chocolate chip biscuits.

This diet really works, stick with it. Its a real life saver and with a bit of organisation, i think it can work well and sustainably.

Good luck

Nicola
Anyway I'm trying muffins and maybe bread tomorrow so I'll let you know if they're edible and will keep you posted if I find anything else.

I found Stevia in a Go-Vita health food shop. 100 tablets was just under $15.00. I find them very sweet so only use half of one to replace my one teaspoon of sugar that I used to have. apparently it is available in powder form too. Barb

I did send Nicola a private message but there seem to be a few queries. I got whey protein concentrate at my Go-Vita health food store at the weekdn, bulk price was $22.35 p/kg. Theay also had soy protein and whey protein isolate, and LSA mix, and ground psyllium husks, all in bulk. They have bulk herbs and ground chillis and peppers and and amazing variety of nuts, and the prices are quite good.
If you join and get a crd you get discounts, and they have a super Tuesday thing when some items are very cheap. I suggest anyone with queries lookup their nearest one and see what they have. If there's not a Go-Vita, ring your local health food store and you might find they have all the stuff in bulk.
For price comparison, the cheapest pre-packaged whey protein concentrate I could find was $18.50 for 250g, which would be $74 p/kg!

I think you'll find that the original participants in this 5 year old thread are no longer current members.

Roz

Silly me, did not notice it was 5 years old!

Anyway, here is a bread recipe I found somewhere else on this site. I have all the ingredients but haven't made it yet. There were a lot of comments that it was good on the other thread though.

I only bought enough of the fibre mix ingredients (see end of recipe) to try it - I got 1/4 each of the amount he specifies. All the ingredients were available in bulk at my local health food store.

MY BREAD SUBSTITUTE
It looks like a bread, it tastes like a bread and I use it as a bread...Over the last six months I have refined the recipe to the point where it now forms the base of my LC foods...It's quick to make,(5 minutes to mix, 40 minutes to cook, 2 minutes to clean up and two days to eat), it's very filling and it's LOW CARB...You can toast it, you can make sandwiches with it, sliced thin you can use it as a pizza base...If you did it with HC bread you can do it with this and not feel guilty.

It is stated to be about 10 carbs per loaf.

Ingredients
2 cups Fibre Mix (see note 1)
1 tb/s Baking Powder
1 t/s Salt
½ cup Grated Cheese (Dry mix these 4 ingredients) (odille's note - I think parmesan would be nice!)

2 Eggs
1 tb/s Oil (I use flaxseed oil, canola or olive oil is ok)
1 cup Water
¼ cup Cream

Mix well and put into non stick 220mmX110mm meatloaf tin (I line mine with baking paper)...Cook in preheated oven at 190deg for 40-45 minutes...Turn out to cool on wire rack...ENJOY...I store mine in a paper towel lined plastic container in the fridge...Sliced about 7mm to 8mm thick, it holds together well because of the cheese...This recipe will keep you regular too which is a problem when low carbing.

Note 1

For the fibre mix I use
2kg LSA (linseed, sunflower & almond, ground)
1kg Psyllum Husks
½kg Whey Protein Concentrate (I use WP Isolate if $'s permit)

I premix and store the above ingredients in a large plastic container and is enough for about 10 loaves.

Hi you two!

Good research Nicola. Sounds like you are finding everything you need.

I just wanted to let you know that oat flour is beautiful to use. It creates a special texture in baked goods. Adding just a little makes quite a difference in tastiness.

So the good news is that you can make oat flour by grinding dry oat flakes (rolled oats, oatmeal) in your blender. It's very easy. Just add about one cup of oats and pulse the blender until it is powdered. It doesn't even have to be a uniform texture for most things, but if you are fussy, sift it.

Oat bran still is quite chunky and probably much more expensive.

I have experimented a lot with bread recipes. In a couple of days I am going to post my "Final" Bread Recipe. No low-carb bread tastes just like fresh-baked homemade bread (in my opinion they all taste more like eating a sea sponge) but this is really good toasted.

Kay

Then you haven't tried Wa'ils most fabulous bread posted in our recipe section.

Karen

You're right, Karen. Shepherd's loaf does taste really good. It was one of the first ones I tried.

I should revise my statement to say "bread machine yeast loaves". While I was experimenting I learned a lot about what doesn't work and why, what makes the loaf taste better and what will keep the carb count low. Calling it Final Bread is probably irony because I find my recipes are always in a process of being refined.

By the way, making bread is dangerous. Just the yeast smell alone makes you want to eat it. Lots of it. Peanut butter toast is way too risky.

Hi Jo

To update you, I tracked down stevia at a healthfood chain store called Healthy Life but it was very expensive at $38 a smallish jar. At 'My Chemist' I found a bag of cheese whey powder which i am fairly sure is whey protein powder and it was under $3.00.

Meanwhile I made 'Bonnies Blueberry Muffins' from the recipe section using oat bran instead of oat flour and almonds and blackberries instead of blueberries and walnuts and whilst they look like funny little soggy things, they are yum - particularly when hot. Also they are surprisingly sustaining and really go down well with a cup of coffee mid afternoon.

I'm finding with this woe I have to get organised, shop more often, prepare sauces ahead of time and now snacks and other alternatives. Otherwise, a very wonderful diet can seem like a really restrictive one.

Nicola

hi Nicola,

Seems you missed my post to you yesterday, regarding the whey powder, so I'll copy and paste it here -- hope you see it .. I doubt that the cheese powder is whey protein. I suspect that it's a cheese sauce powder, such as would be found in Kraft Dinner, or similar packaged macaroni and cheese dishes. They do contain powdered whey, which gives a tangy quality, and is cheaper than milk powder. And very high in carbs. Whey contains most of the lactose (sugar) from the milk, as well the mix likely has starch ingredients to thicken it when cooked....

Also, don't mistake plain powdered whey for the whey protein. The powder is simply dehydrated whey, which contains all the lactose, and is higher in carbs than skim milk powder even. Whey protein is filtered and isolated to remove every trace of lactose. All that's left are the pure proteins lactalbumin and lactoglobulin, and traces of other proteins. You can tell by the price --- isolated whey protein is much more expensive than simple powdered whey, at least triple the price! Whey protein isolate is usually purchased as flavoured shake mixes in the sports nutrition section of health shops or pharmacies. Don't be put off by the pictures of muscle men on the label, but do check to make sure that they are low CARB. Some of the sport formulas are very HIGH in carbs, meant for athletes in training.

hope this helps

Doreen

Hi there,
Nice to meet other Australians on this site. I have just discovered it.

I am on a low carb program called Ultralite I have been on it for 2 weeks.

I lost 2kg and 2% body fat in the first week. I was overjoyed because past diets have never worked for me.

The second week I felt defeated when my ketone reading was negative and proceeded to break the diet and gained 0.6kg.

I am now at the beginning of the 3rd week and am prepared to be diligent once again. I was very impressed with losing 2kg and 2% body fat in one week and want to lose another 5kg. This program is really good as far as low carb programs go and it does keep you honest for the most part as you have to see a natropath once a week and they take your weight, bodyfat % and measurements for you. The website is www.ultralite.com.au if you are interested in checking it out. I think it is a really good and safe program.

Nicola,

Thanks for the information on the Soy Protein Isolate. I also stumbled across Natures Way Instant Soy Protein in Coles Supermarket and I have since also found that Woolworths carries it, although in Sydney the price is around the $14 mark.

I have found a good web site that may help finding some alternatives for ingredients, called www.switcheroo.com . It is basically a cooks Thesauras and I have found an equivalent for the unsweetened bakers chocolate on here, using cocoa and oil. However I have found that it only tastes okay in small quantities.

I'll keep everyone posted on anything else I find in my hunt for products in Australia.

Joanne

Thanks Joanne and welcome Kelsie

Joanne

I'm still searching out that whey protein powder (its out there somewhere) and I can recommend the banana sour cream bread which is easy to make (just use a banana and less sweetener) and light and quite pleasant with some butter on. A nice light breakfast and portable too.

Kelsie

Things can be a bit tough and low carbing is still a daily challenge like any weight loss programme but it probably is the easiest one overall. Did your measurements change at all?? My scales have floated around the same number coming up for three weeks now and i really feel depressed about it but there's no denying that my measurements are better and my clothes are starting to fit. I said to myself today, I think I'm going to give this away as I've been feeling really low as well but I discovered two things - one my multivitamin (sold to me as the best around doesnt have any where near enough B vitamins or chromium, selenium and a few other important ones) is crap and two, what's the alternative?? Live a miserable life as a fat person (not saying that being fat makes you miserable but I know for me it does) or keep biting the bullet and accept that this is life from now on. I've already lost 2 stone quite quickly so I would be mad to go backwards.

Even though things are going a bit slowly for you, keep at it. Visit Tinakayes website and let it inspire you. Every two months or so, I hope to post photos like that too. It can be done and we're going to do it.

Anyway the main thing is that you get back on the wagon when you fall off. Somebody around here (Karen I think) says progress, not perfection.

Nicola