Numberonewendy,
It's true, the low carb scenario requires time spent in the kitchen making stuff from scratch, but the rewards are so good. I spend a couple of evenings a week fixing meals for the next three days, and haul around a lot of Tupperware
I'm on the Zone program, which allows a couple of glasses of wine a week (wine is a carb after all). I reward myself on the weekend, but stick to the meals/snacks every four hours (the bedtime snack is *mandatory*, which should help with those cereal cravings...)
You fill up on salads (with avocado) and grilled vegetables. It helps to develop a taste for broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, mushrooms, sweet peppers and onions. They sweeten up nicely when baked in olive oil and low salt soy sauce. If I'm craving a carb I'll throw in a couple of baby potatoes.
I've been doing it for three weeks, 6 pounds and 4 inches. It works. The main thing is you have to be religious about going no more than 4 hours without eating fat, protein and carbohydrate in the right proportions. (The book is excellent and spells out the units for each type of food). Avoid rice (white or brown), pasta and bread (white and whole grain - only whole grain rye is acceptable), bananas, corn products (you'd be amazed the amount of corn syrup goes into processed food) and high glycemic fruit juices. Grapefruit is my best friend (but don't buy one of those Starfrit thingies, they suck...).
I had company this weekend and loved the french fries (OK in extreme moderation!), but became nauseous and wired after eating pastries and cake and drinking tea with sugar. My body has already adjusted to the cravings, and I find myself rejecting stuff like milkshakes (tooooo sweet) and other sugary things.
I could not wait for them to leave so I could get back to my eating plan this week...
Good luck, and try reading the book. The offerings are a bit more varied than most diets, and you won't go hungry.
Beer!
poor baby! 
Wine .......
I'm sure we have all been where you are. But remember...the medical industry doesn't make money by keeping you well. But they will tell you this is a bad diet...with out doing the research! They will tell you low-fat/low-cal is good...while they take in there BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR from the weight problem it has created. This is all in the Atkins book read it...study it. And remember where the medical industry is making its money. Then ask yourself...
Do they REALLY want me well...with out heart disease, weight problem joint problems ect. No they don't!
How would they make there money. This is a problem that is getting worse...not better! But it has such positive benefits when you talk to people on this type of diet. My knees would crack when I bent them...and swell unreal. 1 week into this the swelling was gone...2weeks so was the cracking. A friend had psoriasis {really bad dry skin} she had to go to the hospital twice a week for treatment for 10 years...3 weeks doing this its GONE. You can't tell she ever had it.
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