In the CAD book it defines complementary foods as being less than 4 grams per serving...does that mean that an entire complementary meal has to have less than 4 grams??? or is there a limit per meal. I'm a student and on the run, so a lot of the lunch suggestions from the book don't work with my schedule etc, so I'm not sure about what to eat...I can come up with my own meals based on carb content in the nutritional info on packages, but I just wanted to know if the entire meal has to have 4 grams of carbs or less.

Thanks everybody

I just looked back in the CAD book and I didn't have anything "jump out at me" saying 4 carbs for LC meals. There has been some debate recently on whether to count carbs on LC meals or not.

I know that I myself, posted last week that you need to keep the entire LC meal at 5 carbs or less. I know I have seen that info "somewhere", I just can't figure out where that "somewhere" is. So, later, in that same post, I said I misposted and commented that for "me"; that is what "I" do. In my own experiences, I need to keep my LC meals to 5 or below in order to lose.

So, the "official" answer in the book to count carbs during the LC meal; would be no. But, let me give you an example. Let's say you love mushrooms. They are listed as an OK item on the list for LC foods. So, let's say you want to have steak and mushrooms sauteed in butter for your LC lunch. Sounds good. But, let's say you decide you are are really hungry and to keep your protein and veggie proportions at 50/50% as recommended.....let's then say you have 10-15 mushrooms with your steak. Those LC friendly mushrooms have now accounted for 7-11 carbs in your LC meal. Is that too much? Maybe, maybe not. For some people it might not be a problem...but, for others, it might be. Again, the book does not say to count carbs at all...LC meal or RW meal. But, IMHO, if you are following the book faithfully in every other way....that would be my first guess on what you could look at to see if that would help you on your road to weight loss. And, if you only have that particular meal "occasionally" as a lc meal, it should not make a big difference because you average your weight for the entire week. One lc meal that is a bit overboard should not ruin an entire week. But...if you go overboard on your LC meal every day....that then could be the cause for no weight loss.

The way I understand it, your LC meal should be made up of foods that have 4g/carb or less per serving. There is no total number of carbs for those meals just that each ingredient should have no more than 4.

-animaldoc