I have found that If I don't ask for what I want then I don't get what I am asking for. Now that is a no brainer Huh? Well, with that said I read countless questions as to where to find this low carb product and that.
I went to one of my co-workers who heads up the diabetic disease management program at work. She knows I am following Atkins and is following my progress with much encouragement. Knowing my frustration at finding "specialty low carb foods" Her words were "watch for the low carb stores and resturaunts to start taking off." The food industry is aware of the number of Diabetics and Carb sensitve people out here in the real world and we will see more specialty stores in the near future. That said, I have started asking my local grocery stores to look into providing more low carb products. And one said yes we have heard you (people) and have orderd Atkins bake mix, bread mixes etc. They were on the shelf within 2 weeks!
I just wanted to make a suggestion that If we want to be heard we have to speak up. If all of us ask for the foods we want /need we will get them. Strength is in numbers and in $$$$. Jules

Jules...

You make a very good point. Stores won't carry products that they don't think the public will buy. When more people start requesting a certain product or type of product, stores usually listen.
I sent an e-mail to a large local grocery chain about a year ago complaining about their lack of low carb products (they advertise themselves as "your one stop shopping store" meaning that they have everything you want all in one place). Well...it took a few months, but ever since then I've been seeing more and more low carb products on their shelves and people are buying them.
Whenever I can't find what I'm looking for at my local health food store, I ask and they are usually quite willing to special order it for me if they have a supplier for it.
It also helps to ask other people you know who are low carbing where they find things. One of my co-workers recently gave me a tip on where I could find heavy cream by the half gallon for less than half of what they charge in the local grocery stores. I'm using it to make my own yogurt and also for my DH's coffee and sauces, so I can easily go through half a gallon of heavy cream in a week's time. Buying it by the half pint can get expensive quick!
The moral of the story is....if you can't find what you want, ask for it. If you don't ask, they won't know you want it.

Just curious where you found it....I have been looking in OH to no avail....maybe your idea will spur one for me!

Thanks!

I've noticed this to.....Our local walmart has had a very poor selection of stuff but today I went in and BAM! the shelves were loaded with all kinds of Atkins goodies. So, it pays to give suggestions to companies.

I think it's silly to try and replace foods with a low carb model, just eat what is naturaly low carb, IE meat and salads, if you try to replace bread with a low carb version your kidding yourself, IMHO, the idea is to CHANGE your life style, so forget breads, cakes and the like forever and ever. Best wishes Richard
down to 239 from about 260 sence feb 3

Amy...

It was at a local organic meat store and sells for $5.95 per half gallon. That's still $11.90 per gallon, but if I were to buy it by the half pint, an half gallon would cost me $12.72.

Richard- don't take offense to this, but being that you are a GUY you don't have those blasted pms problems when women tend to each chocolate or other sweets. Having a low carb version available helps (at least me) to steer clear of the high carb versions of things I should not be eating when I am having a bad day, moment whatever.

I agree that you have to adopt the low carb plan and not rely on those foods to do the plan , but they do help when it comes to weaknesses and like I said PMS!

And another plus to pushing stores into carrying the product is to make life easier in the shopping dept. I am a very busy working mom. I mean who is'nt busy??? But still, I think if I can go in and easily find what I am looking for, it would make my life much easier to cope with then going to 3 different stores to buy everything on my list.

Just some thoughts to chew on.

Moonpie,

You are so right. Seems like there is a huge low carb frenzy here in central florida lately. When I started 8 months ago it was so hard to find low carb products. But now, i am finding them at all of the grocery stores.

A BBQ right down the road from me has a sign posted saying

ATKINS DIET TRY OUR PORK AND RIBS

Can you believe that? A resturant is advertising their food to Atkins dieters. Pretty cool.

My friend Amy who started 2 months ago went to a health food store in the next town over. She called me up to tell me that they have 2 full isle of low carb products and a freezer section filled with low carb. They also sell soft serve low carb ice cream. In FL this is a must!

Then when they were leaving the store, her husband noticed a chessecake place in the strip center. They had a big sign stating they now make a low carb cheese cake.

I eat Atkins bars during the week for breakfast. When I first started, Publix had a few boxes and you could tell no one ever bought them. Now, they run out of them all of the time. So does Walgreens and Albertsons. Goes to show there are lots of people low carbing. I can count at least 6 people in my office building.

So speak up everyone. Merchants want to make money. If they know it will sell, they will be more than happy to carry the products!

I tend to agree with Richard. But then, I didn't have specific PMS symptoms, just blood sugar problems. Go cold turkey on the fake sugars and you too may experience the no more cravings benefit of Atkins.

Chocolate is not a food group.

Beth

Richard and Beth,

I agree with both of you that we should focus more on eating low carb foods that you can find anywhere. I eat cauliflower and jicama which were two vegis that I rately ate before this WOE. Before Atkins, I probably ate meat 2-4 times a weeks. Now i have it at almost every meal. Huge difference.

However, I still strongly believe in low carb products. There is nothing better than a flax seed cereal without any sugar when you are bloated or constipated. Cleans out your system, has the great heart healthy benefits of flax seed oil and it is a good change of pace.

There will also come a time when one goes into maintainence. Wouldn't it be great if you wanted to have bread with out having to buy something that was over milled, over processed and loaded with simple carbs?

I say this because when I started Atkins last summer a friend of mine from work started as well. He lost 70 lbs in 4 months. He would not try ANY low carb products. He was totally against them. However, since he has hit his goal weight, I have observed him eating chips, pretzels, bread, pudding and pizza. He has gained about 5-10 lbs of the wieght back. Now he still follows low carb most of the time but then he does these splurges. I worry that these splurges will happen more and more often and then he will gain the weight back. If he substituted these bad choices with a low carb equivilant, he would not set off the cravings and he probably would have been satisfied with much less.

He also lost the weight because he is getting married next month. I hope he keeps it off even after the wedding.

I find it kind of funny that many of the forum moderators are so against low carb products. However, this site is here because of the advertising and revenue from low carb products. This has always puzzled me.

I know everyone has an oppinion on this and I am no way saying that mine is right. I think with everything, it is what works best for you.



Oh, and chocolate may not be a food group but it is definately a gift from the gods!

I personally can't say I'm against low carb products, but many are speaking from experience as well as seeing many, many posts from people who have been stalled by them or experienced increased cravings because of them.
If you can use low carb products (bars, chocolate, etc...) without a problem, more power to ya and if eating a low carb chocolate bar will keep you from binging on the real deal it's probably a better choice.
OTOH, the focus of many low carb plans is to get away from eating fake, highly processed foods and focus on eating more natural whole foods instead. It concerns me when I see people substituting entire meals with a protein bar or shake instead of eating real food.
Manufacturers aren't stupid. They recognize that most people aren't going to be willing to give up sweets, breads, etc... forever and they are capitalizing on that by providing low carb knockoffs. They're feeding the very addictions that we're trying to overcome. Okay...so they're available. Does that mean we should be eating them on a regular basis? How good are they for you really when you eat them in place of something else like veggies, real meat or low glycemic fruits? Are you cutting back on the veggies so you can have a low carb muffin or candy bar instead? Is that a good choice?
Don't get me wrong. I understand PMS and the associated cravings and I've been known to indulge in low carb products in response to that as well, but the longer I low carb the less I actually crave and want those things and the less often I find myself eating them. If you really think you're craving chocolate, try eating some unsweetened baker's chocolate. Not very good, right? Does it satisfy your craving? It's not the chocolate you're craving, it's the sugar.

Lisa,

I guess the thing that gets me is that all low carb products seem to get lumped together and they all get a bad rap.

Also, we are a scoiety of convience. It will always be that way. It is great to see low carb products that fit into our lifestyles. Just because a product is low carb it doesn't make it fake. I have low carb tortillas in the freezer. They have healthy ingredients and it was great that I could have an honest to god taco the other night.

I tried Atkins 7 years ago and stuck to it for only a month or so. It was hard to stick to it thinking I could never have a piece of chocolate or a cookie for the rest of my life. It just seemed so restrictive. I had to wake up early to make something. It was hard to fit the plan into my busy lifestyle.

Now, I could not imagine being on anything but Atkins. A lot has changed in the past few years. Lots more books, recipes, forums and products. I know some people on this site lean towards a more paleo or whole food approach but I feel this isn't a one size fits all situation. On the weekends, I don't touch low carb products. During the weekday, when I may be called into a three hour meeting at the end of the day, you bet I have a bar in my purse just in case! Thats what works for me.

Teresa...

I think my main objection to low carb substitutes for high carb foods is that I see so many people who do have the time to make something else (or could with a little forethought and planning) eating them in place of foods that they should be eating. They're purposely cutting back on veggies so that they can have a low carb chocolate bar or low carb dessert instead and this is not a healthy trade-off.
Do I give all low carb products a bad rap? Heck no! But even those low carb tortillas you spoke of have citric acid in them which is a known staller for many people (I had a package of them in my freezer, too).
I also see a lot of complaints about how expensive this WOE is and it gets even more expensive when you start spending $2.50 for a low carb protein bar or chocolate bar several times a week and $6.00 for a box of low carb muffin mix or low carb bread.
I vigorously defended low carb chocolate when I first started low carbing (check some of my earliest posts ). They don't stall me, I said. Well...after nearly 5 months with no weight loss, I figured out that yes, they DO stall me and wound up eating a healthy (low carb, of course) portion of crow.
There are some good low carb products on the market and I use some of them myself, although my experience has been that for the most part, they taste nothing like their high carb counterparts and like I said before, if you can use them and not have a problem, go for it. BUT...I won't advocate using them in place of real, whole foods unless you are in a position where a better choice is simply not available, like your 3 hour meeting example.
It's a personal choice, but overall I'm trying to change my eating habits. I just don't see using a low carb replacement for the junk that I was eating as totally helpful in that respect.

I knew this topic would rally the pros and cons of low carb specialty foods.
I bought The good doctors book back in the mid 1980s' and back in them good old days there were no/or very scant low carb products available. You know how long I did Atkins. 1 month. Lost weight but because I have to have a WOE which allows me variety & choice (you dont have to buy LC products).
I had a tough time on Valentines day. Mounds of chocolate and other goodies placed before me all day, no week (my co-workers love to eat chocolate). If I had not bought a Carbolite cheesecake mix and made it for DH and I don't know if I would have resisted the raspberry glazed brownies my friend made. I saved myself ooodles of carbs and a guilt trip.
I lost weight that week. I do agree that there are all kinds of hidden sugars and chemicals in low carb foods. And everyone is affected by them in different ways.I find that I can't eat products w/glycerine in them because they make me crave and gain. But to think that a "thou shall only eat this way" attitude only perpetuates the boxed thinking of the world that overweight people should only drink Tab and eat celery sticks. There are not only the overweight folks but as I mentioned above the very sick diabetic and other metobolic affected folks out there who need a choice too. Thanks for all the input folks. I love this WOL and only want to see more folks discover it. Jules