Hi everyone.

I wanted to ask a question re: a heavy cream (or 1/2 & 1/2) beverage that I like to make and whether it is "legal" during induction. Atkins' book says heavy cream is on the okay list for beverage, but here is what I'm doing....

1/2 c. of heavy cream + 1/2 c. cold water (or 1 cup 1/2 & 1/2)
2 t. decaf instant coffee
2 t. unsweetened cocoa
dash of splenda, dash of DaVinci's SF vanilla syrup to taste

Shake well and serve over ice. It's an iced mocha and has *finally* solved my Starbuck's craving I get often (their sugar free stuff is awful, I think).

From what I can tell, everything except the cocoa is on the okay list. And with the amount of cocoa that I am using, it's less than 1 carb for 2 t. The entire thing is 5ish carbs total. And I, of course, count it towards my 20 for the day.

I get hungry between lunch and dinner and sometimes like this as my snack instead of meat/egg/cheese item.

What do you think?

Thanks. Jill in Phoenix, AZ

Hi Jill!

Heavy cream is on the allowed list for induction, but it is limited to no more than a few tablespoons per day, so those iced mochas will have to wait until you on in the ongoing weight loss phase. From what I can tell, the total carb count is about 7 grams of carb, depending on which brand of cocoa you used, which is almost half of your daily allowance on induction. It sounds delicious, but I'd advise you to use your carbs on veggies for now.

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for the advice. Actually, you made me think of another question... yes, it would seem like my drink is 7 grams, but the cream and 1/2 & 1/2 I use says "0 carbs" per T. I know that doesn't necessarily mean it has no carbs.... but do you (or anyone else) know what the U.S. standard is for listing something as zero carbs. I thought I read somewhere on this board about the standard, but can't find it and I've searched.

I'm thinking it was something like, if it has less than .25 carbs for the serving amount listed, they can say it is "zero" and if it is between two other numbers (??) they can list it as "less than 1." I would love to have this info again.

Thanks again for the advice.

Jill

Hi again, Jill!

The law allows manufacturers to list the product as zero carbs per serving if a serving is anywhere below 1 gram of carb whether it's 0.25 grams of carb or 0.99 grams of carb per serving. Just for reference, though, 1 cup of heavy cream has 6.5 grams of carb and 1 cup of half and half has 10.4 grams of carb. Since a serving is 1 tablespoon, it's technically less than 1 gram of carb and so they can list the carb count at 0 grams per serving even though it really isn't. Instead of going by the labels, you might want to get a good book that lists carb counts. I believe that Dr. Atkins puts one out and the one that I use is Corinne Netzer's Complete Book of Food Counts.

WOW--a woman after my own heart. I was addicted to Starbucks Mocha Frap for about 2 years. I gradually weaned myself off them since the end of November so that I went from 5-6 per week ( ) to only 4 for the whole month of December. Your recipe is almost the same as the one I used to use when I couldn't get to Starbucks. I plan on using this when I get a craving (AFTER induction, though)

Hi there fellow ex-Starbucks addict!

And you can throw the whole thing into the blender to make it more like a Frap than a Mocha as it will obliterate the ice cubes into a more Frap consistency.

I can't wait to start having them again. Let me know what you think of them in a few weeks.

Take care,

Jill