i was digging out some meat from the freezer and i took out a package of oven roasted chicken beast (lunch meat) made by Healthy Choice... LOL it has more carbs than Oscar Meyer and the others... it has 2 carbs per slice, where all the others usually have 0-1 per slice. ... a real "healthy choice"!

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On the first lowcarb forum I was on - I posted a title 'all brands are not created equal' and certainly found it necessary to check EVERY brand in the supermarket when first starting this WOE. It took me hours - I went everyday for a week - even the staff were asking me what I was doing!! But it paid off for me. It came down to about 2 brands I could happily use (its good to have 2 in case the supermarket is out of the chosen one) I keep a spreadsheet (EXCEL) and everytime I bring something new home - on it goes and I calculate how much I can have of it to fit my portion serve. Takes a while at first - but then it becomes automatic. It REALLY helps me stay on track. I used to get sooooo depressed and discouraged when I made a mistake and ate too much of something - no I have no excuse! But its so much better too!

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The fox is wild!



5'3" Maintaining 121-125
Original weight 198 +

Alas, Kelly. Like Beachfox and the rest of us on this board, you are "doomed" to become a compulsive label reader.

It comes with the territory.

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I'm sure you've heard this before, but beware of "light" type products. When they take out the fat, they replace it with carbs! And that seems to go for everything I've checked out. Salad dressings are the worst.
Healthy Choice. *snort* Created by people who think fat is the enemy!

Stacie
Eater of All Things with Butter

Yep - can't be too careful - I put everything about from the nutritional content box into my spreadsheet so that I can evaluate the full story about the food product - its SO easy to make a really committed effort and then have some marketing 'ploy' stymie the whole process!

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The fox is wild!



5'3" Maintaining 121-125
Original weight 198 +

You might consider trying out a computerized food tracker like Fitday or DietPower. They have the nutritional values for thousands of foods (including many brand name products) built-in. You can add custom foods as needed. The food trackers can help you keep a record everything you eat and give you a running total of the fat, carbs, protein you consume (along with many other nutrition components).

I prefer Diet Power, which is installed locally and very fast (they offer a 30-day free trial). But, Fitday has a free online version. The look-ups are more timeconsuming, but it's a good price.

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~~~Teelbee
Back to GOAL!!!
start weight: 176/goal range: 137-134/now: 138
Reached goal in Aug. 2003 - 4rd year of maintenance.

hehe, maggie, compulsive label reader.. yep i can see that now!

i still didn't do too badly yesterday. i am using fitday and the only complaint i have is it doesn't subtract the fiber. other than that i really like it so far. i will try the other one to see if i like it better.

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I turn everything I buy now to see the carbs. It was amazing when I first started to check things I use to eat, boy was I surprised, something as thin as a torilla had 25 carbs for just one. Now I even ask at the deli to see the original package of whatever I am buying sliced so I can check carbs.

I like fitday as well. It's good that they at least give you the fiber toals with the carb totals, if they didn't I'd sure have troubles.

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Noël


Worry doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrows, it empties today of its strengths.

O yep thanks very much teelbee - I looked at those. Luckily - the work DH and I were doing for about 20 years (after our retirement! ) was data management - so spreadsheets and databases are our interests. We're currently designing a database to go with the spreadsheet - type in a recipe and it brings up the items we're watching. When we did the research to compile the spreadsheet - we also measured each item for density too - to provide easy reference for lazy me in the kitchen! At first it nearly drove me crazy trying to look up things - but now its all in easy tspns, tblspns, cups etc and I remember them anyway (good for the aging brain exercise!) I keep the printout in the kitchen in a plasticised folder and DH updates it every now and then for me. All useful little tricks to stay on track eh!

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The fox is wild!



5'3" Maintaining 121-125
Original weight 198 +

i certainly am learning a lot... now that i am a grocery store food detective. lol it is time consuming, but at least i will know what is "ok" for the next trip.

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If you have a computer Kelly (and you obviously do!) then the items that Noel and Teelbee suggested would be very helpful. It really helped me to get it onto paper - then I could memorise it all much better! Well - the price I pay for goods in the supermarket - I figure they can put up with me sussing out all the nutritional content! Actually - I think the supermarket here is catching on to good eating practices - because they have a recorded message in the store - suggesting everyone reads the content box on the back of the packets and even some of the veggies are getting content boxes attached - which is great!

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The fox is wild!



5'3" Maintaining 121-125
Original weight 198 +