Hey mom2rachel, we are very open here on the boards, so post away -- embarrassing or not. To answer your questions, yes, going pee constantly is a nuisance in the beginning, but it will subside a bit after your body gets used to the water. And the loose stools is very normal, too. Like the rest of the Induction side effects, it will mellow. Just make sure you are taking your vitamins, and supplement with fiber to help things out. Good luck!

Kellie, F38
Started Atkins 8/1/03 (off and on for the last few years but sticking to it this time!)
206/195/160 -- 8.5 inches GONE!

Newbies! welcome one and all! In addition to the big two suggestions given to newbies (buy and read the book, and DRINK YOUR WATER)... I have three other pieces of advice for you...

One) I would HIGHLY encourage those of you who are new and hoping that these boards will help keep you from cheating and from losing faith.. to consider either starting or joining a "challenge" (see the challenge forum). It could be to drink enough water, it could be to have a weigh-in once a week, it could be to exercise every day, it could be to stay away from peanut butter for a week.. it could even be to reach a mini goal at some future date. These can help A LOT because you will be checking in with your challenge buddies and will be a lot less likely to cheat on a challenge knowing you'll have to report back to everyone!

Two) PLEASE consider tracking what you are eating in a site like FitDay http://www.fitday.com (free registration) - this site used to have a tracker but I'm not sure if it is up. By entering what you are eating you can see where you have hidden carbs, where you need more fiber or more carbs! (Yes, many new folks eat TOO FEW carbs because they forget to subtract the fiber grams to give them net carbs). The tracker can help you get a real handle on what you are eating. Plus, it is very cool to look back on a week's worth of foods and see how your carbs are, what your percentages of fat-protein-carbs are, how many calories you are burning, and to track exercise or other activities...

Three) Use this site and many others out there on the Internet to begin to collect recipes and menus so that you are never faced with, "oh, no, I have nothing planned for dinner tonight, oh well, just order out..." This site and others are FULL of tips to make meals more fun, easier and healthier. There are even sites out there that have Induction menus! This WOE (way of eating) can open up some really new doors for you and re-introduce you to foods you should be eating and have not been - especially vegetables and seafood/fish. Even for people who don't like veggies or fish (we didn't) you will be shocked and delighted to find there are LOTS of ways to cook really good-for-you foods that you'll like!

Guess that was more than my two cents but it's great you're here!

Hugs,
Rachel
165/142/130
Haec trutina errat. (Latin for,"There is something wrong with this scale".)

Hi Kellie. Thanks for your advice. I am doing all of those you talked about. I am glad that the "problem" I have is normal!

Are you still on induction or did you move on? I see you lost 8.5 inches! Thats awesome! Good job!

Blessings,

Carol

Hey Carol. No I am not on Induction anymore. All the other times I tried this WOE, I stayed on Induction the entire time -- big mistake. It truly set me up for boredom and stalls. I am now staying between 25-30 grams per week and that seems to be working for me. My roadblock right now is exercise -- I haven't got my lazy butt into the groove yet. I am frustrated that my scale isn't going down as quickly as I wanted, but my inches are going away. Wow...I have a waist again! Don't know where that came from. I do know that once I start moving again, the weight will come off faster. For some reason, this time seems different for me. I am taking it slow and not worrying AS much about the numbers on the scale. I am taking faith in that it is NOT a race, even though I hope to be close to goal by January 1. If not, oh well...I'll keep plugging away.

Good luck; we're all in this together!!! (I truly believe that!)

Kellie, F38
Started Atkins 8/1/03 (off and on for the last few years but sticking to it this time!)
206/194/160 -- 9.5 inches GONE! (as of 9/3)

Hello, I am Bronwyn and am a newby. I started a low carb diet in Feb. '07 and have been using Bernsteins method. I have lost about 30 pounds and need to lose about 70 more pounds. I am a diabetic so need to keep my sugars down. I purchased "Extreme Lo-carb cuisine" by Sharron Long and like the recipes I have tried. I do have two questions. First, is there a substitute for pork rind? My partner is a vegetarian and some of the recipes look good but I don't know what to substitute for port rind. The other question is what is a substitute for milk and egg protein? I have never seen this in our town and assume it is a dry, powdered product. Can I just use a combination of whey protein isolate and eggwhite protein? Both are Now products. I am looking forward to being in this support group. Bronwyn

Hi Bronwyn and welcome to LCE. I'm so glad you posted to this thread, since it was one of the first threads on LCE's "new" board in 2003. You'll find this a great place for support and accurate information

If you are diabetic, congratulations on following Dr. Bernstein's plan and for the 30 pounds you've lost so far. Wonderful!

I'm not known for my cooking, so perhaps the more talented members will help you with your questions. As far as the pork rinds, if the recipes are using them as a coating or topping, Parmesan cheese might be a good substitute. Perhaps if you tell us how the pork rinds are used in the recipes you're interested in, we could be more specific.

Again, welcome!

__________________
BC
LC Since 1998
Highest Weight 172
Current 104-108

Welcome Mary. Congratulations on the weight loss. Brenda is right with respect to the pork rinds. It is a versatile ingredient that has many uses, depending on the recipe. As a result, there will be no one answer to your question, it will depend on the particular recipe. Post the recipe and I will try to give you a substitute. For general breading however, a 50-50 mixture of almond meal and parmesean cheese works well. I use that mixture for a chicken parmesean and it works great.

__________________
Henry

Thank you Henry and B.C. for the information. I have used almond meal and parmesan cheese for breading and do like that. The recipe that calls for pork rind is Chubby pancakes, pg. 59 in in Long's "Extreme lo-carb cuisine". I want to try the muffin and waffles I assume that they will all take the same substitution. I find that Long suggests using whole rolled oats as a substitute for milk and egg protein, but that would make the carb count too high for me. I am still puzzled about milk and egg protein. Is there a way of e-mailing Sharon Long? Perhaps she might have some idea about this. The recipe for chubby pancakes calls for; 2 eggs, 1/2 c. almond milk, 1/2 t. vanilla, 1/2 c. ground pork rinds, 3 T ground almonds, 2 T. soy protein, stevia, sucralose, cinnamon/butter for frying. Since the effect of oatmeal would be to thicken the recipe might using guar gum work? Thanks, Bronwyn

Mary, are you also trying to avoid using eggs in recipes?

__________________
Henry

No, Henry we eat eggs. Bronwyn

Bronwyn, I wonder if flaxseed meal might work better than oatmeal. It thickens on sitting, adds lots of fiber and other nutrients. The recipe looks as though it might work with flaxseed meal. I've made recipes with it (muffins) that called for letting the batter sit to thicken.

I found milk & egg protein from netrition.com. I wasn't terribly impressed with it, and prefer whey protein powder. I also like coconut flour for muffins & waffles, but you have to mix it with other things, such as whey protein powder or flaxseed meal. It's too dry to use alone.

I posted a recipe in the Low Carb Cooking section for zucchini pancakes, which I also cooked in the waffle iron, and they worked really well. I made a sweet recipe, using whey protein powder and coconut flour instead of the bake mix and parmesan cheese, and lots of cinnamon and other spice. Chopped nuts. A little liquid Splenda. They are good. The savory ones were good, too. I added some Italian seasoning, and they smelled heavenly baking in the waffle iron.

Hope some of these tips help. Good cooking is experimentation. Expect the occasional failure, and rejoice when you hit a good combo. And let us know how things turn out for you.

__________________
Nita

Mary, I would use either flaxseed meal or oat fiber in that recipe. I have my own recipe for l/c pancakes that I developed that I will post this weekend when I have some time. I do not have it on my system and will have to enter it manually and that takes me a lot of time as I do not type particularly fast.

__________________
Henry

Bronwyn, Nita is a creative, experienced lc cook, and Henry's recipes are always worth their weight in gold. I'd trust either of them to fix me a meal

__________________
BC
LC Since 1998
Highest Weight 172
Current 104-108

Thanks to everyone...I will look up the zucchini recipe as I now have the information I need. I just received some coconut flour and have ordered the book by Fife on cooking with coconut. Henry, I am looking forward to your receipe for one carb pancakes. I appreciate your taking the time to type it. I didn't know you could do that - 1 carb. Looks like I can add pancakes back to my menu. My partner is diabetic, needs to lose weight and refuses to see a doctor about it. He will eat what I fix so I'm just cooking as low carb as possible. Bronwyn

Mary, the reference term "l/c" means low carb. However, I did run a carb count on the ingredients I use which are eggs, cottage cheese, soy flour, pecan meal, soy protein isolate,and oat fiber, plus a little baking soda, vanilla and artificial sweetener (I use liquid splenda), and the net carb count per pancake is actually a little less than 1 per pancake. I will post the recipe this weekend.

__________________
Henry