Hello,
I'm on Atkins and am beginning to tire of all the options: eggs, fish, tofu, soy burgers, soy dogs, veggies. Does anyone have any advice?
I've made mock mashed potatoes using califlower and wasabi also. It seems that I'm feeling limited. I think if I eat another egg, I will surely turn into one.
I don't eat chicken, meat, or cheese.
Any input would be greatly appreciated. I'm also tired of those low carb bars and the Atkins Advant drink is not very pleasant to my taste buds.
Thanks
Colette

__________________
1/25/05::Atkins Plan
Starting Weight: 184.0
Current Weight: 174.0 (5/6/05)
Goal Weight: 160.0
10/8/05: Back to 184.0
On the Road Again: 10/17/05
I will not give up! I will not give up!

what did you eat before atkins? What is it that you are missing?

Hello LCandrea
Before Atkins, I ate veggies, fish and soy. I did not eat eggs or even consider baking with them. Now I eat them once again for weight loss purposes which has been working out great because I don't get so hungry.
Before Atkins, I also ate things that got me in trouble...even the Guiltless Gourmet chips, Garden of Eatin' chips, (not regular commerical chips like Lay's), salsa, and tomato sauce. Too much..yes, too much white sugar and I knew it then.
My biggest downfall was Pasta. I know I can't have that anymore. I went from white pasta to whole wheat pasta (thinking it was better). I also miss vegetable pizza without cheese (I don't eat cheese). I miss vegetarian chili with black beans (homemade with herbs). But I think the pasta with soy crumbles and tomato sauce and herbs are again the biggest!
I hope this answers your questions LCandrea.
Any ideas?

__________________
1/25/05::Atkins Plan
Starting Weight: 184.0
Current Weight: 174.0 (5/6/05)
Goal Weight: 160.0
10/8/05: Back to 184.0
On the Road Again: 10/17/05
I will not give up! I will not give up!

Hi Colette. I'm a vegetarian too and eat everything that you described in your food plan. I also used to eat the vegetarian chili, pasta, etc. before this woe. To me it was sort of like a trade-off: do I want to eat everything I want and be heavy or do I want to have less variety and be thin? I chose the later.

Why don't you add some salads to your menus? They can be very low in carbs. I eat a salad with romaine lettuce, tuna fish, and mushrooms with oil and vinegar every day. It comes out to about 4 carbs. How about some raw veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, and tomatoes with dip as a snack?

You've lost 6 lbs. already so you know this woe works. Stick with it, buy some cookbooks for some more ideas.

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Nicolle
145/120/120 - 5'6"

have you tried zucchini or cabbage noodles? Or even spaghetti squash? Tomato sauce can be relatively low carb if you do it yourself, and you don't use too much.

You can make some great "faux" dishes with cauliflower - like mashed "potatoes" or "rice" or even "potato" salad. It's very versatile.

Do you eat Jicama? We're really getting into it around my house. It's crunchy and yummy. Fries up well, if you like that, or can be diced and added to salads for variety.

Mornging star farms makes soy "sausage" patties that can be crumbled and are very low in carbs. They also have several other soy products that are pretty low in carbs, but you have to check, because that's not the case for every meat replacement they make.

If you use black soy beans, you can do a pretty low carb version of chili, though what you will use for "meat" I'm not sure.

Roasted, seasoned veggies are quite good, and add variety.

Just a few ideas off the top of my head.

Since you DO eat fish and eggs, you're not a vegetarian/vegan, so I'm wondering why you are so very restrictive with your food choices?

Hi Nicolle,
Thanks for responding. Yes, I eat lettuce salad on a daily basis and make my own oil, lemon, vinegar mix with herbs, and shitake mushrooms every other week. I like raw veggies and it's funny you mentioned it because I went on the "raw" once. Also, I ate tuna with vegenase and celery for lunch today. I think I will focus on raw veggies when I go to the farmers mkt. tomorrow. Hopefully they will have more to choose from this week. What kind of dip do you use?
Congrats on your 6 lb loss. I've lost 6 lbs so far also since my last weigh in.
Colette

P.S. Did you know that our names have the same meaning? "Victorious One".

__________________
1/25/05::Atkins Plan
Starting Weight: 184.0
Current Weight: 174.0 (5/6/05)
Goal Weight: 160.0
10/8/05: Back to 184.0
On the Road Again: 10/17/05
I will not give up! I will not give up!

Actually, TVP (texturized vegetable protein, found in health food stores) is a really good sub for ground meat in any vegetarian recipe. I used to use it to make chili, tacos, stuffed peppers, spaghetti sauce, etc. You just have to make the recipe a little moister, 'cause the TVP is hard and crunchy, and soaks up some liquid in whatever you're making. It's fairly low carb, too. I sometimes use it as a binder in meatloaf.

__________________
Trina

Vice-President of the Intergalactic Order of Brussels Sprouts Haters

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Hello LCandrea,
Thanks for your ideas. I think I just got off track with the idea of the diet, that I totally lost focus on what I can actually eat. I originally found this diet from a store pamphlet with a variety of diets in them and it only provides so much info.
Roasted veggies certainly sound good.
I've never used black soybeans, but I'm willing to give it a try. Who knows, maybe I will enjoy it even more. I use soy ground round crumbles for meat texture.
You're right about Morningstar products. They are great, but a little pricey so I won't buy them or Boca without a coupon (they double coupons here in California).
What is Jicama? Where does it originate? Where can I purchase it?
Another thing that got me down is that I love Rice Dreams and Soy Dreams by Imagine Foods. I used to have it for breakfast when making a "Go-Lean" shake. I now realize that the carbs are very high in soy milk and rice milk, and that combined with the Go-Lean powder is quite caloric...and they add sugar also. Not good for someone who's moved away from "sugar".
Oh, yes. You mention Spaghetti squash. I just bought one yesterday. I figured I could eat it if I don't add too much tomato sauce. I first tried it a few months ago. I just love it, so maybe I will have it for awhile.
Thanks for kicking around your ideas. You are a real jewel. It has certainly made a difference in my outlook...at least for now.
Colette

__________________
1/25/05::Atkins Plan
Starting Weight: 184.0
Current Weight: 174.0 (5/6/05)
Goal Weight: 160.0
10/8/05: Back to 184.0
On the Road Again: 10/17/05
I will not give up! I will not give up!

Thanks ChefTrina,
Although I'm familiar with the soy "stuff", I will look for the TVP. Is it less expensive than the commercially packaged soy burgers, crumbles, etc. already packaged for us?
Colette
PS. What kind of taco shells do you use...are there any low carb ones out there?
Thanx

__________________
1/25/05::Atkins Plan
Starting Weight: 184.0
Current Weight: 174.0 (5/6/05)
Goal Weight: 160.0
10/8/05: Back to 184.0
On the Road Again: 10/17/05
I will not give up! I will not give up!

I've not heard of anyone having an adverse reaction to Splenda before. However, some of the berry-flavored teas can give me a tummy ache. Is this a new tea, or have you been drinking it prior to LC?

you might like the Carb Countdown "milk". I like the chocolate flavor, though I was less impressed with the plain version, which I thought was just slighly chalky tasting. If you decide to eat cheese, you have a lot of options for making veggies more tasty and making some additional dishes like quiche or souffle.

I don't think it's suitable for the early phases of Atkins, but when you are farther through the process, look into the low carb bread and tortilla products. You can make french toast, tacos, quesadillas, etc. Some of the LC bread products are quite good, though they might stall weightloss if used too often. Instead of pasta, I like to use shredded Napa cabbage or spaghetti squash with a cheese sauce.

Another think you can do with spaghetti squash is mix it with some seasonings, a bit of oil or butter and cheese and then cook it like hash browns - that can be quite tasty.

Flaxmeal and almond meal can be made into a variety of pancakes, muffins, cakes, or cookies. Again, the almond meal would be more suitable for a later phase in Atkins.

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

Colette, I used to drink Silk (brand) Organic Unsweetened Soymilk. I bought it in both the Produce and Organic sections of the supermarket. It is in a dark green carton.(It is stored in refrigerator sections.) It's about $3.49 for half a gallon (here in Texas anyway). It is sooooo gooood! I used it in shakes and for l/c cheesecakes.

The only reason I don't drink it anymore is because I'm trying to limit the amount of soy in my diet. There's alot of data out there that suggests that soy products may cause sluggishness of the thyroid. That's all I need!

Silk has a good website, you can probably find a store that carries it there.

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The spaghetti squash is also very good with olive oil and garlic and saute'd a bit after cooked. I microwave mine about 7 minutes, cut it in half and then finish cooking it cut in half after removing the seeds in about 1/2 inch of water...when it peels away from the side easily with a fork it is perfectly done...you can get it overdone and make it mushy--it doesn't taste as good that way, but is still edible...DD likes it but not as well as regular noodles with spaghetti squash...I fix it about once a month...twice at most...with spaghetti,b ut I fix it other ways a bit more often...I probably buy 4 a month...we like the Tam-X-Ico whole wheat tortillas which are NOW labeled Low Carb, but they were fromt he start with lots of fiber in them. they have 5 net carbs in they with like 7 gs of fiber.

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Lori

232/190/130
My other journal http://www.lowcarbeating.com/bb/showthread.php?t=1130

I make a pizza crust out of shredded zucchini, egg, parmesan and spices. i've lost the recipe but you mix them up, spread on a pizza pan, bake at 400 for about 10-15 min, then top as you would a pizza and put back in the oven.

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Carlee
291/275/130
I am not a complete idiot. Some parts are missing.

Don't put spaghetti sauce on the spaghetti squash the first time. (I think it's awful that way.) Try it with just butter the first time so you know what you're biting. It's delicious with just butter, salt and pepper, but it doesn't taste like pasta.

One of my favorite dishes when I'm sick of everything: fried mashed summer squash. By those little green pattipan summer squashes at the store. They have them here even in winter, so maybe you have them too. They're shaped kind of like daisies.

Cut them in quarters. Boil them in water with some salt. Drain them and mash them and drain them again. Fry the mash in oil until it gets a little bit crusty and brown. You can eat it like mashed potatoes. I think it's even better.

When you're ready for eggs again, try dressing them up with different condiments. I use raspberries sometimes. You can make your own salsa using raspberries and roasted jalapenos instead of tomatoes -- it doesn't taste like either salsa or raspberries, but it is incredible.

Also, there's a great vegetarian product called Soyrizo: vegetarian chorizo sausage. Fry it in a pan until it breaks down and gets kind of like gravy then fold your scrambled eggs into it. Chorizo and eggs is fantastic.

Eat bigger salads. There are lots of green things at the store, and they are just about all low-carb.

Try Maggie's Cereal. (Recipe is on the forum; do a search.) It's a hot cereal made from flax meal, soy protein, and bran. I like to add almond meal to it.

Be patient with the boredom thing. It's not an uncommon thing until you get used to living without carbs. I think it's a kind of carb withdrawal more than boredom.

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**************
"And so, in my State of the—my State of the Union—or state—my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation—I asked Americans to give 4,000 years—4,000 hours over the next—the rest of your life—of service to America. That's what I asked—4,000 hours."

Yes, Colette, TVP is fairly inexpensive; in some health food stores, they sell it in bulk.

I don't use crisp corn tortillas, though I have heard that the lc ones are pretty good. I use Mission low carb flour tortillas, and make soft tacos. I use these to make breakfast tacos, too: scrambled eggs, shredded cheese, salsa. A great breakfast.

__________________
Trina

Vice-President of the Intergalactic Order of Brussels Sprouts Haters

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