veggie question

[fluffytofit]

So I'm back on Atkins after falling prey to massive quantities of bread and pasta. I have a question about veggies, and I just realized I sent my book to my mom - 1500 miles away (dang it!) so apologies if this is in the book.

I know the rule is 2 c salad + 1 c other veg OR 3 c salad. However, I like to have lettuce as my salad and today I had 3 c lettuce and 1 c celery (whoops). Even though I went over the physical amount, this is nowhere near the 12-15 veggie carbs I should have per day.

So which is more important - sticking to the physical amount or the carb amount? Thanks!

[Georgiana]

There is no rule I remember of that says 12-15 g per day, I'm not sure where that comes from. Are you eating only lettuce and celery everyday?! If you have a day with a very low carb count, it will not be a tragedy. If your carb count is so low every day (but you still get most of your carbs from veggies), then you might be getting a relatively low amount of antioxidants, because iceberg lettuce and celery do not have a very high Atkins Ratio (i.e. antioxidant score per gram of carbohydrate). I would think this shouldn't affect you too much in two weeks, but I'm not sure...

[Elizellen]

As well as maybe depriving yourself of nutrients you are also depriving yourself of the choice of eating other foods with carbs in them (eggs, cheese, cream, sweeteners etc) by choosing such low-carb veg for your 3 cups on induction.

Remember Dr Atkins said we should be getting 'most' of our net carbs from our veggies on induction and even adding that extra cup of lettuce you only had about 3 net carbs from veg - leaving you less than 3 to use for those other foods that for many of us make Atkins an easy 'diet' to follow.

[fluffytofit]

Elizellen... thanks! That makes more sense now. I think the problem is that I really like lettuce and celery, so it's hard for me to think of adding more veggies than that! According to fitday.com, I'm actually at 9.5 veggie carbs and 6.5 non-veggie carbs today, so I'll bump that up with a little onion sauteed with my steak. Thanks!

[fluffytofit]

Georgiana, I didn't mean to leave you out of my thanks I think it might take a day or two for me to get on track and figure out menus and such! I'm SO glad to have this forum because it's super helpful!

[Georgiana]

Hmm.... something is fishy. 9.5 carbs from 3 cups of lettuce and 1 cup of celery? Are you counting net carbs? It's net carbs (total carbs minus dietary fiber) you should be counting, not total carbs.