Started today, have a few questions :)

[welshdragon1]

Hey everybody, I decided to start the Atkins Diet today, as recommended by a friend. I have a few questions which hopefully someone can answer for me:

1. Today I had: B: 2 fried eggs, 2 rashers of bacon, cup of decaff tea with cream and sweetners (Hermesetas brand); L: 1 cup of cucumber, 1 cup of lettuce, 2 chicken breasts glazed in olive oil, 1 ounce of cheddar cheese, 1 mug of Ribena Really Light; D: 1 can of tuna mixed with Hellmans mayo, 1 cup of spinach, 1 ounce of cheddar cheese, half a pack of chunky flame grilled chicken pieces; 1 glass of Dr Pepper Zero. I have drank 2 litres of bottled water too, as recommended. Would this be a good menu to do daily? I am an awful cook!

2. Are the drinks I mentioned bad? I notice Dr Pepper Zero has Aspasteme in it, should I stop drinking it because of this? And what about the Ribena? There is 0.5g of carb in every serving.

3. I also had a vitamin supplement after dinner, which I notice provides 14mg of Iron, which is the 100% daily amount you should have. Does iron damage the diet in any way? Should I stop taking these vitamins?

4. I feel really hungry for about 2 hours AFTER eating, I get these hunger cramps which I find really annoying. Are they normal? I feel a nice piece of cake would get rid of them but am determined not to give up!

5. And finally, how long will it take me to lose 1 stone (14 lbs), which will take me to my ideal weight of 10.5 stone? I am a 5'6 inch male.

Many thanks

[JulieB]

Aspertame is not recommended - it stalls some people. Sweeteners including sweetened drinks/products are restricted to 3/day...I think you may be exceeding that limit.

Check the ingredients in your "chunky flame grilled chicken pieces" - there should be nothing in there that isn't on the list of foods acceptable for induction. A lot of sauces have sugar added (under one of its many evil names)...

I don't recognize the brand names you mention...so I can't comment further on those.

Our diet provides plenty of iron, so a supplement with iron is not needed. Excess iron can cause constipation...you may want to purchse supplements without iron

[liv]

Good of you starting. Did you have a chance to read the books. It looks like you have more of the rules down very well.

Julie covered most things

Is there sugars in the Ribena? fruit juice?

Make sure you sweetener is the one with saccharin and not the one with aspertaime.

I really recommend cutting down sweetners to close to zero. But you are allowed three.

If you are hungry eat a few more legal items. Protein and fats. It is normal to feel a bit hungry the first few days till ketosis burning sets in.

Hang in there.

[mizski]

The Ribena Really Light has both fruit juices and aspartame. The fruit juices aren't until you get to the berry or fruit rungs in OWL and Dr. A advises against using aspartame and suggests Splenda (sucralose) instead.

I think some of your hunger pangs may be triggered by the Ribena Really Light and Dr. Pepper Zero.

Other than that, your menu doesn't look too bad. If you could have some of your veggies with breakfast too, that helps with stabilizing your blood sugars and may help you feel fuller longer after that meal. If you are using baby spinach, put some leaves on your plate and then put the hot fried eggs on top of them. The heat from the eggs will wilt the spinach and then when you cut into the egg, the yolk will run on to it and taste very yummy. Or you can put some sliced mushroom, peppers, tomato, etc. into the pan with the fat & cook them a bit & then add beaten eggs (Mr. Ski doesn't even bother to beat the eggs...he just breaks them into the pan and mixes it up as it is cooking! LOL) to make scrambled eggs & veggies. Adding some cheese while you're cooking the eggs is delicious too.

I don't know how long it will take you to lose 14#s but I don't think it will be too long. I would move into OWL after your 14-day Induction if that is pretty much all you need to lose.

p.s. Stay away from the cake!

[welshdragon1]

Thanks for your help guys. I have one more question- I'm going to have cheeseburgers tonight with grilled red onion and was wondering if one whole onion is equivalent to one cup? I also read somewhere else on the net that onions are bad for the diet, but they are on the list of acceptable foods? I've already had one cup of cucumber and one cup of iceberg lettuce today so do I eat the whole onion?! Thanks

[mizski]

Originally Posted by welshdragon1

with grilled red onion and was wondering if one whole onion is equivalent to one cup? I also read somewhere else on the net that onions are bad for the diet, but they are on the list of acceptable foods? I've already had one cup of cucumber and one cup of iceberg lettuce today so do I eat the whole onion?!

Onions have a lot of natural sugar (that's what makes them turn brown or caramelize when cooked) and are pretty carby. A large onion has about 15g carbs! One large onion = ~1 cup = ~15g carbs.

So....according to FitDay, 1/2 c. of sliced onion (2 1/2 slices that are 1/4" thick) = 5g carb which would be good if you are having onion as your other veggie.

ETA: I goofed & posted the total carb numbers here. Just read Elizellen's post below.

[Elizellen]

Is that net carbs, mizski? My fitday has one cup of sliced onions as having 8 net carbs, or one cup of chopped onions as 11 net carbs.

Actually one cup of chopped or sliced onions added to one cup of lettuce and one cup of cucumber would be a good induction amount of carbs, and definitely fit the rule of having 'most' of your net carbs from your veggies!!

[mizski]

Originally Posted by Elizellen

Is that net carbs, mizski? My fitday has one cup of sliced onions as having 8 net carbs, or one cup of chopped onions as 11 net carbs.

Oh crap...I looked at the wrong column!!! Thanks Elizellen! Now I have to go back and put a "nevermind...read the post below" thingie in.

[welshdragon1]

Sorry I'm a little confused, how much of the red onion shall i eat a day? 1/4 of it?

[Elizellen]

If you are only having 2 cups of veg from the 'salad veg' list then you can have up to one cup of onions.
According to fitday one cup of 'onion, mature, raw' (I couldn't find red onions) has 11 net carbs, so if you are having 2 cups of fairly lowcarb salad veggies you could have a whole cupsworth (measured raw as they cook down quite a bit I find) and still stay below 20 net carbs depending on how much cheese, eggs, sweeteners etc you also have.

According to this thread in the Atkins Diet FAQ forum http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...p-measure.html (Weight of vegetables per cup measure)
one cup of chopped onions weighs 160 grams/5.6 ounces

So you need to weigh an onion to decide how much of a cup it would fill (or chop it up and put it in a measuring cup to see how full it gets) to work out how much onion you could include in your 3 cups of veggies allowed per day.

If you have the equivalent of 1/2 cup of onions you could also eat 1/2 cup of something like rhubarb, green beans, cauliflower or other veg from the 1 cup list or choose another 1/2 cup from the salad veg list.