Can Anyone Tell Me...?

[Striving4Perfection]

Hey everyone, i was just wondering if anyone could tell me if its really all that bad to have coffee (even with very few carbs per cup, like maybe 2) and/or carb free alcohol such as a diet gin and 7 or rum and diet coke etc. while on an extended induction phase (lol, thats a great smilie for this post)....iv heard that its bad because even if the alcohol and/or coffee have little to no carbs in them they still effect your blood sugar levels making it really hard for your body to stabalize itself...but i was wondering if that alone would really effect weight loss, i mean if theres no carbs, is it really doing much damage?

[SandyL2002]

I am confused.. Are you asking can you have coffee? I have no problem with coffee.. Some people have to give it up cause it causes a stall.

Now about the alcohol I don't know..

[Striving4Perfection]

ya i was just wondering whether i can have coffee with the sugar free creamers and such, and also if i can have the carb free alcohols ocasionally in mixed drinks when i go out...i believe rum, gin and vodka dont contain any carbs in themselves, so then paired with a diet soda i thought they might be fine...however now that i think of it, i am a big coffee drinker and that may be why my weight loss has been pretty slow, maybe i should try giving it up for a while and see what happens, but wow, that would be hard for me lol

[soliwit]

I would really not take the sugar free creamers though, if you want cream, use heavy cream

[solittletime]

Originally Posted by Striving4Perfection

.i believe rum, gin and vodka dont contain any carbs in themselves, so then paired with a diet soda i thought they might be fine...however now that i think of it, i am a big coffee drinker and that may be why my weight loss has been pretty slow, maybe i should try giving it up for a while and see what happens, but wow, that would be hard for me lol

I believe alcohol is out of the picture until after induction.... and if you're mixing with diet soda just make sure it doesn't contain aspartme or other sweeteners that could stall your progress.

I too love coffee and prior to this WOE would drink about 60-80 oz a day. each cup of coffee (without sweetener/sugar/cream) is one carb ... which doesn't seem like much but if you're drinking 6 cups a day for example... that's 6 carbs!

[Striving4Perfection]

wow thanks for the info...i didnt know that coffee by itself had any carbs, when i checked on the bag it said 0, but i know sometimes theres hidden trickster carbs like that, so thanks for telling me! also, i wasnt aware that aspartame and other sweeteners could effect weight loss?!?!?! wow, that might be one cause for my slow weight loss, i am a BIG sweet n low fan and even tho i have never liked soda of any kind i have been drinking alot of diet soda on this diet simply for the flavor and the appeal of 0 calories and 0 carbs! what is it about the artificial sweeteners that causes a stall in weight loss? do you know? and also, do you know which sweeteners are ok to use??

thanks bunches!

[sallyseachange]

Caffeine stalls many people so it's best avoided. Decaff is usually ok for most, but remember to count the carbs in coffee... or tea too for that matter.
Alcohol gets burned for fuel by the body before anything else, so it puts your weight loss on hold until it's all used up. You should be in OWL at the alcohol rung before re-introducing it.

Not sure about the creamers... I don't get those here and haven't a clue what's in them. If they're just cream based, with no hidden sugars or milk, they should be ok. Why not water down a little real cream and use that?

[kisstuck]

Ditto to Sally above. Are you reading your DANDR? Dr. Atkins explains things very well and talks about coffee/caffiene. If you are following the program, alcohol doesn't come in until rung 5. Just remember if you drink alcohol, your body will use it instead of fat for fuel.

[kisstuck]

oh, yeah...sweetners: use splenda or saccharine. Remember that each packet of splenda is 1 carb.

[Striving4Perfection]

wow thanks, all that helps alot...and no i havent been able to get the book yet so iv just been winging it...iv just been reading up as much as i can about it online wherever i can find anything....some sites have exerpts from the book and such...and iv also been talking to friends who've had great success with it and trying to follow by their examples...