What to look for on ingredient lists.

[jpegg0]

Okay, I'm going shopping this weekend to start my diet. Can someone give me a list of things on ingredient lists that are a no-no? Also, I found Ken's Italian dressing that only has 1 gram of carbs per serving, but HFCS is listed as 'less than 2%'. This brand was reccomended on this site actually, so is it okay to eat or should I avoid it?

Thank ya.

[Georgiana]

There is not a list of ingredients that are not allowed, but you shouldn't buy anything that has sugar in it (in any form, like dextrose, corn syrup, etc.), milk, grains, soy or anything (derived from something) that is not on the acceptable foods list.

Regarding the dressing, here is what Dr. Atkins had to say (Chapter 11, page 127):

For salad dressing use oil and vinegar (but not balsamic, which contains sugar) or lemon juice and herbs and spices. Prepared salad dressings without added sugar and no more than two carbs per tablespoon serving are also fine.

Personally I can't eat anything that has even trace amounts of sugar, because my weight loss stalls. Plus, it's really easy to make your own dressing and it often tastes better too.

[liv]

Yes look for starches and sugar in all its many forms. Label reading can be hard to getting used to. But you already have figured out that you HAVE to read the label. Some people just read the nutrition info to see if the product has carbs or not but that is not sufficient because serving sizes can be small and if the carb in serving size is under one = they can put zero on the label.

Whole foods are really the way to go. But even here you have to look to see if they added stuff to it. Some places you find sugar injected chicken so always read labels.