How I managed to eat low carb...

I've had to tell this story to a number of people, so I figured I'd record it in a more permanent place. I lost 50 pounds, and have kept my body fat in the 13% range for about a year now.

Here are some websites, tips, and tricks that I've used:

1. To find out how much carbs a food ingredient brings with it, check out:

http://www.nutritiondata.com/

2. The Atkins website also has a nice PDF document with lists of ingredients and their carb counts:

http://atkins.com/img/assets/609/atkins_carbgramcounter.pdf

3. I've used the book '500 Low Carb Recipes' that I ordered from amazon for many of my base recipes. It also has a nice introduction on how to substitute various ingredients in order to create low-carb versions of existing recipes. The atkins.com website also has a section for recipes, and allrecipes.com has a section for low-carb recipes now.

4. Remeber the formula for evaluating product labels: Look at the total carbohydrate number, then subtract the number for fiber, then subtract the number for sugar alcohols if listed (this is the technical name for items like splenda). What is left over is starch and digestible sugar, which is what will increase insulin levels, which induces your body to store calories as fat.

Example: One bowl of Honeynut Cheerios- 24g total - 2g fiber = 22g sugars and starch. One Pria Carb Select Bar- 21g total - 2g fiber - 17g sugar alcohol = 2g starch and sugar.

5. Some of my recipes:

Fauxtatoes- http://www.buberel.org/myphpblog/archive.php?blogid=2&pid=98
Fauxtatoes- http://www.buberel.org/myphpblog/archive.php?blogid=2&pid=99

Turkey Burgers- http://www.buberel.org/myphpblog/archive.php?blogid=2&pid=106

Cheesecake- The whole story of how i did it...
http://www.buberel.org/myphpblog/archive.php?blogid=2&pid=89
http://www.buberel.org/myphpblog/archive.php?blogid=2&pid=90
http://www.buberel.org/myphpblog/archive.php?blogid=2&pid=91
http://www.buberel.org/myphpblog/archive.php?blogid=2&pid=92
http://www.buberel.org/myphpblog/archive.php?blogid=2&pid=93
http://www.buberel.org/myphpblog/archive.php?blogid=2&pid=94
http://www.buberel.org/myphpblog/archive.php?blogid=2&pid=95

To see all of my 'Cooking' category weblog entries:
http://www.buberel.org/myphpblog/archive.php?blogid=2&cid=10

6. A typical food day for Jason

7am - Coffee with cream, splenda - 0g carbs, 50 cal
8am - Adkin's Advantage Bar - 2g carbs, 220 cal
1:00pm - Two Morning Star Grillers Prime patties with slice of cheese and lettuce - 6g carbs, 400 cal
3:30pm - Afternoon tea with splenda - 0g carbs, 50 cal
7:00pm - Grilled chicken breast, salad with ranch dressing, small side of broccoli - 5g carbs, 900 cal
8:00pm - Evening tea with cream, splenda - 0g carbs, 50 cals

Total Carbs: 15g
Total Calories: ~ 2000 cal

Periodically-
2 scoops of Bryers Carb Select Ice Cream - 4g carbs, 150 cals
2 pieces Reeses Sugar Free Peanut Butter cups - 1g carbs, 100 cals
One muffin-size sugar free cheesecake - 2g carbs, 250 cals

If you have any questions, just let me know.

-jason