I'll try to give you some answers from my experiences with both the Atkins Diet and the South Beach Diet. Some people, maybe you, maybe not, but definitely me, have a low tolerance for high carb foods, such as pasta, white rice, potatoes, breads, sweets, and even things like fruit juice. If I eat some of those, my blood sugar spikes and I want to eat more and more of these foods - therefore, weight gain. If I eat a small portion of whole wheat bread and a small portion of the whole fruit (with fiber - not just the juice) the body has to work longer and harder to digest the "good" carbs and my blood sugar doesn't spike high. Atkins has you eat enough meat, eggs, salads, and lower carb vegetables to fill you up and make you feel satiated while keeping the carb count to 20-30 grams per day, which is very low. On this plan I felt great and had plenty of energy and lost 22 lbs. in 2 months, but couldn't maintain that strict way of eating. South Beach emphasizes the "good" carb foods like, whole wheat products, brown rice, beans, and less saturated fat in meats, butter, and cheese. I've lost 11 lbs. in 6 weeks doing the SB diet and feel that it is a healthier way of eating that I can stay on forever. SB does get a little confusing at times; they have updates where they add foods that previously were not on their list of foods to enjoy; some foods they promote are hard to find in all areas or are expensive. For myself, I'm sort of combining the elements of Atkins and SB. I make my own Whole wheat bread, stay away from lots of processed foods, and those chemically toxic bottles of Diet Coke/Pepsi/Mt.Dew/etc. - sorry, but I had to say it! I do put real butter on my morning toast but don't have any butter the rest of the day. I use olive or safflower oil in cooking. I start each day with 1 or 2 eggs with turkey bacon or my homemade lean sausage and I have a cup or two of coffee each day. I usually have a small portion of fruit during the day, but not eaten all at once. I take nuts and cheese for my snacks and keep dinner to a protein and salad or vegetable. I try to drink a lot of water each day and have just discovered that I like Crystal Lite diet drink mix - but I add more water than is called for as I like them weaker. And I don't drink it exclusively all day. My job provides me way more walking and physical activity than I want. I'm also dealing with menopause - which I thought I was completely through - arrrggghhhh! But I'm not on hormones and don't plan to be. When I used to eat too much of a high carb food like potatoes, I would feel like a big couch potato - no energy at all. When I stick to protein and vegetables, I feel better and have more energy. It just takes a while to get completely away from our old eating habits. I've said I'm going to post a big sign at home and at my office that says "REMEMBER HOW GOOD LOW CARB FEELS!" Hah! You might want to do some internet searching and read up on low carb diets in general and Atkins and South Beach in particular. This seems to be more than just a fad now - companies are investing in making low carb products, fast food restaurants are adding low carb menus and....Krispy Kreme doughnut stock has recently gone down!! LOL! If you have other questions, I'll be glad to answer if I can. Teresa

Sisto, you need to work with your doctor to set your own goals. Everyone is different. What is ok for one person might not be for another. That said, and just for the sake of conversation, as a pre-diabetic on no medication, here are the goals which my doctor set for me. Waking up (fasting level) 85-110 mg/dl Before meals (4 hours) 90-120 mg/dl 2 hours after meals less than 130 mg/dl My problem is hunger and pickiness as to foods I like. I eat quite a bit of peanut butter (6 carbs per 2T--watch out some has added sugar) and nuts which are high in fat and have carbs too, but I don't have a weight problem. Wheat Thins/Nabisco makes a flatbread which is 12 carbs for 2 crackers which I can melt some cheese on, making a good snack. Half and apple, glass of milk makes a good snack. Eating out, make a good choice, and if it's not a good choice, only eat half, take the other half home for another meal. Besides carb count, quantity eaten is important too. When half a croissant might be ok, a whole one might be over the edge. Sandwich, just eat half. I make soup and stew and use a small amount of barley for the carb part of the recipe. I don't miss pasta, potatoes, rice, and I do eat 1-2 pieces bread daily. I miss the quantity of fruit I used to eat. I miss the big 8 oz. glass of milk at dinner, which I can have but then something else has to go. I fail when the family goes out for frozen yogurt, because I have some too. I failed the other evening when the family ordered delivered pizza, but most of the time I do pretty good. We'll find out for sure when I have the next a1c test. Sorry to ramble on, but it feels good to share with people who are "in the same boat."

George Stella is a tv chef from way back and he has numerous cookbooks...sometimes they are practically free when on special...He has websites and probably facebook..Here is a google page that has a bunch of his stuff and his recipes are just normal every day things... One thing I would suggest though is to actually buy a few of the low carb flours like almond flour and you might even try a baking mix. Never hurts to try and get your fare as normal as possible. Almond flour is not cheap but it's worth it or you can grind your own..I have about 6 or 7 different kinds of flour and like having them available for when I want them...Keep them in the freezer and they last forever...I'm not a big fan of soy flour but it's available too.... Here is a link that might be useful: Stella This post was edited by ruthieg__tx on Tue, Dec 30, 14 at 9:49

Well, it worked GREAT. I made a simple clam chowder with turnip, daikon radish, and rutabaga, all cubed about 1/2", in place of potato. Everything else was as usual for a simple clam chowder. Onion, celery, a little garlic, bacon, clams (some canned, some whole), plenty of butter and heavy cream, milk, salt, pepper, a little flour to thicken (which turned out to be unnecessary, in fact I had to thin it out with more milk), Italian parsley garnish. Served in a boule bread bowl for DD, in plain bowls for SWMBO and me. We all preferred the low carb chowder to the traditional potato based chowder, which I'd made last week. SWMBO liked the way these root vegetables held together in their cubes instead of disintegrating as potatoes are wont to do. She liked the daikon radish best. She did complain about the actual clams with shells. DD pointed out that the shells slow you down and prevent gobbling. I felt the root veg-based clam chowder was a little lighter than a potato chowder, in the sense that it doesn't sit quite as heavy in the belly. But that may have been psychosomatic. (Numbers. Grams of carbohydrate per 100 grams of food: Potato 17, rutabaga 9, turnip 6, daikon radish 4. So next time I'll use more daikon radish. It's low(er) carb than the traditional recipe, but has plenty of fat from the dairy. I'm trying to eat less carb and more fat and protein, so this is perfect for me.) Anyway, this is going on the Christmas eve menu. We are doing a big crab feed. We always do a big crab feed. This year we broke tradition and went away for Thanksgiving, to a friend's house in Port Townsend WA. It was a wonderful trip - ferries, food that I didn't have to cook, a cute coastal town with interesting shops, our favorite cafe and a good bookstore, lots of lounging and napping, and one day I set up my laptop, put my head down, worked for 10 hours and pushed through a task that had me "blocked" for months. But . . . This has made us more determined to spend Christmas and New Years at home, with the kids and a fire, cooking and knitting, working and reading, getting the last college applications submitted (DS), and napping, hopefully a good deal of napping.