Hello chopper!

What would help you out immensely is sitting down and making a list of foods that you can and like to eat that fall within low-carb guidelines. A Lotus or Excel spreadsheet works really well for this.

After you've made the list, go to Low Carb Tools at the top of the page and put the portion sizes and carb counts beside each item. After doing this, you'll know what is acceptable to eat and stay within your carb limit and what isn't. You can use the nutrition counts on the package of the quorn or whatever vegetarian delights you choose to use. Knowing what you can and can't eat is half the battle when first starting to low-carb.

Atkins is not the only low-carb plan out there. There are others that are more moderate. Check Which low-carb plan is right for me? to the right of this page for other options. You can lose weight by eliminating refined carbs and it doesn't have to be as strict as Atkins Induction with 20 grams of carbs a day to play with.

Remember too, that you can deduct fiber from carbs to give you the true carb count, so it opens the low-carb door a little wider.

Karen