Sheila, I don't want to lead you astray, I just want to give you hope. There is a light farther down the tunnel. After you have acclimated yourself to eating naturally the Atkins/low carb way and are in pre-maintenance or maintenance aka/Atkins for life, and your weight and health are at comfortable and stable levels for you, yes! You can have a can of light beer or a slice of bread or a couple of slices of crispbread or some controlled-carb ice cream like Breyer's CarbSmart as long as you can have just a normal portion once in a while and it doesn't cause weight gain, cravings/binges or any other ill effect. You need to be honest with yourself about that.