Can anyone give me advice on some recipes? I've been in the receipes forum but most of them are lo-carb, for other diets where they can have carbs during the day...I need stuff that fits into CM's...also, I don't have an oven, so I need stuff I can do in a microwave, grill, stovetop...that sort of thing...help! Please!

-Ivory

I had a quick scan of the recipes in the Low Carb Kitchen and there are stovetop and microwavable recipes from Quick Breakfast Microwave Quiche, microwaveable Mock Danish, soups, curries, stir frys and meatballs to salads and salad dressings.

The Complimentary Foods listed in CAD are almost identical to the list of foods that low-carbers eat.

Where CAD differs from most low-carb plans, is the CAD program allows a balanced Reward Meal within an hour time frame that can include refined carbohydrates or other foods high in carbohydrates. That is not an option with other programs.

Karen

Except that it is important to remember that on CAD you can only have foods that have 4g/carb or less per serving. That makes some low-carb recipes too high for CAD.

I'd love some recipes too!

I've made the mini-spinach frittatas and they were yummy!

-animaldoc

The mini spinach fritattas sound yummy! Are they a recipe I can find on this site? I looked to see if they were in my cad book and couldn't find them...

I tried the stir fried veggies yesterday (the recipe in the CAD book) and they were Sooooo good, it was like having chinese food without the carbs, calories and fat!

Do you mean that the whole CM or the ingredients that are used can only have 4 grams of carbohydrates?

I must read CAD again. THe more posts I read about it, the more confused I get.

Karen

From my understanding, CM foods have to be 4gm/serving or less, It doesn't say anything about that limit being per CM...also, the book says you don't have to limit your CM portions, so that means that the limit isn't per meal or you would have to limit your portions....

So, I've been flipping through CAD and found a list of vegetables that were over 4 grams per average serving. The Heller's say to avoid them because they may trigger carb cravings and to keep them for your RM.

Most of the stuff on the list is not suitable for your average LC'er with the exception of avocados, and broccoli. An occasional Brussels sprout and a few snowpeas here and there are OK too.

I looked through the recipe section and found recipes under the CM category for cauliflower. Now, cauliflower has 5.1 grams of carbs for 1 cup cooked. Broccoli has 7.18 carbs.

So, with the under 4 gram rule, can you have two three servings within a meal that are under 4 grams, from the vegetables on the CM list?

The CM guidlines state that that you can have 2 cups of vegetables any which way. What about if you have a cup of cooked zucchini at 7.10 carbs and a cup of cooked eggplant at 6.57? Or 1 cup of raw spinach at 1.2 grams with a cup of raw sliced fennel at 6.34 grams as a salad?

I'm not trying to be incendiary, I'm just trying to figure this out.

Karen

I know, I've noticed some some inconsistencies...I go by labels and the charts in the back of the book, and I assume as long as its under 4 that I can eat it in a CM since I can't find anything to say I'm wrong. For me its not really an issue because my CM's are breakfast and lunch, and usually I'm on the run, so they end up being quick things and quite often for my meals they end up around 4 grams of carbs anyway.

I'm not exactly sure what to tell you, I know I also find it confusing, that's why I find this forum so helpful to fill in the blanks that the book doesn't answer.

I think that it is ingredients that are 4g or less not the whole dish.....

I've found what works best for me is reading lots of labels. I go by the list in the book, but I also read all labels at the grocery store.

I tend to eat lots of salads. spinach and green beans. Also sometimes veggies with dip etc.

I avoid broccoli, carrots etc....

Most of the LC recipes I've seen have used ingredients that are low carb (compared to pasta!) but still over 4g....

Very confusing!

-animaldoc

Thats what I found too, I guess maybe some of the other plans are on a limit of carbs per day or something so you can have a meal with 10 carbs as long as your other meals are really low...I'm not sure, I do know I made quick microwave quiche yesterday and its GREAT!!!

I think the reason that it might be difficult to compare/contrast CAD to Atkins is that on CAD you simply don't count carbs.
You eat what are on the lists and the program works if you follow the "rules". However, in your example above, Cauliflower has 5.2% Carbs (according to fitday.com) and also 2.5 g Fiber and 1.98 g Protein. Now doesn't Atkins tell you that you would subtract those fiber and protein grams from the carbs to get under 4 g carbs for cauliflower? Broccoli has 4.61 g Carbs, 2.61 g Fiber and 2.64 g Protein which would make this fall under 4 g also. Perhaps that is why they are on the list.. the subtraction has already been done and those items that fall into the CM lists because of that.

We aren't supposed to count carbs, I said that already but perhaps it bears repeating. I'm not saying that we shouldn't be aware of them when planning a CM meal.. you would of course look at items you purchase at the store to see if they could even fall into the CM category, but I think most of them are listed there. The other things you save for your RM. Even then there is no counting, only estimating equal portions in thirds.

Lisa

I just reread my own message and it sounded unclear, what I was meaning was that with other plans that DO count carbs, their meals can be higher in carbs, than for a CAD person's CM, which is why I'm having a hard time finding recipes in the recipes section which fall into CAD's CM category, I didn't mean I count carbs, all I do is to check labels and make sure they're under 4gms/serving...

I apoligize for how unclear my message was

I know that there is no carb counting with CAD/CALP, so what I'm trying to figure out - by reading the CAD book and asking questions here - is how this 4 gram rule is applied and why a lot of LC recipes are not applicable to CAD/CALP. Is it part of the working technicalities of CAD, or is it personal application?

Broccoli is on the list of foods which is over the 4 gram rule and what I was questioning is if broccoli is, why not cauliflower? All the other stuff on the list with the exception of avocados, brussel sprouts and snow peas are rarely eaten by carb-counters, except when they are maintaining.

For example, a recipe like Grilled Portabello Mushroom Salad with Gorgonzola Dressing. If each serving of every ingredient is on the acceptable list of CM foods but the total carb count - even though carbs are not counted with CAD - is 14.8 grams and 8.5 minus fiber, is this an OK thing to eat?

Karen

If each part of it is under 4gm/carb per serving, then I would say Yes, you can eat it. My reasoning behind this is that the 4gm rule(which is mentioned in the book "Complementary foods are defined as having 4 gms or less of carbs per serving) and when the book speaks about serving sizes, it says they don't limit the size of any of your meals, so I can only assume what matters is how much carb. is in each food, not the meal itself. I think if it was per meal, they would have made it clearer.

Also, I'm not sure why broccoli is a no-no, but not a cauliflower, I'm just glad I can have cauliflower

I think broccoli is a no-no because in some people it can trigger cravings (it does in me!).

-animaldoc