Hello, This is my third day on this diet and I'm having trouble finding sources of enough favorable carbs for three blocks in each meal. I don't feel well if I eat too much fruit, but even if I use one block for fruit, I'm confused about consuming so many vegetables for the other two blocks. I've been adding 1/4 cup hummus or chick peas for one block, but I can't do that for [i:0c5c89d4da]all[/i:0c5c89d4da] my lunches and dinners. Breakfast is okay because I'm eating oatmeal. The quantities of vegetables are so huge for a block--4 artichokes for one block? Three cups of cabbage? Three cups (or is it 3 1/2--depends on where I see it listed) of spinach? Even a large salad barely fills up two blocks. What do you all do?

Hi, It's really not that difficult once you get used to it. It's definitely not necessary to eat volumes to fulfill carb blocks. Try the following (I've not mentioned the P and the F, which of course you would add to the meal): 1/2 cup salsa, 1/4 cup black beans, 1/4 cup kidney beans 1/2 sup salsa, 1/2 cup black beans, fruit for dessert mix cooked barley with seasoned cooked ground meat, fill green pepper shells and top with spaghetti sauce, have fruit for dessert 1 cup yogurt and 1 block fruit 2 blocks oatmeal and 1 block fruit add chickpeas to salads, spaghetti sauce over veggies, make chili with kidney and black beans, tomatoes and onions For things like broccoli, have the size serving you feel comfortable with. If it is only 1/4 block, make up the rest of the block with another carb (cherrries is always a good one, yummy, and fairly small in amount). Don't forget you can have a little unfavorable carb, too. Try to keep it within 1/2 to 1 block per meal. Use your imagination, and I'll bet you can come up with some favorites of your own! Sue

You don't have to have the meal totally favourable. 25% can be unfavourable and still be in the zone. So, add in a piece of bread, potato, or whatever to desire to decrease the bulk.

Thank you. I'd forgotten that I could have kidney or black beans. Adding the salsa has helped a lot too. I have a great deal of difficulty losing weight--four months on Atkins at the beginning phase with zero loss--so I'm going to stick to the favorable carbs for now. If I start losing weight, I'll add in some of the unfavorable ones.

[quote:f016aa01cc="OceanGirl"]You don't have to have the meal totally favourable. 25% can be unfavourable and still be in the zone. So, add in a piece of bread, potato, or whatever to desire to decrease the bulk.[/quote:f016aa01cc] I'm with you OceanGirl. I also believe that people who work out a lot need some high glycemic carbs per meal. My 2 cents!

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