Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Dr Atkins Diet Recipe

Question:
Hi. I'm about to start the Atkins diet and was wondering if anyone knows which brands of salad dressings don't contain sugar. One last think, can someone suggest a good low carb cookbook that can be purchased from a bookstore.

Answer:
I haven't read every single label on salad dressing bottles, but I've read enough to know that most widely-known brands contain sugar of some kind, be it plain old sugar or corn syrup or the like. I think that even the dry, make-it-yourself packet brands contain sugar. Though I don't know offhand exactly which ones don't contain sugar, I can suggest that you simply take an extra 20 minutes the next time you're at your local grocery and simply read the labels and go from there. I will say that my sister learned, while in therapy for an eating disorder, that ingredients are listed by weight on product labels, and that if you're concerned about sugar, if it's listed as the fifth ingredient or lower (sixth, seventh, etc.), then there's not a great deal of sugar in the product. A fabulous cookbook that I found is The Low-Carb Cookbook by Fran McCullough, published by Hyperion. It's divided into categories, like appetizers and soups and main dishes and desserts -- yes, desserts. It contains a variety of dishes, ranging from simple egg dishes to complicated, more extravagant recipes. It also has a great section on how to de-carb your pantry and what substitutions to make. I find it fun to read, let alone use. Lee S. Sample recipe: Blue Cheese Dressing 4 oz blue cheese 1/2 c sour cream 1/2 c mayonnaise 1/4 tsp pepper dash hot pepper sauce 1/4 c minced chives (Low-fat enthusiasts can substitute non-fat sour cream and non-fat mayo for a reduced-fat treat.)