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I called Darden, the parent company of The Olive Garden, to see if I could eat their Alfredo Sauce on my new Atkins plan. While they couldn't give me the actual recipe of their Alfredo sauce, they would allow me to ask them if certain ingredients were included and they would tell me via email if they were. So I asked about high carb ingredients such as flour, corn starch and sugar. Any one of those would be a deal breaker.
Here's the response I just got:
Dear Dominique,
You asked about the ingredients of our Alfredo Sauce. Upon review of this menu item, it does contain corn starch, flour, and sugar. Thank you for your inquiry.
Wow, you're kidding me. All three? I was just guessing! Really, OG? The flour and the corn starch I can understand, but why do you need to put SUGAR in your Alfredo sauce? Man, what a bummer. I wonder how many diabetics are aware of that? Go look up any Alfredo recipe and see how many have sugar in them. I just looked up 5 highly rated recipes, and not one had sugar. Butter? Oh yeah! Cream cheese? Sure! I mean, Alfredo isn't a low cal sauce, to be certain, but I'm a little surprised to see sugar in it, that's all.
Okay, I'm done ranting at the OG. I'm just disappointed that I cannot have the Alfredo sauce with some nice grilled chicken like I was planning. I will stick to just plain lettuce and bring my own dressing.
Meanwhile, back at the Atkins front, I've decided that calories do matter on Atkins. The first week has been great fun. Bacon, blue cheese, cream cheese. Now that I have it out of my system, I'm planning to keep my carbs and my calories a little lower and see if that makes a difference.
I dropped 1.5 pounds the first 2 days and I've been holding steady for 6 days eating between 1800-2100 calories a day, so I guess that's maintenance for me at this weight. Nice to know.
Thanks for all the great support from friends and others who suffer with insulin resistance here.
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199.0 lb
Lost so far: 81.0 lb.
Still to go: 50.0 lb.
Diet followed 100%.
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Diet Calendar Entries for 29 August 2014:
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1257 kcal
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Fat: 95.43g | Prot: 73.88g | Carb: 19.55g.
Breakfast: Silk Pure Almond Milk - Unsweetened Vanilla, Atkins Advantage French Vanilla Shake. Lunch: Bacon (Cured, Pan-Fried, Cooked), Denny's Sliced Tomatoes (3 Slices), Great Value Romaine Lettuce, Hard-Boiled Egg, Iceberg Lettuce (Includes Crisphead Types), Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Kraft Blue Cheese Crumbles, Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing. Dinner: Atkins Advantage French Vanilla Shake. more...
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2199 kcal
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Activities & Exercise:
Sleeping - 8 hours, Resting - 16 hours. more...
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gaining 1.2 lb a week
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1 to 20 of 25
 Comments
Wow! Thanks for letting us know about the sugar in the OG Alfredo Sauce. smh
29 Aug 14 by member: Deb_N
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FYI. Sugar is used often in restaurant food as a flavor enhancer and also in vegetables to retain their bright color. For example broccoli stays bright green with just a touch of sugar instead of turning that yucky dull green color. A touch of both sugar and cayenne in gravy brightens up the flavor.
29 Aug 14 by member: wholefoodnut
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Looks like you'll have to learn to cook, Dom. :) It's in everything.
29 Aug 14 by member: northernmusician
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Omg, what a horrible revelation! I'll bet that's why there are 118 calories in my favorite broccoli at The Outback! Such a bright, pretty green. BTW, NM, I'm an amazing cook. Everything I learned from Alton Brown on Good Eats is put to great use.
29 Aug 14 by member: mrsmole
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A teaspoon of sugar is only 16 calories, the calories are probably mostly butter or other fats, just a pinch or two will keep veggies bright. Alton Brown is interesting.
29 Aug 14 by member: wholefoodnut
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Alton Brown is so informative. I think I had a tear in my eye when I found out that he retired the Good Eats show.
29 Aug 14 by member: Deb_N
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it's like how there's gluten in twizzlers. why?
30 Aug 14 by member: Gnewfry
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I'm from the US, but have been living abroad for several years now. Whenever I make a trip back home, I really struggle with how overly sweet EVERYTHING is in comparison. My husband, who's English, always used to comment on how sweet supermarket bread is in the states, but I had never noticed it until we moved away. It makes me sad that sugar and HFCS is nearly unavoidable.
30 Aug 14 by member: JustJo23
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The more sugar that you eat, you crave more, and the manufacturers add more. If you stop eating anything with added sugar, baby carrots will taste naturally sweet. If you get rid of the salty snacks, celery will taste naturally salty. Fresh tasting, too.
30 Aug 14 by member: Deb_N
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So smart for you to call first… even though the response was so disappointing! xoxox
30 Aug 14 by member: Ruhu
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30 Aug 14 by member: wholefoodnut
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Sugar and salt are in almost everything processed.
30 Aug 14 by member: wholefoodnut
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Sugar is addictive to most, so they hide it in practically every thing. Do you take your own dressing in a bottle?
30 Aug 14 by member: dboza
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Most people don't realize sugar is added to spaghetti sauce and many, if not most, tomato sauces.
30 Aug 14 by member: trackin64
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flour to thicken I guess sugar may be in the cheese it self .. Not sure I add sugar to my sauce and a bit of salt compared to most my 1/2 to 3/4 cups to a large vat of sauce is nothing. Maybe the sugar is their secret recipe. Who knows anymore. I am sure in 20 more years something else will be on the don't eat list and something that was on that list will on the do eat list. When in doubt go without.
30 Aug 14 by member: deaby16
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On another note how is your dog doing.
30 Aug 14 by member: deaby16
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30 Aug 14 by member: Rockiesfan
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Deaby16, thank you for asking after my dog, Wiggles. His eye is still infected with Mange. Evil little mites, they live in the hair follicles, deep in the skin, way underneath. Poor little guy is braving it out. The medicine is given in small doses, incrementally larger each day. He is nearly up to the full dose after 2 weeks. ANother 2 weeks on this, and they promise that will do the trick.
30 Aug 14 by member: mrsmole
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Wholefoodnut, I know it's a tiny amount in terms of calories, and I couldn't give a furry rat's fanny about that. But since I began Atkins, I must watch every gram of carbs. Sugar is the worst kind of carb for me to intake since I learned I'm insulin resistant, so Alfredo with sugar would have been an evil choice for me, even without Atkins! Frankly, I'm thinking that flour and sugar are CHEAP FILLERS, cheaper than Parmesan cheese, butter and cream, what ought to be in Alfredo! I'll bet that's why they add it, in addition to making it sweet. Pity.
30 Aug 14 by member: mrsmole
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Exactly, the sugar is not good, just thinking the broccoli calories aren't all from sugar but other ingredients.
30 Aug 14 by member: wholefoodnut
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