10 Snacks & Desserts You Can Eat On The Atkins Diet

Low-Carb Snacks & Desserts

Here are 10 Atkins-friendly snacks and desserts -- "sweet cheats" that don't add much (if anything) to your daily allotment of daily carbohydrates:

1. Sugar-free Jello [0 carbs per Jello cup]
We eat this stuff like it's going out of style. Thank GOD for artificially-colored blobs of gelled goo! Believe it or not, there's actually some flavor to sugar-free Jello. Sometimes we'll dip spoonfuls of Cool Whip whipped cream into our Jello cups. Ah... added sweetness for just 1 carb per tablespoon.

2. Peanuts (in the shell) [3.6 net carbs per 28 nuts]
I've been addicted to these things for years. (I'm usually known as "the girl who brings baggies of peanut shells to work.") The good thing about nuts, is you get to take into consideration the amount of fiber they also provide. While 28 nuts amounts to about 6.1g carbs as a whole, when you subtract out the fiber at 2.5g, you're only taking in 3.6 net carbs... for 28 nuts!

3. Sugar-free Popsicles [4 carbs per popsicle]
These slow-eating sweet treats on a stick help to pass the time when all you can think about is making it to your next meal. They're really sweet tasting. EXTRA-SLIMMING BONUS POINTS: When you're done with one, your mouth is so cold that you don't even want to consider eating anything else at the moment.

I can't wait to try Carb-Smart Creamsicles which have 0 net carbs! (FYI: Popsicle's own brand of creamsicles with no sugar added have 5 carbs.)

4. Almonds [2.3 net carbs per 24 nuts]
Similar to peanuts, you get to subtract the fiber 3.3g (or, what I think of as "good carbs") from the 5.6g of [bad] carbs that 24 almonds provide, leaving you with 2.3 net carbs. For 24 whole almonds, that's pretty darned good!

5. Dill Pickles [1 carb per 3 [big] slices]
We get the Vlasic OVAL Hamburger Dill Chips, and these things are huge! So three are a considerable snack. Dill pickles don't have sugar in them, while sweet pickles (obviously) are loaded with sugar. My point: probably any variety of dill pickles -- ovals or not -- would make a good snack on the Atkins Diet.

6. Grapes [7.4 net carbs per 1/2-cup]
It's easy to go overboard when snacking on grapes... much like potato chips, you can't eat just one. (Same with pickles, for me.) But we appreciate the sweet taste from a handful of grapes on occasion.

7. Lemons (raw) [3.8 net carbs per lemon]
Another wacky snack food... I know. Nonetheless, raw lemons have always been a favorite of mine. Sometimes only a half a lemon suffices for a sweet (or sour!) snack, and at just under 4 net carbs, you can't beat that! Pucker up.
TIP: Squirt some lemon into a bottle of water and enjoy some healthy flavored water on-the-go. (Remember, the more water you drink, the fuller you feel and the less you think about food... a great mind-trick when you're trying to make it through a diet!)

8. Strawberries (raw) [1.7 net carbs per 1/4-cup]
While, that may not seem like many strawberries, I'm comfortable giving up about 5 carbs for about 5 strawberries. They're oh so sweet... and worth every carb!

9. Eggs [1/2 of a carb per whole egg]
Sometimes when you're on a diet, you need to think outside the box when it comes to finding things to snack on. I know eggs seem more like a meal than a snack, but sometimes that just doesn't matter. Plus, they're filling, so you win big simply because you've managed to find something low-carb to munch on. (I like to make a fried egg or two and add a smidgen of ketchup -- or low-carb catsup -- on top.)

10. Cheddar Cheese. [0 net carbs per 1/2-cup]
Our intake of cheese is just about as high as our intake of sugar-free Jello when we're following the Atkins plan. It's tasty... and filling! But you've got to be careful -- not all cheeses as low-carb as cheddar cheese is.

NET CARBS CALCULATION: Net carbs are calculated by taking the grams of total carbohydrates and subtracting the grams of fiber and the grams of sugar alcohol as found in the Nutrition Facts box on the side of the product.

Splurging On "Sweet" Alcoholic Beverages

Perhaps the best news of all...

Our all-time-favorite dessert of choice -- a mixed drink consisting of Wild Turkey (bourbon) and Diet Coke -- is not off limits!

To me it tastes like Cherry Coke, so I've always thought of these after-dinner drinks as dessert anyway.

I know, I know, you're "technically" not supposed to have any alcohol during the first phase of the Atkins Diet. But what fun is it if you play by the rules all the time? Besides, there isn't one stinkin' gram of carbohydrate in the Wild Turkey and only 1/10th of a gram of carbs in the Diet Coke, so it can't be that bad...

Other Atkins-Friendly Snack Foods

Here are some other low-carb snacks you might consider:

Pork Skins - 0 carbs per ounce (.5 carbs per ounce for BBQ flavored)
Butter Cookies - 1 carb per cookie
Fortune Cookie - 6.6 carbs per cookie
Shortbread Cookie - 5.1 carbs per cookie

And, here's one that I find really hard to believe:

Chocolate Chip Granola Bar (chewy/soft) - 4.7 net carbs per bar

Say what?!... Can this be true? According to the Atkins Official Carb Counter it is!

You can bet I'm heading to the store to find some of these!

Atkins Dieting: Then & Now

So, wish us luck as we begin our journey yet again.

We'll most likely be referring to these tips often.

And here's a summary about the Atkins Diet Plan from their official website.

For the record, we're still addicted to Smoothie King angel food smoothies.
And... it's been a couple of years since we tried their low-carb version (only 6 carbs!) and were very unimpressed.
And... someone else mentioned that we might have just been at the wrong Smoothie King on the wrong day.
So... we're anxious to try it again. Will let you know what we think.

Also, for the record, we're still not convinced that the Atkin's plan is the #1 best way to go for weight loss, dieting, and a healthy approach to eating, but it's worked for us in the past, so it's at least a great kick-start to get us headed in the right direction... again.

Here's some research I've compiled comparing low-carb vs low-fat diets.

If you're still doubting the effects of a Low-Carb diet plan, check out this list of 20 "Scientifically-Proven", "Commonly Reported", and "Sometimes Reported" Benefits of Low Carb Diets