[airspirit]

Mozerella sticks are okay. At .5-1 carbs per stick you can have four of them per day and it is perfectly okay. Remember, after induction you should be gradually working up from 20g of carbs to the 30-60g range depending on your level of activity.

As for artificial sweeteners, splenda is best. It doens't metabolize at all in your system. Aspartame breaks down into methanol (a neurotoxin), phenylalanine (a potent carcinogen), and fire ant venom (I sh!t you not). Toxicity reactions in your system can mimic or cause the following conditions and diseases:

Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's Disease, Lupus, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS), Diabetes and Diabetic Complications, Epilepsy, Alzheimer's Disease, Birth Defects, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lymphoma, Lyme Disease, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Panic Disorder

It can take someone with regular aspartame intake (it's not just in soda but in gum, candies, diet products, sugar free products, and anything endorsed by the diabetic association) well over 60 days to get rid their bodies of the chemicals that make up aspartame (thereby rendering them asymptomatic of the above conditions if caused by aspartame poisoning) and reduction or removal of aspartame from the diet can actually cause physical withdrawals similar to nicotine withdrawals.

If you are looking for sugar free products, consider those that contain splenda and/or sugar alcohols (though the latter causes a percentage of people to get a serious case of the sh!ts). Diet Rite and Diet Hansens sodas both use Splenda as a sweetener. Sugar Free Hersheys, Reeses, and Russel Stover's products all use Splenda and/or sugar alcohols. I would NEVER encourage anyone to ingest ANY amount of aspartame for any reason. Even in small quantities it gave me parkinsons symptoms, migraines, and severe indigestion. That is some evil stuff.

As for your plataeu, pH, that is absolutely normal. The first 20-30 pounds is always easy, and all of your excess water weight is also lost during this time. In later stages, you will probably only notice up to 2 lbs loss per week, since your metabolism is now fully adjusted and it has discovered that that is all it needs to burn to keep you going. At that point, it is just a slow but steady wait for it all to come off. If you go any significant time without weight loss, consider that you may need to adjust your carb intake one way or the other, or examine your diet to see if you have any hidden simple carbs that you have overlooked preventing you from going into a deep ketosis.