Introducing things slowly allows you to learn how each food affects you and effects the scale. It's best to add one new food a day. Eggs, cheese and nuts tend to be the biggest issues. By only adding one of these at a time you know which food is behind your gain...if you have a gain. After a day or two if there's no gain then you're good to add another food.

melissa- you're right, if you only added one new food per day you'd lose your mind.... If people want to be cautious, i'd have them add eggs, dairy and nuts separately (see this thread: http://hcgdietinfo.com/hcgvanillaforum/discussion/2951/1/newcomer-information-phase-3/)

I generally recommend people eat meats, veggies and one fruit per day for the first 2-3 days of P3. this lets you know where your weight will "land", simply from having the weight of additional food in your system. once you know that weight, then you decide how cautious you want to be. the most conservative approach is to add eggs for 3 days in a row, but no other new foods, and see what your weight does. if it's ok, then cut the eggs and add dairy for 3 days. if that's ok, then do it with nuts. (you can add the foods in any order). i say to do them separately because if you have more than one minimal sensitivity your weight might be ok from adding one of them, but not a combination of them. i wouldn't worry too much about adding foods other than those except to watch what your weight does. if it goes up, try to ascertain what might have caused it and avoid that food for a couple of days before trying it again. if you gain every time you eat a certain food, you probably have a sensitivity to it.

of course the other approach is to throw caution to the wind, and add everything at one time. if your weight is stable, you know you're ok. if not, then you have to back up and start looking at each type of food.

one other thing is to consider how close you are to goal weight. up to the point where i was still 30# or more over my ideal weight, i could eat any foods on P3 and not gain- even foods i had documented sensitivities to (from blood work). but as i got closer to goal i could not get away with eating those foods.

many people conclude they're ok with certain foods because they stabilized fine at a high weight, only to find out that they can't stabilize with those foods at a lower weight- and i suspect that is the reason.

minnie- i agree with your fruit and veggie comment. so many people get focused on getting in protein that they forget about those foods. personally, i do a little better in p3 if i limit my fruits- but i believe that's because i have chronic gut problems, and yeast is probably a factor. for most people i think fruits are fairly "friendly".

when you eat mostly protein, you don't generally get enough fiber. and if you can't have grains, then fruits and veggies are the way to accomplish that.

Thanks for the info , it really helps since Im ready for P3 this Saturday. The only thing that still kind of confuses me is the fats. I get the whole add one food at a time, but does that include the fats? If I start on day 1 by increasing my protein, adding more vegetables,e tc.. can/should I add fats? Ex, if I add tuna, is sugar free mayo a testing food? or is it ok? Butter, olive oil, dressings?

I think they are ok to add in but still not sure about whether they are one of those add "foods" to test for a day or 2...

Sorry for my ignorance, Im just really nervous about this and want to do it right!

Thank Minnie! That helps!