Atken's diet

In a nutshell.
Can anyone tell me (generally) what stuff ya can eat? More imortant, what ya CAN'T eat on this diet?

You can eat almost any meat, as there are next to no carbohydrates in any of it.

You can eat MOST vegetables, but not starchy ones such as corn. Green ones you can eat in moderation.

No potatoes, rice, or pasta.

The only fruit that is allowed are berries (strawberries, blueberries, etc.)

No whole or skim milk. Heavy or Light Cream.

There are about a zillion different low carb brands of foods out now so if you wanted to go into it full on you can get enough low carb substitute foods that you would never even know you were dieting.

Though the FIRST TWO WEEKS can be tough if you are used to a carb-based diet. Go visit the atkins site and look up the instructions for "induction." You will see the list of foods to choose from for those two weeks.

Most meats are ok, though stay away from salamis and the like due to the nitrates. If you like bacon, you can get N-free bacon at the organic grocery store.

Veggies like lettuce, bell peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, olives. Condiments like Mayonnaise, mustard, flavored vinegars, are ok too.

I've loved eating atkins-style. My wieght is down and under control. I don't crave carbs anymore. And I've learned that when I eat pasta, or potatoes, then I'm going to be hungry again 30 minutes later.

...this article from today's SF Chronicle:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/10/13/national1526EDT0600.DTL

is bullsh!t. I'm a bodybuilder and I couldn't get by without carbs. It's just that people overdo the carbs, but when you cut carbs out completely, like you do under the Atkins diet, you end up in a state of ketosis. In addition, your brain's main fuel source is carbohydrates, that's why you feel loopy and irritated the first couple weeks on that diet, then your body goes into a state of ketosis, and you don't feel so loopy. But, the diet is not that great for you in the long haul. You have to go back to carbs eventually, and your body will just store everything at that point and you'll gain all the weight back again. I eat 6 times a day, 60% carbs, 20% protein, 10% fats, and I don't have hardly any fat on me a all. Carbs are essential, you just have to know what types to eat and when you can eat the more starchy carbs. Exercise, and you can eat em, Atkins is too over the top.

then it makes sense to up the carb intake, b/c you'll burn it off quickly.

But, I'm not an athlete. I do exercise moderately to stay fit and in shape, but I'm no body builder. And doing my nutrition atkins style has helped lose weight and maintain the weight that I want. I couldn't do that before. I evidentely need the protein more than you.

There is room for a variety of eating plans (I refues to call Atkins a diet, because it isn't), including low-carb.

I've met at least a dozen bodybuilders over the last decade who have used, and still use, some form of a low-carb diet, especially the (so-called) Cyclic Ketogenic Diet.

The idea that ketosis is bad for you is just nonsense. Muscle, brain, and organ tissue actually prefer ketone substances to glucose, probably because they are non-toxic, as opposed to glucose, which is a cell poison in the absence of insulin. There is a ton of research on this which dates back to the early 1900s.

It's ketoacidosis that's harmful, but that's a metabolic disorder caused by severe Type I diabetes.

There are some people who do much better on carbohydrate-based diets, and if you're one of them, that's all well and good. I myself prefer low-carb eating, but when I get an infection (common for me because of long-standing problems with my ears), I have to eat carbs and can still usually stay in ketosis. It all depends on how your body stores glucose, which is mainly from glucagon/insulin regulation.

In other words, "your mileage may vary". Americans prefer to listen to experts than to their own bodies, but they would be better off to reverse that. And that is something I think can be applied to everybody!

--bkl

Plus as a bodybuilder Atkins is the worse diet out there for what you do.

People hear about the "No more than 20 carbs a day" and think that's absolutely freaky. It is! Trust me I've just finished my 2 weeks.

But that's only for 2 weeks. After that you start adding in about 5 grams a day of additional carbs provided that they are healthy carbs and not junk. You do that each week until you're back to normal healthy eating.

Atkins diet works great for those of us who have serious carbohydrate addictions, like myself. Believe me, I thought nothing of eating 4-5 candybars/bags of chips a day, bagels for breakfast, pasta and hordes of other high-carb/junk-carb foods. This kind of eating really messes with your insulin, which is why many overweight adults end up with diabetes - their poor pancreas's are just plum tired from cleaning up all those carb binges us over a longterm period of time.

Since I've restarted Atkins, I don't feel exhausted during the day and I'm starting to fall asleep easier at night. Plus for some bizarre reason I have much less gas.

It's easy for someone who is health conscience to be critical of the Atkins diet. One of my closest friends is also a health nut and just doesn't understand why we overweight people just follow a good healthy diet and exercize. Well geez, with that philosphy why don't we just have smokers stop smoking and Rush just give up that nasty drug habit. Just like the smokers and drug users, I too have an addiction and it's name is Carbohydrates - the junkier the better!!

Losing weight is behavior modification. I have failed as an eater and therefore I'm reteaching myself how to eat. And just like Rush is suffering through a few weeks of withdrawel, so am I and countless others who are trying to lose weight (although probably not as severe as Rush). I cannot lose this weight on my own, so I attend local Weight Watchers meeting (I hate their plan, but I like the discussion groups) and utilize the Atkins Website.

I don't know if you were always into bodybuilding or if at one period you suffered from obsiety and worked your way out of it through bodybuilding. I admire you're motiviation to keep yourself healthy and I wish I had more of it. But this system works and even researchers are starting to realize that Atkins and the other low-card advocates are on to something.

I have a serious depressive illness and the "loopy" feeling actually turned into a more serious depression.

Has anyone here ever tried the Atkins diet? Does it help you lose weight? Do you need to buy special food from Atkins or do they give you recipes?

Go to Google.com

Type in "low carb recipes"

There's thousands of them.

--bkl

Carbs are bad? I thought fats were the bad ones. I hardly eat any of those.

It's not that they are "bad." There is no "bad" food, per se, just some foods that your body works with better than others. If you have a weight issue, then it's your job to find out what foods are better for you than others and concentrate on the foods that work better in your body.

As for carbs like pasta, rice, potatoes, etc. it's that in the body they go straight to glucose. If you process glucose well, more power to you. You don't have to do Atkins.

If you don't process glucose well, you gain weight (no matter how much you exercise), you might feel sluggish after eating a pasta lunch, you might gain weight around the middle. In Dr. Atkins' mind, these were all symptoms of the road to Diabetes, a kind of pre-diabetes. This is a stage that can take years, decades to develope, btw. It is not an overnight phenomenon. Plans like Atkins, and to a lesser degree The Zone, do provide an answer to this dilemma.

A bowl of pasta or mashed potatoes causes spikes in blood sugar levels tell the pancreas to crank out more insulin. Insulin is the hormone that tells the body "hey, use the stuff that's coming in for eating for energy. Don't use the stored fat."

Low-carb veggies and such don't cause these spikes in blood sugar so you can continue to use the stored fat on your body (i.e. the much maligned ketosis)

I've used Atkins for a little over a year. I lost 27 lbs and have been in maintenance mode for about 4 months. I feel great! I don't get hungry or tired. My energy levels are fairly even throughout the day. I eat til I'm satisfied and then I stop. It's that simple.

edit: As for bread, potatoes, rice and such -- I eat them rarely. They're an occasional treat, nothing more.

sugars, pasta, potatoes, chips etc. Can eat low carb bread - check your market most have it.Stay away from even that for a few weeks. No ice cream - LeCarb is OK, but again, wait a while.

For sweets - sugarless jello with whipped cream, just a bit of sugarless chocolate - can make your own candy easily if hooked on that stuff.

If miss "bread" like stuff - find La Tortilla Factory low carb tortillas for sandwich wraps. Can make an egg Mcmuffin type meal with a warmed tortilla, velveeta, fried egg and bacon if that is what you crave.

If you drink beer, have to switch to Miller Lite - the Michelob stuff is awful IMO.

The easiest diet ever as far as I am concerned.

If you cut out ALL carbs at the beginning, you may get a sugar withdrawal headache the first days - after that it really is not too hard. Good Luck - I have lost 23, my sis about 50 without being inconvenienced.

:0)

simple foods; meats, veggies, fruits.

It works. I'm down 11 lbs in 4 weeks. I can live with this progress.

It's anti-Italian.

Look at the menu, tell me what exactly is on there that a good old Italian momma's boy can eat?

Plus a bunch of other stuff.

There's also reduced-carb and low-carb pasta now.

Mangia!

--bkl

Veal and Chicken Piccata. I love all of those! Expand your heritage horizons!

i've used it a few times for about 6-8 weeks. it's pretty easy for me to drop 20 pounds or so in that time frame. unfortunately i'm an emotional eater so it really isn't a long term solution.

and to the bodybuilder.. your scenario is atypical and doesn't apply to the vast majority of people. Having nearly finished a degree in exercise physiology, i'd have to say that most bodybuilders are completely ignorant of scientifically sound training methods as well as nutritional information. they are some of the most unhealthy people, especially those who are considered "athletes".

not a personal attack, just something i've learned over the years, being in the bodybuilding scene and having the "disease" for a while myself.


atkins is good, and has been somewhat proven to not be harmful to the body. a common misconception is that you give up carbs, when you really only give up carbs for the first week then slowly build up to a certain level that allows ketosis while eating a particular amount of carbs. this diet seems to be more suited for men than women although it will work for both.

you really only give up carbs for the first week then slowly build up to a certain level that allows ketosis while eating a particular amount of carbs

Exactly. Thanks for saying that. Re: emotional eating - I became one while I was married and then after the divorce as well. I worked to break myself of that for a long time, even before I started atkins. It is possible.

Curious. Why do you think atkins works better on men than women?

some lovely grilled fish and arugula salad, some eggplant parmagiana...Atkins (well, low-carbing generally, I don't stick to Atkins) is great! Plenty of room for the Italian palate, bambino!

A nice Sausage / Peppers dish baked w/ provolone cheese in a tomato-cream parmasean sauce. I made the sauce fresh w/ tomato paste, whipping cream, and parmaseano reggiano :). The whole tray (and there was ALOT) was probably 40-45 grams of carbo. And it was as good as any baked ziti I've ever made.

-darknemus

The thing is the carbs, which yes, eliminates alot of foods - but only temporary. You do the really low carb diet only for 2 weeks and then each week you start adding the good carbs back into your diet.

Thing is when your body burns energy it burns carbs first, then fat then protien. So if you have too many carbs in your diet then you're not going to burn that fat so easily.

The things I've eaten during my 2 weeks:

Lots of eggs (but no more than 2 per day)
Chicken galore
Cottage Cheese
A small salad (no iceburg lettuce) with a no-carb dressing on it (most dressings that AREN'T low fat or have mustard in it are usually no-carb).
Low-Carb Shakes & Bars
Vegetables (small servings

I pretty much had a bland diet for 2 weeks, but then again I'm a really fussy eater to begin with.

Check the label because not all carbs are bad. You'll have to read more about Net Carbs, which is the Net amount of carbs that will actually affect your blood sugar. Certain sugars like glycerol/glycerin actually have little affect on your blood sugars and are used more abundantly in low-carb foods.

Things I strongly recommend if you're doing the Atkins Diet:

• A good multi-vitamin!! You will not get a complete serving of all your needed vitamins each day when you first start this diet (I mean you can, but most folks probably don't). Make sure you have a good suppliment to go with the diet
  
• A Fiber pill - Probably because I was eating more protien and not getting enough fiber into my diet. Adding a Fiber Pill helps fix that problem
  
• A notebook - just to track your diet. Helps keep you honest!!!
  
• Ketone Testing Strips - this will show you if your diet is working. If you're breaking down fats you'll test positive for Ketones in your urine and that's a really really good thing!!
  

Make sure you drink plenty of water. I found Diet V8 splash a good substitute for juice in the morning and I drank lots of Crystal Light when I wanted something other than water to drink.

I would not recommend this diet if you only have a few pounds to lose. I'm looking to lose about 50-60 and it's a good way to jumpstart the diet. Although I lost 15lbs my first 3 weeks, I'll probably drop down to the normal 2 lbs a week after that (Plus I was up about 5 lbs from my normal weight).

You will crave like you wouldn't believe those first 2 weeks and it's really just a matter of willpower. What helped me is I had a pre-Atkins week before I started it (I had done this diet once before and it worked and the weight stayed off until I moved and added alot of stress to my life). The week before I started Atkins I started reducing the junkfood and other junk carbs from my diet. But I wasn't perfect and didn't count. But I can assure you that the first few days going hardcore Atkins is probably like a smoker trying to quit smoking. Not only did I crave the food, there are times during my day that I just want to eat even though I'm not hungry.

The ultimate goal of Atkins is to ween you off the bad carbs and get you into the habit of eating healthy and to include healthy carbs in your diet. When I was in Maintenence with Atkins, I made it a point to never eat a heavy carb breakfast. If I started the day with too many carbs then I just craved them all day.

Good luck!!!

BTW, there are variations of Atkins if you do not think you can cut out the carbs to less than 20g per day.

ALL

"When I was in Maintenence with Atkins, I made it a point to never eat a heavy carb breakfast. If I started the day with too many carbs then I just craved them all day."

If I eat a carb-heavy meal and then go somewhere where a lot of desserts are available, I have to sample every single one.

If I eat a low-carb meal beforehand, I'm content with just one small dessert.

When my lumches consisted of "low-fat" sandwiches, namely thick slices of whole grain bread with one thin slice of meat and a thin film of diet mayonnaise, I had a horrible time staying awake in the afternoon. When my lunches consist of soup or a chef's salad, I don't get sleepy in the afternoon.

Other people's mileage may vary. You have to go with what works for your body.

I just wanted to say that I've lost weight with this (and I'm still losing very easily) and I had never felt so good. I haven't had as much energy and drive as I have now in years. I like the statement of it's like what the "cavemen" ate. I look at it very similarly. Humans throughout most of time were hunter gatherers. Our ancestors ate meat, nuts, and leafy greeen vegetables. Fruits were a treat. Crackers, cakes, cookies, bagels, and pasta were nonexistant. Carbohydrates are needed for energy but provide no inherent nutrition. Our bodies were designed to burn our fat reserves when we needed to for energy. I find this way of eating now very simple and I'm finally free from years of yo-yoing and cravings. I frequently forget to eat now. Before (especially when I tried WW) -never!

Sarah

but it seems to be the case. of the many people i know that have tried it, the women have a much harder time getting results. It still works, just not as well, and the point where the carbs put you out of ketosis is much, much lower for woment than it is for men.

for example. after the induction phase, i am able to eat egg rolls, fried cheese sticks with marinara sauce, huge bowls of salad, etc.. and still remain in ketosis while my sister can't even approach that without popping out. my ketosis always seemed to be deeper than the females i knew. I'm sure it just comes down to natural tendencies of male/female bodyfat metabolism. remember also that average bodyfat % is almost ten points higher in women than in men.

the biggest hurdle is to get through the induction phase, it's a killer!!!
after that you can modify it to fit easily into most lifestyles.

I start to gain if I go past 45g carbs a day. I just went back to 25 a day and am losing about two pounds a week. For a long time, I was having 40 and would barely lose a 1/2 pound a week, so I wanted to pick up the pace a little.
Maybe the problem is too much estrogen (probably, knowing my girly body). Maybe too many years of eating crap. My husband on the other hand, did it too. He lost 25 pounds in 6 weeks and to this day still eats about 150g carbs a day and is maintaining just fine. I can either say "it's not fair" or I can deal with it. Mostly, I choose to deal with it (even if it isn't fair).

Sarah

since January of 2002 so I'm starting to feel a little qualified to talk about losing weight. :-)

I am on the anti-Atkins diet. I count calories and fat to some extent and pay zero attention to my carbs. In fact my diet is skewed to carbs - a lot of pasta and rice and bread. Granted I rarely get more than 1000-1200 calories a day so even with a diet that's a high percentage carbs I don't get a lot of carbs in total.

I lost weight the old-fashoined way. I go to the gym for at least an hour almost every day. I do some weights, I do some aerobics, I do some swimming when I can, I've even started doing Tae-Bo recently, anything to get the heart going and burn calories. Use up more calories a day than you take in and you lose weight - it's that simple. If doesn't matter what diet you're on. Eat less and exercise more.

I absolutely DO NOT diet. Diets don't work for me. There's too much pressure to follow the plan and be good. I made small lifestyle changes one and a time and it worked.

Anyway, that is my story.
DV

I know how tough it is. Good for you.