Tell Your Experience With the Atkins Diet

I just have a few thoughts to share about the article I read here: 'A Personal Experience with the Atkins Diet.'

1. The author of the article is apparently unaware that there are vegetarians who do quite well on an Atkins way of eating(WOE.)

2. The main proteins in milk are casein and whey. An allergy to dairy is most often an allergy to the protein casein, goat's milk has a very low casein content which is probably why the author is able to tolerate it. Soy or rice cheese could also be substituted as long as the particular brand is low in carbohydrate.

3. The author doesn't like eggs, but fried, scrambled, etc. isn't the only way to eat them. What about tuna, chopped boiled egg, chopped cucumber and celery, and mayo, mixed together and served on a bed of lettuce or stuffed into celery stalks, or an omelet stuffed with mushrooms, peppers, ham, and/or cheese, or nice spinach quiche?

4. There are mandatory elements of the Atkins approach, one of those is you must drink at least 2 quarts of water per day, some other beverages are allowed, also. Aspartame sweetened products and caffeine are not allowed on Atkins so read the labels, (and the book!)

Another mandatory element is you _must_ eat 12-15 net grams of carbohydrate from vegetables.(a) This does not include fiber. ex. 8 oz cooked asparagus contains 9 grams(b) of carb, 4 of which are fiber, so you would count 5 grams toward your total. 3 cups of shredded romaine lettuce contains 4 grams of carb, 3 grams of fiber, 4-3= one net carb. Broccoli, 8 oz, 11-6=5 grams. So far, that's a total of 11 net grams of carb plus 13 grams of fiber. A lot of people eating fast food every day may not get that much fiber. If it's a problem you can always take fiber supplements but you may not need them if you are eating enough fat and supplementing magnesium along with your other vitamins and minerals.

• (a) A few of the allowed vegetables are: alfalfa sprouts, daikon, mushrooms, arugula, endive, parsley, bok choy, escarole, peppers, celery, fennel, radicchio, chicory, jicama, radishes, chives, lettuce, romaine lettuce, and cucumber. A list of all allowed foods and any restrictions is available in the book and on the website.
• (b) figures from Fitday

5. It is not necessary to spend a lot of money or shop for gourmet foods. Chicken legs, turkey, eggs, canned salmon and light tuna, sardines, and hamburger are all economical choices. Fresh produce is often available at farmer's markets at much lower prices than seen in stores and most supermarkets have store brand frozen veggies available. Figure in lower medical costs and one can hardly afford not to at least try it.

6. The fatigue is caused by the body switching over from burning glucose to burning ketones for energy, it only lasts a few days. If it lasts longer than that then you probably aren't eating enough fat. Most people find they have much increased energy after the adjustment.

7. It is a must to plan ahead before starting this way of eating. Read the book and look at local stores to see what allowed foods are available to you, buy your supplements, and taste some unfamiliar veggies to broaden your palate. You may want to try some of the recipes out ahead of time. You will definitely want to prepare for induction so it will be as carefree as possible, to minimize the risk of going off plan. You may also want to taper off of caffeine before starting to avoid the headaches.

8. What the author described has almost nothing in common with the real Atkins WOE. A lot of people who say they had a problem when they tried it or it didn't work for them didn't read the book or didn't follow the rules. Just eating meat and drinking diet soft drinks for a few days isn't Atkins.