It really bugs me when people criticize the Atkins diet but have never read through the whole thing. They stop at “butter, whole cream, and steaks” and have a figurative heart attack. If you follow the plan, you end up eating about a pound of vegetables a day, healthy fats, drinking lots of water, and getting plenty of protein. Because of the way it preserves muscle by burning off fat, you look leaner and lose inches. However, it is NOT a “diet” that you go on for a while and then go off. It is truly a way of eating that, once you reach your goal weight, should continue for the rest of your life.
If it’s not too much trouble, could you give me an example of a day’s menu on the Atkins’ plan. I did not know that vegetables were a big part of the plan, for example. I thought it was just a meat-eating thing.
That's the problem with Atkins in a nutshell. I've never tried that diet because I prefer to use commonsense eating habits along with exercise to stay in shape. However, I have known too many people who have tried it and lost weight, but because it it is an unnatural way of eating they weren't able to continue it "for the rest of their life". Those that I know who used the Atkins diet plan ended up not only gaining their weight back, but ended up weighing more than they did when they started the diet.
Drives me nuts too.
I have been following the Fat Fallacy plan by Will Cower which, if you don’t mind the Donald Rumsfeld jabs, has some decent principles. It is based on the French way of eating.
It’s pretty much Atkins with beans and baguettes. A lot of all natural, nonprocessed food, avoiding High Fructose Corn Syrup, etc.
My mom asked my how I “lost the weight.” I started with the 5 servings of fruit and vegetables, moved to the 1 or 2 grains, mentioned the full fat dairy.....
She perked up. “Full fat dairy?!?” Of course that is only one piece that fits in a larger picture. Without the veggies and the behavior modification, I would have lost the weight.
So what's the problem? Sometimes I want a freakin' potato! lol!
All joking aside, the *real* Atkins diet is a good one. Most people think the "induction" phase (which only lasts 2 weeks) is *the* diet. Atkins saved me from type 2 diabetes and PCOS. It really works for *my* health. (I won't try to speak for everyone.)