Have you even looked at the diet and the menues allowed? I personally have never eaten as well both for nutrition and for taste as I have while following a low carb plan. What is wrong with a steak broiled in butter, portabella mushrooms and onions, mixed green salad with your favorite real dressing, steamed asparagus and sugar free cheesecake with fresh strawberries?
Carbs are allowed just not too many of them. They also need to come from real foods like veggies, low glycemic fruit, whole grains with high fiber, the occasional starchy veggie.
The first two weeks only are supposed to be really restrictive in order to jump start the fat burning process. You gradually add in carbs *until* you stop losing weight and reduce them back until you start losing again.
It pays to get a book and read it to fully understand. There are several low carb plans and all have good information in them, some people even pick and choose what works for them from the various plans to make this way of life work for them. It's a your mileage may vary thing.
Here's the basic plan in a nutshell... definitely *not* everything allowed, but to help those understand that it is more balanced than they realize.
Real meats/eggs/cheeses/fish/poultry
Real fats/butter *not margarine*/olive oil/mayonaise/sugar free/full fat salad dressings/heavy cream/sour cream/bacon
nonstarchy veggies/salad greens/green beans/spinach/etc... minimum 3 cups/ day
nut & seeds/ Macadamias/walnuts/almonds/pecans/hulled sunflower seeds/roasted shelled peanuts/cashews
berries & fruits/ blueberries/raspberries/ strawberries/ blackberries
Cut out refined junk like white flour, cookies, white bread, high fructose corn syrup, most white foods, partially hydrogenated fats...
That is just for starters on induction and on going weight loss. It really isn't that bad especially since you usually feel pretty good on it. It isn't a diet, it is a lifelong commitment if you want the weight to stay off. You also have to work in exercise at some point in this plan too for maximum benefits.
Total ditto to that.
Dan
I don't "follow" Atkins, but when I look at your list, it's pretty much what works. High fructose corn syrup seems to be the real culprit, that and foods deep fried and saturated in grease.
When eating out, I like steak (lots of it), a salad, a good veggie, and some bread. Is the bread okay with that meal?