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Yes, I have been low carbing off and on for a long time, it is a great way to eat.
My biggest advice for you would be: READ THE BOOK........... READ THE BOOK............ READ THE BOOK. Also be patient, the first couple of weeks can be quite rocky as your body adapts to a different form of energy.
Do not try to do a low fat form of Atkins (really high protein/very low carbs) that will make you sick, eat generous amounts of fat.
You should check with your doctor before going on a high protein diet, especially if fats are emphasized, and especially if you have ANY history of kidney or heart trouble. Fats contribute to heart disease (among people who -would- get heart disease), and high protein can be a strain on the kidneys, for people whose kidneys are already compromised.
It's one possible diet among many, it's known to be effective at least for initial weight loss. The final phase is supposedly a full lifestyle change with regards to eating habits, and not everyone has the interest or will power to maintain this change indefinitely.
It does encourage "whole foods" and discourages highly processed foods at the end, but the "foods" they package and sell to the public are loaded with all kinds of artificial ingredients, processed sugars, fats that are like - the absolute worst possible thing you could ever want to suck down your throat (palm oil and coconut oil and butter oil, according to the list of ingredients, in one big gloppy sugar-filled 220-calorie peanutbutter bar...a single snack bar containing 6 grams of saturated fat - which is 30% of the RDA)...
If you choose to go the Atkin's route, I'd recommend making your own food from scratch and NOT buying their packaged products.
Do they still sell the original books? I couldn't find one at the book store or library.
You can find the original on Ebay or amazon, it is the best in my opinion.
And like I said before, DO NOT be afraid of eating fat on Atkins, it is an essential part of the diet........DON'T TRY TO EAT HIGH PROTEIN, EAT ADEQUATE PROTEIN.
Give it time, lot of people have a rocky first week or two....YMMV.
You should check with your doctor before going on a high protein diet, especially if fats are emphasized, and especially if you have ANY history of kidney or heart trouble. Fats contribute to heart disease (among people who -would- get heart disease), and high protein can be a strain on the kidneys, for people whose kidneys are already compromised.
It's one possible diet among many, it's known to be effective at least for initial weight loss. The final phase is supposedly a full lifestyle change with regards to eating habits, and not everyone has the interest or will power to maintain this change indefinitely.
It does encourage "whole foods" and discourages highly processed foods at the end, but the "foods" they package and sell to the public are loaded with all kinds of artificial ingredients, processed sugars, fats that are like - the absolute worst possible thing you could ever want to suck down your throat (palm oil and coconut oil and butter oil, according to the list of ingredients, in one big gloppy sugar-filled 220-calorie peanutbutter bar...a single snack bar containing 6 grams of saturated fat - which is 30% of the RDA)...
If you choose to go the Atkin's route, I'd recommend making your own food from scratch and NOT buying their packaged products.
Atkins is Adequate protein, more along the lines of a modified ketogenic diet, higher in fat.
The whole lipid/heart diease hypothesis is/has come under fire a lot lately.
The fact is a huge study called the Women's Health initiative done around 2006 failed to find benefits from the consumption of fruits and vegetable lowering cancer rates among women.
And how do you really do a true clinical study when it comes to food and health? A large scale, placebo controlled, double blind, adequate time period (say 6 months) study of fat and heart disease was done when......HUH?????
A lot these so-called clinical studies are just biased junk or Meta-Analysis of other junky studies...not even coming close to a gold standard scientific study. A survey study about eating habits/health is supposed to be something I am going to base my eating habits on.....hardly. Or how about the Biased/flawed junk China Study that food Nazi's want us to believe.
And how do you really do a true clinical study when it comes to food and health? A large scale, placebo controlled, double blind, adequate time period (say 6 months) study of fat and heart disease was done when......HUH?????
I dont think its possible to do a double blind study on the effects of food.
Or the effects of exercise.
Or the effects of tobacco.
Or the effects of psychotherapy.
The answer is NOT to throw up our hands. Its to use the clinical studies we have, the epidemiological evidence, etc, etc. Which AFAICT is pretty decisive, and the scientific consensus is pretty strong.
The fact is a huge study called the Women's Health initiative done around 2006 failed to find benefits from the consumption of fruits and vegetable lowering cancer rates among women.
"
To study the effect of the WHI low-fat dietary pattern on heart disease, researchers looked at how many participants had coronary heart disease (heart attack or death from heart disease). They found that the low-fat dietary pattern did not reduce the risk of heart disease, although the intervention was not designed specifically to reduce heart disease. In WHI Dietary Study participants, there were 1422 cases of coronary heart disease, with similar rates in the Dietary Change (on average, 35 per 10,000 women per year) and the Comparison (on average, 36 per 10,000 women per year) groups. The 2% difference (decrease) in risk of coronary heart disease was not statistically significant. When women who had a history of heart disease when they joined the study were removed from the analyses, there was a 7% reduction in heart disease, but this was not statistically significant.There was also no statistically significant effect on stroke.
There were, however, small favorable effects of the low-fat dietary pattern on some risk factors. There were small but significant improvements in body weight, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, diastolic blood pressure, and Factor VII C (a blood clotting factor). One important finding from the Dietary Study is that a low-fat, high carbohydrate diet does not necessarily increase body weight, blood triglycerides, or indicators of increased risk of diabetes such as blood glucose or insulin levels.
There was no greater effect of the intervention on heart disease in women who participated in most of the study activities, or in women who started with higher fat intakes. Those who reached the lowest levels of saturated fat or trans fat and the highest level of fruits and vegetables had greater reductions in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and heart disease. However, because these analyses involved smaller groups of women, the findings are not as reliable as those which include the entire group. The most likely explanation for the lack of a statistically significant effect on heart disease is that the dietary pattern reduced all types of fat, in order to test whether reduction in total fat prevents breast cancer. It was anticipated that reducing total fat would also lead to reductions in saturated fat with a consequent lowering of blood cholesterol. The lowering of blood cholesterol in Dietary Change participants was less than anticipated, and therefore there was no effect on heart disease. A diet designed to reduce risk of heart disease would focus specifically on reducing saturated and trans fats, and would not reduce polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Studies have shown that such a diet leads to lower blood cholesterol and reduces the risk of heart disease."
Do not try to do a low fat form of Atkins (really high protein/very low carbs) that will make you sick, eat generous amounts of fat.
Not true at all. I've been doing this for over 6 months and am basically as healthy as a normal teenager (I'm almost 44). That's what my doctor said after my latest round of blood tests that literally test almost anything they can think of and then some; 9 vials worth each time. It also includes my pulse and blood pressure, which is definitely better than anyone on a high fat diet. Those clogged arteries just can't transfer the blood as well.
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