Well Atkins here I come
- Thread starter edsxs13
- Start date
edsxs13 said:
I've got no problem with Atkins for the initial induction, but over the long hall I don't think it's very good for people. More importantly YOU don't seem to be thrilled with it. That usually means you may have difficulty sticking with it. One thing that might help is taking a look at SugarBusters or the South Beach Diet. These are low carb programs that are a little more nutritionally balanced and not nearly as restrictive as Atkins. If you are doing much weightlifting I would especially urge you to check those out. Many people find it very difficult to lift with much intensity on Atkins because it is so restrictive on the carbs, which is after all a muscle's fuel.
Scotchie
M
marty
Guest
Atkins worked for me. I'm down a grand total of 124 lbs so far. To be sucessful you have to follow it to the letter. I know some people who try and say it doesn't work but they don't follow it right. I don't really follow it too much now. I just stay away from sugars and fast food.
Also add a bit of walking or any excersise to help you along. Important is to drink water daily. I use to hit walls where it seem I wouldn't loose any or even gain a couple pounds but when I stayed with it the weight started to fall off again. Good luck....m
Also add a bit of walking or any excersise to help you along. Important is to drink water daily. I use to hit walls where it seem I wouldn't loose any or even gain a couple pounds but when I stayed with it the weight started to fall off again. Good luck....m
when you have time, check this cut and paste out
atkins made healthy
The latest series of studies adds to the evidence showing that a low-carbohydrate diet providing 9-13 calories per pound of bodyweight, where 30-40% of total calories come from carbohydrate, are superior to their high-carbohydrate counterparts for weight loss [28, 31].
While a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet is very effective for short-term weight loss, whether it represents a long-term approach to weight maintenance is open to debate. No study has ever shown that ketosis is necessary for weight loss. What's more, some (but not all) studies show that long-standing ketosis in children is linked with kidney stones and myocardial dysfunction in a small number of subjects [4, 30].
If you want to follow the Atkins Diet, but you're concerned about the long-term effect on your health, here's how to modify it.
Step #1: Include protein in each meal
Not only does protein raise your metabolic rate, it also curbs your appetite, helping you feel fuller for longer. Think of it as a signal to your body that "the hunting is good." Fish, chicken, turkey, eggs or meat are all good sources of protein. Rather than cured meats, such as smoked salmon or bacon, choose meat, milk and milk-based products (like cheese) from animals that graze rather than being fed grain, as they contain more omega-3 fatty acids [11].
When attempting to judge the size of your portions, protein should cover about one-third of your plate. This assumes, of course, that you don't have giant plates! You can also choose a serving of protein no bigger than the size and thickness as the palm of your hand.
Step # 2: Add fruit and vegetables
Once you have the protein in your meal, the next step is to add fruit and vegetables to cover the other two-thirds of your plate. Fruit and vegetable intake beyond four servings per day reduces the risk for coronary heart disease, with a further reduction in risk with eight or more servings [26]. They also help to counter any potential negative effect of protein on bone mineral density. Dark green vegetables (such as collard greens, turnip greens, kale, broccoli, or kelp) are relatively high in calcium. Darker fruits and vegetables also tend to be richer in phytochemicals and antioxidants.
Because of the confusion about what actually constitutes a "portion", it's a lot easier to aim for a fixed amount of fruit and vegetables each day. Several trials show a reduced risk of heart disease with 400-650 grams of fruit and vegetables daily [3, 24, 47]. What's more, these beneficial effects were seen with fruits and vegetables of all kinds — fresh, canned, frozen, cooked, or raw — not just those consumed in their raw state.
Many fruits and vegetables are also high in fiber, of which there are two types — insoluble and soluble.
• Insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water and travels through the small intestines quickly. The skins of many fruits and vegetables are considered insoluble.
• Soluble fiber breaks down as it passes through your digestive system. It forms a gel that helps to stabilize your blood sugar levels. You'll find soluble fiber in oats, beans, and many fruits and vegetables.
One good source of soluble fiber is the humble apple. A typical apple provides around 80 calories, with most of those coming from carbohydrate. Each apple also contains approximately 5 grams of fiber. The flesh of the apple — the white bit — contains a soluble fiber known as pectin. In much the same way that pectin thickens strawberry jam, it also bulks up in your stomach. This has the effect of making you feel fuller for longer.
Pectin can also slow the release of sugar into your blood. Stable blood sugar levels, rather than the highs and lows associated with certain foods, also help to keep hunger under control. What's more, when you eat the skin of the apple, you're getting insoluble fiber. This can help prevent the "backed up" feeling many people suffer from on a low-carbohydrate diet.
Don't worry too much about avoiding certain vegetables and fruits because of their glycemic index. The glycemic index is better than the old method of identifying carbohydrates as either simple or complex. Unfortunately, it doesn't cope well with vegetables and fruit.
To establish the glycemic index of a food, researchers use a portion size containing 50 grams of carbohydrate. However, a Snickers® bar contains roughly 37 grams of carbohydrate. A serving of cooked carrots has only eight grams of carbohydrate. Yet the glycemic index of both foods is roughly the same — leading some people to conclude that a serving of carrots has the same impact on blood sugar levels as a Snickers® bar.
To clear up some of the confusion, Harvard researchers have coined the term glycemic load. The glycemic load tells you how much carbohydrate is in the food, as well as the degree to which it raises blood sugar levels. The carbohydrate in a carrot, for example, has a moderate glycemic index. But there isn’t a lot of it, so the glycemic load of a carrot is relatively low.
The glycemic load takes the glycemic index into account, but gives a more complete picture than the glycemic index alone. To calculate the glycemic load of a given food, simply multiply the grams of carbohydrate in a serving of food by that food's glycemic index.
Cooked carrots, for example, have a glycemic index (using white bread as a reference value) of 56. A typical serving of cooked carrots contains roughly 8 grams of carbohydrate.
To calculate the glycemic load, multiply 8 by 0.56. This gives a glycemic load of 5. The Snickers® bar has a glycemic index of 57 (again, using white bread as a reference value). One bar contains 37 grams of carbohydrate. Thirty-seven multiplied by 0.57 gives a glycemic load of 21. Despite the fact that the glycemic index of both foods is virtually identical, the glycemic load of the Snickers® bar is four times higher than the cooked carrots.
Glycemic index
Cooked carrots 56
Snickers® bar 57
Glycemic load
Cooked carrots 5
Snickers® bar 21
When the carbohydrate you eat comes mainly from fruit and vegetables, it's very hard to eat a lot of it. For example, a daily intake of 550 grams of fruit and vegetables could consist of 200 grams (7 ounces) of cooked vegetables (white onion, red onion, courgette, cherry tomato, red pepper, and yellow pepper), 250 grams (8.8 ounces) of berries (dark sweet cherries, grapes, blueberries, blackberries, blackcurrants) and a small apple weighing 100 grams (3.5 ounces). All this food provides a total of just 52 grams of carbohydrate, much of it in the form of fiber.
Step #3: Include monounsaturated fat
It's also important to get some monounsaturated fat in your diet. One good source is extra-virgin olive oil. Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat, and helps to lower LDL cholesterol while maintaining or even raising HDL cholesterol [21, 22]. Besides the monounsaturated fat, olive oil also contains a substance called squalene (pronounced skway-lean), which can also lower LDL cholesterol [9]. Olive oil may also lower your blood pressure. In a 1996 study, sixteen women with high blood pressure included olive oil in their diet. There was, on average, a 10-point drop in blood pressure [40].
Pecans, almonds, hazelnuts and macadamia nuts are also good sources of monounsaturated fat. Declared off-limits by many nutrition experts due to their high fat content, nuts used to be considered as a fattening indulgent snack. Yet, Harvard researchers have shown a link between nuts and heart health [2]. Men consuming nuts regularly (two or more times per week) had a 47% lower risk of sudden cardiac death compared with men who rarely or never consumed nuts. Women eating more than five servings of nuts (one serving is the equivalent of 28 grams or 1 ounce of nuts) a week had a lower risk of developing type II diabetes and coronary heart disease than women eating less than one serving a month [23].
Step #4: Consume 1-2 grams of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids daily
Over the past two decades, numerous studies have highlighted the importance of omega-3 fatty acids in the human diet. Because the amount of fish in the typical diet is far less than it used to be, the intake of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids has declined over the past 100 years.
A French research team has shown that the addition of fish oil (which is high in omega-3 fatty acids) to a diet can raise your metabolic rate, increase the number of fat calories your body burns each day, lower insulin levels and speed up weight loss [12].
One hundred grams (3.5 ounces) of salmon (about the same size as the palm of your hand) contains 1-2 grams of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. If you don't like eating fish, a fish oil supplement is a suitable alternative. Carlson Laboratories and Solgar (Omega-3 700) both offer high-quality fish oil supplements.
Step # 5: Use a vitamin and mineral supplement
Getting all the vitamins and minerals you need from the food you eat isn't easy, especially if you're on a low-calorie diet. Subjects following both a low-carbohydrate and a low-fat diet consume less than half the recommended daily amount of folic acid [5]. A deficiency in folic acid can raise homocysteine (pronounced homo-SIS-teen) levels, which is one risk factor for heart disease.
A recent review of several studies published between 1966 and 2002 carried in the Journal of the American Medical Association highlights the fact that many people don't show signs of a vitamin deficiency, such as scurvy and beriberi [17]. However, suboptimal intake of some vitamins, above levels causing signs of a vitamin deficiency, is common in the general population, especially the elderly. A basic vitamin and mineral supplement acts as an "insurance policy" against the risk of a deficiency.
atkins made healthy
The latest series of studies adds to the evidence showing that a low-carbohydrate diet providing 9-13 calories per pound of bodyweight, where 30-40% of total calories come from carbohydrate, are superior to their high-carbohydrate counterparts for weight loss [28, 31].
While a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet is very effective for short-term weight loss, whether it represents a long-term approach to weight maintenance is open to debate. No study has ever shown that ketosis is necessary for weight loss. What's more, some (but not all) studies show that long-standing ketosis in children is linked with kidney stones and myocardial dysfunction in a small number of subjects [4, 30].
If you want to follow the Atkins Diet, but you're concerned about the long-term effect on your health, here's how to modify it.
Step #1: Include protein in each meal
Not only does protein raise your metabolic rate, it also curbs your appetite, helping you feel fuller for longer. Think of it as a signal to your body that "the hunting is good." Fish, chicken, turkey, eggs or meat are all good sources of protein. Rather than cured meats, such as smoked salmon or bacon, choose meat, milk and milk-based products (like cheese) from animals that graze rather than being fed grain, as they contain more omega-3 fatty acids [11].
When attempting to judge the size of your portions, protein should cover about one-third of your plate. This assumes, of course, that you don't have giant plates! You can also choose a serving of protein no bigger than the size and thickness as the palm of your hand.
Step # 2: Add fruit and vegetables
Once you have the protein in your meal, the next step is to add fruit and vegetables to cover the other two-thirds of your plate. Fruit and vegetable intake beyond four servings per day reduces the risk for coronary heart disease, with a further reduction in risk with eight or more servings [26]. They also help to counter any potential negative effect of protein on bone mineral density. Dark green vegetables (such as collard greens, turnip greens, kale, broccoli, or kelp) are relatively high in calcium. Darker fruits and vegetables also tend to be richer in phytochemicals and antioxidants.
Because of the confusion about what actually constitutes a "portion", it's a lot easier to aim for a fixed amount of fruit and vegetables each day. Several trials show a reduced risk of heart disease with 400-650 grams of fruit and vegetables daily [3, 24, 47]. What's more, these beneficial effects were seen with fruits and vegetables of all kinds — fresh, canned, frozen, cooked, or raw — not just those consumed in their raw state.
Many fruits and vegetables are also high in fiber, of which there are two types — insoluble and soluble.
• Insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water and travels through the small intestines quickly. The skins of many fruits and vegetables are considered insoluble.
• Soluble fiber breaks down as it passes through your digestive system. It forms a gel that helps to stabilize your blood sugar levels. You'll find soluble fiber in oats, beans, and many fruits and vegetables.
One good source of soluble fiber is the humble apple. A typical apple provides around 80 calories, with most of those coming from carbohydrate. Each apple also contains approximately 5 grams of fiber. The flesh of the apple — the white bit — contains a soluble fiber known as pectin. In much the same way that pectin thickens strawberry jam, it also bulks up in your stomach. This has the effect of making you feel fuller for longer.
Pectin can also slow the release of sugar into your blood. Stable blood sugar levels, rather than the highs and lows associated with certain foods, also help to keep hunger under control. What's more, when you eat the skin of the apple, you're getting insoluble fiber. This can help prevent the "backed up" feeling many people suffer from on a low-carbohydrate diet.
Don't worry too much about avoiding certain vegetables and fruits because of their glycemic index. The glycemic index is better than the old method of identifying carbohydrates as either simple or complex. Unfortunately, it doesn't cope well with vegetables and fruit.
To establish the glycemic index of a food, researchers use a portion size containing 50 grams of carbohydrate. However, a Snickers® bar contains roughly 37 grams of carbohydrate. A serving of cooked carrots has only eight grams of carbohydrate. Yet the glycemic index of both foods is roughly the same — leading some people to conclude that a serving of carrots has the same impact on blood sugar levels as a Snickers® bar.
To clear up some of the confusion, Harvard researchers have coined the term glycemic load. The glycemic load tells you how much carbohydrate is in the food, as well as the degree to which it raises blood sugar levels. The carbohydrate in a carrot, for example, has a moderate glycemic index. But there isn’t a lot of it, so the glycemic load of a carrot is relatively low.
The glycemic load takes the glycemic index into account, but gives a more complete picture than the glycemic index alone. To calculate the glycemic load of a given food, simply multiply the grams of carbohydrate in a serving of food by that food's glycemic index.
Cooked carrots, for example, have a glycemic index (using white bread as a reference value) of 56. A typical serving of cooked carrots contains roughly 8 grams of carbohydrate.
To calculate the glycemic load, multiply 8 by 0.56. This gives a glycemic load of 5. The Snickers® bar has a glycemic index of 57 (again, using white bread as a reference value). One bar contains 37 grams of carbohydrate. Thirty-seven multiplied by 0.57 gives a glycemic load of 21. Despite the fact that the glycemic index of both foods is virtually identical, the glycemic load of the Snickers® bar is four times higher than the cooked carrots.
Glycemic index
Cooked carrots 56
Snickers® bar 57
Glycemic load
Cooked carrots 5
Snickers® bar 21
When the carbohydrate you eat comes mainly from fruit and vegetables, it's very hard to eat a lot of it. For example, a daily intake of 550 grams of fruit and vegetables could consist of 200 grams (7 ounces) of cooked vegetables (white onion, red onion, courgette, cherry tomato, red pepper, and yellow pepper), 250 grams (8.8 ounces) of berries (dark sweet cherries, grapes, blueberries, blackberries, blackcurrants) and a small apple weighing 100 grams (3.5 ounces). All this food provides a total of just 52 grams of carbohydrate, much of it in the form of fiber.
Step #3: Include monounsaturated fat
It's also important to get some monounsaturated fat in your diet. One good source is extra-virgin olive oil. Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat, and helps to lower LDL cholesterol while maintaining or even raising HDL cholesterol [21, 22]. Besides the monounsaturated fat, olive oil also contains a substance called squalene (pronounced skway-lean), which can also lower LDL cholesterol [9]. Olive oil may also lower your blood pressure. In a 1996 study, sixteen women with high blood pressure included olive oil in their diet. There was, on average, a 10-point drop in blood pressure [40].
Pecans, almonds, hazelnuts and macadamia nuts are also good sources of monounsaturated fat. Declared off-limits by many nutrition experts due to their high fat content, nuts used to be considered as a fattening indulgent snack. Yet, Harvard researchers have shown a link between nuts and heart health [2]. Men consuming nuts regularly (two or more times per week) had a 47% lower risk of sudden cardiac death compared with men who rarely or never consumed nuts. Women eating more than five servings of nuts (one serving is the equivalent of 28 grams or 1 ounce of nuts) a week had a lower risk of developing type II diabetes and coronary heart disease than women eating less than one serving a month [23].
Step #4: Consume 1-2 grams of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids daily
Over the past two decades, numerous studies have highlighted the importance of omega-3 fatty acids in the human diet. Because the amount of fish in the typical diet is far less than it used to be, the intake of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids has declined over the past 100 years.
A French research team has shown that the addition of fish oil (which is high in omega-3 fatty acids) to a diet can raise your metabolic rate, increase the number of fat calories your body burns each day, lower insulin levels and speed up weight loss [12].
One hundred grams (3.5 ounces) of salmon (about the same size as the palm of your hand) contains 1-2 grams of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. If you don't like eating fish, a fish oil supplement is a suitable alternative. Carlson Laboratories and Solgar (Omega-3 700) both offer high-quality fish oil supplements.
Step # 5: Use a vitamin and mineral supplement
Getting all the vitamins and minerals you need from the food you eat isn't easy, especially if you're on a low-calorie diet. Subjects following both a low-carbohydrate and a low-fat diet consume less than half the recommended daily amount of folic acid [5]. A deficiency in folic acid can raise homocysteine (pronounced homo-SIS-teen) levels, which is one risk factor for heart disease.
A recent review of several studies published between 1966 and 2002 carried in the Journal of the American Medical Association highlights the fact that many people don't show signs of a vitamin deficiency, such as scurvy and beriberi [17]. However, suboptimal intake of some vitamins, above levels causing signs of a vitamin deficiency, is common in the general population, especially the elderly. A basic vitamin and mineral supplement acts as an "insurance policy" against the risk of a deficiency.
Hi Abear;
I had heard about the carrot controversy some time ago, but was not clear as to why. Thanks for clearing that up. I seem to remember reading somewhere that much the same controversy is going on over the potato, particularly if consumed with the peel. Ring any bells? That would also beg the question; Does the glycemic load of a particular food change in combination with other foods? Any ideas?
I was on the atkins diet and lost 26 pounds in three and a half weeks then heard that you lose muscle instead of fat so now I just do a low fat diet and exercise. so far I am down 17 pounds since the first of January and I feel great and notice the difference. I am getting my curves back that I have not seen in a very long time.
johnfdz said:
lol
another thing with the atkins diet is as soon as you get off of it you bloat up like a balloon. because you have almost no carbs for that 2 week or what ever you body goes into starvation mode, your body actually thinks your not getting any food... so when you start eating normally again your body almost instantly turns it all to fat stores, getting ready for more starvation.
dont bother with these ridiculous fad diets that promiss results with no excersise. that just cant happen, as i said before eat healthy and in moderation and "PUMP ZEEE IRON!!!" Oh yeah cardio helps too.