Atkins diet

[snopes]

Researchers believe that protein-rich foods have an edge over carbohydrates in making someone feel full and satisfied, leading to more fat-shedding success. Yes, complex carbs such as fruits and vegetables are essential for a balanced diet, but protein, experts say, might be key to dropping pounds.

http://www.latimes.com/features/heal...1,456631.story

[keepyourkiltdown]

Well, my dad lost 30 pounds on this diet, he swears by it.

[Ana Ng]

I've anecdotally stated as much here and I got teased. Told you guys so!

[Spamamander]

If I could find a way to get past the carb cravings... I started Atkins and during that initial phase I started drooling over my kids' oatmeal. When oatmeal makes me drool, there's a problem.

[keepyourkiltdown]

Well, from what I hear it is an easier diet for men to follow. Since generally they would prefer to just eat meat all the time. I doubt my dad hardly knows what a dinner roll is...

[Loyhargil]

I have to say, the diet does work when you want it to. During my first marriage, I put on nearly 140 pounds in stress weight. After I left my ex, I started naturally eating less and weight started coming off slowly, so I started the Atkins to push it along. A year later, all the weight was back off.

There were a lot of replacement foods I relied on toward the end - soy flour cheese breads and such.

I was definitely eating less and losing weight anyway, but the Atkins helped me focus it a bit better.

YMMV.

Of course now, I've put on stress weight with my dad's illness and death last year, along with my own health issues and a nasty miscarriage. I'm too lazy to exert the effort needed to stay on the Atkins nowadays (too much cooking involved for my tastes and current time availability). So I went a different route this time (no thinking or cooking involved in NutriSystem, heh). Stress weight's over 2/3 of the way back off.

Now, if I can figure out how to quit stress eating, I'll be in good shape.

[Malruhn]

Atkins worked great for me - 20 pounds in a month and I kept it off (for almost a year!!) I quit after two months because my beloved bride couldn't take my dragon breath (I could have knocked a buzzard off a poop-wagon!!), and I couldn't take the horrible case of the bastards it caused. When they say that "irritability" might be a side affect, I will vouch with a "No foolin'!" I turned into a really horrid person that _I_ didn't want to be around.

Two days of eating bread, oatmeal and crackers, and I was my old, loveable self!

[snapdragonfly]

Yeah, but,

"The Atkins group regained more weight in the second half of the Stanford study compared with those on other diets."

So you go through all that and buy new clothes and then end up right where you were.

I personally hate Atkins. I don't lose weight, I'm starving to death and all the cheese and meat in the world just makes me constipated. Between being hungry, being plugged up, and the drop in seratonin from no carbs, I could murder someone.

I've lost 15 pounds since Christmas with portion control. No more Atkins or fad diets for me ever again. I enjoy my whole grain English muffin for breakfast and my apples very much.

[ThistleS]

Originally Posted by Shadow

Cookies and pastries can have protein as well, but said sweets can cause weight gain.

Cookies and pastries are like the poster children of high-carb food.

Eating too much of anything causes weight gain. Most diets are supposed to cause the dieter to eat less while still feeling full and remaining healthy. Few diets work for everyone, and even fewer diets work for people who don't even follow them as they are written. "Stuffing your gob" with cookies and meat is hardly the correct way to follow the Atkins diet.

[geminilee]

My only beef (hehehe) with Atkins is more the way it is practiced than the actual diet itself. Many people follow (or try to) a psuedo-Atkins diet, cutting carbohydrate intake drastically, or eliminating it entirely, throughout the whole diet, rather than returning to a moderate carbohydrate intake after the initial period. That can lead to serious issues with cognitive function. Not to mention the fact that diets that eliminate anything tend to be very difficult to maintain for long, since depriving yourself can lead to intense cravings for the food simply because youu are "not allowed" to eat it.

[Trixie Tang]

I don't think Dr. Atkins even created the diet. (I'm not even sure he even claimed he did.) I remember my mom going on a crash no-carb diet that was given to her by the spouse of a surgeon. Surgeons gave this diet to obese patients before surgery to make the procedure easier.

The diet was never published because no doctor in his right mind would advocate it or advise it unless it was drastic. The diet is really dangerous. I never read Dr. Adkins' book, nor have I been on the Adkins Diet, but the whole thing seems dubious to me. I once heard a ten minute lecture on how bananas are bad for me. "They're mostly sugar and water! Eat fish instead!" Bananas are the perfect snack food for humans. They're mostly sugar and water. I don't think this person had a grip on the fact that you need sugar to survive.

[lynnejanet]

My husband and I had great success with a modified South Beach style diet, which I understand is a more moderate version of Atkins. I lost over 40 lbs and he, over 60. What amazed me was that we truly weren't hungry, and had absolutely no cravings, as long as we stayed away from the simple carbs.

I've put about 15 lbs back on, but I've resisted going back on the diet. It's pretty drastic, so I'm just ignoring the weight, for now.

[Singing in the Drizzle]

Only the first phase of the Atkins diet is very low carb. This is done to brake the carb addiction. Then as geminilee said, you go on to a modorate carb diet. From what I have seen with the South Beach diet is that you try and more slowly brake the carb addiction.

[Loyhargil]

I suppose, in the interest of full disclosure, four of us at work did the Atkins at about the same time. For two of us, it worked wonders. For the other two, they couldn't do all the meat and couldn't give up the bread.

I certainly don't think it's for everyone. I love steaks, eggs (although I can barely choke down eggs for breakfast nowadays, I got so sick of 'em every morning), chicken, salmon, turkey, any meat you can name. And I'm a huge veggie fan. While I love my carbs, they were easy to cut down on since I had lots of other great options.

And really, you put anything like bread or candy in front of me, I can eat it all night without stopping. I absolutely cannot get enough of, say, Cadbury mini-eggs or fresh baked bread. However, you give me a steak and creamed spinach, I'm happy after a small serving. I think that's why it worked, I focused on what filled me up rather than what I could throw down my gullet without a thought. So yeah, I'd have to say I think the OP was right about why it works (for some people anyway).

I also have to point out, though, that I have exceptionally good blood pressure and heart health naturally (thanks, Mom's genes!), so my doctor and I were never concerned with that.

[geminilee]

I am the opposite. Bread fills me up right away, but I could eat steak or beef jerky all night.