Atkins Diet

[Y2KRN]

Hello,

I was just wondering if anyone knows anything about the Atkins diet??? I have been hearing good things about it again, and I was thinking of trying it. I have never been on a diet before but, I cannot stand myself any longer and have to do something. After the holiday's of course LOL.

I work nights and I really have put on some weight these last two months. So, if anyone has some good advice I would appreciate it.

Y2KRN

[Flo1216]

I HAVE read the book, by the way. But a lot of the people who haven't are the ones eating the bacon and cheese and eggs and steak. And they DO lose weight. But they gain it back. But my friend who read the book and did it right and exercised still got kidney stones. And he was always tired. He stopped the diet and felt better. Hey, to each their own but it just seems like a quick fix and most of the people I know who have tried it gained the weight back. Unless you are going to PERMANENTLY decrease your carb intake, you are most likely to have rebound weight gain.

[Flo1216]

Yeah, I think once your body goes into ketosis, you begin losing weight. I always thought ketosis was a bad thing. My brother is on a ketogenic diet for seizures(no carbs at ALL) and he constantly has to be monitored for complications. If there are complications, the diet is adjusted. This is done under the strict supervision of a doctor.

[baseline]

This argument (although a good one!) could go on and on...

What is important is that you chose the diet that fits the lifestyle you are comfortable with, and make it an informed choice. There will always be Atkins bashers and doubters, but for me....it works. I have a friend whose triglicerides were frightening......and he followed a lo fat diet religiously. He went on Atkins and his levels are now normal. He continues to follow a low carb diet. To each his own. And ...excercise....even if you just walk.....

[ScrappyED, BSN, RN]

I agree that you will gain the weight back if you go back to eating the way you did before. That is true of any "diet" Dr. Atkins even says that in the book. He warns you at the beginning that this is a "lifetime" way of eating.

The only reason that I haven't tried it is that I am not ready to commit to that kind of thing just yet. But my Mom is sick and tired of being sick and tired. She is actually doing better, lots more energy, not aching etc. etc. and is being monitored by a doctor. All of her labs have been good.

I think it all goes back to the fact that some things work for some people that won't work for others--again look at Dr. Mercola's web site referenced above--because the low fat regimen definitely didn't work for her.

By the way, I don't remember exactly what the book said about Kidney stones and gallstones but it did address that issue. If you have a family history of that sort of thing I would be carefull about the Atkin's route because I think that is a bigger indicator (though not always obviously) of whether they will develop or not.

[Flo1216]

Well, at least your mother is under a doctor's supervision. Baseline, by the same token, I know someone who wound up with a clogged artery becuase of the Atkins diet. Our bodies are so different...it's hard to tell who will benefit and who will suffer ill effecys from this type of diet.

[JNJ]

Atkins Diet: Prevention magazine (the small one at the checkout at the supermarket with lurid weight loss cover and quality info. inside) covers the Atkins diet this month and how to modify its use in order to follow it safely. The current argument is that it's not the safest diet, but it works for many people and that being overweight is more of a health risk than the diet is. Hope this helps.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I agree with baseline, whatever works, works. I think as was said earlier heredity must be the factor. I'm still very confused that a low fat diet of 1500 calories and a low carb diet of 1500 calories produces such vastly different results. Then again I also wonder why in Africa there is are cultures that take 15% the calcium that is recommended but don't have osteoporosis. While the four countries with the highest dairy intake (USA being #4) have the highest rates of osteoporsis. Things that make you go hmmmmm....

As as been mentioned the low fat diet people who eat white flour, and fat free chips are just as unhealthy as the bacon and egg folks.

But I do disagree that whole wheat is unhealthy.