Dr Atkins Diet ------------------------------ You will need to buy Dr RC Atkin's book - The New Diet Revolution. The book goes into far more detail than I do here and will give you many useful ideas as well as a more detailed explanation of why this diet works. Until then, here is a summary. The diet works by putting the body into a state called ketosis. In this state the liver 'cannibalises' fat cells in the body. To get the body into ketosis you need to eat a low level of carbohydrates but a relatively higher level of protein and fat. Most people find that when they are in ketosis, they feel an increase in energy and well-being and their hunger level decreases. Many people have used this diet with great success. You will witness this in the diet newsgroup alt.support.diet.low-carb. Before you start you will need a carbohydrate counter. If you want a basic carb counter and a useful progress chart and have Excel97 or +, I have them at my web site at http://www.znet.freeserve.co.uk/ You will also find it useful to have a packet of Ketostix to measure the ketones in your urine. Most Chemists will sell this product or one with a similar function. A packet of 50 cost about £5 but will last you a long time. When you become more familiar with how this diet feels you probably won't need to use them at all. It is important throughout this diet to drink plenty of water, the more the better. You will feel more thirsty than normal, but you must make an effort to drink more often. You will need to start taking a good multivitamin as this diet does not contain all the vitamins and minerals which you need especially in the Induction Level. It is not usually necessary to count calories on this diet, just carbohydrates. Week 1 and 2 - Induction Level --------------------------------------------- Limit your carbohydrate intake to 20 g a day. Eat no products prepared with flour, sugar, sorbitol, cornflour or any other starch. Don't weigh yourself until after the first week - you may put a couple of pounds on at first but they will go with many more besides. Eat only the items in this list but unless stated otherwise, eat as much as you want of them and as often as you want. Eat at least 4 meals a day and feel free to eat 6 or more if you want to. In fact, if you feel poorly during this period try to eat something every 2 hours. Each meal must consist mostly of protein. Eat as much as you want of Meat, Fish (but not shellfish or fish pickled in a product containing sugar) poultry, eggs. All these contain no carbohydrates. If the fish is tinned in a sauce then you will need to count that towards your 20g carbohydrate ration. Seasonings: salt, vinegar, sweetener (but read the label on any ready-made product), flavourings (made without sugar) but Don't eat any of them if they are prepared with breadcrumbs, sugar, starches or flour (e.g. most sausages, fish in batter, cheese containing dried fruit. ) Read the label if buying a ready-made product. Diet drinks containing less than 1 calorie a glass Lemon-juice Sugar free jelly Eat in moderation Salads, 2 cups a day Hard cheese (110g a day) - No cottage or cream cheese. Cream (4 tsps a day) you may want to use this in your coffee Add to this Enough only enough vegetables of the following to make up your 20gr of carbohydrates. Asparagas Aubergine Avocado Bambooshoots Beansprouts Broccoli Brussel Sprouts Cabbage Cauliflower Celery Chinese cabbage Chives Corgettes (Zucchini) Mushrooms Onions Parsley Peppers Pickled Gherkins Radish Rhubarb (but use artificial sweetener to sweeten it) Runner or French or Green beans Sauerkraut Spinach Spinach Spring Onions Swedes Tomatos Turnip Even when you have finished your induction fortnight, do not eat any of the following Bananas Beans (other than Green, Runner or French) Sweets Bread Cashewnuts Ketchup Crackers Any Dried Fruit Ice-cream Peas Fruit Juice Fruit Syrup Cerials of any sort Milk puddings Semolina, sago, tapioca Honey Yoghurt other than plain (which you may have when induction is finished) Potato and potato products Chewing Gum Biscuits Cake Maize Cornflour Any pasta (macaroni, spaghetti, lasagna) Jams and Marmelades Flour and flour products Milk Pancakes Chocolates Rice Syrup All pastry products Sugar Now is the time to test with your ketostix. The best time to measure is usually last thing at night. Hold the stick so that the tab is dampened briefly by your flow of urine. Wait one minute. If the stick turns lavender, even only slightly, then you are in ketosis and the diet is really underway. There is no advantage in the stick turning a darker purple, You won't lose weight any faster, in fact, being in deep ketosis for too many weeks is not good for your body. Don't worry if you measure your urine at another time of day and it isn't purple. If it turns purple at any time of the day then you are in ketosis. Weigh yourself. If your stick turns purple and you have lost any weight - even only 1/2lb then you can go on to the next stage of the diet. If your stick does not turn purple or you have not lost any weight then repeat the induction stage for 4 days more until you see results. If all is well then you can go onto the next stage of the diet: Week 3 (Level 2) --------------------------- This is a good time to start to download some of the excellent recipes that are available online. You will be ready for a change and there is no need for a low-carb diet to be monotonous. Here are a few useful internet sites: http://www.lowcarbexpress.com Add 5gr of carbohydrates per day to your present 20 gr. You will now be eating 25gr per day. However, throughout this diet, continue to avoid the forbidden foods. You may want to add more cream for your coffee or a few more vegetables. By the end of Week 3 weigh yourself. If you have not lost any weight or if your ketostix stop turning lavendar then repeat this level until you get the required results. If you have lost any weight, even if it is only 1/2 lb, and if your ketostix is still turning lavender then you are ready to go onto the next stage. Week 4 (Level 3) -------------------------- Add another 5g of carbohydrates to your present 25gr. You will now be eating 30gr a day. At this point it is time to find your Critical Carbohydrate Level (or CCL) If you are unlucky, then you will find that eating 30gr of carbohydrates a day is enough to stop the ketostix changing colour and you may even put on a pound or two of weight at the end of the week. This would mean that your critical carbohydrate level is 25gr. That is how many carbohydrates you can eat in a day and still lose weight. This week you may find that although you stay in ketosis, you don't lose any more weight. This is NOT an indicator that you need to go back to the week 3 stage. Weight loss is not a gradual process - you may spend weeks at the same weight and then suddenly lose 2 lbs in 2 days. Be patient and allow yourself at least 4 weeks at this stage before considering going back to level 2. The important thing is that you remain in ketosis. If, however, you have lost weight, however little, and your ketostix turn lavender then you can go onto the next stage. Week 5 (Level 4) --------------------------- You can now eat 35gr of carbohydrates a day. Remember to keep off the forbidden foods. Continue to measure your urine and to weigh yourself regularly. Don't worry, if you are weighing yourself daily, if you put on a pound some days. You will usually find that by the next day it has gone and often with a bit more besides. If it frightens you, only weigh yourself once a week. If you can stay in ketosis at this level by the end of the week and you have not put any weight on then remain at this level until you start to lose weight. If you have actually lost weight, however little, you can go onto the next level. Week 6 and onwards --------------------------------- You've got the idea now, haven't you. You can now allow yourself 40gr of carbohydrates a day. Don't be tempted to use those 40gr for flour or sugar products. Allow yourself more vegetables and even a bit of fruit. You will see from your carbohydrate chart that berries e.g. strawberries, give the best 'value for money'' You may want to use plain yoghurt and cream cheese in recipes. So long as you calculate them towards your 40gr this will be fine. Every week add another 5gr of carbohydrates a day if you have lost weight and stayed in ketosis. Most people have a CCL of about 35gr but everyone is different. Some cannot lose above 20gr (induction level) while others can have as much as 60gr of carbohydrates and still lose weight. What do I do if I go out of ketosis ----------------------------------------------- This can happen either because you passed your CCL or because you abandoned your diet for one reason or another or because you have eaten something which you mistakenly thought would be low-carb not realising that it wasn't. . Your ketostix will no longer turn lavender but will remain beige. You may find that you put on a disproportionate amount of weight. Don't worry - the briefer your lapse, the sooner it will be mended and the weight will quickly be lost. Here's what to do: Go back to the Induction Level but only for 4 days. You may find that for 3 of those days, you feel weary and strongly crave high carbohydrate foods. This does not mean that the diet isn't agreeing with you but that you are back to what you were before you started the diet. This is not like a low-calorie diet, where just eating a bit less the next day will even out your calorie count. It takes about 72 hours for your body to get back to normal. It varies for each person. By the end of the fourth day, test your urine. You will probably be in ketosis again. You will probably have lost the extra pounds which you put on. If a few remain they will go quickly over the next few days. Go back through the different levels, spending only 4 days on each level until you get back to your CCL You are now back on track to start losing weight. Put the lapse down to experience and carry on. Hints and Tips ---------------------- Weight loss with low carb is not a steady progress. On a chart you will frequently see long plateaux and often, weight rises followed soon after with a large weight loss. When you see the scales rise or stay the same, it is tempting to try to control your calories to hasten weight loss. The problem with overdoing this is that your metabolism may slow down and it will be harder in future to lose more weight. If you possibly can, it is best to sit it out and wait for the inevitable drop. Plateaux often occur at times when you previously held a certain weight so, if after your first child your weight rose to 200lbs until after the birth of your second child, 2 years later when it rose further to 250lbs, then you can expect a longish plateaux around the 200 lb mark. If you keep to your weight loss and use the chart on my page you will probably see a pattern emerging where every 2 or 3 months you will get a weight rise followed by a steeper drop as if your body was making a last ditch attempt to preserve your weight before allowing you to move down to the next level. Oddly enough, you will often find that during these plateau periods your body measurements will decrease. In fact the whole plateau phenomena has an entirely logical (biologically) function. Our bodies are tuned to a natural lifestyle where seasons of plenty are followed by seasons of deprivation. If the deprivation is not extreme the body will strive to maintain a steady metabolism so that you are able to hunt and harvest. If the body 'learns' that there are extreme periods of hunger (as when you do a very low-calorie diet) it will assume a seasonal famine and allow the body to shut down, slowing the metabolism down. When the dieter finally cracks and starts to eat, the body assumes that the famine season is over. Unfortunately for your weight, it will start off not by increasing the metabolism, making it easier for you to lose weight, but by increasing your ability to store fat so that dieters who stop will often notice that they not only put the weight back on but often more than they started with. Not only that, the next time you diet, the body will further resist weight loss. There are many advantages to slow weight loss - less chance of saggy skin as your fat is no longer availabe to support it, a metabolism that is less likely to slow down, a chance to get into the habit of low-carb eating. It is best not to be 'goal orientated'. Many people seethe with impatience when the last few pounds refuse to drop off and some will start to cut their calories. The result is often that the weight they lose is swiftly replaced and because of their slower metabolism, is even harder to get rid of again. It is important to realise that your entire life won't change because you reach your goal weight. What is changing your life is the pounds which you have already lost. You may see your 14lb weight loss as insignificant when you have another 100lbs to lose, but try putting that 14lbs into a rucksack and carry it with you everywhere you go. Half way through the day, take it off and you will feel the difference immediately. As you near your goal there may come a time when your weight gain really does come to a halt. You may have to come to terms with the fact that you will never look like Naomi Campbell but that your weight is now within the acceptable range for your height and build. This may be the weight which you want to stop at. Often an obsessive focus on a goal weight which is only a few pounds away, masks other problems and these need to be dealt with or you will find yourself 'accidentally' putting your weight back on so that you don't have to face these issues. You may find that now you are 45, you don't look 18 even though you have reached the same weight as you were then. Even slim people age, although a slow weight loss on a low-carb diet will help to stop the aging effect of losing weight. Maintaining your weight loss ----------------------------------------------- After you reach your goal weight, you will now come to the bit which personally I found the most difficult to cope with. It is now that you must learn to accept that for most of us with a long-term weight problem, the problem will not go away if we lose weight. We are like diabetics. Our condition is for life! This is not a depressing outlook. On this diet, which you can now think of as a way of eating for life, you can have a great variety of food and you will feel energetic and well. You will need to add 5gr of carbohydrates a week to your previous ration until you reach an amount where you neither put weight on or put it off. I have to admit that this is quite hard to do. Once you have reached your goal weight, and especially once you have been on it for a long time, you can allow yourself the odd 'treat' but it is best if you are sensitive to carbohydrates to continue to lay off the sugar and flour products. This flexibility is useful on social occasions. You will no longer need to use the ketostix but you will now make a habit of weighing yourself weekly. If you see that you have put on 5lbs then you must follow the same steps for if you go out of ketosis The longer you maintain your goal weight the faster it will be to lose any weight which you have put on. If you are going to 'binge', try to limit it to one day rather over a period of weeks. Remember, you may feel tired and have carb cravings for 3 days after your binge. The Out of Ketosis procedure will put that right again if you have put on any weight. It is tempting to think that because you found the diet easy there is nothing to stop you eating as you did before until you put on a significant amount of weight and then just taking it off again. This is especially tempting if you have used your weight to cover up other, less controllable problems which will now be waiting in an empty In-tray. In fact, reaching your goal weight, after the first elation has past, may even be something of an anticlimax. Be warned if you decide to 'yo-yo' diet. It will take you much longer this time and as your skin is expanded and contracted again and again the effects will not be pretty because it will eventually lose its elasticity. More useful and informative sites. http://www.grossweb.com/asdlc/faq.htm http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl http://wilstar.com/lowcarb http://www.lowcarbexpress.com http://people.we.mediaone.net/agross/asdlc/index.htm http://homestead.juno.com/ellaxiak1/files/ http://home.talkcity.com/TechnologyWay/wallyb http://hometown.aol.com/drjavaago http://lowcarb.org http://members.aol.com/lowcarbs/lowcarblist http://www.lowcarbluxury.com/faq.html http://members.tripod.com/~Dietman2/plateaus.html http://www.atkinscenter.com/faq.html