One of the joys of the Atkins lifestyle is that there are few truly forbidden food categories. And that most certainly includes carbohydrates, which play an important role in any balanced diet. Once you’ve achieved your goal weight and are doing Atkins for life, even the occasional serving of whole-wheat pasta or a baked potato can turn up on your plate. The Atkins difference is that the carbs you eat must be high-quality carbs—the kind that satisfy your appetite and supply you with vitamins, minerals, and other phytonutrients.
Understanding what carbohydrates are and knowing how they affect your health and well-being are the two keys to success while doing Atkins. As explained in chapter 1, most foods have some mixture of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Take away the fat, protein, water, and ash (the mineral content) in a food and what you have left are the carbohydrates. In general, that means the starchy or sugary part of the food, along with any dietary fiber. Not all carbohydrates are created equal, however—some are definitely better than others. Nutritionists have traditionally divided carbs into two categories: simple carbohydrates such as sugars and complex carbs such as whole grains. Unfortunately, life—and nutritional science—isn’t that simple, and the two categories are confusing because there is some overlap between them. In fact, by traditional standards, sugary breakfast cereals contain complex carbs as well as simple sugars; the same can be said for raspberries. Today many nutritionists believe that the glycémie index is a much more useful method for evaluating the impact of carbohydrate-containing foods on your blood sugar and insulin production than the categories of simple and complex carbohydrates. It’s also a bit more complicated.
The glycemie index (GI) is a quick way to understand the relative impact that carbohydrates from a particular food have on your blood sugar compared to the effect after eating a similar amount of pure glucose, which enters your bloodstream almost immediately. In general, the lower a food is on the GI, the less glucose it will deliver to your bloodstream and therefore the less insulin your pancreas must produce to transport the glucose to your cells. And the less insulin you produce the less likely it is that your body is going to store fat.
Here’s why: When you eat a highly refined carbohydrate food like a sugary cereal, it is quickly converted to glucose so it rushes into your bloodstream almost at once. The result is a glucose spike, followed by a glucose drop—it’s called unstable blood sugar. Eat an unprocessed carbohydrate food that is lower in sugar and also contains a lot of fiber, like berries, and what happens? The amount of glucose from the food enters your bloodstream slowly and steadily. No glucose spike, and no sudden glucose drop—your energy stays on an even keel. That’s because the sugar in the berries is in the form of fructose, which must first be converted to glucose in your liver. That takes some time, and the process is slowed down even more by the fiber in the berries. And when your glucose level stays constant, there is no need to send in the heavy artillery in the form of additional insulin to deal with transporting excess glucose to your cells.
But the GI is not very useful for making day-to-day food choices because it does not take into account the average size of a portion. Instead, you are basically comparing 50 grams of digestible carbohydrate no matter how much food that represents. In the case of carrots, for example, a 50-gram portion is equivalent to six or seven carrots, which is actually about as many half-cup servings, far more than anyone would eat at one time. That leads to the peculiar result that carrots have a slightly higher GI than the quarter cup of sugar that also constitutes 50 grams of digestible carbs. (It actually takes a pound and a half of carrots to have a significant impact on your blood sugar.)
Another measurement, called the glycémie load (GL), does take portion size into consideration and compares equal portions. But in real life many other factors, such as the amount of fat and fiber from other foods you eat at the same time, can affect how quickly you absorb the carbohydrate from a single food into your bloodstream. That’s why we advise you that when doing Atkins, you eat appropriate carbohydrate foods with protein and fat.
Although foods can be given exact GI and GL numbers, that information doesn’t really help you all that much on a practical basis in part because the GL and GI numbers may or may not match up. For example, watermelon has a high GI, meaning that the glucose from watermelon enters your bloodstream quickly; but it has a low GL because watermelon is mostly water.
Don’t throw up your hands in frustration. Rather than expect you to worry about exact numbers, or having to look at two lists, we’ve come up with a way to make this data much easier to use. On the basis of both GI and the GL numbers, we’ve created the three-tier Atkins Glycemic Ranking” (AGR™), which compares carbohydrate foods in terms of their impact on blood sugar. In general, the lower a food is on the AGR, the less processed it is and the more fiber it contains. They are also the carbohydrate foods that Atkins followers will eat most frequently. However, not all foods with lower rankings are low in carbs. For example, all legumes are high in carbohydrate content, but rank low on the AGR because of their high fiber content. You must continue to count carbs as you always have. (See Two Complementary Tools, page 35.)
The AGR of a food gives you a quick way to identify how often you should select it, based on three categories:
#1: Low AGR—eat regularly.
#2: Medium AGR—eat in moderation.
#3: High AGR—eat sparingly.
Two Complementary Tools
When you combine the Atkins Glycemic Ranking” (AGR™) with a carb-gram counter, you have a powerful method for choosing the best carbohydrates to eat. Some of the foods that rank lower in the AGR may still contain a lot of grams of carbs. Let’s take an example. A half-cup of cooked oatmeal contains 10.7 grams of Net Carbs and is in Category #1 of the AGR. So while oatmeal (the old-fashioned kind, not instant or flavored versions) can be eaten regularly, you’ll want to have it in small portions. A half-cup of cooked sweet corn has 12.6 grams Net Carbs—only 2 more than the oatmeal—but we’ve placed it in Category #3 because it has a much more profound effect on blood sugar. The oatmeal is much gentler in its impact on your glucose/insulin levels. Even with Category #1 foods, you must always consider the Net Carb gram count of a food so that you don’t exceed your ACE.
The charts begin on page 39.
Some foods may seem odd in the various groups. A baked potato, for example, is not processed and is high in fiber, but it has a higher GI than table sugar, so we have placed it in the #3 category, meaning it is a food that you should eat sparingly. The carrot has been in ill repute because it places high on the GI; however, it turns out to be low in GL, meaning moderate portions are fine. It’s important to remember here that standard portions are used when the tests are performed in the laboratory to measure these values. These portions are small—meaning that they frequently don’t represent what has become a typical serving size in today’s supersize society. If your portion of, say, brown rice is considerably larger—the effect on your blood sugar will be substantially more as well.
Looking at the effect of foods on your bloodstream is a fairly new concept, and many foods have not yet been analyzed in the lab. If you don’t see a favorite food in one of the categories, chances are it’s because the information isn’t yet available. One way to check whether a new food is increasing your blood sugar level or your insulin production is to take note of how you feel a few hours after eating it. Are your hunger and appetite levels any different than they usually are before the next meal? After eating this food, if you feel really ravenous or experience cravings, you might need to omit that choice or eat it in a much smaller portion than you did at that previous meal. These lists are not a guarantee that you won’t experience some carb response to a given item. Always pay attention to your own hunger and appetite cues while introducing new foods.
When you do Atkins, you actually count Net Carbs, which means the total carbohydrate content of the food minus the fiber content (along with glycerine and sugar alcohols found in some reduced carb foods). The Net Carbs number reflects the grams of carbohydrate that significantly impact your blood sugar level and are the only carbs you need to count when you do Atkins. The Net Carb number is almost always lower than the total carbohydrate number. The exception is foods such as cream with virtually no fiber content: The total carbs and Net Carbs are the same.
If you don’t have a carb-gram counter handy, you can guesstimate the Net Carb count for a particular food by information provided on the food label. (This obviously won’t help you with fresh vegetables or other nonpackaged foods.) Subtract the grams of fiber from the amount of total carb grams per serving and you’ve got a pretty good sense of the Net Carb number. Sugar alcohols, glycerine, and some other carbs that have minimal impact on blood sugar are also netted out of total carbs, but these may not be listed on labels. (You can also refer to Dr. Atkins” New Carbohydrate Gram Counter or go to www.atkins.com.)
Carbohydrate foods that are low on the Atkins Glycemic Ranking contain plenty of dietary fiber. Fiber slows down digestion, which in turn slows the movement of carbs (in the form of glucose) into your bloodstream. Fiber is also valuable in helping you fend off hunger pangs. That’s because fiber—and the water content—fills you up quickly and stays with you. Imagine eating six chocolate chip cookies in a row, for example. All too easy, right? Now imagine eating six apples in a row. Impossible—you’d be full long before you got to the sixth apple. What’s more, after eating those cookies you’d be hungry again soon. However, after eating a Granny Smith apple—preferably with a slice of cheddar cheese—it would be much longer before you’d feel hungry again.
Combine dietary fiber with dietary fat and you can slow down the onset of hunger even more. Like fiber, fat also slows down the rate at which food leaves your stomach and thus the rate at which glucose from a food enters your bloodstream. So, for example, the fat in premium ice cream slows down the entry of the sugar into your bloodstream. That doesn’t mean, of course, that you can eat a big bowl of chocolate-fudge ripple every day, but it does mean that when you’ve reached the Lifetime Maintenance phase of Atkins you can occasionally treat yourself to a small bowl of super-rich ice cream. Better yet, eat sugar-free whole-fat ice cream.
Fat also plays an important role in adding flavor to food and helping you feel full. That’s why a serving of plain steamed broccoli may leave you wanting something more, while a serving of broccoli lightly sautéed in olive oil is more filling—and tastes a lot better, too! Recent research shows that fat actually stimulates a hormone that elicits the feeling of satiety.1 Fiber works in concert with the fat, prolonging the elevation of the hormone during digestion, which helps keep you satisfied longer. That’s also why we recommend you have that apple with a small wedge of cheddar cheese or some peanut butter or eat blueberries with a tablespoon of chopped nuts or mascarpone cheese.
Sorting Out the Carbs
Interestingly, while protein, fat, water, and ash (minerals) can be assayed (quantitatively and/or qualitatively measured) by a variety of lab tests, carbohydrates are not assayed. Instead, the amount of carbohydrate in a food is determined by subtracting all these other components from the total weight in grams. Whatever isn’t one of the other components is considered carbohydrate. This “everything but the kitchen sink” approach means that a whole plethora of compounds are lumped together, some of which are similar to each other—and some of which are completely different from each other—in terms of both chemical structure and how they behave in our bodies.
When you do Atkins, fiber offers another bonus: It allows you to enjoy some extra carbs—without exceeding your ACE, your threshold for carb intake without gaining weight. What’s the secret? Net Carbs. Here’s how they work: In the most simple terms, dietary fiber is nothing more than carbohydrates that the body cannot break down and convert to blood sugar.
At this time, government regulations generally do distinguish between carbohydrates that you can digest and carbohydrates that get a free ride and pass right through you. However, the government does not distinguish those that impact blood sugar from those that do not. On a food label, they’re all lumped together as just carbohydrates. That’s very misleading, because it suggests that all carbs behave the same way in your body. Take a look at two crunchy snack foods with similar carb counts but vastly different nutrition. Just one Famous Amos oatmeal raisin cookie (and who can eat just one?) contains 5 grams of carbs with less than half a gram of fiber. About fourteen macadamia nuts also contain 5 grams of carbs—but about 3 of those grams are fiber. Full of sugar and white flour, the cookie won’t satisfy you for long, even as it eats up 5 precious grams of carbs in
your daily count. In contrast, the filling, satisfying high-fiber nuts are rich in potassium and calcium, among other nutrients. And because the nuts have only 2 grams of digestible carbs—the other 3 grams are nondigestible fiber—you only have to add 2 grams to your daily carb tally.
So although we said at the beginning of this chapter that carbs basically can be divided into simple or complex categories, what is actually listed on a food label could include unfamiliar ingredients such as lignins, organic acids, sugar alcohols, glycerols, flavonoids, pectins, and gums. Although included in the carb count on the label, many of these compounds actually have minimal impact on blood sugar.
If you did the weight-loss phases of Atkins, you gradually added back different types of carbohydrate foods to your diet. We refer to the progressive addition as climbing the carb ladder. The carb ladder is an equally valuable tool now that you’re doing Atkins for a lifetime. The carb ladder encourages you to eat a variety of carbohydrate foods, which in turn means that you get a balance of nutrients and are less likely to get bored with your food choices. The ladder also helps you choose the relative amounts of different sources of carbs to eat.
At the most basic level, the carb ladder indicates that you should be eating more vegetables, for example, than whole grains. The ladder allows you to achieve variety, but reminds you that amounts of foods higher on the ladder should be eaten less often. As always, the higher your ACE, the more variety you can enjoy and the more you can sample the buffet table of foods high on the carb ladder. The carb ladder also helps you to balance your occasional intake of high carb foods with lower ones, and to identify which foods are fine to have in moderation and which are the real basis of your lifetime regimen. In general, the higher up the carb ladder a food is, the less frequently you will consume it and the smaller your portions will be. Within each rung of the ladder, the AGR helps you further prioritize your food choices.
When adding carb-containing foods to your menus, select most often from Category #1, adding some items from Category #2 for variety. Occasionally, select an item from Category #3. You’ll find the three groups listed after each type of food in the carbohydrate ladder, below.
What Are Sugar Alcohols?
As the name implies, sugar alcohols are compounds that are derived from sugars but have an alcohol chemical structure. Like other carbohydrates, sugar alcohols have bulking and sweetening properties, but they provide fewer calories and don’t impact blood sugar the same way. This makes them a useful ingredient in the manufacture of reduced carb chocolate bars and other products.
STEP 1: The Vegetable Rung. When you moved past the Induction phase of Atkins in your weight-loss journey, your first additions were more vegetables. In Lifetime Maintenance, veggies such as salad greens, spinach, tomatoes (technically a fruit), broccoli, and a host of other foods remain your most valuable source of carbohydrates. What else do these foods contain? Let’s look at the vitamins and minerals in one cup of cooked broccoli. You get 116 milligrams of vitamin C, 76 micrograms of folate, 456 milligrams of potassium, and 72 milligrams of calcium. Each one of those amounts is a goodly proportion of your daily needs—all for just under 5 grams Net Carbs. Similarly, cruciferous veggies such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, and cabbage provide isothiocyanates and Índoles, phytochemicals that, according to numerous studies, appear to be powerful cancer fighters.2–4
The phytochemicals zeaxanthin and lutein are found in dark yellow and orange vegetables—such as yellow summer squash and carrots. These nutrients play an important role in keeping your eyes healthy. Kale, garlic, onions, salad greens, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, spinach, and red bell peppers are also all particularly high in antioxidants. By fighting the oxidation damage that highly reactive free radical molecules can do to your cells, antioxidants may help protect you against cancer, heart disease, and many other age-related health problems such as vision loss from macular degeneration. The more variety in the vegetables you eat, the better. And most vegetables are low on the AGR, so eating your fill has very little impact on your blood sugar.
STEP 2: The Dairy Rung. The next rung on the ladder is dairy foods. Most aged cheeses are wonderfully low in carbs. An ounce of cheddar, for example, has less than half a gram of Net Carbs. The trick with cheese is to be aware of how little an ounce really is. You should be eating no more than 4 to 5 ounces a day. Now that you’re maintaining your weight, you can even have full-fat yogurt or some whole milk with your cereal or your tea. (Unsweetened soy milk is another option, although not true dairy, but make sure it is fortified with calcium.) Remember that skim milk is higher in carbs. Cheese is an excellent source of dietary calcium. Five ounces of farmer’s cheese, for instance, gives you 1,000 milligrams of calcium more than half your daily requirement.
STEP 3: The Nuts and Seeds Rung. Keep climbing the carb ladder and you get to the crunchy pleasures of almonds, pecans, macadamias, sunflower seeds, and the rest of the nuts and seeds. Both nuts and seeds are excellent sources of fiber, minerals, vitamin E, and good dietary fats. To avoid processed oils, choose dry-roasted nuts whenever possible.
STEP 4: Berries. Berries are lower in carbs and have a lower GI than many other fruits, which is why you were able to reincorpórate them into your meals before other fruits. They also make great snacks. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and other berries are sweet little powerhouses full of valuable nutrients. The deep, vivid colors of berries come from their phytonutrients—natural chemicals such as vitamin C, polyphenols, and anthocyanins (which are helpful for preserving your vision) that are powerful antioxidants.5,6When it comes to antioxidants per gram, berries are at the top of the list, which is why the Atkins Ratio™, which compares antioxidant capacity to grams of carbs, ranks berries high. (The lower the carb count and the higher the antioxidant capacity, the more antioxidant power you get for your carb buck.) Half a cup of fresh strawberries has fewer than 3.4 grams of Net Carbs and gives you 40 milligrams of vitamin C along with 125 milligrams of potassium. Frozen berries are fine—they’re convenient, available year-round, and they’re just as rich in nutrients as fresh ones. Read the ingredient list carefully, however, and choose brands that are just frozen fruit without any added sugar.
STEP 5: Beans and Legumes. Don’t skip lentils, kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans, and some fifty other varieties of legumes. Their relatively high carb content is offset quite a bit by their high fiber content, which slows their impact on blood sugar. Nonetheless, you still need to keep the portions small. You’ll get about 12 grams of Net Carbs from just a quarter-cup of cooked beans. By themselves or added to soups, stews, and sauces, beans are very satisfying. Even a small portion contributes protein and B vitamins and is an outstanding way to add important minerals, such as calcium, magnesium, iron, and potassium to your diet. Watch out for baked beans (unless they’re homemade; see our low carb recipe on page 312), however. Commercial versions are prepared with brown sugar or molasses, which bumps up their carb count. It’s worth noting that tofu, also known as bean curd, is very low in carbohydrates and is an excellent source of protein. Half a cup of regular tofu contains just 2 grams of Net Carbs. Firm, soft, and silken versions are just slightly higher. Bean sprouts, which add interest to salads and stir-fries, are also low in carbs and can be eaten even in Induction.
STEP 6: Other Fruits. Plums and other relatively low carb fruits such as grapefruit, kiwis, peaches, and apples are a great low carb way to satisfy your sweet tooth while also getting a good dose of fiber and a healthy amount of vitamin C, potassium, and other important nutrients. The rule here is the more colorful the fruit, the better. Only fresh fruit gives you the magic combination of low Net Carbs and nutrition; canned fruit usually has added sugar, as do many frozen fruits. Read labels carefully and purchase only products free of added sugar or corn syrup. When it comes to dried fruit, proceed cautiously. Drying tends to concentrate the fruit’s natural sugars so a small piece may be as high in carbs as a whole fresh fruit. Take papaya, for example. A half of a small fresh papaya contains about 6 grams Net Carbs; a single piece of dried papaya contains twice that. Also, some dried fruit, such as cranberries or cherries, contain added sugar.
STEP 7: Higher Carb Vegetables. Certain veggies were restricted in the earlier weight-loss phases of Atkins, but they deserve a place at the table when you are doing Atkins for life. This category includes vegetables such as acorn and other winter squash, carrots, peas, and sweet corn (which is properly a grain). This grouping also includes many of the root vegetables such as beets and parsnips, and tubers such as white potatoes and sweet potatoes, which are loaded with minerals such as potassium. Most of these vegetables are also good sources of vitamin C. Color is a good indicator of nutrient content so, for example, yellow squash and pumpkin are great sources of beta-carotene. Your portions of these high carb foods have to stay small, but even a small serving adds interest and variety to meals. (Note: We used to call this category starchy vegetables, but we now prefer to use the more inclusive term higher carb vegetables.) For a full list of these vegetables and their AGRs refer back to the ladder for Step 1.
STEP 8: Whole Grains. There’s a whole world of nutrient-rich whole grains waiting for you. Again, these foods have a place in your lifetime regimen; just keep portions small and focus on the whole, unprocessed grains. The rich, nutty flavor of whole grains such as kasha (buckwheat), barley, wholewheat couscous, wheat berries, and wild rice makes them very satisfying even in small amounts. Eat cereals with fat or protein to curb their impact on blood sugar. As sources of fiber, B vitamins, vitamin E, and minerals such as magnesium and zinc, whole grains are hard to beat. When it comes to bread, your best choices are unrefined, whole-grain products. Look for whole-grain bread and breakfast cereal products made with stone-ground flours, which you will more likely find in a health food store than at most supermarkets.
Now that you have a handle on which carbohydrates you should be eating most often, which you should eat more moderately, and which deserve only an occasional cameo role, it’s time to take a similarly close look at dietary fat and protein in the next chapter. You will then have the tools necessary to create your own personalized eating plan, along with the recipes, meal plans, and other information you will find in Part 2.
In Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution, we included wine and spirits as a rung on the carb ladder, but we have since decided to remove it because alcohol is not a nutritive carbohydrate and shouldn’t be consumed in place of food. This is not to say that you can’t enjoy alcohol occasionally, assuming that you are not a diabetic or have trouble controlling how much you drink. The good news is that a number of recent studies have shown that drinking alcohol, particularly wine, with a meal diminishes the impact of the carbohydrate on blood sugar. Other studies show a favorable impact from drinking wine in the prevention of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes. Most spirits are very low in carbs, especially vodka and gin, but the alcohol is burned before fat for energy, so limit your alcohol intake. The higher the proof, the lower in carbs the spirits will be. Dry wine is lower in carbs than sweet wines such as sherry and port, which can be quite high (no pun intended). Liqueurs also tend to have a high sugar content. Use low carb mixers such as seltzer or sugar-free tonic water. Also avoid the use of fruit juices, which are high in carbs, as mixers. Beer is too high in carbs to drink more than occasionally and in moderation, even when you’re at the Lifetime Maintenance level. Light beer or the newly introduced low carb beer, however, is lower in carbs and can be used in place of other alcoholic beverage selections.
Making the Right Choices
In the match-ups below, assuming comparable portions, which of these carbohydrate-containing foods is the better selection in terms of its impact on your blood sugar?
Breakfast:
Prunes or plums?
Yogurt or cottage cheese?
Whole-wheat toast or corn flakes?
An orange or orange juice?
Oatmeal or Cream of Wheat?
Skim milk or whole milk?
Lunch:
Pea soup or tomato soup?
Pumpernickel bread or stoned-wheat crackers?
Sauerkraut or deli cole slaw?
Fruit cocktail or a tangerine?
Navy beans or lentils?
Cheddar cheese or yogurt?
Dinner
Snack:
Peanuts or walnuts?
Roasted pumpkin seeds or roasted soybeans?
Dried apricots or raisins?
Whole-wheat pretzels or popcorn?
ANSWERS:
1. Breakfast a. Plums b. Cottage cheese c. Whole-wheat toast d. An orange e. Oatmeal f. Whole milk
2. Lunch a. Tomato soup b. Pumpernickel bread c. Sauerkraut d. Tangerine e. Lentils f. Cheddar cheese
3. Dinner a. With water chestnuts b. Eggplant c. Snow peas d. Pumpkin e. Wine (preferably dry)
4. Snack a. Walnuts b. Roasted pumpkin seeds c. Dried apricots d. Popcorn
Vegetarian John troy was worried that eating the Atkins way would deprive him of his spiritual awareness. Instead, the regained his health and something equally important: inner peace.
I was a vegetarian for about twenty years. I cycled in and out of various phases of that lifestyle—lacto-ovo, vegan—and sometimes, I would add a little fish. I run a natural foods company, and like many people in my field, I was part of a New Age food culture that linked spirituality with diet. I also thought that eating meat would put me at risk for health problems as I grew older.
Vegetarianism worked for me for some time, but as I aged, I gradually gained weight. I was eating a lot of pasta, rice, and other grains, as well as honey and soy, but my diet didn’t tell on me until I was about fifty and my metabolism changed. Suddenly, my health started to decline. I developed osteoarthritis, elevated blood pressure, and started having chest pains. I suffered from sleep apnea and nocturnal seizures—sometimes as many as eight a night. Every time I lay down, I’d have an episode. Perhaps not surprisingly, I also suffered from clinical depression.
I took medications for all these conditions and there seemed to be no hope in sight. My doctors told me there was no cure for my arthritis and that it would get progressively more serious. To make matters worse, the drugs I took to control it gave me ulcers. Meanwhile, the doctors who treated my sleep apnea wanted to put me on a monitor while I slept. At about this time, I was building a house, so I made certain that all the rooms were accessible by wheelchair—I fully expected to be using one soon. Truthfully, I thought I’d be dead by now or in such poor health that I wouldn’t enjoy life.
My initial dietary response to my health crisis was to cut out all fat. Unfortunately, that didn’t do me any good and seemed to compound my weight problem. I kept gaining weight because I was hungry all the time. I couldn’t get through the night without going to the refrigerator. I forced myself to start walking regularly but even that didn’t seem to make a difference.
About five years ago, I realized that I was addicted to carbohydrates and gradually let go of my exclusively vegetarian diet. My peers in the natural products industry had suggested that I look into Atkins, but I had resisted because I love animals and I’m not a violent person. I enjoy peace of mind and didn’t want to relinquish any of that. On my own, I had reduced the number of carbohydrates in my diet. Then, about three years ago, I read Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution and experienced a paradigm shift. I got it!
Atkins was difficult at first, but the Induction Phase worked really well for me. My cravings went away. I used to have restless leg syndrome—I called it the screaming willies. When I lay down at night, I’d get nervous energy in my legs and all over my body. When I started Atkins, that nervousness was replaced a feeling of peace. That sealed the case for me. Inner peace is the goal of all spiritual practice and meditation. My motive for being a vegetarian was to enjoy a peaceful mind and body, but instead, I found that was achieved by doing Atkins.
ACE: 50
Age: 63
Height: 6 feet 3 inches
Weight before: 280 pounds
Weight after: 187 pounds
Weight loss: 93 pounds
Started doing Atkins: November 1999
In the first few months of doing Atkins, my health problems gradually disappeared. Under my doctor’s supervision, I did away with the pharmaceuticals and now take nutrients instead. It took me two and a half years to lose the weight. Even now, I keep my carb intake very low. I can feel the difference when I eat more than 50 grams of carbs a day.
A year and a half ago, my doctors gave me an MRI and found no arthritis. I bought a gym set about a year ago and I use it regularly. I still go to my doctor, and “Are you still on that weird diet?” has changed to “Whatever you’re doing, keep it up because it’s working.” My blood pressure is fine, I sleep peacefully, and I look and feel ten years younger than I did ten years ago!
I’ve been rejuvenated as an entrepreneur, too. I have more energy to put into business and I have the energy it takes to travel. I develop products for different natural food companies. My company makes low carb condiments and dressings.
It’s very satisfying to combine my love of great food with my enjoyment of this new way of living. It is a privilege to be able to share this story with others who struggle with carbohydrate addiction and who seek a path to a more healthful and peaceful existence.
