[Brooklynn]

So a girl friend and I went out to lunch we had not seen each other in ages. We went to a place that had a salad bar so that I had more choices of what to eat. So we get our food and I have a plain piece of chicken and a big salad from the salad bar. She gets this massive hamburger with french fried onions and all kinds of other stuff on it and an order of fries. As we are eating and shes scarfing down her carb burger she says "Idk how you can be on the Atkins diet, I could never eat that much bacon, eat that little of food, deprive my brain of carbs, feel so lousy, and not eat sweets ever again."

I said first... does it look like I am eating bacon? I am not going to lie I discovered these yummy little jalapeno popper things that have a lot of bacon so I have been eating more then normal but on a normal basis I eat a lot of chicken, sea food, and fish. Once in a while I will have red meat but mostly I have more lean cuts of meat and add in fats from avacado, olive oil, butter, and so on. So its not about eating a ton of bacon. I also get at least 13 of my carbs per day from veggies (green usually).

Secondly..... I eat a ton of food and love it. I eat more now than I did when I was not on Atkins. I tend to get more than 1200 cals a day which is more than you get on a low cal diet.

Thrid... My brain doesnt need "carbs" it need glucose and it can make glucose through gluconeogenesis from fat and protein. My brain will always get the glucose it needs as will everyone elses, unless they are starving and can not make glucose which is not the case on atkins.

And fourth.... I feel amazing!!!! With out all the crap I used to eat bogging me down and all the water I drink now I have more energy and I dont even want anything sweet 95% of the time. There is an occasion like TOM that I want something sweet but its rare.

I just really wish people would learn to speak out of intelligence rather than ignorance. I love my friend but really while you eat that you dare judge my chicken and my salad? PPPPFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTT!

[ultrapeaches]

This probably makes me a bad person, but when people make negative comments on how restrictive my diet looks, I say one of two things:
If they are fat, I say that loosing weight was my new year's resolution and I am down 45 pounds already, isn't that awesome?! Because it was probably their new year's resolution, too, but I'm successful and they're not.
If they're not fat, I tell them that I had dangerously high cholesterol at my annual dr. appointment, and that really freaked me out since I'm only 24. I realized that my health is more important than bread and pasta is tasty. Can't argue with health.

[TiffNeedsChange]

Yea.... I am on day 3 but while I was reading the book and figuring out everything I got a lot of flack from people! I have never felt so full and free of cravings, it is truly amazing!
@Ultrapeaches-has your Cholesterol improved while being on Atkins? Do you eat mostly poultry, and seafood? I got my bloodwork a couple of days ago and I have borderline high cholesterol with low HDL, and am hoping that I can correct that with Atkins.