[annab]

I am so excited to be starting this plan, I finished day one of induction today. My question is- do any of you out there have people in your lives that tell you not to do Atkins, or that it is dangerous? My best friend is 110% against this diet and she made me promise 2 years ago when I decided to try it (ended up with kidney stones from not doing it right) that I would not start it again. Well, as much as I love her. Here I am. I have tried WW, Herbalife, 1200 calorie diet, and not a one of the them has worked. She, and some of my other family members, are telling me "be careful! Ketosis is dangerous!, you need carbs!" etc etc....I have done my best to tell them nicely that they need not worry.

Anyway, what are any of your thoughts on this? Fortunately my hubby is doing it with me so I am not completely alone-- but we have to do it in secret otherwise we will get an earful from our well intentioned family.

[annsmommy]

Hi, annab. I totally understand where you are coming from. Everyone in my family including my hubby are against me doing atkins. They all think it's dangerous and that I should just try excercise and smaller portions. I have tried everything, and the only thing that works -where I can see results- is Atkins. I mean this is not my first time going on Atkins. Everytime I'm on it I lose at least 10lbs in the first 2 weeks. I've actually lost up to 14lbs during the induction phase.

Its great you have your husbands support. Unfortunately mine wants nothing to do with it. He thinks it's absolutely ridiculous. And the hardest part is I have a 2 year old, so I still have to cook regular(high carb) meals. It really sucks to have to sit at the table and watch them eat lasagna and garlic bread, while I have the salad and grilled chicken.

In regard to ketosis, I've read some things that say it can be dangerous if prolonged, but I've never done induction more than a month at a time. I know plenty of people that have been living low carb lifestyles for over 5 years, and are healthier than they were before they started a low carb lifestyle.

[kaplods]

I'm no longer on Atkins, although my carb level is still relatively low (I've had to use a low-carb exchange plan, because even on Atkins induction I can overeat to the point of stalling weight. I also tend to have problems with hypoglycemia on induction. So I use a low-carb exchange plan for portion control).

So I'm still on a carb-controlled plan, and still facing criticism from family and friends who don't understand my food choices or why I'm making them. I've tried to reassure and educate, and for some people that's worked. For others, I might as well be talking to a wall.

What I find funny is that I usually get no flak at all when I describe my eating rather than name any specific plan (name a plan, and it always seems many people have a problem with it). So I say, "I'm cutting out or limiting grains and high-sugar foods, eating lots of vegetables and lean proteins, healthy fats and low-sugar fruits (which can truthfully be said of Atkins, South Beach, Paleo and many other healthy food plans).

People tend to associate Atkins and other low-carb plans with fat and red meat (as if we're eating nothing but bacon, butter, eggs, and and fatty cuts of beef and pork and maybe a leaf of lettuce once in a while).

What's really funny is when someone says "So you've given up (name any low-carb plan such as Atkins or the others)," and I say, "No, THAT IS (Atkins, low-carb...).

[Laifierr]

I tried to do Atkins when I lived with my parents and pretty much failed on that one outright. For one, my mom doesn't buy much meat so there wasn't much for me to eat in the house. And two, with my mom's medical background she convinced me of the reasons why this type of diet was bad for me, particularly being in the state of ketosis which can be very damaging to the body.

[berryblondeboys]

I don't do "plans" and I think that's where people get nervous about it. Atkins was onto something with limiting carbs, but other diets (Kaplods detailed them) are also lower carbs.

The thing is, carbs stimulate insulin production which then stimulates hunger when it drops. if you keep your blood sugar levels more constant by eating lower carbs (and slow release carbs), then your blood sugar stays more even and then you don't feel as hungry.

Also, high fiber, high fat and high protein foods are filling. You can eat less food and stay less hungry than if you eat a high carb diet. So, it makes it easier to stay on the diet.

Where it gets dangerous (and even Atkins people talk about this in further books) is taht some people do take it to mean that they can live off bacon and ham and cheese as well, that's low carb right? Yes, but is it healthy foods? No.

I eat lower carb, but I eat a lot of nuts and olive oil. I don't limit any vegetables and don't care what their carb count is - a broccoli, a green bean, a pea, a head of lettuce all have other nutrients I need.

I try to keep my net carbs below 100 for the day and NONE of them are from rice, potatoes, bread or any other grains (except Quinoa).

I can eat this way for the rest of my life and I'm healthy. Blood sugars, cholesterol, etc are great. (I also exercise 5 hours a week). But I'm not living off of bacon and cheese and hotdogs.

I'm eating eggs, veggies, some fruits (besides bananas), lean meats and some dairy (moderate).

[DouKnowJello]

I agree with the other posters...when I was on Atkins the responses were alot less supportive than if I just said I was trying to eat healthier and then said what I was doing. Atkins I think has gotten a bad rep, but I think there's good reason for that.

I've tried it more than once but I think going on something that strict is doomed to fail. Also I'd always feel tired like they predicted for a week or two, have a week or two I felt great and then feel horrible after that with headaches and back aches that I now think were the start of gallbladder problems. And the cravings were horrible, like I was missing something nutrition wise but when I got off Atkins the symptoms would go away.

Now granted I have PCOS and insulin resistance so maybe my body just can't handle it....my body has a problem getting nutrients anyway. But I had alot more success when I still kept track of what I was eating, did NOT limit my fruit and veggie in take and made healthier but balanced choices on meat/eggs/cheese and still had bread/pasta carbs but in moderation and by substituting whole wheat.

I just think Atkins is too strict and stict dieting just sets us up to fail because it can't be a life change. And I don't think I can ever go back to the days where pork rines and ranch are a main snack choice and I'm so desperate for variety I'm trying to follow a recipe that promises to make cauliflower sub for mash potatoes (btw yuck).

But back to the original topic, yes I wouldn't tell people you were doin Atkins, or any other type of diet. People are alot more supportive and helpful if you just tell them you are trying to be healthier and tell them WHAT you are doing without putting a name on it. They may not even know what Atkins is but just about every diet has it's share of bad press and people can be pretty negative if they think you are on some "diet kick" that won't last and one they think isn't healthy. And when you're trying to do something positive, the last thing you need is people close to you making you feel bad about it.

[kaplods]

Originally Posted by DouKnowJello

...I think going on something that strict is doomed to fail.

To be fair, Atkins isn't nearly as strict as folks tend to interpret it. If you limit induction to two weeks, you're told to add carbs back (in 5 g increments) until you stop losing, then "back track" to the point you lose.

In other words - restricting carbs only as much as you have to in order to lose weight.

However, because Atkins "allows" you to stay on induction (at least if you have lots of weight to lose), many people never go beyond induction and then criticise the entire plan with their experience on Induction.

I tried Atkins several times in my life, and generally gave up because I experienced very ill effects from induction. Now I recognize the headaches, lightheadedness (and even passing out on a few occasions) as blood sugar related. If I had progressed to OWL, I could have eliminated these effects, but instead I chalked it up to Atkins being unreasonably strict and unhealthy.

Technically, Atkins doesn't even forbid grains, you're just expected to follow the carb latter and add other higher carb foods first. You're supposed to stop adding carbs only until the weight loss stalls.

There's also no set "limit" of carbs on Atkins. The book mentions carb levels that most or many people will have to limit to, but this isn't a hard limit. Everyone is encouraged to experiment to find one's personal carb level first for optimal weight loss, and then for weight maintenance.

Many people miss the intermediate steps and go from 20g of carbs or at most 60g and refuse to go any further, and then condemn Atkins for being too strict, without experimenting with higher carb levels (which is entirely within the Atkins framework).


Ironically, I chose a low-carb exchange plan over Atkins, primarily because Atkins was too flexible. I NEED to count calories in some ways, because I can overeat anything.

Induction is too strict for me (I get very sick on too low carb, which I know recognize as low-blood sugar - and no it doesn't go away in two weeks, in fact it gets worse to the point I feel like and actually have passed out).

However, the moderately low-carb exchange plan I'm eating isn't incompatible with Atkins, in the sense that someone in OWL could be eating exactly what I'm eating (which averages 100 to 120g of carbs most days).


I think most of Atkins bad rap comes from the human tendency to oversimplify. Atkins is judged by Induction because induction is the only simple aspect of the entire plan. Later stages are more complicated and require more personal responsibility and analytical/personal judgement skills. You have to tweak until you find your own optimal diet.

People tend to prefer simpler plans. It's why I switched to a low-carb exchange plan. Counting carbs, and paying attention to which foods triggered stalls, and moving up the carb letter as I progressed through OWL - it was all too much work. The food plan was more than flexible enough to incorporate even grains, but in order to do so, I needed to do a whole lot more work and thinking.

With a low-carb exchange plan, I could still choose my carb level (and calorie level), but I didn't have to be so thoughtful in my food choices.

I didn't have to be so hyper-aware of counting carbs or calories. The exchange plan does both for me, and yet I get all of the benefits of a low-carb diet, without having to spend so much time analyzing my food and my body's response to it.

People are always saying to folks on Atkins "you can't have that on Atkins" and yet if you read the books, those foods are often on the carb ladder. Atkins does allow them, they just recommend adding them in a specific order. Meaning you can even have grains...... eventually. Unless you learn that grains are a problem food for you that cause more trouble than they're worth.

Even though I've decided against Atkins (so it's not like I think it's the perfect plan) I'm sad to see the plan bashed for things that Dr. Atkins never wrote and aren't really limitations of the full plan - they're limitations of Induction which doesn't have to last more than 2 weeks.