The Dream Diet (Dr Atkins Diet Plan)

Member Name: sersha

Product:	Dr Atkins Diet Plan
Date:	12/07/02 (8169 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: you WILL lose weight

Disadvantages: You WONT be able to poo

How would you like to spend a fortnight eating bacon and eggs and lose several pounds at the same time? I just did, but I won't be doing it again for a long time!

The Atkins Diet is now a huge phenomenon with his book in the top ten paperback list. Hundreds of overweight Americans (and Brits) have turned to Dr Atkins to help them lose weight fast while not going hungry. For that is the secret of this diet - you should never be left feeling hungry - which surely means this diet has a bigger success rate than many others you might have tried.

For years we have been led to believe that fats are the root of all evil, and that we ought to instead consume more fibre and eat lots of fruit and vegetables. Dr Atkins says sucks to that, and turns this theory on its head, arguing that carbohydrates are actually the root of all evil, and that our stone-age forebearers survived on animal flesh and the odd berry, so surely that's the way to go after all. They were certainly thinner than us, but I suspect it may have been less to do with their diet and more to do with the fact that a) playstations and comfy sofas hadn't yet been invented and b) eating for Stone-Age man necessarily required more exercise than dialing pizza express. Conveniently, Dr Atkins doesn?t mention Neolithic mans life expectancy. (Wasn't it about 40 years?)

So, says Dr Atkins, fats are good. In fact, anything with no carbohydrate is a "free" food, so you can eat literally as much bacon and eggs as you desire. Have them with a side helping of clotted cream if you want. Believe me, this sounds good until you have had three days of eating bacon and eggs, by which time you feel the oil oozing out of your skin and feel like a walking lump of lard. Not pleasant.

Of course, Dr A (or shall we call him Dr Evil from now on?) insists, for the record, that he does not advocate having no carbohydrates at all, but simply fewer than we would normally have. Th
e diet is split into three parts: For the first two weeks you follow the Induction programme (20 grams a day or less) and then this gradually increases as you move onto OWL (on-going weight loss) and then onto the Maintenance periods of the diet. (He's also gone off the word "diet" and replaced it with "programme", to hammer home the point that this is a life-change, not a quick-fix diet - except I guess about 95% of people do this diet, watch the weight drop off, and three weeks later go right back to cake, bread and pasta. 20 grams of carbohydrate may actually sound like quite a lot for every day, until you consider there?s about 80g in a mug of Horlicks and 20g in a packet of crisps.

How does it work?
Lets be straight, IT WORKS. Regardless of whether it is good for you or not, you will lose weight on this diet, especially for the first fortnight. Whether your heart will pack in a week later is another question. By removing carbohydrate and replacing it with protein, your body has to look elsewhere for energy and it does so by using a process called "ketosis". This is basically the burning of body fat. Atkins suggests you go out and get some ketone testing strips from the pharmacist. You can wee on these and if they turn purple, you are in ketosis. Personally I'd rather just watch the pounds drop off. I tried 6 independent pharmacists before I could get hold of any, and Boots told me quite categorically that they would not sell them to me (even though they had them) as they didn't condone "the diet". If you really want them, lie and say you are diabetic, as they do sell them to diabetics.

More about Ketosis
"Ketosis" is something the body uses in emergencies as a reaction to starvation. However, when used for prolonged periods, it leaves deposits of uric acid in the blood stream, which the kidneys get rid of. But lots of uric acid in the kidneys is the cause of kidney stone
s. I wouldn't therefore advocate doing this diet for longer than two weeks. I don't believe you can do yourself much harm in two weeks, after all.

Other negative effects
Dr Atkins says you will be bursting with energy after two weeks on his diet, with your metabolism now functioning more efficiently and all your cravings for sugar and sweet things gone (really, that bit is true.) However, you will also be unable to poo. Think about it. No fibre for a fortnight? I survived this bit of the fortnight by taking senakot tablets, so you need to get some of these or something similar just in case. You will also need to take vitamin supplements (essential oils and multi-vits) to make up for all the vitamins you won't be getting by cutting out things like fruit and veg.

What will I be eating?
For the first fortnight you can eat as much of the following as you like: red meat, fish, poultry, cheese, eggs, and lots of green salads.with dressings like full fat ceasar or blue cheese. You can also eat vegetables of 10 percent carb or less (broccoli, mushrooms etc). So long as you eat less than 20g carb a day, you can add other bits and pieces to the diet. Animal fat is fine, but burgers are not (added sugar.) The golden rule is check the packets for carbohydrate. Don't think you can do this diet by eating sausages and burgers! Its not as cheap as that, in fact it cost us a fortune in meat and cheeses. You are supposed to cut out coffee and tea (no chance!) but I didn't and this didn't affect my weight loss.

Whats do I have to cut out?
All fruit, pasta, bread, rice, flour, starchy vegetables, potatoes, +crisps, sweets, chocolate (although you can buy special Atkins bars from the website) and sugar.

Recipes
In the Atkins book you can find recipes to make "basic protein bread" which uses soya flour, and if you can get hold of soya flour (not as easy as it sounds, try a big sainsburys) you ca
n also make things like pancakes. Cheese sauce was one of the funniest recipes I came across, basically you heat up some single cream and add grated cheese (like, 500g!) until it is vaguely thick. How on EARTH can that be good for you? There are some gourmet recipes in the back of the general Atkins book (bright orange cover) but try as I might I couldn?t image chicken curry without rice or naan bread? boo!

How much did I lose?
I did the diet strictly for a fortnight and lost six pounds. Then I reverted to normal eating again, and I've put it back on since. But for a quick diet (eg for a wedding or something) I would recommend it for two weeks. From a health point of view, I think its nonsense (Dr Evil has just been admitted to hospital with suspected heart problems!) The diet goes against all the things doctors have been trying to tell us for years about healthy eating, and I don't believe it is a good long-term solution at all. However, it was a good two weeks apart from the constipation, and we enjoyed our steak and salads!

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