Healthy Diet at Home

Lately, I’ve had a few readers ask me, “What is Atkins 72?” Since I use that term quite often, I thought maybe more of you might have the same question. Most people think of the book, Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution , whenever they talk about a low-carb diet. But that became quite confusing over the years because every new edition Dr. Atkins put out carried the same name, even though the diet had changed. The basic principles of the Atkins program stayed fairly consistent, but the Rules of Induction, food quantities and types, how you add carbohydrates back into your diet, and even the way you count carbohydrates changed – depending on which edition you were following. That made it difficult to help someone who didn’t understand how to do the Atkins Diet correctly, or to give advice when someone was stumbling or had stalled. To make it easier, the low-carb community began using the year the edition was published attached to Dr. Atkins’ name in order to distinguish one plan from anothe...

I’ve received a few questions lately asking me how I managed to make a low carb diet work so well for me. These questions are coming from individuals who have tried The Atkins Diet, as written, but have not found it to work as promised. With all of the various Atkins' diets to choose from – Atkins ‘72, Atkins ‘92, Atkins ’99, Atkins 2002, and the latest version called A New Atkins for a New You – which one did I use? Which version worked best for me? Other questions have asked how to make a low carb diet work, period. What can people do when Atkins stops working or when it doesn’t work to begin with? How can you tweak a low carb diet to achieve success? So this first post is going to be an introduction to that topic, and then future posts will go more into detail of how I actually lost over 100 pounds following a low carb diet. The Atkins Diet as written is an attempt to reach the greatest majority of individuals. It is a general guideline that works for most people, but it does no...

I’ve recently had a few readers ask me about the potential cardiovascular risks that might be associated with the Atkins Diet . Since that seems to be a common question among those who are new to low carbing or those who haven’t had cholesterol problems before, I thought I’d address some of the issues surrounding High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol that I didn’t talk about in my latest post on LDL Cholesterol and Blood Clots . If you haven’t read that post, you might want to do so. It discusses the coronary artery disease pathway, how getting your insulin levels under control can slow down the heart disease process, and how a low-carb diet can actually reverse plaque buildup in some individuals. In addition, blood clots and potential strokes have nothing to do with dietary fats, so you might want to check out that information too, especially if you have a family history of stroke or blood clots. Is the Atkins Diet Dangerous? For years, the prevailing view among medical authoriti...

I recently received a comment from a reader that suggested my lack of dieting success was probably due to my inability to stay with one particular low-carb diet plan long enough to reap results. The advice I received was to go on a low-carb, high-fat diet and give it six months or more to work before analyzing.  That was similar to the advice I received from the zero-carb folks a few years ago when despite the fact that I had gained about 20 pounds in the first three weeks and was experiencing abnormally high blood glucose levels, they told me to eat only beef, drink only water, and wait six months before reviewing the results. They didn't seem to care about the resurrected neuropathy. They were just sure that their way was the only way.  The problem with that type of advice is that it doesn't work for everyone.  Take Responsibility for Your Own Health Correcting metabolic issues isn't always as easy as lowering your carbohydrate level. For example, I'm juggling vertigo...

What Am I Not Losing Weight On Atkins? When it comes to weight loss, patience is vital. We all lose body fat at different rates, and each body undergoes different protective processes that we sometimes have to simply wait out. While some people lose weight slow and steady, others lose weight in stages. But if you’ve crossed over that 4-week line where you haven’t lost pounds or inches, what then? What can you do to encourage your body to let go of some of that excess body fat? 1. You Might Be Eating Too Much Fat There are many reasons why your weight loss might have stalled, and some of them are extremely contradictory. Eating too much fat is one them. While today’s low-carb mantra claims raising the amount of dietary fat you eat can cure everything from weight loss stalls to the Atkins Flu, before Dr. Atkins passed away, that wasn’t what the Atkins Center was telling folks. In fact, checking out the amount of fat you’re eating was the first thing they always asked you to look at back...

Why Does a Low-Carb Diet Stop Working? A low-carb diet plan is an effective weight-loss tool because it promotes satiety and teaches us the importance of eating nutrient-dense foods. We learn how our prior eating habits contributed to our present metabolic situation. We learn that our personal metabolic defects can cause us to crave the very foods that create these imbalances. We also learn that changing our diet can literally correct those imbalances and change our lives. However, for many dieters, counting carbohydrates and staying within a certain daily allotment isn’t enough to achieve success. In my own case, the problem with not losing weight on a low-carb diet can be traced to a variety of issues: hidden food sensitivities celiac disease leaky gut syndrome endocrine disruptors fat malabsorption probably excessive ASP and who knows what else But weight-loss problems are never the same for everyone. In general, the closer you get to goal weight, the more important calorie counting...

How Much Protein Do I Need? The current rage beginning within the low-carb community is blood ketone meters that measure the amount of ketones in your blood, rather than your urine. The sticks are somewhat expensive, but for those who have purchased and used them, they have received a very eye-opening revelation about their low-carb diet plan. What people are discovering is not new. Both Stargazey and I have been saying this ever since we investigated and tried a no-carb diet several years ago. Stargazey has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and her blog is LowCarb4U if you’re interested. The series starts with a post on protein intake and blood glucose levels and runs for about half a dozen more posts, or so. Make sure you read all of the comments for each post as well. Today, there are low-carb experts who say the same thing, so low carbers are beginning to sit up and take notice – especially since Ketone Blood Meters are making the problem more real. Regardless of what you want to believe, ...

(This is part 4 of a multi-part series on How to Tweak a Low Carb Diet . It discusses my weight loss journey so far. If you didn’t read part 1, you can do so by clicking on the how-to link. Part 1 also includes links to the rest of the series.)  I took a quick glance at the archives to see if I could discover exactly when I first started doing the Kimkins Diet back in 2007, but I kept it quiet due to the controversy surrounding that plan. I can remember communicating with Jimmy Moore several times back then, as he was doing the Kimkins Diet himself, but I couldn’t find anything I had actually posted to this blog. People were very emphatic back then that you had to eat a certain amount of dietary fat. You had to eat a ton of protein, and you had to get a certain amount of calories, or you were not doing low carb. Because of these self-made dietary restrictions, these same individuals refused to call Kimkins a low carb diet. They insisted it was a glucose-burning diet, even though it...

(This is part 9 and the final installment of a multi-part series on How to Tweak a Low Carb Diet . It explains the path I have traveled in my weight loss journey. If you arrived here without reading part 1, you can do so by clicking on the how-to link. Part 1 also contains links to the other posts in this series.) When you begin to restrict carbohydrates to less than about 100 carbs per day, the body is forced to draw upon its liver glycogen to keep your blood glucose levels steady. That’s according to Dr. Michael Eades. I can also tell you from experience, that during those first few days, the brain doesn’t get the proper amount of fuel to function correctly. Or at least, I don’t. I know that because I start having severe vertigo attacks. Other people have talked about being tired or having brain fog. Now, the way it’s supposed to work is that the liver converts the protein you don’t need for immediate repair purposes to glucose to feed the brain. The brain can partially run on ketone...