Healthy Diet at Home

Is a Low-Carb Diet Sustainable? (Photo by Alpha ) As most of you know, I’m extremely partial to the 1972 and the 1992 versions of The Atkins Diet. The ’72 version was based on Dr. Atkins own experiences following a low-carb diet and a few initial clinical observations. The original ’92 version (the first edition) was based on the feedback that he actually got from his patients. Many of them were cheating by adding a few vegetables to Induction along with the salad, which they eventually admitted to. Since Dr. Atkins patients still lost weight easily eating that way, Dr. Atkins decided it was okay to add 2/3 of a cup of cooked vegetables to his Induction Plan. Because of that addition, he lengthened Induction from one week to two. The second edition printed around 1999 was exactly the same as the first one except for a one-line comment he made about how he couldn’t find anything unreasonable about deducting soluble fiber grams from the total carbohydrate count – the type found in the ps

There is a lot of confusion these days about metabolism. It seems to be a scapegoat that people like to blame when weight loss doesn’t happen easily. If they’re following a low carb diet and struggling to succeed, then they believe that all of those years of eating carbohydrates must have destroyed their metabolism and made them fat. On the other side of the argument are those who oppose low carb dieting. These people claim that carbohydrate restriction will permanently alter your metabolism, but what’s the truth? Will eating carbohydrates or following a low carb diet ruin your metabolism – or not? What is Metabolism? Low carb dieters generally do not like to hear about the energy equation. Dr. Atkins told us that we no longer need to worry about calories, so most people believe the energy equation isn’t applicable to them. Calories don’t matter, they say. Dr. Eades has tried to set the record straight, but far too many people still do not want to go outside and drag the equation bac

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

Okay, she's not really a doctor. She's an holistic nurse practitioner who performed our annual physicals so that hubby's work would pay for our health insurance premiums. It took me over 4 hours to find the doctor she works with because Cigna's online listing showed over 400 family practice physicians that specialize in pediatrics. Calling the phone number on our insurance card was a nightmare. The computer voice just kept saying, "I'm sorry, I don't understand you." That's because I got angry. Speaking to a real life representative wasn't an option it gave me. Eventually, I screamed at the computer voice that I wanted to speak to real live person. A lot of good that did me. "I'm sorry, I don't understand you. Let's try again." Somehow, I finally ended up with a live person, but I don't remember how. She wasn't very helpful. She kept insisting that there were over 400 doctors within a 20-mile radius from us. Doc

What do you do if your cholesterol doesn’t improve on a low-carb diet? What do you do if it gets worse? Many low carbers will tell you that you don’t really have to worry about high numbers. But is that true? Low-Carb Bacon and Eggs Breakfast Should you just ignore your high cholesterol tests? What does Dr. Atkins say about elevated cholesterol levels? Insurance Companies Keep Track of Your Cholesterol Numbers For many of us, ignoring our cholesterol tests is no longer possible because health insurance companies are beginning to tie health insurance rates, as well as eligibility of insurability, to your cholesterol levels, smoking habits, and other health markers. In my own situation, we have to take a yearly physical that includes cholesterol tests, and input that information at Cigna’s website. If we choose not to do that, at the present time, our insurance rates will increase by 20 percent. If you smoke, they will add an additional 10. Although this was the first year that participa

(This is part 6 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 this series.) At one time or another, most dieters get caught up in the desire of wanting to lose weight fast. That actually worked to my advantage because Lyle McDonald originally created his Rapid Fat Loss Plan (a whole foods PSMF Diet) to deal with crash diets safely. While McDonald’s focus is on bodybuilding, muscle retention, and metabolism, maintaining muscle mass during dieting is to everyone’s benefit – quick weight loss or not. The Kimkins fiasco brought the protein content of a low carb diet into the limelight. Dr. Eades’ did have recommendations for low carbers to shoot for. He talked about large, medium, and small servings of protein (five, four or three ounces) at each meal depending upon how much you currently weigh, getting 35 grams of carbohy

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

It has taken me a long time to reach this point. I don't really know how I feel about it all . . . just yet. The additional tests that the first nurse practitioner ran came back quite abnormal. But I didn't hear from her until I chased her down a couple of weeks later. She was very confused and was trying to figure it out on her own. In the meantime, everything in my body was racing. My metabolism was high, but the body was in starvation mode, so I don't understand her personal need to figure it all out. Since Cigna's insurance chart said our local Endocrinology clinic was not set up to take Cigna patients until January, I just wanted her to run the blood work for me, so I could decide if it was worth it to pay for the doctor visit myself, or if I should wait until our new insurance became effective in January. Hubby's company is dumping Cigna for a local health insurance company instead. When I didn't hear back, I called the clinic and asked for a copy of my r

This morning I was taking a stroll through some of the threads over at Low Carb Friends, and I ran into something that really disturbed me. A patient of Dr. Westman was there asking for help. She has been on the high-fat low-carb diet known as Nutritional Ketosis for 4 months now. She is eating 20 carbs or less, is losing about 1 to 2 pounds a week, but she feels horrible. For some reason, she is not adapting to the state of Ketosis. Despite a high salt intake, she's having excruciating foot and leg cramps, gets dizzy, and comes near to passing out during her gym activities. She says she has zero energy, so her gym routine has dropped from 5 days a week and 1 trainer session, to just the training. She is taking magnesium and potassium supplements, along with chicken broth every day, but nothing is helping. She's exhausted and feels horrible, and yet, they want her to continue with the regimen she's been on, even though it's not working for her. That doesn't make an