Healthy Diet at Home

The Atkins Diet Fixes the Risks for Heart Disease and Blood Clots Cholesterol is a hot topic. It’s been that way for many years now. The media, the medical community, the pharmaceutical industry and even nutritionists and dieticians have demonized it to the point to where many believe that getting rid of the cholesterol and saturated fat in our diet will solve all of our health problems. That theory is why a low-carb diet is often frowned upon by many medical authorities and why those new to low carbing are often confused and misguided about what they should or shouldn’t eat. What tends to empower this theory over others is it has the backing of the U.S. Government. To most people, that makes it sound official. If the government says it’s true, then it must be true. Cholesterol and saturated fats are the demon, not carbohydrates. The truth is that cutting down on dietary fats and increasing complex carbohydrates doesn’t necessarily lower cholesterol levels, so in walks statins...

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...

Pork Chops with Mushroom Gravy My meals have fallen into a rut lately, so I took a quick glance at the kitchen help section over at Low Carb Friends. I don’t generally look at that section anymore, because most of the recipes that get posted use gluten ingredients or cheese. This time, however, someone had posted a chicken breast and heavy cream recipe that was getting rave reviews. In fact, there were even a couple of people who claimed the sauce tasted “cheesy.” I was intrigued by the spice mixture, because I couldn’t figure out how chili powder and some onion and garlic powders could make cream taste “cheesy,” but I really needed some new ways to spice up our food, so I tried making it for lunch. It was terrific, and yes, even though I had to adapt the recipe to be gluten and dairy free and added a few extra seasonings, it really did taste like a light cheese sauce. In fact, I liked it so much that I made a different version for dinner that very night. This time, I used pork chops a...

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, ...