Healthy Diet at Home

Happy Eggs Are you new to the Atkins Diet? Getting through the first month or two can be a bit confusing or overwhelming, I know.  I get a good amount of email from people who are just beginning a low-carb diet plan and are confused about the way it works. Maybe, the diet isn't living up to your expectations. Maybe, you haven't actually read Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution . You're just trying to implement the Atkins Diet from what you've  read online. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation about the Induction diet on the internet.  Everyone thinks they know what a low-carb diet plan is and what it can do to you. However, the Atkins Diet isn't just: bacon and eggs greasy cheeseburgers and T-bone steaks Fears vary from person to person, but can range from Atkins causing kidney problems and high cholesterol levels to being responsible for gallstones and heart attacks.  Did you buy into any of these myths? Are you feeling a bit hesitant right about now?  I...

What is the Truth  About Sugar Substitutes? (photo frankleleon , CC BY 2.0 ) I get a lot of questions about sugar substitutes. In general, artificial sweeteners are allowed and even encouraged on low-carb diets. Low-carb diets claim that sugar substitutes don't raise blood glucose levels, and therefore, can't interfere with fat mobilization. The only caution I've heard over the years is to not use aspartame and count the little packets as 1 carb each. On Atkins Induction , the packets are also limited to 3 per day. But is any of that true? Are low-carb advocates telling us the truth about sugar substitutes? Or are they just trying to sell us something? I'm a follow-the-money type of person. I'm always wary when it comes to people trying to sell me on an idea that is to their financial interest for me to swallow and believe. Because of that, and because it's been years since I wrote about the truth of sugar alcohols on this blog, I did a little more research int...

Need to Eat More Veggies? Get Loads of Low-Carb Ideas! If you listen to the media and other anti low-carb advocates, you're going to think that the Atkins Diet is nothing but greasy burgers, T-bone steaks, tons of full-fat cheeses and piles of bacon. While the foundation of a low-carb diet is an adequate amount of protein and plenty of healthy fats, the greatest volume of food you eat on a low-carb diet is vegetables. That fact is usually ignored by those who believe low-carb diets are unhealthy. Mostly, because the Atkins Induction Diet originally used very few vegetables to get you into the state of ketosis quickly, and also because a lot of people who do low carb don't follow the diet protocol correctly. In addition to staying at an Induction level of carbs, instead of getting most of their carbohydrates from vegetables, low-carb dieters often eat an abundance of other low-carb foods, such as: nuts and seeds (including nut flours and ground flaxseeds) low-glycemic fruits ton...

Today, I'm going to give you a low-carb menu template that I use when doing the Atkins Diet. I have an Atkins menu planner for Atkins Induction, sometimes called Phase 1, and one for the Ongoing Weight Loss Phase (OWL), often called Phase 2. Since I'm not very fond of the current Atkins diets, these templates are designed to work with the Atkins 2002 version of the diet, but the Atkins menu planner can easily be adapted to fit prior diet plans as well. I find templates much easier to work with than a specific menu, as they give you lots of room to use up whatever you have in the house. They also allow you to purchase meats and vegetables that are marked down or on sale that week. That can be extremely helpful when trying to reduce your low-carb costs. Read more »

Egg Salad Sandwich  Made with Revolution Rolls (photo  SG , CC BY-ND 2.0 Generic ) In the 1970s, when I first ran across the Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution book at the library, I didn't have enough courage to make the Diet Revolution Rolls. Although they are extremely popular today, I couldn't understand how beating egg whites into meringue could take the place of bread. The egg yolks are folded into the beaten egg whites, along with cottage cheese, mayo, or cream cheese, but that still didn't make sense to me. Angel food cake and other sponge cakes are made in a similar way as Oopsies or Cloud Bread, but for cake, you have to add a little all-purpose flour or cake flour to the beaten egg whites to hold the cake together. For cake, the yolks are not used. The original 1972 Revolution Rolls didn't have anything added to them to hold them together, except for cottage cheese, and that's probably more about moisture retention from baking the rolls so long, than improvi...

Atkins Induction Breakfast: Bacon and Eggs, Salad, and Salsa I'm going to be honest here. I have never sat down and mapped out a complete ketogenic diet menu for Atkins Induction or even the Ongoing Weight Loss phase (OWL).  When it comes to planning ketogenic meals, I've always just shot from the hip.  At times, I did have to start with dinner and then travel backward from there to get a daily menu to fit into certain parameters, but that was back when I needed to lower my fat and reduce the number of calories in my low-carb meals. For Atkins Induction, that isn't necessary.  The goal of Atkins Induction isn't weight loss.  The aim you are trying to achieve is to get yourself into the state of ketosis. You don't count fat grams, and you most certainly don't count calories. You never go hungry. If you're hungry, eat until you're satisfied.  In fact, in the 2002 version of the Atkins Diet, Dr. Atkins clearly stated that you should never go more than 6 hou...

How to Get Into Ketosis  in Less Than 3 Days Ketogenic diets work by reducing basal insulin levels and setting up conditions that will move you into a state of ketosis. Getting into ketosis quickly is important because when the body produces ketones, your hunger level goes down, your energy goes up, and you experience a state of well-being. These benefits will make it easier for you to stick to your diet plan. Ordinarily, on a typical keto diet, it takes 3 to 5 days to enter into the state of ketosis, depending on how many carbohydrates per day you were eating before you started restricting carbs. But there are much faster methods.  While nutrition should never be sacrificed at the expense of your health, here is how you can get into ketosis in less than 3 days. Read more »