Thread: Atkins Diet
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Old April 8th, 2004, 07:00 PM
Crafting Mom
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Default Atkins Diet

Lictor wrote:
I eat about the same things as you do, except I also eat red meat and carbs
(rice, pasta...). The idea of cutting one part of the nutriment from my food
not only seems unhealthy to me,


I don't think I am in danger of malnutrition by not having pasta (I
cannot anyway, as I am gluten intolerant - this is the part where "I
discovered low carb by accident" comes in), and I still do on occasion
have some wild or brown basmati rice. The stuff I mentioned eating in
my previous post is not an exhaustive listing of what I eat, but the
*main* base of what I eat (I forgot to mention that I also do eat a bit
of beef, so I do get a bit of red meat). I choose, for my own personal
health, to avoid glutenous grains. The fact that it is in most of the
cultural food available in my area is not my fault, nor is it my
problem. I simply don't eat it.

How I "fell into" low carbing is a story in and of itself. The short
version is that for various health reasons I eliminated certain
ingredients from my diet. I found myself feeling incredible and then
someone told me that what I was doing 'sounded like' a low carb diet, so
it was after that, that I did a bit of digging around and reading about
what low-carbohydrate eating is.

I
of my life, I don't want it to go in the way of my enjoyment or social life.
And I don't find farmished either.


Then the only conclusion I can come to, is that your body is different
than mine and can handle different amounts of food which I eat far less
of. My way of eating doesn't get in the way of my social life. For me,
to have a body that felt as terrible as it felt when I was eating "the
old way" would seem to get in the way of my social life. My friends
still would want to be with me even if I turned down paella.

thing when you're having dinner with your friends. But what if your friends
have prepared a paella?


I would likely thank them for the thought but explain that for health
reasons I am unable to partake of the paella.

Or couscous? How do you handle that? Do you ask your
friend to prepare special food for you? Do you bring you own?


I've never had a situation where I've either had to ask my friends to
prepare a special food for me, or appear rude by turning it down. Many
of the meals we have together are a joint effort and we collaborate as
to who brings what. (Most of my friends are marrieds with children like
myself and my husband). My friends know me, and accept me for who I am.
In the same way I wouldn't feel "put out" if I made a pound of fudge for
my diabetic friend who had to turn it down.

You can't imagine the freedom there is when you are going to have dinner
with your friend, and the only reason you are worried about what they have
cooked is when it comes to pick the proper wine to go with it...


I do have such freedom. I have considerate friends and I have
consideration for them. Many people have other reasons than just "being
on some fad diet" to turn down certain foods.

That's something I can credit low carb with. Let's say that after a period
of crazy diets, low carb is only half-crazy...


Let me clarify by saying that I am not on Atkins, but I have read the
entire book. Many people associate the Atkins diet with a lifetime of
only eating meat and salad vegetables. However, there is a far wider
variety of food "allowed" on it than that. There are "phases" of the
diet which allow grains and fruits and other things.

But you forgot the third point of food : satisfying your pleasure. I
wouldn't like the fact of throwing away 90% of the gastronomy of my country
in the name of a diet.


Well, like I said, it's unfortunate that 90% of the continent (North
America being the one I am in) has an obsession with putting sugar and
flour as a filler in a lot of the food.

Totally agreed. Except I don't think you need low carb to accomplish that.


Low carbing found me by default, I didn't go looking for it. I simply
took away foods which were doing me more harm than good and by default
it turned out to be low-carb. For me, it's about ingredients, not carb
counts.

The fact that low fat is bad is just a reason to drop it in favor of a
trully balanced diet (though I do agree that cutting a bit on the high
glycemic index stuff a bit doesn't hurt).


My diet is very balanced. I just don't eat the same repertoire you eat.
I eat all kinds of vegetables, protein dishes, rice, but not every day,
sometimes even (hang on to your hat) corn bread that my friend prepares
for me, Ahhh but these are not low-carb things you say. Of course they
are not. But the base line of my diet is low carb, and the higher carb
things are things I do eat on occasion and far less frequently, without
bingeing, let me see, I eat nuts and seeds, some fruit, plain yogurt,
and I don't feel "deprived". I have the freedom now to walk for miles
without huffing and puffing (this occured even before any significant
weight was lost, about a week after changing my lifestyle), to not
invest lots of money on antacids, and a whole host of other
"unexplainable" minor, but annoying complaints I used to go running to
the doctor for.

It's almost impossible to make a generalization about what people on
low-carbohydrate diets eat or don't eat, and why, and be correct. The
media loves to slant things to create a sensational thing to talk about,
and very little of what I've read about low-carbohydrate dieting from
the news is anywhere close to reality.

Anyway, I do agree. The "low carbing" that the media has presented is
indeed unhealthy. But the low-carbing in reality, which addressess
*specific problems* (i.e. I don't agree it should be a fad that everyone
should follow) is actually quite healthy for those who have bodies (like
mine) who *need it*.

CM