[Sca-cooks] Dieting

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

As someone else doing Atkins, i am annoyed when i hear "reporters" on 
TV or the radio declaiming about Atkins and how it's nothing but 
protein and fat. Obviously no one on their research "team" bothered 
to even look at a few salient pages of any of Atkins' books.

Yes, it can be high in protein, and yes, it doesn't restrict fats, 
but it also includes vegetables - 3 cups a day even during the first 
two weeks of "induction" and more after that's over - and a 
restricted list of fruits once past those two weeks.

One adds carbs into the diet in a controlled way week by week until 
one reaches a point at which one stops losing weight. If one is not 
near one's goal, one restricts carbs a bit. There are a few things 
that are off the diet. Sugar is one. Rice is another. But one can add 
in whole grains and pulses in controlled quantities as one progresses.

One does not *have* to buy or even eat "weird" foods. If one misses 
bread and pasta, then perhaps one will want to find low carbohydrate 
substitutes - one can even make one's own using few "weird" 
ingredients. If one misses sweets, well, it is true one turns to some 
kind of sweetener. I'm sure many folks on this list already consume 
"sugar free" soft drinks - how weird it that? Using "Splenda" instead 
of saccharine or aspartame (commercially known as "Nutrasweet") isn't 
particularly "weird"

Last time i did Atkins, once i'd make a fair bit of progress i could 
eat angel food cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, as 
long as there wasn't sugar in any of it and i watched my cake serving 
size.

So i can't eat potatoes. How's that some huge deprivation? Yes, i 
miss them, but there are various kinds of restrictions on any 
weight-reduction or health-oriented diet. And I never ate a lot of 
sweets anyway. As i've protested on this list, i don't like very 
sweet stuff.

The Atkins diet encourages exercise. It sometimes encourages caloric 
limits. Yes, i need to exercise more. I can't afford to join a gym, 
and with my foot, knee, hip, and back problems, jogging isn't really 
an option. I do need to walk more.

I've tried 1200 calorie diets, measuring everything i eat, and i 
exercised more, and i lost weight more slowly than on Atkins (and on 
Atkins i lose about 5 lb/mo).

But one doesn't need to buy weird food on Atkins, some folks just 
want something to replace foods they miss.

Anahita
still catching up