by Westman, Dr. Eric C. ; Phinney, Dr. Stephen D. ; Volek, Dr. Jeff S.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
Four sections allow you to get going on the program quickly, complete with lists of acceptable foods and meal plans, plus provide a grounding in nutrition and the scientific foundations of the Atkins approach.
• Part I covers the basics of nutrition, looking at carbohydrates, protein, and fats, and explains how and why Atkins works. We’ll introduce the four phases that form the continuum of the Atkins Diet:
- Phase 1, Induction
- Phase 2, Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL)
- Phase 3, Pre-Maintenance
- Phase 4, Lifetime Maintenance
You’ll also learn all about “Net Carbs” and how to count them. (For brevity, we’ll often refer to carbohydrates as carbs.) Once you understand these basics and commit yourself to concentrating on whole foods, you’ll find it easier than ever to slim down and shape up. You’ll also learn how the wrong foods—think of those made with sugar and refined grains—keep you overweight, tired, and sluggish and increase your risk for health problems.
• Part II tells you how to do Atkins on a day-to-day basis and transition easily from one phase to the next. We’ll guide you through the process of exploring the amounts and types of food that are right for you, with extensive lists of acceptable foods for each phase, as you customize the program to your needs. You’ll find a wide variety of choices in the types of foods you can eat, whether dining in or eating out.
• Part III includes detailed meal plans, recipes for all phases of the diet, and guides to eating out.
• Part IV is for those of you who want to learn how Atkins can improve cardiovascular risk factors, reverse metabolic syndrome (prediabetes), and manage diabetes. We’ll give you the short course and provide lots of reference material in case you happen to love reading scientific journals or want to share these chapters with your physician.
Just as you can tailor Atkins to your needs, you can read this book as you wish. If you’re eager to get going immediately, simply start with part II, but please circle back later to learn how and why Atkins works. At the very least, read the review sections at the end of the chapters in part I. As the Success Stories sprinkled throughout the book make clear, until you understand the nutritional grounding of the Atkins Diet, it’s all too easy to regard it merely as a tool for quick weight loss—instead of a healthy and permanent lifestyle.
In part I, you’ll also make the acquaintance of the metabolic bully, which threatens your resolve to stay on the weight loss path, and its enemy—and your ally—the Atkins Edge. This powerful tool helps you slim down, without experiencing the hunger or cravings usually associated with weight loss.
Other diets may come and go, but Atkins endures because it has always worked. As physicians, nutritionists, and researchers, we’re committed to making Atkins simpler than ever. After all, the easier it is, the more likely you are to stick with it, and—bottom line—achieve success. We can assure you that Dr. Robert C. Atkins, who was a pioneer in low-carb nutrition, would approve of the science-based changes introduced in this book, particularly any that make the program easier for you and enable you to keep excess weight off long term. The growing worldwide epidemics of obesity and diabetes mean that it’s not a moment too soon.
Stephen D. Phinney, M.D., Ph.D.
Jeff S. Volek, Ph.D., R.D.
Eric C. Westman, M.D., M.H.S.
Part I
WHY IT WORKS: It’s All About Nutrition
Chapter 1
KNOW THYSELF
Any diet that skimps on natural fats is inherently unsatisfying, making it extremely difficult to sustain long term and almost certainly doomed to failure.
Did you once delight in eating whatever you wanted without gaining an ounce? Were you athletic in high school or college? Was your weight never a problem until after you got your first high-stress job, started your family, or approached menopause? Have you been diagnosed with high cholesterol, or are you at risk for type 2 diabetes? If you’re reading this book and the answer to any of these questions is yes, it’s a safe assumption that your days of carefree eating are long gone.
Or maybe you’ve spent a good part of your adult life on the diet merry-go-round. You hop on to lose some weight, then dismount as soon as you’ve lost it. When you regain the pounds—as most of us inevitably do—you jump back on, and so forth. You might have even done Atkins several years ago and banished that extra padding. But when you reverted to your habitual way of eating, the lost pounds returned with a vengeance. Maybe you felt under the weather in the first week or two of Atkins, found the program too restrictive, or had some concerns about its healthfulness. Perhaps you simply got bored.
Since you’re reading this book, we trust that you’re giving Atkins a second chance. Thanks to some significant changes, you’ll find that the program is now far easier to do. And new research makes it clear that Atkins is a healthy way to eat. It’s one of the few low-carb diets subjected to extensive independent research. In studies that compared people following a low-calorie program to those controlling their carbohydrates, the groups that reduced their carbs showed greater weight and fat loss, better compliance, the ability to keep weight off long term, and higher satisfaction with food choices.1 We’ll circle back to some of the research later in this chapter.
Another possibility is that you’re a veteran of the low-fat approach that left you unsatisfied, hungry, testy, and fantasizing about forbidden feasts, before ultimately bagging it. Or you’ve spent the last decade or so sampling every diet craze that came down the pike only to regain the weight—and perhaps a few extra pounds—for all your efforts.
Whether you’re new to Atkins, have returned after wandering in the dietary wilderness, or are a confirmed Atkins follower interested in recent modifications, you’ve come to the right place. Atkins has never been just about weight, so there’s also a seat at the table for already slim folks who want to improve their physique, increase their energy, overcome health problems, or simply feel better. Whatever your story, it’s time to get off of the diet merry-go-round and onto a permanent path to lifetime slimness, vitality, and good health.
TIME TO TAKE CONTROL
Does this sound familiar? Each time you’ve tried a new weight loss approach or renewed your commitment to stick with a program, you experience euphoria and a sense of empowerment. And you probably enjoyed some initial good results. But then you didn’t follow through, and soon you’d find yourself in a downward spiral. You blamed yourself for your weakness, lack of control, and inability to defer the momentary pleasure of a piece of chocolate or a bag of chips for the long-term goal of a trimmer, more attractive you. And as all too many of you may have already learned, the challenges of losing weight pale compared to the real work of keeping it permanently at bay. The humorist Erma Bombeck was onto something when she quipped, “In two decades I’ve lost a total of 789 pounds. I should be hanging from a charm bracelet.” But when it comes to your health and your psyche, the cycle of losing, regaining, losing, and so forth is no laughing matter. Nor are the guilt, shame, and sense of failure that accompany it.
By the end of this chapter, you’ll have met the metabolic bully that stands in the way of your losing weight and achieving optimal health. We’ll also introduce you to the Atkins Edge, the powerful tool that distinguishes Atkins from other diets and lets you outsmart the bully. The Atkins Edge converts your body to a fat-burning machine. Yes, we’re talking about using your spare tire, beer belly, thunder thighs, heroic hips, jiggling butt, or wherever your fat deposits have landed as your primary energy source. Just as important, the process of literally restoring your body to its best shape will not only make you feel good about your body and proud of your resolve, you’ll almost surely find that the sense of empowerment and confidence spills over into your personal and professional life. Feeling powerful is an aphrodisiac, so don’t be surprised to find that your sex life also revives!
IS ATKINS FOR YOU?
To help you decide whether Atk
ins can help you slim down—and stay there—and address any health issues, consider the following questions.
ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR WEIGHT? If so, congratulations! But even if you’re content with your appearance, you may find it an effort to maintain your weight, or you may have health problems that could be alleviated by changing your diet. Or perhaps you want to reconfigure your body by trading fat for muscle, as Atkins can do, especially if you also embark on a training program. Bottom line: Atkins is an effective and sustainable way to shed pounds—quickly and safely.
WHAT ARE YOUR WEIGHT LOSS GOALS? If you have just a few pesky pounds to lose, you can probably take them off in a month or so. Some people lose up to 15 pounds in the first two weeks on Atkins. Countless individuals have lost more than 100 pounds overall—and you could too. You’ll meet some of them in this book and can read more of their success stories on www.atkins.com. Naturally, individual results vary considerably, depending upon age, gender, activity level, metabolic resistance, and other factors, plus—of course—how carefully you follow our instructions. Bottom line: You can lose a little or a lot on Atkins.
DO YOU HAVE OTHER HEALTH ISSUES YOU WANT TO CORRECT OR HEAD OFF? Individual results vary, but generally, if you go easy on carbs and focus on vegetables and other whole food carbs, you’ll almost surely find that your triglycerides diminish, your “good” cholesterol rises, and your markers of inflammation improve.2 If you have high blood pressure, you should see your numbers drop.3 Those with elevated blood sugar and insulin levels will also see improvement. Most Atkins followers who once had to take medications and/or insulin for type 2 diabetes to control their blood sugar or diuretics to counteract fluid retention have been able, with their doctor’s help, to reduce their dosage and even stop taking the drugs once they’ve adapted to the Atkins program. Atkins also addresses other health issues such as insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.4 Controlling carbs is also a time-tested and viable treatment for epilepsy.5 Bottom line: Atkins is a healthy diet and, for those with medical problems, is also a corrective diet that can significantly reduce the risks for disease.
WERE YOU SUCCESSFUL SHORT TERM BUT NOT LONG TERM ON OTHER DIETS? Any diet that’s not sustainable is almost certainly doomed to failure. About 95 percent of people who lose weight regain it—usually within a few years.6 The point is that once you’ve slimmed down, raw willpower alone is not enough for you to succeed in the long term. You also need an ally, and this is where the Atkins Edge comes in. Numerous studies show better maintenance of weight loss after one and two years with Atkins compared to low-fat diets.7 Bottom line: On Atkins, you lose the weight and can then maintain that loss, making it a diet for life.
ARE YOU UNABLE TO LOSE WEIGHT OR MAINTAIN WEIGHT LOSS BY COUNTING CALORIES AND AVOIDING FAT? A diet that skimps on natural fats is inherently unsatisfying, making it extremely difficult to sustain long term, as is a calorie-restricted diet that leaves you perpetually hungry. Atkins, on the other hand, allows you to eat many delicious foods that contain healthy fats. In fact, research shows that when people on Atkins eat as much as they want, most wind up naturally eating a suitable number of calories.8 Bottom line: On Atkins, there’s no need to skimp on fats or count calories.
ARE YOU ALWAYS HUNGRY OR PLAGUED BY CRAVINGS ON OTHER DIETS? A low-fat diet is almost always a high-carb diet, which quickly converts to glucose in your bloodstream, especially in the case of low-quality carbs. The result is a roller coaster of blood sugar highs and lows that zaps your energy and leave you craving another “fix” of quickly metabolized carbs a few hours after a meal. Bottom line: Eating the Atkins way (which includes two snacks a day) means you need never go hungry.
ARE YOUR FAVORITE FOODS DOUGHNUTS, SWEETS, CHIPS, FRIES, AND OTHER HIGH-CARB FOODS? The more of these foods you eat, the more you crave, setting up a vicious cycle of overeating foods that don’t sustain your energy and have little nutritional value. A high-carb snack merely repeats the cycle. Bottom line: Eliminating sugars, refined carbs, and other high-carb foods from your diet allows you to get off the blood sugar roller coaster.
DO YOU GAIN WEIGHT EASILY EVEN THOUGH YOU DON’T OVEREAT? It’s a sad fact that some people put on weight more easily and lose weight more slowly than others.9 However, if you can’t drop excess pounds when you’re truly not overeating, this may be an indication that your body doesn’t tolerate carbs well, which can be a precursor of type 2 diabetes. Controlling your carb intake nips the problem in the bud. Bottom line: Doing Atkins allows your body to bypass problems handling carbohydrates.
WERE YOU INITIALLY SUCCESSFUL ON ATKINS IN THE PAST BUT REGAINED WEIGHT? If you regained weight after losing it, you’ll learn how to refine the lessons you learned about weight loss and apply them to the bigger challenge of slimming down for good. Bottom line: Atkins focuses on weight maintenance from Day 1.
DID YOU GET HUNG UP ON INDUCTION AND DIDN’T MOVE THROUGH THE OTHER PHASES? All too many people confuse Induction, the first phase that kick-starts weight loss, for the entire Atkins program. Remaining in Induction may produce quick weight loss, but it doesn’t teach you how to achieve permanent weight control. You may also become bored with the food choices, which could diminish your commitment to stay with Atkins. Bottom line: This time you can be comfortable exploring the range of foods that will enable you to keep losing weight—and ultimately maintain your new weight.
HAVE YOU TRIED ATKINS BEFORE BUT DROPPED OUT BEFORE LOSING MUCH WEIGHT? If you found the program too restrictive, you’ll be pleased to know that it’s now far more flexible. For example, you can now enjoy a satisfying variety of vegetables from the get-go. You’ll also learn how to dine out easily and safely—on any cuisine. If you felt the food was too expensive, we’ll help you avoid overeating protein and provide you with a list of meat cuts that won’t break your budget. Bottom line: Anyone can do Atkins anywhere, and that includes vegetarians and vegans.
THIS TIME WILL BE DIFFERENT
If you’re a veteran of the weight loss wars, we can promise you that you’re in for a surprise: this time will be different. But first of all, you must understand that shedding pounds and getting healthy isn’t just a matter of willpower. There are biological reasons why you feel hungry—or not. Earlier in this chapter, we mentioned the metabolic bully, which undermines your determination and tries to derail your efforts at weight loss. Because the glucose from carbohydrates must always be tapped first as a source of energy, there’s rarely any need to access your body fat if you eat the typical carb-heavy American diet. So eating lots of carbohydrates acts as a metabolic bully: it blocks your body from burning its own fat, just like a playground bully who keeps other kids from using the swings.
But don’t despair. You now have access to a valuable tool that will allow you to burn your own body fat for energy and keep hunger at bay. When you cut back on carbs sufficiently, your body transitions to a primarily fat-burning metabolism, forcing the bully to step aside. The messages your body transmits to your brain will change dramatically. Instead of hearing “I’m tired and hungry. Feed me sweet, starchy foods this minute,” that nagging voice will be blissfully silent. You’ll actually find that you can go for several hours without even thinking about food.
Scientists refer to it as a fat-burning metabolism, but we call this ally the Atkins Edge. It enables you to stop the metabolic bully in its tracks so you lose fat pounds without experiencing undue hunger, cravings, energy depletion, or any sense of deprivation. When you burn fat for energy all day (and all night), your blood sugar remains on a relatively even keel. Without question, the Atkins Edge makes it easier to stay the course and succeed in meeting your goals. Now that you know that eating too much sugar and other refined carbohydrates stands in the way of losing weight and restoring your energy, we ask again, is Atkins for you? Perhaps the more logical question is: Why wouldn’t Atkins be right for you?
NO CARBS, NOT!
The most persistent misconception about Atkins is that it’s a no-carb diet. From the first p
rinting of Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution in 1972, the advice has always been to limit-not eliminate-carbs. In fact, this first version of the program included salads from Day 1. Over the years, the number and amount of vegetables permissible in Phase 1 has increased significantly, in large part because of a better understanding of the benign role of fiber in carbs. Atkins is actually about ultimately discovering which whole foods, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, and whole grains-all of which contain carbohydrates-you’re able to eat without interfering with weight loss, weight maintenance, or metabolic health. Finding out how much fiber-rich carbohydrate you can eat while still maintaining your Atkins Edge is key to your long-term success.
GROUNDED IN RESEARCH
Now that you realize the power of the Atkins Diet, let’s take a brief look at some of the recent research that has evaluated its safety and efficacy. This newer research builds upon older information on carbohydrate-restricted diets, including the use of low-carbohydrate diets by a variety of aboriginal hunting cultures that persisted for thousands of years. In the last decade a multitude of studies on restricted carbohydrate intake has dramatically changed the research landscape. Among these are seven studies lasting from six months to two years, usually comparing the Atkins Diet to other common weight loss strategies.10 In terms of total weight loss, in each case, individuals on Atkins did at least as well as—and usually better than—those on other diets, despite the fact that they could consume as many calories as they wanted as long as they stayed within the carb guidelines.