Dr Atkins Quotes

I'm a food addict. I've tried everything- Weight Watchers, The South Beach, raw food, Atkins, low-fat diets. Nothing works for me." I looked at him and said, "Have you tried suffering?" He laughed out loud, as if I was joking. I wasn't joking.

Exercise is an important component, as is cutting back on processed meats, such as bacon, sausage and cold cuts, and limiting your intake of hard cheese.

As we were heading down Mass Ave toward campus, a man stepped out of a doorway. “I’m selling books,” he said. Instinctively I averted my eyes, picked up my pace, and changed course slightly to give him a wider berth—just as Ivan did the opposite, slowing down right in front of the man, looking right at him, right into his eyes. “Books, really?” I was overcome by the sudden sense of Ivan’s freedom. I realized for the first time that if you were a guy, if you were some tall guy who looked like Ivan, you could pretty much stop to look at anything you wanted, whenever you felt like it. And because I was walking with him now, for just this moment, I had a special dispensation, I could look at whatever he was looking at, too. So I, too, looked at the man—at the lines etched into his face, at his crafty and reproachful expression, at his cloudy eye and his piercing eye, overhung by a wilderness of eyebrows. The man opened one flap of his trench coat. Strapped to the inside, contraband-style, was an array of paperbacks: The Fountainhead, Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution, an introduction to the philosophy of Heidegger, The Communist Manifesto, a Dear Abby anthology, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and a Spanish-English dictionary. The man looked awkwardly down over the titles, apparently deciding which one to offer Ivan.

THE POWER OF FIVE These portions contain roughly 5 grams of carbohydrates. Food groups are arranged in the general order in which they should be added. Vegetables 3/4 cup cooked spinach 1/2 cup red peppers 1 medium tomato 2/3 cup cooked broccoli 8 medium asparagus 1 cup cauliflower 1/3 cup chopped onions 1/2 California avocado 2/3 cup summer squash Dairy 5 ounces farmer's cheese or pot cheese 5 ounces mozzarella cheese 1/2 cup cottage cheese 2/3 cup ricotta cheese 1/2 cup heavy cream Nuts and Seeds 1 ounce of: macadamias (approximately ten to twelve nuts) walnuts (approximately fourteen halves) almonds (approximately twenty-four nuts) pecans (approximately thirty-one nuts) hulled sunflower seeds (three tablespoons) roasted shelled peanuts (approximately twenty-six nuts) 1/2 ounce of cashews (approximately nine nuts) Fruits 1/4 cup blueberries 1/4 cup raspberries 1/2 cup strawberries 1/4 cup cantaloupe, honeydew Juices 1/4 cup lemon juice 1/4 cup lime juice 1/2 cup tomato juice Convenience Foods You can select from the variety of convenience foods (bars and shakes are the two most available), but be sure to determine the actual number of digestible carbohydrate in any particular product (see Chapter 8, page 68).

Eat either three regular-size meals a day or four or five smaller meals. Do not skip meals or go more than six waking hours without eating. 2. Eat liberally of combinations of fat and protein in the form of poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs and red meat, as well as of pure, natural fat in the form of butter, mayonnaise, olive oil, safflower, sunflower and other vegetable oils (preferably expeller-pressed or cold-pressed). 3. Eat no more than 20 grams a day of carbohydrate, most of which must come in the form of salad greens and other vegetables. You can eat approximately three cups-loosely packed-of salad, or two cups of salad plus one cup of other vegetables (see the list of acceptable vegetables on page 110). 4. Eat absolutely no fruit, bread, pasta, grains, starchy vegetables or dairy products other than cheese, cream or butter. Do not eat nuts or seeds in the first two weeks. Foods that combine protein and carbohydrates, such as chickpeas, kidney beans and other legumes, are not permitted at this time. 5. Eat nothing that is not on the acceptable foods list. And that means absolutely nothing! Your "just this one taste won't hurt" rationalization is the kiss of failure during this phase of Atkins. 6. Adjust the quantity you eat to suit your appetite, especially as it decreases. When hungry, eat the amount that makes you feel satisfied but not stuffed. When not hungry, eat a small controlled carbohydrate snack to accompany your nutritional supplements. 7. Don't assume any food is low in carbohydrate-instead read labels! Check the carb count (it's on every package) or use the carbohydrate gram counter in this book. 8. Eat out as often as you wish but be on guard for hidden carbs in gravies, sauces and dressings. Gravy is often made with flour or cornstarch, and sugar is sometimes an ingredient in salad dressing. 9. Avoid foods or drinks sweetened with aspartame. Instead, use sucralose or saccharin. Be sure to count each packet of any of these as 1 gram of carbs. 10. Avoid coffee, tea and soft drinks that contain caffeine. Excessive caffeine has been shown to cause low blood sugar, which can make you crave sugar. 11. Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water each day to hydrate your body, avoid constipation and flush out the by-products of burning fat. 12. If you are constipated, mix a tablespoon or more of psyllium husks in a cup or more of water and drink daily. Or mix ground flaxseed into a shake or sprinkle wheat bran on a salad or vegetables.

1. More salad and other vegetables on the acceptable foods list 2. Fresh cheeses (as well as more aged cheese) 3. Seeds and nuts 4. Berries 5. Wine and other spirits low in carbs 6. Legumes 7. Fruits other than berries and melons 8. Starchy vegetables 9. Whole grains

The French also have far lower rates of obesity than Americans do, despite the fact that their diet is higher in fat.

Dr. Atkins continued, “Sometimes silence is a way to cover emotion or to hide true feelings. Sometimes the bridge between emotion and language is so vast or so scary that it’s just easier not to cross it.

Several serious medical studies and entire referenced books show that lowering cholesterol with medications did NOT reduce the number of deaths by stroke nor the amount of sickness, including heart attacks and (Atkins, Herbert, TW, Suurbula, Ravnskov, Smith). In addition, some commonly prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs actually lowered the good HDL cholesterol as well (Johansson), putting you at higher risk of an early heart attack.

The Low Glycemic Index Treatment diet (LGIT) is a relatively new diet that was created by Dr. Elizabeth Thiele and dietitian Heidi Pfeifer at Massachusetts General Hospital about ten years ago. While it is still considered a high fat diet, it allows for greater freedom with 40 to 60 grams of carbohydrates, using only carbohydrates that are low on the glycemic index (GI) (<50). The GI is a measure of the effect of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels. The lower the number, the less the carbohydrate will alter your blood sugar level. When you hear the term “sugar rush,” that is often due to the rise of glucose in your bloodstream after consuming a sugar-rich food; foods that are high on the glycemic index raise the blood sugar levels in your body, and because all that goes up must come down, eventually the blood sugars will descend, causing the classic “crash” we’ve all felt hours

Be food aware—remember that fresh meat, fish, fowl, vegetables, nuts, seeds and occasional fruits and starches are the foods nature intended you to eat.

Some of the main factors affecting whether or not nutritional supplementation is right for you include:  Digestive health: You may need to supplement if you have a GI condition that limits your ability to access the nutrients in the food you eat.  Food intake: The amount of food you eat may be insufficient to meet your nutritional needs, even if that food is nutritious. And certain diets may fail to provide all of the nutrients you need, or they may provide nutrients in excessive amounts—many diets are extreme. For example, the Atkins diet leans heavily on proteins and fats, while vegan diets provide no animal protein.  Food’s growing conditions: Depletion of the nutrients in our soils means fewer nutrients in the food that grows in those soils. In one study that compared nutrient data for foods from 1940, 1991, and 2002, of the seven minerals examined, all but sodium had undergone significant depletion by 2002; some minerals (e.g., copper) no longer occurred at all in the food.

With the publication of Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution and its subsequent censure by the American Medical Association, the nature of the professional discussions on carbohydrate-restricted diets turned from their clinical utility to the reasons to avoid them. The actual science suddenly mattered less than ever.

The gist of Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution can be distilled down to three assertions. The first is that weight could be lost on his diet without hunger, and perhaps without even restricting calories.

the scientific evidence on the subject is just not on their radar. Why not? One reason is that when you see how much endocrinologists do know, it is not surprising that they don’t know about nutrition. As for those who act as if they know nutrition but refuse to consider low-carbohydrate diets — not that they have a refutation but rather simply ignore it — causes are unknown. For some, it is not that they love their patients less but that they love hating Dr. Atkins more.

The GTT he administered showed severe reactive hypoglycemia (RHG). At that time, one of the many criticisms of Dr. Atkins was that he diagnosed many with RHG. For this he was called a “quack”. After seeing the lab results, I immediately began the Induction phase of his diet and soon felt better, just as his patients did. As long as I ate correctly and didn’t skip meals I rarely experienced my prior symptoms. That remains true to this day. This was my first lesson in the power of practical nutrition (albeit outside of mainstream medical opinion). I am convinced that if I hadn’t followed Dr. Atkins advice I would have had type 2 diabetes long ago. I can thank him for many things but most especially for that.