My mum is starting Atkins - concerned

[Taita]

My Mum is beginning the Atkins diet - found the meal planners etc lying round.

I'm a bit concerned about it really - as didn't the bloke who came up with it die of heart attack?

I have tried the 'eat lots of veg with fish / chicken diet' but really, she does not have the mental strength for it so I think she is turning to this as the easy option.

Am I being over cautious?

[vteclimey]

I know a few people who have done atkins, including my wife and a Dr friend. None suffered ill effects from it and all managed to loose weight.

As with all diets, so long as she is sensible there should be nothing to worry about.

[ShadownINja]

Google atkins diet dangers.

[clonmult]

I've known people that have done it without any problems, but upon reading up on it, it appears to just be a minor revision on Lyle McDonalds Cyclical Ketogenic diet, which I was considering many, many years ago.

Its basically designed for body builders to cut up prior to competition. I really don't think it should be recommended for anyone other than a nutjob bodybuilder.

[ShadownINja]

Like the way you put it.

[Yelly]

The Atkins Diet is fine. The health dangers of being overweight almost certainly outweigh any diet risks.

The diet is a boring one to follow, and I've never been able to keep it up for more then a month at a time, so there really is no health risk. I've always managed to shift a stone in just over 3 weeks, without really trying. The high level of proteins in the diet keeps me full and prevents me from wanting to snack.

[paulmurr]

Her name isn't Marie is it?

[ShadownINja]

[Balmoral Green]

Yelly said:

The high level of proteins in the diet keeps me full and prevents me from wanting to snack.

That's interesting, when I tried it a few years ago, I ate and ate and ate all the things I was allowed to eat without limit, none stop snacking, yet I never felt sated. I could eat enormous amounts, and yet I was still ravenous, screaming for a slice of bread or a small beer.

[Yelly]

Balmoral Green said:

Yelly said:

The high level of proteins in the diet keeps me full and prevents me from wanting to snack.

That's interesting, when I tried it a few years ago, I ate and ate and ate all the things I was allowed to eat without limit, none stop snacking, yet I never felt sated. I could eat enormous amounts, and yet I was still ravenous, screaming for a slice of bread or a small beer.

I think that there are different interpretations of the Atkins diet? My missus reckons that I should eat a lot more salad stuff, but I would tend to eat a dieat such as:
3 boiled eggs for breakfast
A piece of chicken and some cheese for lunch
graze on a bag of salted peanuts all day
A stir fry e.g. courgettes, onions, broccoli and prawns for tea. All of this, pretty much in unlimited quantities. Plenty of oil to make it greasy(!)
After about 5 or 6 days, I would introduce multi-vitamins to ensure that I wasn't missing anything out.

This kind of diet worked well for me. Did you eat similar stuff?

[oldbanger]

Dr Atkins slipped on some ice, fell down some steps and smashed his head open, then was in a coma on a drip until his death.

People on Atkins or other LC ways of eating (properly on low carb, not fudging it), tend to find their cholesterol scores improve (esp triglycerides and LDL), their blood pressure falls, and usually reap a whole host of other benefits.

If you are interested in reading more about the health benefits of low carbing, there's a very good book by Gary Taubes called the Diet Delusion in the UK (Good Calories/Bad Calories in the US)

[Polarbert]

I did the thing for two weeks when I was at college. Lost half a stone, but couldn't manage doing it after then. Obviously put the weight back on.


At the start of this year I've been going to the gym regularly, eating smaller portions, and not eating crap between meals. I've managed to lose half a stone at least. Obviously its taken 4 months as opposed to two weeks, but I now feel as though I can't eat as much at meals, which is a good thing.

[grumbledoak]

Taita said:

Am I being over cautious?

Yes. If she is overweight then the diet is probably less risky than her weight.

[ShadownINja]

oldbanger said:

the Diet Delusion

You mean it doesn't prove there's no such thing as a Diety?

[t84]

My ex did it, she was fine.

[cslgirl]

I am into my 5th day on it. Had headaches the first couple of days but they have surpassed now and to be honest, I feel absolutely great from not eating bread, pasta and rice. A lot less sluggish and tired. I am still eating some really nice food and more than I would if I was on a "normal" diet and my jeans feel looser already.

[bales]

cslgirl said:

I am into my 5th day on it. Had headaches the first couple of days but they have surpassed now and to be honest, I feel absolutely great from not eating bread, pasta and rice. A lot less sluggish and tired. I am still eating some really nice food and more than I would if I was on a "normal" diet and my jeans feel looser already.

Posts like this depress me, you've been having headaches etc...all because you want to lose weight.

Are you going to not eat a normal diet for the rest of your life then?

I don't feel sluggish or tired and my jeans fit me fine but I tend to think it is because I have a balanced diet and do lots of exercise.

Why do pretty much all doctors, nutrionists, top sports people etc etc...all recommend having a balanced diet with everything in moderation, its just common sense.

Ridiculous imo.

[grumbledoak]

bales said:

Ridiculous imo.

And what a humble opinion that appears to be!

Would you care to give more details on this perfect balanced diet and how it differs from other suggested diets? Or how different a top sportsman's diet would or should be from an average persons? Or anything on how the growth of agribusiness has changed our diet and the effects on our health thereof?

[bales]

You think eating nothing but protein is a genuinely good thing to do?

I didn't think I would need to explain a balanced diet, is it not self-explanatory?

I don't get why you think me saying the Atkins is ridiculous when a normal diet with plenty of exercise will give you just as good results with no side effects or health issues long term is actually so strange.

And personally yes I find it ridiculous that you people go on a diet that gives you headaches and makes you feel ill and can have side effects when it is totally uneccessary.

Also say I eat nothing but protein how would I train? I have alow body fat percentage so where would my energy come from without carbs? You are withholding the bodies primary energy resource - is that not wrong on a basic biological level?

Edited by bales on Wednesday 21st April 13:18

[grumbledoak]

bales said:

I didn't think I would need to explain a balanced diet, is it not self-explanatory?

Nope. You have very emphatically said very little.

Our diet now is very different from our past diet, and it isn't clear that it has been beneficial. It is a complex subject, and I doubt anyone fully understands it. But, though Atkins is at one extreme I suspect he got a lot right too. Lined against him is a vast business determined to convince you that breakfast cereals are more nutritious than the bowl you put them in. Do you believe them?