I'm fat. I say this so you understand. I'm really fat. And, I'm sick (literally) and tired of it. The only thing I've ever tried that gave me a modicum of success in adulthood was Dr. Atkins' diet. Dr. Atkins wasn't clear enough, in my opinion, in proclaiming the segregation of his intent and what some of his followers did to his diet in extremes. Obviously, drastically cutting carbs and doing so for elongated time periods will help you lose weight. So, obese people praise this approach when it works for them. But, that's not really the approach Dr. Atkins taught in his program.

People misconstrued his body tricks as dietary approach. They aren't the same. Atkins could have as easily said that he believed vegetables and fruit were a good replacement for bleached grains and refined sugars, for a lifelong diet. Instead he talked about the effect fat had on the body (and he mentions very limited periods of time for using fat to substitute sugar) and a movement slowly from very low carb to a very complete and rounded diet. You have to get to the final stage of his program to see his real vision for a healthy lifestyle, which is a lean and balanced diet of all kinds of natural foods. The introduction of his dietary program is a body trick to bring the body out of sugar addiction.

Atkins talks to addicted people in reasonable terms, and expects you to either just follow along and understand or do it out of obedience. His hope was that when he told you that you could eat "all you wanted", that you would succumb to your natural hunger once you readjusted your system to more reasonable balances. When you drop your carbs under twenty grams a day intake, you ween yourself from sugar's addictive effect, and over months you are intended to very slowly creep up
to a healthy level for lifetime diet.

His books were not written for the person that needed to lose 10 pounds or adjust their health. He was specifically talking to obese people, so his diet is more extreme and not balanced, because balance won't ever make an obese person a healthy weight. His maintenance program is exactly what the super healthy dietitians would praise, but few ever get to that chapter in his books.

This time around, I'm doing exactly what he suggests. I'm lowering carbs first, and using fat and protein to create a feeling of satiation (fullness) and fight withdrawal pains, which many dieters often confuse with hunger.

Posted in health | personal change jasonn's blog