"Life Without Bread"

[Laura]

Thank you Laura, for that input, I've analysed where the excess carbs are coming from - buckwheat for blinis, buckwheat gravy and broccoli for lunch, and beet and carrots for tea.

For the last couple of days I've been piling on the lard, ghee and extra virgin olive oil. But ... so it's down to a strict cut in carbs, pile on more oil and get out of the habit of three meals a day. I like your idea of a few slices of fatty meat liberally covered with butter to get things moving too. :)

Thing is, you can pile on all the fat you want, if you are still eating too many carbs, all you will get is indigestion.

 

[Regulattor]

Well I am the skinny type too and although I have been on the low car diet for over six weeks, I am still low in energy and I feel like as if have no power in my legs. I use to take a lot of carbs and burn them quite easily since I am quite active (biker, hiker) but with the low carb diet, I have not find again my level of energy that I am used to have.

Same with me. Altought I'm not feeling afternoon tiredness anymore, my legs are well below earlier performances. Heavy and slow. And my weight seems to drop additional 1-2 kg. Bowel movements are still irregular, switching beetwin loose and constipation, seems that extra potassium helps a bit. Cant get rid of greasy forehead it's a bit annoying. It like all this fat can't get where it belongs. And there is this constant muscle shivering in lower legs particularly. I'm having a feeling it's like starting old rusty engine, holding on starter with few good ignition some smoke on exhaust and then nothing, back to start again.

 

[Ollie]

Well I am the skinny type too and although I have been on the low car diet for over six weeks, I am still low in energy and I feel like as if have no power in my legs. I use to take a lot of carbs and burn them quite easily since I am quite active (biker, hiker) but with the low carb diet, I have not find again my level of energy that I am used to have.
...

That's how I feel when I go for a walk, my pace has slowed right down, and I'm tired at the end. It's got to the state where I think twice before going for a long walk, cutting distance and time down. My weight/build is on the 'skinny side' - between 65-70kg.

So, it's a case of even more carb reduction, as Laura suggests.

I've read "Life Without Bread" and "The Vegetarian Myth", and am waiting for "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living" to arrive (4-6 weeks to go). I'll keep reporting progress re 'you guys who don't have any fat to spare, probably have something different going on.'

 

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

Saturated fat (SF) and cholesterol (CH) are both important components of healthy cell membranes - SF makes them optimally rigid and without CH our trillions of cells would collapse into jello-like substance. Unlike polyunsaturated fatty acids, saturated fatty acids do not oxidize easily, because they have a very stable molecular structure. By the way, atherosclerotic plaque found on the walls of arteries is made up mostly of unsaturated fatty acids.

Wow, gives a whole new meaning to this quote:

A: Many of you have recently become "bedazzled" by the "information superhighway," and its accompanying computer hardware. Gee, we wonder why?
Q: (L) Well, you told us to network. We have been networking like crazy, digging up information, reading and comparing. Yes, there is a ton of garbage out there, but if we don't ask, how will we know?
A: Point was: who is manipulating thee? Not so much you specifically, but the others? So many kids and kids-at- heart are thunderstruck by techno-sensory toys. Those cellular phones, those pagers and the Christmas
toy computers... They are like, so cool!
Q: (L) So what are you implying about these techno toys?
A: Ponder.
Q: (L) Give me a clue. A word, something to point me in the right direction.
A: Fuzzy jello-brained kids.
Q: (L) Are you saying that pagers and cell phones, and techno toys that kids get for Christmas can have effects on them that turn their brains to jello?
A: In a figurative sense. All this technology represents a Brave New World. Like Huxley said: Woe is to those who have been led to eat their brains for lunch.

Seems to not be quite so figurative if those kids keep eating all those cholesterol-lowering foods while talking on their cellphones..

 

[RedFox]

The only thing that has me concerned is the fact that I am losing weight. I am 202 and have gone from 73 kg to 71 kg so there is not a lot of body fat to spare :(

I'm thinking that it must be actually harder for the thin ones whose bodies allocated excess carbs to be burned off rather than stored as fat. I've got a good store of adipose tissue to burn but I still went through the fatigue in the transition from carb metabolism to fat metabolism. But you guys who don't have any fat to spare, probably have something different going on. Again, let me strongly urge all of you to read the entire books: "Life Without Bread", "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living" and "The Vegetarian Myth." If you can't get the books, send me a PM and I'll try to help.

Its frustrating how sensitive my body is.

fwiw I'm really skinny and had reached a good energy level last week - lots of meat/fat and one sweet potato divided into 3/4meals (less than 25g of carbs a day). This weekend I ate ONE ripe cherry and everything went to hell, within half an hour I was fatigued and an hour later I was an emotional wreck. I lost a few pounds too over the next few days.
So for all you skinnies out there, I'd suggest no fruit/high carb veg (potatoes/parsnips/beets etc) at all, and only Very slow release carbs (sweet potato).

Still waiting on the book to arrive, but for the moment my current working theory is that skinny peoples metabolism burns excess energy instead of storing it in fat tissue. I have a suspicion is the connective tissue/muscles that's burning the energy.
Once this system is engaged its like a furnace and stays 'hot' for some time sucking up all energy it can as fast as it can. This is why you loose weight initially (or if you eat one ripe cherry).

The way I got to a good point (and counter the weight loss) was to eat close to a kilo of meat a day (pork chops mixed with fatty mince beef), with either sweet potatoes or carrots (although I'm wondering if the sugars in carrots are the wrong sort now and are tripping the energy burning system into action).

Being at less than 25g of carbs a day was important to finally reaching a good energy level with no fatigue. I think for those struggling to reach a good energy level you need to look closely at the type of carbs you're eating....even if the vegetable is very low in carbs, could it be described as sugary?

I'm going to have to go look at types of carbs/sugars and see if I can work out if there is any validity in the theory above. It seems that very small amounts (a few grams) of some sugars is enough to stop ketosis.

 

[3DStudent]

It's as if I am fatigued to the bone and some times I can hardly keep my eyes open.

I wouldn't say I'm fatigued, but definitely the kind of tired where I can't keep my eyes open. I have to keep the AC on in my car, and catch myself nodding off at work.

I've been on this new diet for over two months now. And my current job I started 6 weeks ago, so I should be adjusted to the new sleep schedule. But I find myself very tired still, even with over 8 hours of sleep.

 

[theos]

I've been super fatigued during the daytime and find myself seriously wishing to sneak off and take a nap somewhere. My sleep for the past month or so has been awful. Not very deep and waking up far too early and unable to get back to sleep. Sometimes pipe breaths and POTS helps. Sometimes not. However, my sleep miraculously improves a bit on the weekends so other factors may be at play here. I've been having trouble concentrating too.

I was going to the gym for a little while but with the poor sleep I can barely drag myself out of bed in the morning. The past couple of days I've just been burning myself up in the FIR sauna. That'll have to do until conditions improve.

I'm a fatty type and I've been low carbing it for the most part except for a few slip ups which caused some pretty drastic water retention. That was enough to put me back on the horse so to speak. My body seems to be pretty much zero tolerance as far as carbs are concerned. Onions and avocados will probably be my limit. I tested my ketones about a month ago and I was only in the trace amount. I'll test myself again every week to see if there is any progression.

I'm finishing up The Vegetarian Myth and my copy of Art and Science of Low Carb is on the way. I look forward to the day when this fatigue lifts.

 

[Laura]

I'm going to try to get some sections of LW/OB scanned as well as some from the "Art & Science" book to help everyone figure out their own carb tolerance. That is, in the end, what it is about. Some people can be in a state of nutritional ketosis with higher levels of carbs, others have almost zero tolerance.

Another thing to consider: it's like having a vehicle with a gas engine and you are trying to change out the engine for a diesel. You have to sort of stop the car, put it on the blocks, change engines, put in different fuel, and then get going again. You can't do this by just mixing diesel with gas and thinking that the gas engine is going to continue to run. You can do a lot gradually, but in the end, you just have to put the darn thing on the blocks, make the change, and get through the period of immobility as quickly as possible.

For those who have been living high carb for all their lives, the body is used to carbs. The DNA that control those functions that deal with fat metabolism have been suppressed for years. The DNA has to get signaled, have time to start unlocking itself, replicating the instructions for building the machines for handling fats. All this takes time. And every infusion of carbs that comes in while this process is underway further confuses the body, sends conflicting signals to the DNA and everything else, and just prolongs the misery.

I'm still holding the line on it and waiting for the full kick-in of the fat metabolism. I'm taking my salted water and potassium and some trace minerals. I'm keeping an eye on what is going on so that I can give a little push this way or that when I feel anything can be helped. I've had vertigo, dizzy spells, extreme exhaustion to the point of near suicidal depression. I'm just observing these things and making what adjustments I can based on the knowledge I have from doing the reading. This is why it is so important to do this reading yourself.

I've been thinking about this and find it rather striking that so many of us have been interested in esoteric things for most of our lives and, at various points, we all thought we were pretty knowledgeable about many things, but these most basic things about making our bodies useful vessels for higher energies were not something we had ever thought about. Or, if we did, we took the popular route of "be a vegetarian, it's more spiritual" which, in the end, amounts to disinformation that has been widely propagated for a very, very long time!

So, I would say that if I were to start an esoteric school NOW, with what we have all learned here together, I would start out by helping people get their body/machines in proper running order and that would, I think, accelerate everything else! The vessel has to be prepared to hold the spirit, so to say. Another way of putting it is that the water takes on the color of the glass into which it is poured.

 

[Laura]

Some excerpts from Westman, Phinney and Volek's "New Atkins" book that might help understand the keto adaptation process.

Foreword

That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in another.

—John Stuart Mill

When does a treatment once considered alternative become mainstream? Is it when thousands of overweight people shrink themselves and improve their diabetes control with a low-carbohydrate way of eating? Does it require years of an obesity epidemic in the setting of a lifestyle increasingly reliant on high-carbohydrate and processed foods? Possibly, but for physicians deciding whether to recommend a low- carbohydrate diet instead of a low-fat diet to their patients, it comes down to one thing: science.

Books, newspaper articles, and Web sites are wonderful ways to share new information; however, the ultimate way to change minds on a large scale is to do research. When study after study shows the same startling proof, physicians start to realize that what they previously regarded as unjustified is now scientifically verified.

In my work as a pediatric neurologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital caring for children with uncontrolled seizures, I have had the pleasure of witnessing a similar revolution in thinking over the past fifteen years. The ketogenic diet, similar to a low-carbohydrate diet, was created in 1921 as a treatment for epilepsy. Before the 1990s, even at major teaching hospitals in the United States, this dietary approach was often discarded as "voodoo," unpalatable, and less effective than medications. Today, it is a widely used and universally accepted treatment worldwide. Skepticism is now rare, and almost all doctors acknowledge the effectiveness of the ketogenic diet. How did the perception of this treatment undergo such a radical change in just a decade and a half? Was it lectures at national meetings, parent support groups, or television coverage? They all certainly helped, but again, and even more important, research and hard scientific proof transformed disbelievers into advocates.

In The New Atkins for a New You, you will discover how in the same time frame science has similarly transformed the Atkins Diet from what was once considered a "fad" into an established, medically validated, safe, and effective treatment. This book also offers a wealth of new advice and insights into doing the Atkins Diet correctly, including numerous simplifications, making it easier for people everywhere to achieve the benefits of a low-carbohydrate lifestyle than ever before. As you will soon see, the volume you hold in your hands is far more than a typical diet how-to book. Not only have Dr. Eric C. Westman, Dr. Jeff S. Volek, and Dr. Stephen D. Phinney summarized the hundreds of research studies published in top medical journals, they have also authored many of them. In more than 150 articles, these three international experts on the use of low-carbohydrate diets to combat obesity, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes have led the way in repeatedly proving how a low- carbohydrate approach is superior to a low-fat one.

As a member of the Atkins Science Advisory Board, I have admired the work of these three clinician-scientists. It has been helpful to be able to call on each of them for their willing advice, and in a way now you can too, through this book. Their commonsense approach to starting and maintaining a low-carbohydrate diet is evident throughout the book, and their vast knowledge is especially evident in part IV, "A Diet for Life: The Science of Good Health." I know that I will often refer my patients to this section.

I find it sad that Dr. Robert C. Atkins did not live to see his diet so strongly validated both in scientific research and in this new book, which so heavily bases its recommendations on that research. Many of his ideas, personal observations based on thousands of patients, and philosophy, which appear in Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution and his other books, have been validated in this book, with science to back them up. When the first edition of Diet Revolution was published in 1972, the low-carbohydrate concept was not one that physicians embraced, nor did they think that it would prevail. In Dr. Atkins's lifetime, his dietary approach was subject to skepticism and disbelief by much of the nutritional community. Perhaps there is no greater tribute to his memory than that this is typically no longer the case today.

I foresee exciting times ahead for the Atkins Diet. Already in my field of neurology, researchers are studying the application of low- carbohydrate diets for epilepsy in adults, as well as for Alzheimer's disease, autism, brain tumors, and Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). There is published evidence from Dr. Westman and others that these diets help not only obesity and type 2 diabetes, but possibly even schizophrenia, polycystic ovarian disease, irritable bowel disease, narcolepsy, and gastroesophageal reflux. Obviously, there is growing evidence that low-carbohydrate diets are good for more than just your waistline! I am also personally hopeful that the Atkins Diet will become an accepted tool to combat the growing worldwide epidemic of childhood obesity. With its new content and firm underpinning of research, The New Atkins for a New You will also enable researchers to use it as a "bible" to develop correct protocols in low-carbohydrate studies.

I urge you to use this book not only as a guide to a healthier lifestyle but also as a scientific reference for your bookshelf. Friends and family may question why you are following the Atkins Diet, and even some physicians who have not read the latest research could discourage you from trying this approach. Although your personal results in your appearance and laboratory tests may change their minds within a few weeks, even before that, please let this book help you to enlighten them. Drs. Phinney, Volek, and Westman suggest at the beginning of chapter 13 that "you may want to share these chapters with your health care professional." I could not agree more. Be sure to also point out the more than one hundred references at the end.

So I ask again, when does a treatment believed to be "fad" science turn into an accepted fact? When does one man's "diet revolution" become the status quo for people committed to leading a healthier lifestyle? The answer is ... now. Enjoy all the advice, meal plans, recipes, success stories—and most important—science this book has to offer our generation and our children's generation.

Eric H. Kossoff, M.D. Medical Director,
Ketogenic Diet Center Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics Johns Hopkins Hospital Baltimore, Maryland

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.


PHASE 1, INDUCTION, is where most—but not all—people start. It lasts for a minimum of two weeks, but feel free to hang out there longer if you have a lot of weight to lose. In Induction, you'll train your body to burn fat, which will kick-start weight loss. To do so, you'll confine yourself to a daily intake of 20 grams of Net Carbs. (See the sidebar "What Are Net Carbs?") Of those 20 carb grams, at least 12 to 15 should be in the form of what we call 'foundation vegetables," which you'll eat every day, along with protein and healthy, natural fats. Off the menu is anything made with sugar, fruit juices and concentrates, and flour or other grains.

{This means that if you also have health conditions that you want to deal with via the low carb lifestyle, you should be as strict during this two week phase as anyone who wants to lose weight, even if you don't want to lose weight! Once you get your fat-burning system online, you then move to the next phases.}

PHASE 2, ONGOING WEIGHT LOSS, or OWL, is when you continue to explore foundation vegetables and begin adding back foods such as berries, nuts, and seeds—and perhaps even some legumes. You'll slowly increase your daily carb intake by 5 grams at a time until you find your personal tolerance for consuming carbs while continuing to lose weight, known as your Carbohydrate Level for Losing (CLL). You typically stay in this phase until you're about 10 pounds from your goal weight.

PHASE 3, PRE-MAINTENANCE, broadens the range of acceptable whole food carbs in the form of other fruits, starchy vegetables, and finally whole grains. (However, not everyone can add back all these foods or eat them on a regular basis.) As long as you continue to lose weight, you can slowly increase your daily carb intake in 10-gram increments. When you reach your goal weight, you'll test out the level of carb intake you can handle without regaining pounds or losing the precious metabolic adaptations you've achieved. This level is known as your Atkins Carbohydrate Equilibrium (ACE). Once your weight has stabilized for a month and your food cravings are under control, you're ready to move on.

PHASE 4, LIFETIME MAINTENANCE, is really not a phase at all but a lifestyle. You'll continue to consume the varied whole foods diet of Pre- Maintenance, adhering to your ACE and regularly monitoring your weight and measurements. Two approaches to Lifetime Maintenance address the needs of people across a range of ACEs. Some people may need to keep their intake of carbohydrates low and avoid certain foods to continue to enjoy the health benefits of carbohydrate restriction; others will have more latitude to consume more and a greater variety of carbohydrate foods.

In the next chapters, we'll get into the specifics of what you should be eating from Day 1 and what you'll add back as you slim down and your new eating habits become ingrained. We'll also discuss the few foods that you're better off steering clear of. The Atkins approach is not about banning foods lacking in nutrients and full of carbs, but it does make clear the dangers they present to weight control and overall good health. We trust that once you understand how these foods sabotage your good efforts, you'll pretty much write them off for good.

I have a scan of this book available for those unable to get a copy.

 

[Gimpy]

I'm still holding the line on it and waiting for the full kick-in of the fat metabolism. I'm taking my salted water and potassium and some trace minerals. I'm keeping an eye on what is going on so that I can give a little push this way or that when I feel anything can be helped. I've had vertigo, dizzy spells, extreme exhaustion to the point of near suicidal depression. I'm just observing these things and making what adjustments I can based on the knowledge I have from doing the reading. This is why it is so important to do this reading yourself.

I'm heading back that direction after this weekend. Got people coming in. ;) Fwiw, adding the carbs back only upset my innards and bloated me a bit. POTS is keeping the keel even for the next 'round'. The weird factor is still up there, but its just something that gets a nod and I move on. (the dreams are still ridiculous as an example)

Another thing to consider: it's like having a vehicle with a gas engine and you are trying to change out the engine for a diesel. You have to sort of stop the car, put it on the blocks, change engines, put in different fuel, and then get going again. You can't do this by just mixing diesel with gas and thinking that the gas engine is going to continue to run. You can do a lot gradually, but in the end, you just have to put the darn thing on the blocks, make the change, and get through the period of immobility as quickly as possible.

It'd be nice if I could have all the electrical replaced while its up on the blocks, but that's asking a bit much of my machine. ;)

Hubby says we have the bucks for the book this morning, woot! ;D (Yeah, I'm still a bit flaky. Apologies.)

 

[Meager1]

So, I would say that if I were to start an esoteric school NOW, with what we have all learned here together, I would start out by helping people get their body/machines in proper running order and that would, I think, accelerate everything else! The vessel has to be prepared to hold the spirit, so to say. Another way of putting it is that the water takes on the color of the glass into which it is poured.

I don`t think there are very many complaints about the school just as it is.

But yes, everything continues to add up, one piece of information at a time.

The diet changes will make an enormous difference for most people, but there are still those in the school who also had bad diets, but were able to keep up better then others.

For myself, simply eliminating gluten and suger etc, made the most difference.

I didn`t know it at the time and never even gave much thought to what I was eating and feeding my kids. Whole wheat bread, Raisin Bran, whole milk, pasta, lots of veggies etc! That was suppose to be the good stuff !

I had such dark circles under my eyes that people would ask if someone had punched me and most days just getting out of bed took super human effort.

Yet I thought I was eating ok, until I was off the gluten for awhile and then tried to eat a piece of birthday cake, which showed me exactly how much my body didn`t want that stuff.

So now I know, and can only say thanks, for helping to get me off of the emotional merry go round and probably even saving my life.

I`m blaming gluten mostly, for most of my personal issues because everything seems to have changed the most, and for the better, since I`m totaly off of that. I don`t believe I could have gone on much longer the way I was going before some real serious health issues began to surface.

No more dark circles now either!
And so far I don`t have any serious problem going to mostly meat, in fact it feels much more natural and "cleaner" to me.

I made the ghee yesterday and when I saw what was left in the pan after it was done cooking I was disgusted just realizing that we have been eating that much "trash" even in butter.

 

[Oxajil]

Here are some excerpts from this book (though I noticed there's a newer version of this book), written by Dr. Atkin himself:

Basics:

Different Kinds of Food

Protein in the original Greek means "of first importance." The Greeks had it right! Protein-complex chains of amino acids-is the basic building block of life and essential to almost every chemical reaction in the human body. Food rich in protein includes meat, fish, fowl, eggs-most of which contain almost no carbohydrates-and cheese, nuts, and seeds. Many vegetables are also well supplied, but unlike animal foods, don't contain all the essential amino acids.

Fat provides glycerol and essential fatty acids, which the body cannot make. The thirty-year-long campaign against dietary fat is as misguided as it is futile. Fat is found in meat, fish, fowl, dairy products and the oils derived from nuts and seeds and a few vegetables such as avocados. Oils extracted from these foods represent one hundred percent fat and contain no carbohydrates.

Carbohydrate includes sugars and starches that are chains of sugar molecules. Although carbohydrate provides the quickest source of energy, we eat much more of it, by far, than our body needs to be healthy. Vegetables do contain some carbohydrates, but they also contain a wide and wondrous variety of vitamins and minerals. However, you can eat plenty of vegetables with high concentrations of beneficial nutrients and still control your carbs. On the other hand, carbohydrates such as those in sugar and white flour contain almost nothing that your body needs in large quantities.

---

[...] a calorie is simply a unit of energy-precisely the amount of heat needed to raise I gram of water 1 degree Celsius at sea level.
Second, metabolism is the sum of the physical and chemical processes by which food is transformed into energy. [...]

Don't Excess Calories Cause Weight Gain?

It is true that gaining weight results from taking in more calories than you expend. But excess calories certainly cause you to pile on the pounds-and this is a gigantic "but"-only when you are eating a lot of carbohydrate along with fat.

So it's time to abandon the assumption that the only way to lose weight is to strictly control your intake of calories. Many people think that only one thing matters: how many calories you take in and use up. It's not that simple.

When you follow a controlled carbohydrate approach, you get what I call a "metabolic advantage. When you control carbohydrate consumption sufficiently, your body will switch from burning glucose derived from carbohydrate to burning primarily fat for energy. This means you could eat, say, 2,000 calories and still begin losing pounds and inches.

In contrast, if you were consuming 2,000 calories on a low-fat diet, you might not lose weight, and you might actually gain weight. The metabolic advantage is that burning fat takes more energy so you expend more calories. And if you eat fewer calories-as many Atkins people do because their appetite is usually diminished-you'll likely lose weight even faster. So it's not that calories don't count, it's just that you will burn more of them, with less hunger, when your body is operating on a fat-based metabolism.

[...] The trouble with losing weight on a low-calorie/low-fat diet or on a liquid-protein diet is that the maintenance program is so very different from the weight loss program. So when you go back to your former way of eating, the pounds return with astonishing speed because you are unprepared for maintenance.

There are sound physiological reasons for this. When you restrict the number of calories you eat, your metabolism shifts into a survival mode, meaning it slows down to conserve energy. When you go back to a higher-calorie diet-as you inevitably must-your body is still in its mode of burning calories slowly. So it becomes extremely hard to continue or maintain weight loss.

Success at maintaining weight loss is the great plus while doing Atkins. What most people know about it is that you can usually lose a lot of weight rapidly. And you probably can. But the key point is that the weight doesn't return. One of the reasons is that it doesn't create a big difference in the number of calories you eat during the weight loss and weight maintenance phases.

[...]

Not only does Atkins not deprive you of the pleasure of eating, it energizes you and makes you feel just plain good. And those two things are definitely factors in keeping the weight off, because few people are willing to go back to feeling lousy once they've experienced the joys of feeling good. As a matter of fact, for about half the patients I see, the most compelling reason they continue to do Atkins is that they feel noticeably worse if they stop the program.

[...]

The plan is healthy. Research has repeatedly demonstrated that controlling carbohydrate intake results in improved blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, moderation of blood-sugar levels and reduction of blood pressure. All these indicators result in reduced risk for cardiovascular disease. And, incidentally, in my forty years of practice, I've yet to see a single study that has shown that a high-protein diet causes kidney problems.

[...]

Atkins works because, as an increasing body of scientific evidence shows, it corrects the basic factor that controls obesity and influences risk factors for certain illnesses. That factor is excessive levels of insulin. An essential hormone, insulin governs the basic mechanism by which the body lays on fat. When found in excessively high levels-we medical folk call that state hyperinsulinism-insulin vigorously promotes the development of diabetes, atherosclerosis and hypertension. More recently, it has also been linked to increased risk of breast cancer and polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Many people ate a so-called "balanced" diet as children, but by the time they reached adulthood their diets had become progressively less balanced. Eating didn't seem all that important to them once, but now it does. So they look at their waistlines, they look at their eating and they realize they have a problem. Usually they notice that their taste in food has gone off in a specific direction. Carbohydrates now form the bulk of what they eat: breads and baked goods, cakes and candies, pasta and popcorn. Surprising and illogical food cravings are typical. Do you ever have dinner with a big dessert and almost immediately afterward find that you want some candy? That's a sign, as is fatigue, that your carbohydrate metabolism is out of whack.

It's not that you eat when you're not hungry, but you seem to be always hungry. And yet when you eat the high-carbohydrate food you crave, you feel better only briefly. Your situation is the exact opposite of the one you'll experience when you do Atkins. When doing Atkins, you'll find that your appetite has diminished, but your satisfaction from the food you eat has increased.

As Your Blood Sugar Rises

[...]

Insulin is a pretty efficient worker. If it were not, your cells could not get enough glucose, their basic fuel, and blood-glucose levels would rise while the cells searched for other fuels-first for protein in your muscles and organs, and then for fat in your fat stores. That's why people with poorly controlled, insulin-deficient diabetes can lose weight when no insulin is present. And that's why a person on a low-calorie diet may lose lean body mass. (This shouldn't happen on Atkins, where sufficient calories and protein are consumed to meet the body's energy needs.)

On the other hand, excessive carbohydrate intake results in high amounts of blood sugar and may, in turn, overstimulate insulin production. When this happens, it causes a drop in blood sugar, robbing the body of energy for the cells. The result of the process is destabilized blood-sugar levels, quite possibly causing fatigue, brain fog, shakiness and headaches.

The body attempts to adjust by liberating counter-regulatory hormones-such as adrenaline-to raise the glucose level, but another stiff dose of insulin can overpower the effect of those hormones. Fortunately for most of us, this glucose balancing act takes place automatically and our blood sugar stays in a fairly narrow, normal range.

But for some, the bodily insult of massive insulin release to deal with massive blood-glucose levels has been going on for years, causing the glucose-regulating mechanism in the body to break down, initiating unstable blood sugar and eventually diabetes.

Fallacy #5: People doing Atkins may feel tired, weak and lacking in energy.

Fact: Fatigue may occur during the first few days of doing Atkins, while the body adapts to the switch in metabolic pathways. It typically takes about three to four days for the body to convert from a sugar metabolism to a primarily fat metabolism. Your body can store carbohydrates for only up to forty-eight hours, so you can be confident that your metabolic switch will occur, as long as you are doing Atkins properly.

After the transition, those people who were tired at first usually report high energy and clear thinking throughout the day. The explanation is simple: They have rebalanced their nutrition so that their blood sugar is stabilized. They avoid blood-sugar peaks and valleys throughout the day, putting an end to mood swings and periods of lethargy. And those people who consume a full vitanutrient program are much less likely to feel weak or tired even at the start of Atkins.

I'm guessing that we need to know pretty much the details on how to follow this diet correctly. What I'm going to do is drop my blinis and get my carbs from lettuce if I feel the need for it (keeping my net carbs at ~20), follow this for 2 weeks and then gradually add some more carbs, as explained by Laura's post above, see what happens then...

(edit: will be adding some more important bits later on)

 

[Deborah Elder]

With 4 years' experience on a very low carbohydrate diet, I found many of the same benefits and healing of chronic, mysterious health conditions that are mentioned above. I eventually moved to a primarily fatty meat way of eating due to physical irritation from almost any plant substance.

I would like to share two website links.

This first one is a view of what may be necessary for success for some bodies. _http://180degreehealth.blogspot.com/2010/06/catecholamine-honeymoon.html

This next one contains experiences, with few new posts. _http://activenocarber.myfreeforum.org/index.php (I think the best advice is in the private forum area.)

Smiles from Debbie ^_^

Mod's note: Changed very low protein diet for very low carbohydrate diet as requested by the poster.

 

[Laura]

With 4 years' experience on a very low carbohydrate diet, I found many of the same benefits and healing of chronic, mysterious health conditions that are mentioned above. I eventually moved to a primarily fatty meat way of eating due to physical irritation from almost any plant substance.

I would like to share two website links.

This first one is a view of what may be necessary for success for some bodies. _http://180degreehealth.blogspot.com/2010/06/catecholamine-honeymoon.html

Right away I see problems with this post because the blogger writes:

That’s what I experienced on low-carb (roughly 100 grams per day, which is different from Atkins induction levels of carbohydrates which can cause lean tissue losses)

He then follows with this:

As the most astute health and nutrition researchers understand, such as Lyle McDonald, overfeeding, especially when it is high in carbohydrates and paired with lots of sleep and physical inactivity, lowers catecholamine levels as well as cortisol levels – another adrenal hormone that works against someone looking to improve their health, vitality, and body composition.

By dropping the levels of all these adrenal hormones, you allow your adrenal glands to heal themselves, and you allow the adrenergic receptors to upregulate as well, making those adrenal hormones much more effective the next time you go to use them

If you carefully read Life Without Bread and The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living, you will discover that there is no "lean tissue losses". You also discover that it is the surges in insulin that wear out the adrenals. This person has apparently not got the science straight.

The other effects he describes obviously come from doing it wrong or for the wrong reasons.

NOT recommended after review.

 

[Laura]

Here are some excerpts from this book (though I noticed there's a newer version of this book), written by Dr. Atkin himself:

The Atkins books written by himself have some flaws in them that the Westman, Phinney and Volek books correct. Though Atkins was on the right track, best to stick with what is more up-to-date so as to avoid confusion. Many scientific studies have been done since Atkins pioneered the field.