How To: Do the Atkins Diet

This section is for everyone. Even those of you who may have done the Atkins or lived with someone who has.



The easy way to do the Atkins diet is to buy one of Dr Robert Atkins books and do it.

The book I would particularly recommend is Atkins for Life the Next Level.

This is a simple introduction to low carbing and it covers all the basics you should know about.  The book discusses the research information, the relative importance of protein, fat and carbohydrate in the diet and gives you various meal plans and recipies that you can incorporate into various total daily carb plans.

What I like about it is its versatility between carb plans from 20-120g of carb a day.  Compared to the Zone diet it is more versatile about the amount of carb that may suit you and compared to the South Beach diet there is no unnecessary restriction on saturated fat.

When you do a traditional Atkins diet you start at 20g of carb a day and gradually increase your carbs as far as you can till your weight loss levels out.  For many people who are just plain fat and who are not on any medication that could affect their blood sugar this is usually fine.

For anyone who is on insulin or blood sugar lowering medication  such as sulphonureas which includes gliclazide or metaglinides this would not be such a good idea. In fact such a drastic reduction could be dangerous.

But the Atkins diet has in my opinion still a great deal to offer. For those people who have pre-existing heart disease or are otherwise at greater than average cardiac risk, or who are on medication or who perhaps are getting on a bit – over 45 – for instance why not do Atkins in REVERSE?

What I am proposing is to take things nice and slow.  If you have any glucose metabolism problem you are going to have to restrict your carb intake for the good of your long term health sooner or later. You have to face this sometime.

From my previous discussions about how to measure the carbohydrates you eat you can surely find some way that suits you to find out how much carb you are currently consuming.

Whatever this is you need to start here.

That’s right.

Start wherever you are and start to cut down.

Week on week. Day by day. Meal by meal. Carb by carb.

If you are over 120g a day that is okay. If you are already on say 90g a day that is okay too. Simply look at the weight loss and blood sugar goals you want to achieve for your future health and start right away.

Many people will get what they need at the higher ends of the Atkins range such as those following the Zone or perhaps Dr Lois Jovanovich’s guidelines at about 120g of carb a day.

Some will want to drop their carbs further such as those people who are following the Drs Eades Protein Power plan or the diet advocated by Dr Allen and Dr Lutz or Dr Jorgen Vestig-Nielsen or Barry Groves at around 70g a day.

Others will not get to what they want until they get to Dr Bernstein’s diet of between 30-42g of carb per day.

You decide.

What do you want to achieve?

What amount of carb restriction is likely to be necessary to acheive this?

How slowly must you go down for safety?

Whatever the answers are for you, I hope this internet course can help you get what you want with safety  and with the knowledge of companionship along the way.


Quick Quiz:
There is no Quiz in this section. All the questions in this section have been ones to ask of yourself.

Where to Next?
The last few sections may have been a lot tougher than you were expecting. Have you got an idea of the amount of food recording and sums that you are going to be doing from now on?

I think it’s time for a little change of scene.

It’s back to Home Economics 101 for your lessons on How To: Cook and Bake the Low Carb Way.

Even if you’ve never boiled an egg your life, the quality of food you will soon be able to serve to yourself your family and friends will greatly improve when you’ve taken the plunge.