South Beach is WAY more sensible, Atkins is a recipe for liver damage and heart disease. Go South Beach! Eat vegetables!

Atkins is a recipe for liver damage and heart disease

Upon what do you base this? Not meaning to be arsey - Taubes' book is a bit of a mind-boggler, but from what he says (and it's pretty extensive with the citations) the research upon which the AMA based their whole 'dietary fat=heart disease' argument is pretty contradictory, even spurious.

I'm trying to not to take his book as gospel, despite the extensive and detailed references, but he does build a convincing case. Can you point me to somewhere that explains this Atkins = heart disease/liver damage? (No worries if not - I'll carry on googling!)

I think South Beach suggests usiing Splenda, which I can't eat at all. It makes me feel weird and lightheaded and awful.

At work they had Diet Cokewith Splenda in the machine and I drank one and thought I was going to faint.

I have only anecdotal evidence. My Dad had his heart attack on Atkins and Dad's cardiologist says, "Atkins built my summer home."

Well, I am a pescatarian (I eat some seafood) and so South Beach/Atkins for me wasn't so much about eating a ton of meat (as is common), but more about decreasing starch. And it worked like a charm. I lost 50 pounds, but did it over the course of a year and a half, along with going to the gym 3-4 times a week.

I've gained about half of that back, 5 years later, because I don't make time for the gym and I drink too many damned lattes. But I know that if I cut the lattes out and head back to the gym, the weight will come right off again. And people are right; it really does teach you about how your body reacts to sugar.

I think the thing about the Atkins diet, is that a superficial reading of it makes it sound like eating all the fatty items you please is a good idea, and that stuffing yourself on protein is a grand plan. Whereas what the good Dr. Atkins was really saying was, eat a moderate amount of protein, with a reasonable (and the low-fat guidelines of many diets are not reasonable) amount of fat. In addition, it's best to get most of your carbs from eating lots of veggies, a bit of whole grains, and some carefully chosen fruit. It is distinctly possible that Atkins simply did not communicate his ideas as clearly as he thought he had. The South Beach Diet, the Hamptons Diet, Protein Power, and some others, may do a better job of it.

I like how I feel when I follow that kind of eating plan. But nothing has ever made me skinny, and it's a fuck of a lot of bother to avoid yummy white carbs in order to be fat forever.

On an entirely different note - anyone here ever done the Atkins diet/South Beach diet/otherwise high protein & low carb kinda diet?

I did Atkins, twice. First time was more successful than the second. I think it was because I did it right after I moved. There was nothing in the house that I couldn’t eat. If I wanted to do something that I shouldn’t, I had to leave the house. My inherent laziness kept me from messing up.

These days I drink club soda most of the time, and maybe once every few weeks I have a diet coke out of vague curiosity

I started drinking club soda during the Atkins diet, and never stopped. I really like it. I’ve tried to expensive Pellegrino, Perrier, etc., but my favorite is still Giant brand flavored seltzer.

Also, I think one of the reasons that I lost the weight is that I kept going to the gym. I wasn’t drinking, so I was staying in a lot. When I was out, I wasn’t getting drunk and eating fat laden junk at 3AM  And not drinking the beer at rugby games helped too, I suspect.

I stress eat a lot and I can't make myself stop. The gym has been helping me keep from gaining but I can't lose until I get that under control.

high protien can be hard on your kidneys

high fat not so good for your heart and arteries- if you have had a heart attack , I'd be more careful.

But the numbers from atkins - are % numbers - not fat grams numbers.

Lots of people end up eating less calories on Atkins, so of couse the % numbers look high. That's my theory anyway.

Even in the later stages - Atkins aims for meals of less than 15 grams of charbohydrates. But - 3 half cup servings of vegetables are about 15 grams of carbohydrates. So think about it - a bit more protien /fat ( maybe 6 onces instead of 4) than average plus 1 and 1/2 cups of veggies - you have a large volume o f food on your plate. 1 serving of fruit - 15 grams of carbohydrate. -- so Turkey sausage and fruit cup for breakfast ( this is the later stages)

what you have really given up is bread, or potatoes,or rice.

for me - I learned that I don't need a traditional starch with every meal - and that only haveing half a baked potato at dinner means there is half a baked potato for lunch or breakfast.

I am never giving up potatoes. or fruit. or pasta.

but I eat a lot less of them