Atkins works, as most diets work, if you can stick to them. The advantage to the Atkins type diet is that you lose the interest in eating which makes it easier. Skipping the ice cream is easier when you are not hungry.

My father has had two heart attacks and his cardiologist is quite adamant about cutting out red meat altogether

The cardiologists I know pretty much feel the same way, and they credit french fries for their fancy cars. The digestive physicians aren't crazy about heavy meat and fat rich diets either. The colon prefers the fiber rich stuff.

The body would be happier and healthier with real non-processed foods. If it comes in a box with 23 ingredients it is likely not as good for you as food found in the produce racks, or the meat coolers.

I don't have any interest in sugar, but pasta and pizza dough are my great white loves. We know the foods that are good for us, and we know the importance of exercise. The tricky part is finding a diet that we can stick with because it fits our lifestyle and doesn't leave us feeling totally deprived.

The tricky part is finding a diet that we can stick with because it fits our lifestyle and doesn't leave us feeling totally deprived.

Exactly. And that was my own problem in the long run with Atkins - there came a point where I wanted that ice cream, hungry or not. Knowing I could have one if I wanted to save the calories for it is a huge factor for me when it comes to the psychology of the diet thing. It makes it easier to do without because it is my choice to do without, if that makes any sense.

The body would be happier and healthier with real non-processed foods.

Oh, hell yes. There are no words to express how much I am looking forward to farmer's market season starting up again.

Cutting down on carbs makes me quite literally go insane. If I don't eat enough starch, I think about food all the time, have the attention span of a goldfish with ADD, and become cranky and irritable like my PMS has been turned up to eleven. I tried it for a week, once, and after about day three I was ready to kill someone and use their skull as a rice cooker. There was really no amount of weight loss that would have made another day of feeling like that worth it.

The thing that's made the most difference in the way I eat recently is breastfeeding, because Dylan reacts much more strongly to changes in my diet than I do. I can tell when I'm not getting enough protein (or too much) by the way he acts, which forces me to eat a very balanced diet.

(And being poor because all my money is going towards daycare has forced me to cut down on processed foods because all I can afford to eat for lunch these days is tuna fish sandwiches that I make myself. Every now and then I'll splurge and put cheese on one.)

Does anyone know if I can take tums if I'm already taking perscription prilosec? I have to be somewhere today and my stomach is a mess.

It's okay, sj. Prilosec is an acid-production blocker, but apparently it's not blocking enough. If this happens often, you might want to ask your doctor about increasing your dosage. Mine had me go to two a day for a while.

Grrrrrrr. The kids have a habit of closing the French doors between the family room and the living room. This doesn't bother me. It drives DH insane for some unknown reason.

He came in and said, "They only shut these when you're around. They leave them alone when they're with me."

Me: "Um. Yeah. Why does it bother you if they're shut?"

Him: "I don't know. It just does."

Me: "Does it hurt to have the doors shut?"

Him: "No. But I'd appreciate it if you would discourage them from doing it."

Me: "OK. I'll do my best."

So I'm supposed to correct the kids for SHUTTING DOORS?! WTF?

If he feels that strongly about it, maybe he should look for some doorstops to prop them open and discourage them that way. Or else just get over it. Either way, I'm not sure why you're involved.

Oh yeah, one of my personal non-favorites. Stand with me in parental solidarity even if you don't agree! I try and pick my battles, alas they are usually not the same battles that DH would prefer to pick.

I read once that french fries were the worst food that Americans eat. I don't know, but yeah, potatoes are not great.

I can believe that, with the nutritional value (or lack thereof) and the fat they're cooked in. That's why they should be cooked in duck fat.

I was ready to kill someone and use their skull as a rice cooker.

words cannot express how much I love this statement.

runs to COMM

That's why they should be cooked in duck fat.

This may just be the best idea EVAR.