Acai berry, the Zone, South Beach, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem - there are a million diets out there! One of the originals is the Atkins diet, and unfortunately, it's gotten a bad rap. When most people hear Atkins, they say, "Oh, that's where you eat all the meat and cheese you want, right?" Well, not exactly. While, you can have large portions of meat and cheese, it is best to balance your food intake, which can be hard and still stay within the program limits.
Instructions
1. The most imporant thing with Atkins is to keep your carbs in check. This basically means no bread, sugar, fruit, or sweets of any kind. Invest in a carb counter so you can judge just how many carbohydrates you are ingesting per day. During this first two week period, you are supposed to only have 20 grams of carbs per day, and also avoid nuts and alcohol.
2. Even though the Atkins diet says to limit vegetables to 2 cups per day, I never follow this. I allow myself as many vegetables per day as I want. However, I do know which vegetables are allowed and which ones aren't. Check an Atkins website for the complete list. Leafy green vegetables are allowed, so if I want 3 cups instead of 2, I let myself...and I still lose weight. Even when eating mass amounts of vegetables, I have never seen a stop in my weight loss.
3. Expect a major drop in energy for about 3 or 4 days. Then it will return. During those days, drink large amounts of water, because you'll also be losing water (urinating a LOT.) If you want to skip exercising at this time, it is probably best. You don't want to lower your immunity too much. I often find myself getting sick during this part of the program because I am run down from the diet. You can return to exercising during week 2 when energy returns.
4. When you eat nuts on this diet, stick to walnuts and almonds. Both are dense with necessary vitamins and walnuts have Omega-3, which is so hard to find in any diet. If you eat eggs, try only eating them twice a week.
5. Though you are allowed to eat great amounts of meat and cheese, limit yourself for your health's sake. Don't be afraid to go over the limit on vegetables. Choose lowfat cheese, and go with chicken or fish instead of beef. Reducing saturated fat in your diet is important.
Tags: meat cheese, Atkins diet, limit vegetables, vegetables allowed, which hard