Traditional Welsh Recipes

My Experience of the Atkins Diet

Some people try make your life miserable though, if you let them. Everyone could see that I looked better and felt happier on the Atkins diet, but some people just have to try to spoil it.

I was told: many people have died of kidney or liver failure after being on Atkins I read it in the paper; you will have a heart attack, it's not natural; your cholesterol will shoot up and you will need your legs amputated or you will have stroke; it will affect your eyesight.

All sorts of drivel. So, I went to my doctor, who admitted that he knew nothing about the Atkins diet, but also added that he had heard nothing bad about it either. He sent me for a series of tests, but the results all proved satisfactory. He was very happy that I'd lost 18 lbs and so was I.

Six weeks later, I went for another cholesterol check, because of the high fat levels in the diet and, although my cholesterol level was up very slightly, the doctor said there was absolutely no cause for concern.

The Atkins diet book warns that you might suffer from bad breath (halitosis). I don't know whether I did or not - no-one mentioned it, but I started brushing my teeth four or five times a day just in case.

I guess that that is another benefit of the Atkins diet: increased awareness of oral hygiene.

The Atkins diet book also warns of constipation. I did not suffer from that either, although I did not give up black coffee, which has always had a laxative effect on me.

But how can you become constipated if you are allowed to eat well over 1lb of greens a day? I wasn't eating that well before the diet! So my two main concerns were unfounded.

After a couple of weeks I was getting bored. Not with the diet, but because I'm single and am used to going to the pub (and drinking beer).

So, I decided to treat this scientifically. One day, after work, I had three pints of Guinness and felt great.

Before the diet, I would have drunk five or six to feel the same. To my delight, the next morning the ketone sticks told me that I was still 'on the diet'.

Over the following weeks, I thoroughly enjoyed checking out what would 'work' and what would not on the Atkins diet. I found that cider is a complete no-no. Some beers and some lagers are OK.

Red and white wine are OK. Consuming alcohol does not knock you off the diet, but it slows your rate of progress.

But even slow progress is progress, I say. Better than giving up the diet.

Be very wary of people encouraging you to 'just try a little bit'. They don't understand or do not want to understand the trouble they are causing you. Your body can hold two days worth of carbohydrates.

One chocolate, one slice of bread, a bowl of cornflakes or one sugar in your coffee will cost you TWO days to put right. Don't let them do it to you.

This is not a diet for the weekends, in fact I think that it probably could be dangerous to keep 'falling off the wagon', because of the high fat content of the diet, which is not dangerous if you stick to it, because you body devours fat and cholesterol in the absence of carbohydrates.

The story ends so far, with me having got down to under 16 stone and keeping it there, until very recently when I moved to the Far East to live.

Once I get used to the food and my own house and own kitchen, I will go down to 15 stone, I know I will - with very little effort.

Anyway, thank you, Mr. Blackwell, wherever you are, you changed my life and my understanding of food by giving me that Atkins diet book and thank you, Mr. Atkins too.

PS: many of the recipes on this site lend themselves to the Atkins diet or can be modified easily to suit it.

Breaking News: we have secured a really cut-price package of three Atkins Diet ebooks in PDF format ! 1,000 recipes, charts, 'how to do it's', etc.

Read it on this website here: The Atkins Diet.