I just entered Phase 2 of Atkins, and I'm confused about whether the vegetables are supposed to stay between 12-15 g of carbs, now and through Phase 4, or whether I can/should be increasing them. I can't find this answer anywhere.

Hi Lynn. If you are climbing the Atkins ladder, it really is best for you to get one of his books as a reference. I just consulted my kindle copy of "Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution" on my phone (under $10 on Amazon. Dr. Atkins recommends increasing from induction by 5 gram increments per week until you find a level where you are comfortably still losing weight. Start with low levels of the ladder, so yes, begin by adding more vegetables.

http://eatingatkins.ie/phase-2-ongoing-weight-loss/

Thank you for that link! I understand increasing the carbs by 5g, but it doesn't say what type of carbs. Do you get 2g more miscellaneous carbs and 3g more foundation vegetable carbs? It just doesn't say. You're not increasing your vegetable variety until much later rungs, so I find it confusing.

I find these two statements to be contradictory:
1) "The foods on the lower rungs are the foods you should be eating most often." I interpret that to mean that when I'm up to say, 60g carbs per day, most of them will be vegetables, so that's way above 12-15g.

2) "One important point to keep in mind with OWL is that you will be increasing the range of food you eat in OWL but does not mean you will be increasing the amount by very much." I interpret that to mean that the veggie carbs will not be increasing very much from the base of 12-15g.

I was guessing nuts and dairy would make up the additional 5g based on the carb ladder (you can't really have some of those foods without a carb increase, can you?), but I have so many food intolerances that I'm not really expanding my foods yet. I added sunflower seeds. Big whoop (actually, I'm thrilled about that, but I can only eat so many a day). So hence I was wondering if I could eat more than 15g of foundation vegetables. Is 20 too many right now?

Another different yet also related question to everyone, if I can't eat the foods on rungs 2-5, can I jump straight to rung 6 I wonder?? Rung 6 but at 25g carbs daily.

If I don't get more variety soon, I'm going to crack and devour the Halloween candy!! :-) Just kidding.

Dr. Atkins suggests to start the increase with veggies and maybe half an avocado and see how it affects you. If that's alright, you can start climbing the ladder. It's intended to be done in order, so move to rung 3 first, then add rung 4 if it's ok, etc.

Having said that, everyone is different. Some people can tolerate cheese or nuts, some can't. You have to try and see what works for you in a gradual, one change at a time, so you can tell cause and effect for you.

So yes still eat the lower carb vegetables from phase 1 just increase the amounts. instead of 3 cups of salad have 4 and / or 1 1/2 cups of cooked veggies. up the veggies

Maybe, I find everyone is different. Me I aim for Zero carbs, but a few do slip in every meal -- even liver and eggs have some carbs.
The closer you are to your goal, the harder it is to lose fat and the stricter you have to be IMO.
I have to resort to IF now at my age, but I am making great progress after a backslide over this hot&humid Summer.

I got motivated when my PCP said "your blood pressure is too high -- you need two BP medications and statins ASAP!" :-(

One of the many things that bugs me about doctors is this: the recommendations around diet have been being modified for the past 5 or more years, yet most of them are still spouting the low fat/moderation in everything crap they learned just out of med school.

Mike, here's a quote from WebMD from 2013, to use to let your doctor know she's nuts: Adults aged 60 or older should only take blood pressure medication if their blood pressure exceeds 150/90, which sets a higher bar for treatment than the current guideline of 140/90, according to the report, published online Dec. 18 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

My diastolic never exceeds 81 and is usually 77 -- systolic is another matter it varies from 115 to 170.
I expect elderly BP recommendations to soon go the way of sodium, saturated fat and LDL cholesterol limits when all the medical studies and pharma micromanaging stops?

Well, that's the thing: if it bounces around, then it's not essential hypertension, and no real need to deal with it. ONE or even two closely spaced BPs are meaningless.

If you yourself are concerned, you could get a BP cuff and start tracking it at home, where white coat syndrome can't be an issue.

I found the answer to my question about jumping straight to run 6 since I can't eat the foods on the previous rungs. The answer is no, a person can't do that unless s/he wants his/her weight loss to slow down dramatically. Those foods are processed differently by your body. So I guess that means I'll be in extended induction.

Now that you have the book, ignore this link!!!! You have what you need in your hand and the advice in the book is much better than that at the site.