My doctor spent 45 minutes on Wednesday explaining the Atkins diet to me and I immediately got on it, as fortunately I had only had eggs for breakfast that morning. My doctor explained the basics to me, and then my father elaborated on the diet when I told him I was going on Atkins (he has been on it before, and just started back on it last week). Anyway I have been faithfully keeping my carb count below 20 since then. My father had gone with me to the grocery store to point out all the things I could eat, and basically just re-iterated that the carb count should stay below 20. I just bought the new Atkins book and am about to read it, but surfing on the internet and Atkin's website the last few days, I discovered that during Induction its not just keeping your carbs below 20- its not eating anything that isn't on the approved list of foods for the Atkins induction, which pretty much includes all meats, 3 cups of veggies, and butter and oils. This has rather dampened my spirits about the diet, because I am a college student working part-time, have been under alot of stress in the past year (when I gained all my weight) have little time to exercise, [even though I am paying monthly for an all-women's gym] and the whole reason I got excited about this diet was that it made such perfect scientific sense and I felt I could still get a variety of foods, which helps keep my chocoholic/carb cravings to a minimum. I just went the other day to a health food store and was so excited to discover the land of low carb breads and jellies and chocolates and shakes and invested a nice chunck of my part-time paycheck into these foods, finally confident that I was going to be able to fit into my old clothes and get a bikini for summer. This diet has been a huge lifestyle change, as I have had to mentally re-label foods as being good and bad. I had been a vegetarian for quite some time, then went back to eating all meats but read meat. Though I have never really been a junk food freak (I hate soda and I can't eat alot of chips and other junk foods) I love fruits and especially organic and soy milk (and chocolate of course). I've been really proud that I have shifted gears so well into eating red meat again and avoiding milk and carbs (though I really miss milk), but seeing the restrictions Dr. Atkins has on the induction really made me feel horrid. I'm just wondering how badly I have messed up by eating nuts and low carb foods that aren't on the induction list. Does the Atkins diet simply not work if you can't make it through induction? I really want to do this and I am giving it everything I've got...
Thanks

Wendy

No, induction is not required for Atkins, or rather, immediately going down to 20g/day isn't reqired. Some people get some pretty dire side effects from doing that and Atkins recommends "weaning" off of carbs if one so chooses. Which means just reducing your carbs from week to week and try to get down to 20g/day which will the put you in ketosis.

Any reduction in carbs is better than no reduction. Some plans even allow as many as 100+/day (Schwarzbein, I think). However, the bulk of carbs you DO eat should be coming from fresh vegetables, not from low-carb jellies, breads and chocolates. You'll have greater success all the way around if you stick with whole foods rather than what we call "frankenfoods". But enjoy the items you've bought so far and next trip to the grocery store invest in some broccoli, asparagus and cauliflower instead!

Take a look at our low carb kitchen for recipes and the "hot links" sticky at the top of the newbies forum.... there's lots of info there including how to do your grocery shopping.

Keep posting and we'll be glad to help however we can!

Hi Wendy!

I agree wholeheartedly with what Teri said. It's really not as bleak as it seems. Induction is the most restrictive portion of the plan and it only lasts for two weeks unless you decide that you want to stay on it a bit longer. Will induction work if you are keeping your carbs below 20 but eating low carb substitute foods? Probably. Will it work as well as it would have if you had stuck with the foods on the allowed list for induction? Probably not.
Besides meat, veggies and fats, you are also allowed limited amounts of heavy cream, cheese and cream cheese as well as 2-3 packets of artificial sweetener per day. You don't even necessarily have to limit yourself to 3 cups of veggies per day (3 cups of salad don't have anywhere near 20 grams of carb) unless you are eating a lot of other things that bring up your carb count. How much you can eat will depend on how you decide to "spend" your 20 gram daily carb allowance.
I think you'll find that you lose faster and feel better if you stay away from the low carb treats and breads during induction and eat plenty of veggies, meats and fats instead, but everyone has to decide for themselves if possible slower weight loss is worth having the substitute foods.
The only thing that I'd encourage you to absolutely avoid during induction is the low carb chocolates and sweets. Most people find that the Maltitol in those really slow down or completely stall their weight loss. To give yourself a good start, they're best left alone until you are past induction.

I don't think you've messed up at all. If you eat a few too many carbs during your induction days, just try to work out a little more. OR, have the bulk of those carbs in the morning. I eat the bulk of my carbs in the morning and for lunch. Sheer protein and fat for dinner! You also have to be strict during induction, but don't be too hard on yourself...if you are, you're gonna just get bummed and quit.

I think (don't quote me on this one --am having a senior moment) Dr. Atkins pointed out in his book that one of the reasons for the Induction phase is to show people that they can lose weight on his diet and the large weight loss is to give them the confidence to continue. Another reason is to detox the body from YEARS of lousy nutrition. Induction foods are the mainstay or core of the diet and then as one moves to OWL one begins to add say extra veggies etc. Since you're a college student I imagine you haven't suffered from YEARS of nutritional abuse and you appear to be in a good mindset already so you're basically going to want to use the Induction foods list as a recipe for your food choices. So don't worry about going through Induction so much as using the Induction food list as the basis for your main food choices that you will eat every day.
I have a feeling your main problem will be SUGAR. If you're a chocoholic it's gonna be tough (I'm one too) and if you eat too many of the Atkins chocolate bars you'll get the trots/cramping etc...so limit yourself (that's not to say don't have any...but try and have just one every once in a while...kind of like an emergency stash for those times...well, you know).

I know that this will be a challenge for you because at college the food choices are difficult to make when the cafe only serves cheap high carb crap (my daughter is a college student too and she's on a modified Atkins and boy you should hear her bitching about the cafeteria foods). Also make sure you take your supplements every day and drink your water and get your exercise!! And HAVE PATIENCE!! Don't try and rush things.

Making the Case to Count Sugar Alcohols

The Atkins Diet has been with us since the 1970's. Over the years many changes have come along - more vegetables, more salads, changes to artificial sweetener options, limiting caffeine, etc. - all for the better.

One major change appears to be for the worse...that is the introduction of sugar alcohols as "acceptable" and "deductible" from total carbs for carbohydrate intake during Induction.

In the article "To Count or Not to Count?" we offer a few different ways you may want to count these polyols. However, during Induction on Atkins, not using these products and/or counting them completely minus only the fiber they contain is what we recommend for your greatest potential for losing weight during your first two weeks.

It is during your first two weeks that you'll measure your capacity to lose weight. Including polyols (sugar alcohols, glycerin, etc.) may reduce your losses significantly (or stall your efforts completely) so you will not have an accurate measure of your "resistance" to weight loss. Without knowing it - because you have included polyols in your daily eating - you may lose less than you could if you didn't eat any of these products and may even think - due to poor results - that you're more resistant than you really are to losing weight.

What prompted Atkins' Nutritionals to include polyols where they once forbid them?

For one thing, by 2002, Atkins had a growing line of products - as did a number of manufacturers in the market using sugar alcohols and glycerin. Within 2002 there was also the research specifically into Atkins and weight-loss with results to be released in the summer - results Atkins and others had to know was going to be positive.....imagine the potential of these products with more people paying attention to low-carb eating and finally buying-in to the idea that limiting sugars/starches results in weight-loss?

In the 1998 version of the book, Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, it states:
"Sweeteners such as sorbitol, mannitol and other hexitols (sugar alcohols) are not allowed, nor are any natural sweeteners ending in the letters -ose, such as maltose, fructose, etc."

Where in the 2002 version this was eliminated and the recommendation now read: ..."Although it is important that you eat primarily unprocessed foods, some controlled carb food products can come in handy when you are unable to find appropriate food, can’t take time for a meal or need a quick snack. More and more companies are creating healthy food products that can be eaten during the Induction phase of Atkins."

Where prior to 2002 Atkins' specifically restricted any use by those on Induction of these ingredients - they were now allowed in the 2002 revision.....there was no new science to show properties of the ingredients to suggest they should be dismissed as having a carb value to count. The only real change going on was that Atkins Nutritionals and other companies (like EAS, Think Thin, etc.) were all growing their lines of controlled-carb products.

This at the same time the FDA was clamping down on the labeling practice that was growing within the controlled-carb food industry - that is they were not even listing any carbs from sugar alcohol ingredients like maltitol or glycerin - the FDA clamped down and mandated the carbs must be included in the label since they are in there!

With the mandated requirement that these companies had to include the carbs for glycerin & sugar alcohols - so too came the new explanation as to why they don't count - that one was allowed to deduct them because they did not impact blood sugar levels.

But the logic used to dismiss the carbs doesn't hold up.....we're told these ingredients don't impact blood sugar significantly -- so what? Neither do the carbs in green vegetables, nuts, seeds, cantaloupe, cherries, etc......the carbs from all of these foods are counted so why aren't the carbs in these products counted? Do they have a magical property about them, like no calories? No. Do they pass through the body like fiber? No. Do they not get used for energy? No. Do they not turn into some form of glucose? No.

Impact on blood sugar is NOT how we decide to count or not count a carb! Low impact on blood sugar is what low glycemic-index and low glycemic-load choices do - and they are still counted. Low-carb eating revolves around making your best choices from those things that are low glycemic-index and low glycemic-load -- but the carbs still count!

Overall these products are "controlled-carb" products - that is they offer a unique taste without impacting blood sugar (in most people) -- but they have carbs in them -- and the manufacturers have created a smokescreen to try to convince us that they don't count, even though other low-carb items must be counted!

If a carb is metabolized, it needs to be counted - period.

There is no unique property to a sugar alcohol or to glycerin that makes it indigestible or not metabolized.....the body doesn't dismiss it, why should we when we're counting carbs?

Fiber isn't metabolized - not only does it not impact blood sugar, it also isn't digested by the body - it doesn't count.

Can the same be said for sugar alcohols or glycerin? NO.....both are metabolized in the body - they may not impact blood sugar, but they are metabolized - you cannot exclude the carbs in there because they are in there and they do get metabolized.

Many of the protein & candy bars out there have upwards of 20g of carbs when you include the sugar alcohols or glycerin - typically 200-240 calories also. They also typically have 1g to 2g of fiber - leaving upwards of 18g of carbs that you're told to dismiss.....for convenience? for a meal replacement? because it doesn't impact blood sugar? Does this make sense to you when you really think about it?????

If you chose instead to have a 1/2 cup of cantaloupe, wouldn't you count the 6g net carbs it has? Why? They're there! They aren't going to send your blood sugars spiraling up, but you count them because they're there!

The choice about counting the carbs that are in these products is still your choice - but forewarned is forewarned!
http://countcarbs.com/advice/making_the_case.htm

Thanks Jag--That is a very helpful post. I'm saving it!