I identify with you Piano and know what it was like on Atkins for you, having had similar experiences with a very high fat, very lc diet myself. I did'nt quite realise the importance of health over looks (having been pretty healthy but morbidly obese till then) until I hit the pits. Health and image/weight is what's driving me right now, in that order

Wanda, it must feel terrific having found a WOE that works for you so well. This is what makes one WOE so much better then another. One, very seldom fits all as I discovered with Atkins hence my shopping around looking for as much info as I can.
Just started an old stone age diet (mostly bc unprocessed food agress with me most and dairy causes stalls/gains) but I feel that Dr.Shwarzbeiner might very well have the edge on this.
I must get the 2nd book (doubt I'll ever see the 1st again) especially as she talks about stress so deeply. I recall that in her 1st book she seemed to think that thyroid medication and HRT made a big difference an awful lot of the time, it was this that put me off as I'm anti drugs (after a life-time of abusing them, I guess I'm being extremist but there you go) I might have been too hasty. I've also read one scare-story too many re grains but I can always tailor the beiner plan to me and gradually experiment with the truth behind these stories.
I only found sites v.recently dealing with stress and the science behind it - hotfooted by Wanda's terrific questionaire, knowing that Shwarzbein went one step further and created a plan around this
makes me want to read the book now now now...

...off to Amazon, thanks all