See the acceptable food list & choose the items you like. Concentrate on what you can have & not what you can’t have. Nuts aren’t allowed the first 4 weeks.
Atkins Program acceptable food list -
http://www.atkins.com/Program/Phase1/WhatYouCanEatinthisPhase.aspx
The first 2 weeks eat several cups a day of (mostly) lettuce & celery, cucumbers, radishes, mushrooms, peppers & more variety of vegetables thereafter - add 5 grams per day additional every week (20 grams day first 2 weeks, 25grams 3rd week, 30grams 4th week etc) til you gain weight, then subtract 10grams. That will be your personal carb level (everyone is different & depends on how active you are.)
Start with meat, fats & salads for 2 weeks and then slowly add in more green veg, wk4 fresh cheeses, wk5 nuts & seeds, wk6 berries, wk7 legumes, wk8 other fruits, wk9 starchy veg, wk10 whole grains. You will learn how your body reacts to different foods.
The first 2 weeks get meats - whatever you like, fattier meats are better - bacon, pork chops, steaks, hamburger or chicken, turkey, fish, shrimp.
Meats
Eggs
Cream cheese
Hard cheese
Butter
Romaine Lettuce
Celery
Avocados
cucumbers, radishes, mushrooms, peppers
Ground flax seeds (flour aisle at walmart)
Mayonnaise - no sugar added - preferably not soybean oil - preferably with olive oil
Ranch dressing or Caesar or blue cheese or whatever you like
Pork Rinds - I prefer Bakenets or Lowreys brands
Simple carbs are addictive & can be disastrous to health. The best way to break the addiction is NO carbs for 3 days. Make a huge batch of deviled eggs, eat one every time you want "something" - have huge omelets with bacon, sausage, peppers, mushrooms & cheese. Pork chops smothered with peppers, mushrooms & cheese - pork rinds & dip or tuna/chicken/turkey/egg salad - steaks - a huge sugar free cheese cake. Eat so much you won’t feel deprived of anything. By the 4th day, the addiction will be gone & you can start making healthy choices.
The first 2 weeks when foods are limited you still eat a high fiber diet - just these 4 examples of foods which should be eaten daily during induction, gives you 33.5grams of dietery fiber - well over the RDA of 25g & much higher than the Standard American Diet. After 2 weeks, you are allowed almost all nonstarchy vegs (less than 25g net carbs in week 3)
21g total carbs - 13g fiber - 8g net carbs - Lettuce, Romaine- 1 head
12g total carbs - 8g fiber - 4g net carbs - Celery - 4 cups chopped (about 8 stalks)
6g total carbs - 4.5g fiber - 1.5g net carbs - half an avocado
8g total carbs - 8g fiber - .5g net carbs - Flaxseed 1 ounce 4T
————————————–â¦
47g total carbs - 33.5g fiber - 14g net carbs
Every day you should be eating these 2 items. I highly recommend virgin coconut oil for people needing quick energy - coconut oil is the only fat that is converted to quick energy like a carb.
Half an avocado mashed with 2 ounces of mayo seasoned with cayenne & eaten with pork rinds or celery.
Ground flax seed (4 Tbsp) 1/4 cup water, artificial sweetener, mix in a raw egg - let sit 10 min. to absorb liquid, put some cream cheese in the middle & nuke 2 min for daily fiber needs.
You can lose more body fat eating protein & fat (don’t eat protein alone) than not eating AT ALL. To lose weight fast, eat all you want, but nothing but meat, eggs, healthy oils, mayo, butter & half an avocado a day (for added potassium). Keep the calories high & the fat percentage high, at least 65% of calories. Green vegetables & some cheese will continue weight loss but at a slower pace.
Start with meat, fats & salads for 2 weeks and then slowly add in more green veg, wk4 fresh cheeses, wk5 nuts & seeds, wk6 berries, wk7 legumes, wk8 other fruits, wk9 starchy veg, wk10 whole grains. You will learn how your body reacts to different foods.
The body won’t release fat stores if you lower calories below what it needs. It will slow metabolism to compensate & store every spare ounce as fat. If you continue lowering calories, it will continue lowering the set point, til it can survive off nothing & store fat on anything. The body will only release it’s fat stores if it knows there is plenty of nutritious food.
The core of Atkins program is converting the body from glycolysis (burning glucose as fuel) to ketosis (burning fat as fuel). Dietary fat levels need to be at >65% of total calories, if not, the body will still remain in glycolysis by converting 58% of excess protein into glucose (via gluconeogenesis).
It takes about 3 days to convert a body to ketosis, (but only one bite to convert back to glycolysis). People feel sluggish the first week but most feel better than ever thereafter.
