Most people recommend that you do not try to eat out anywhere during the first phase of the South Beach Diet because you're still learning the system. You may become frustrated over the lack of choices or decide to splurge on an unhealthy meal rather than finding something that fits your diet.
So I'm now doing Atkins. (One speaks of "doing Atkins"; it sounds so much more hip than "I'm on this godforsaken Atkins diet".) The Atkins diet (named after its creator, Robert C. Atkins, a New York City cardiologist who, in one of life's cruel ironies, supposedly lived a very healthy lifestyle only to die prematurely when he slipped on a patch of ice) is divided into three phases: the induction phase, in which carbohydrates are eliminated from the diet almost completely (this lasts a minimum of two weeks, usually longer); the second phase, during which complex carbohydrates are added gradually back to the diet but refined sugars and starches are still mostly eliminated; and the maintenance phase, which is an Atkins euphemism for "You'll be on this godforsaken diet for the rest of your life, which may be longer because you'll be eating healthier but will be no fun at all."
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The 'glycemic index', which is a measure of how quickly carbohydrates are converted into glucose, is different for different types of carbohydrate. So-called 'high impact carbs' raise blood sugar levels rapidly, causing insulin to spike. Using 100 as the reference, table sugar has a glycemic index of 65. White bread is 72 and baked potatoes have a glycemic index of 85. Corn flakes have a glycemic index of 84, while ice cream has a glycemic index of 50. The Atkins diet allows consumption of complex carbohydrates with very low glycemic indices after the induction phase, but suggests that one should limit one's consumption of high impact carbs forever. Foods with low glycemic index values include dairy products, green vegetables, beans, and pure fructose, which has a glycemic index of 20.
Low carbohydrate diets induce a milder version of many of the same biochemical changes as diabetes, or prolonged fasting. Lawrence McKeown, of West Belfast, Northern Ireland, holds the record for the longest period that any human has gone without food and lived to tell the tale: 70 days. He and his fellow Republican inmates in the H Blocks at Long Kesh (also known as Maze Prison) went on a hunger strike in 1981. Bobby Sands, their leader, died after 66 days. Nine other prisoners died as well. McKeown, a former footballer, was in superb condition at the start of his fast, which perhaps explains how he was able to escape the long-term disabilities, including kidney failure, optic-nerve damage, strokes and early heart attacks, that have plagued most of the other survivors. But there remains the tantalizing possibility that he, and his compatriot Raymond McCartney, who endured a 53-day fast without lasting damage, possess some unique genetic characteristics that protected them - a question that would not be difficult for genomics to address, given a suitable database of allelic variations in metabolic genes among 'normal' individuals as a basis for comparison. McKeown's description of the physical changes that took place during the early stages of his time without food are a magnified version of what occurs during the induction phase of Atkins. "What I remember most is the chill in my bones," he recalled during an interview with jouralist Bob Drury. His sense of smell was heightened, and his appetite diminished as he became ketotic. Muscle fatigue and exercise intolerance also occurred rapidly. I had a much milder version of all of these symptoms by the end of the first week of the induction phase of the Atkins diet, consistent with my glycogen stores becoming depleted after about four days, and a switch to ketone bodies as the primary source of fuel for the brain. My ability to tolerate exercise (I mean physically - psychologically I never have cared for it much) also dropped, although it recovered after a couple of weeks. Fasting for weight loss is apparently a rising fad in the developed world. No doctor I know would endorse it. Neither would McKeown, who says simply that fasting without a cause worth dying for is beyond his ken.
Psychologists are fond of saying that it's important to get in touch with your anger. No problem; I've found mine: it was hidden under all those carbohydrates. Atkins dieters, the book notes, may experience "some increase in irritability" during the induction phase. That's like saying that Scuba divers may experience some water. One consequence of a carbohydrate-free diet is a dramatic reduction in the level of serotonin. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter that helps us feel happy and prevents us from attacking one another at random. I don't have much serotonin now, so my interactions with people lately have been, shall we say, somewhat prickly. I have a cactus in my garden that's less prickly than I am at the moment.
After seven days of this, I decided to call it quits on phase one. I no longer had any unhealthy cravings and my husband and I had systematically rid our pantry of anything and everything processed or containing high amounts of sugar. Also, the South Beach Diet began to interfere with a few of my definitions of "healthy eating." For instance, when I began this plan of eating healthier, in my mind that also meant avoiding any and all artificial sweeteners and eliminating processed foods from my diet too. If a food item contains enriched anything, more than 5 or so ingredients, artificial colors or other stuff I can't pronounce, then it's out.
That's primarily where the South Beach Diet and I disagree. During phase one, you are encouraged to eat tons of egg substitute, cream cheese substitute, fat-free and low-fat varieties of all approved foods. Also, sugar-free Fudgsicles, gelatin, gum, popsicles, etc. are designed to help curb your sweet tooth, but all of these products contain artificial sweeteners. This is why I found following the South Beach Diet Phase One so challenging. I was trying to stick to my new whole foods goals on a diet that didn't necessarily believe the same thing.
The study included 18 healthy adults who were not overweight, who followed each of the three diets for one month, followed by a one-month "wash-out" period in which they ate normally. Caloric intake was increased during any phase of the study if a participant began to lose weight.
The low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet designed to approximate the first, and most extreme, phase of the Atkins diet included 50% of calories from fat and 22% to 38% of calories from saturated fat sources like meat, cheese, and other whole-fat dairy products, Miller tells WebMD.
In an email exchange with WebMD, Atkins Vice President of Nutrition and Education Colette Heimowitz, MSc, says that on the maintenance phase of the Atkins diet, fat should make up no more than 40% of total calories, and no more than 10% of calories should come from saturated fat. 2ff7e9595c
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