Atkins Diet

babybragg513

Has anyone been on the Modified Atkins Diet before? Or just the Atkins Diet? I know it's mostly fruit and veggies but I need help with meals and what I can have. I miss my apples! I can only have 20 grams of carbs a day and apples are 21 grams, give or take. I'm going on the diet to help reduce my seizures, All help and advice is appreciated!

concordancia

Actually it is mostly meat and veg - no fruit, which as you have seen, is too high carb for the Atkins method.

Was the 20g set by your neurologist? The modified Atkins generally allows for some fruits or starches, but I do not see how you could fit them into a 20g limit.

yarwell

babybragg513 wrote: »

Has anyone been on the Modified Atkins Diet before? Or just the Atkins Diet? I know it's mostly fruit and veggies

It isn't.

Low carbohydrate, moderate protein, high fat.

About a pound a day of low carb vegetables, mainly green things that grow above the ground.

4 ozs portions of meat or fish per meal, favouring fattier cuts and oily fish.

Cheese (up to 4 oz per day), heavy cream (up to 3 tablespoons). Eggs are good too.

volfan22

babybragg513 wrote: »

Has anyone been on the Modified Atkins Diet before? Or just the Atkins Diet? I know it's mostly fruit and veggies but I need help with meals and what I can have. I miss my apples! I can only have 20 grams of carbs a day and apples are 21 grams, give or take. I'm going on the diet to help reduce my seizures, All help and advice is appreciated!

Google Ketogenics - there has been a ton of research and studies with great success on treating people with seizures. It's much like Atkins - (low carb/high fat). The thing I like about this plan is it's so much more than just meat, cheese and eggs. If you like to have bread there are tons of options using almond and coconut flour (assuming you don't have a nut allergy).

A couple of great sites I use for recipes and tips are: www.ruled.me and www.mariamindbodyhealth.com.

Dragonwolf

volfan22 wrote: »

babybragg513 wrote: »

Has anyone been on the Modified Atkins Diet before? Or just the Atkins Diet? I know it's mostly fruit and veggies but I need help with meals and what I can have. I miss my apples! I can only have 20 grams of carbs a day and apples are 21 grams, give or take. I'm going on the diet to help reduce my seizures, All help and advice is appreciated!

Google Ketogenics - there has been a ton of research and studies with great success on treating people with seizures. It's much like Atkins - (low carb/high fat). The thing I like about this plan is it's so much more than just meat, cheese and eggs. If you like to have bread there are tons of options using almond and coconut flour (assuming you don't have a nut allergy).

A couple of great sites I use for recipes and tips are: www.ruled.me and www.mariamindbodyhealth.com.

Fun fact - Newer studies on ketogenic diets for seizures actually use the Modified Atkins protocol (in no small part because it's actually nutritionally sound and uses real food, unlike the original keto study diets).

That said, I agree with the above regarding looking up the ketogenic diet. You'll find a ton of resources for it that might not show up when just looking for Atkins. (You can think of "Atkins" as a sort of brand name, and "keto" as the more generic name.)

I've come to be a fan of Caveman Keto for numerous resources and recipes. He also has a great tutorial for setting up MFP to be more keto-friendly.

There are also a lot of great low-carb recipes in the Paleo/Primal circles, too, so it's probably worth checking them out. They're not afraid of fat, either, so their "low carb" stuff doesn't necessarily equate to "high protein" (which is a good thing on keto, because you don't want a ton of protein).

I've found low carb/keto to be easier if I drop the grains altogether, at least for a while. This forces you out of the grain-based perspective of meal planning and into a meat-and-vegetables-based perspective. This may or may not work for you, but if you find yourself struggling to drop the carbs, it may be worth a try.

There are a number of groups here that I recommend joining. They're a great bunch of people and can help with all your questions (with far less noise than you're likely to get here on the main forums):

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1494-reddit-keto
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1143-keto
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-group
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/22228-keto-for-women (far fewer people and far less active, but can still be useful)

The Keto Reddit page is also one of the arguably best resources for keto on the internet. Definitely worth checking out.

Also, big thing to note -- there is an adjustment period when starting this diet. The first 2 weeks or so (on average) will likely suck, especially if you previously ate a lot of carbs (and moreso if you ate a lot of processed carbs). This is common and known as "keto flu," "carb flu," or "induction flu," because of the flu-like symptoms common during this time.

It's not specifically for keto induction, but the effect is similar enough that this is a great timeline of what to expect. The biggest recommendations are to make sure you're drinking plenty of water, eating plenty of food (even if you track, I recommend not restricting your food; induction is when your body is building up the parts of the body that burn fat primarily and breaking down the ones that burn sugar primarily -- that takes energy and puts stress on the body), and keeping your electrolytes up (ie - sodium, potassium, and magnesium; you actually don't want to limit salt, and should be aiming for at least what MFP has set in the goals).

babybragg513

Thank you everyone

nvmomketo

Keto Clarity is a good easy read on ketogenic/Atkins phase 1 diets. Lots of tips like including a lot of sodium in your diet - about 2 teaspoons of salt per day is needed to help minimize the symptoms of "keto flu". Lots of salt really does help.

I recommend looking into the groups listed above. You can learn a huge amount from others. Good luck!