Making the Atkins Diet Work for You

Several years ago, I decided to go on the Atkins diet because I was a bit overweight. Now, this is the first time that I have done any dieting. I was able to drop 10 pounds on the first week so I could not understand why so many people are always saying that losing weight is difficult. Of course, I found it a bit challenging on the first two weeks because I was not used to eating low carbohydrate foods exclusively.

Fortunately, I found that it was an easy diet to follow once I got past that two week mark. The Atkins diet suggests that a dieter eat foods that are rich in protein. This was an easy part because I have always been a big meat eater. However, giving up the potatoes and bread that I usually eat along with my meat was more difficult for me. I decided that I need to find alternative foods that were allowed on the diet to cure my craving for those foods.

To solve my problem, I purchased an Atkins diet book which not only outlines the diet but also has recipes. I found it amazing how you can eat a lot of food on the Atkins diet and still lose weight. The main challenge with this diet is getting some variety into your meals. The dinner meal was very easy to prepare when I first started the diet. I would usually have some type of protein, fish, pork, chicken or beef and a large leafy salad with blue cheese dressing for my dinner. This meal was not very different than what I ate before it was just minus the potato and bread.

However, the lack of variety started to bore me after a few weeks. I was still motivated to continue the diet because I was losing weight but I was getting tired of eating the same meal every night. Fortunately, I discovered some of the recipes in the back of the Atkins diet book. Mashed cauliflower became my favorite recipe because it has the same texture as mashed potatoes. The Atkins diet book also had a recipe for a salad that has all the same ingredients as potato salad, minus the potatoes. I just substituted cooked cauliflower for the potato. It tastes wonderful although I was a bit skeptical at first.

I have added carbohydrates back into my diet over the years. I gained some of the weight back at first, but I have now found the right balance. I was able to take off excess pounds with the Atkins diet, even though long a term diet with very low carbohydrates did not fit my life style.

Spain Removes Skinny Mannequins From Stores
Last year during Fashion Week, Spain banned models with a BMI under 18 from participating. This year, the Health Ministry in Spain is charging ahead with a new program that will prevent mannequins under a size 6 (a Spanish 38) from being displayed in store windows. Womens' sizes are also being standardized. 85,000 women across Spain, ages 12 to...

Singapore To Cancel Anti-Obesity Program
Singapore plans to end a 15-year-old anti-obesity program in schools after complaints from parents that overweight children, in particular, were being singled out and teased by classmates....

Obesity Surgery Can Lead To Memory Loss And Movement Problems
A new US study suggests that obesity surgery such as gastric bypasses can cause vitamin deficiency that leads to memory loss, confusion, co-ordination, and other neurological problems.The study is published in the journal Neurology.A neurological sydrome called Wernicke encephalopathy occurs mostly in patients who vomit a lot after they have had weight loss surgery (also known as bariatric surgery). [click link for full article]

Modern Imaging Unravels Causes Of Addictive Behaviour - A Possible Basis For New Therapies?
What can radiology contribute to the treatment of obesity (adipositas)? Evidently a great deal, as was made clear at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR 2007) at Austria Center Vienna. [click link for full article]

Obesity Drives US Surgical Procedure Volumes Higher
Millennium Research Group (MRG) has conducted a detailed analysis of surgical procedures in its US Surgical Procedure Volumes 2007 report. The report finds that over 11 million Americans are considered morbidly obese, and by 2011, over 13 million will be- driving the volume of surgical procedures in the US throughout the next five years. [click link for full article]

As Obesity In Children Increases, The Incidence Of Fatty Liver Disease Rises
Indiana University School of Medicine researchers are taking a closer look at a disease whose incidence is rising as obesity in children increases. Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis, more popularly known as Fatty Liver Disease, occurs in approximately 15% of obese children. Fatty Liver Disease, in which fat accumulates in the liver, while not life threatening in children, can lead to cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver, sometimes requiring transplantation by adulthood. [click link for full article]

In Obesity, Brain Becomes 'Unaware' Of Fat
Critical portions of the brain in those who are obese don't really know they are overweight, researchers have reported in the March issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, published by Cell Press. These findings in obese mice show that a sensor in the brain that normally detects a critical fat hormone - causing a cascade of events that keeps energy balance in check - fails to engage. Meanwhile, the rest of the metabolic pathway remains ready to respond. [click link for full article]

Americans Still Not Eating Enough Fruits And Vegetables, According To Two Recent Studies
"Eat your vegetables" has been heard at the dinner tables of America for a long time. Has the message gotten through? Since 1990 the Dietary Guidelines for Americans has recommended consuming at least two servings of fruits and three servings of vegetables daily. However, two studies published in the April issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine clearly show that Americans are not meeting the mark. [click link for full article]