Misunderstandings about Atkins

There are some common misunderstandings about the Atkins lifestyle, which Jonny Bowden deals with in chapter 3 of his book. I won't profile all the plans in this way, but since Atkins is my chosen plan, and I have caught a lot of flak for how "unhealthful" it is, I felt dispelling some of those myths is important.

From Living the Low Carb Life, pages 72-73.

Atkins has been one of the most misunderstood diet authors and has been the target of more attacks than any other low-carb proponent, probably because he was the first and the most commercially successful of the plans and also, to the constant chagrin of the establishment, because he simply wouldn't go away...

One of the sources of misinformation about Atkins came because many people confused the induction phase with the whole program. Atkins was very clear that induction is for a limited time only. A common criticism of Atkins is that he doesn't allow you to eat vegetables and fruits, which you add back to the program in the subsequent stages of his plan. (But) he never said you couldn't eat vegetables and fruits. He did say you couldn't eat junk carbohydrates.

...(T)he...Atkins program is a three-pronged approach to health that involves not just carbohydrate management (he later called the diet a "controlled-carbohydrate approach to eating") but exercise and nutritional supplementation. In his New York clinic only a small percentage of patients came in solely for weight loss.

I will clarify here - and Jonny covers this better elsewhere in the chapter - that Atkins does allow vegetables and fruits from day one, but in controlled amounts. Avocados and tomatoes (both fruits) are allowed during induction. And during induction you should be getting a minimum of 3 cups of vegetables per day.

My normal daily intake of veggies is 8-10 oz. of a low starch vegetable with lunch, such as broccoli, cauliflower, or even Chinese pea pods. Later in the day I will eat an entire bag of salad (10-12 oz.), ranging from iceberg to romaine. So I am definitely getting my "5 servings a day" that the government recommends. That's a minimum of 18 oz. of veggies a day. As I've said many times before, my diet is primarily made up of meat, vegetables, and some dairy (cottage cheese, cheese).