Rating: 
Summary: Boring.
Review: I commend the efforts of Dr. Atkins and the people who follow his plan and have amazing success. I didn't like it. I am too embedded in the low fat, versatile menu, and exercise method of weight control to be able to recommend it. It reeks of "fad." 2 stars are generous. I'm trying not to detract from others' success.
Rating: 
Summary: GRRRRREEEEAAAAT
Review: The only diet that I've tried that's actually worked. I never felt hungry and have kept the weight (~30 lbs) off. It's also been the cheapest ([money amount]for the book, and that was it). However, I do agre that its not for everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Helped Me
Review: This book certainly helped me go from a size 16 to a size 6. It was pretty difficult giving up my bad habits and giving up the foods I love most excruciatingly painful. But in the end I was amazed how the pounds melted away. Follow Dr. Atkins to a healthier life like I did.
Rating: 
Summary: Do yourself a favor and get off this diet!
Review: This book is horribly misleading. Everytime I hear about somebody who hails the Atkins diet as "healthy" or "the only way to lose weight", I feel genuinely sorry for the person. This diet is based upon half-truths, at best.Sure, it's great for losing weight, if that's all you want. You see, when you cut carbs--the body's main energy source--from your diet, the body must get its energy from someplace else. Where does it get this excess energy needed from a lack of carbs? It gets it by turning to your excess fat reserves. In this way, the diet does help you lose massive amounts of weight in a short period of time. However, is it healthy? No. All animal products, including eggs and dairy, have high amounts of cholesteral, saturated fats, and other unhealthy things. This is fact. All major american health organizations--such as the American Heart Association, American Diatetic Association, and the WHO--cite meat consumption as one of the primary causes of heart disease and a myriad of other health problems. Open your eyes and look around you. Most Asian countries, such as Japan and China, have a mostly (save for the occasional fish) vegetarian diet. They're robust, thin, and very healthy people with incredible longevity. However, when Asians move to the US, they become obese, sluggish, and diseased as a result of the diet change. What's the difference in the two diets? It's mostly the daily consumption of meat and chicken. Now, I'm not saying people must entirely leave meat out of their diet...this is impossible for some people. However, I am saying that cutting back on meat is the best way to be healthier. It will also help you lose weight, because the calories/gram of meat is very high compared to other high-protein foods, such as beans, tofu, etc. For example, it takes only 2 or so lbs of meat to reach 2,500 calories--the amount of calories required by a normal, slightly active person. It would take 9 or so lbs of potatoes, 6 or so lbs of rice, and a whopping 19.6 lbs of peaches to reach this limit. All veggies and starchy foods, pound for pound, have fewer calories than meat. Thus, when you eat more plant foods, you will inevitably loose weight because your calorie intake decreases. The bottom line is this...the Atkins diet contradicts nutritional FACT. It helps you lose weight at the cost of your overall health. Any initial cholesteral/triglyciride improvements are the result of weight loss, not the result of the so-called "healthiness" of the Atkins diet. If you want to lose weight AND be healthy, I urge you to cut back on meat, dairy, eggs, sugars, and oils. Eat a diet high in starchy foods, and include lots of vegetables. Pound for pound, this diet provides you with more nutritional value and fewer calories, so weight loss is inevitable. I promise you, you will look better and feel better. Your body will thank you! And before you accuse me of "not doing my homework", know this: my opinion is the prevailing opinion in the medical community today. It is based upon numerous scientific studies, studies of the eating habits of healthy people in all regions of the world, and upon common sense. The Atkins diet flies in the face of all of this. Dr. Atkins used nutritional half-truths to promote a system that would help you lose weight quickly and easily--at the cost of your health. Please, do your own homework. Read books by people other than Dr. Atkins; I strongly suggest Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. John McDougall. They present a no-nonsense approach to dieting that WORKS. I am a living example of that. ... Thank you for reading this lengthy post.
Rating:
Summary: You are taking chances with your health
Review: My husband and I decided to try this diet together. For the first couple of days, I felt okay, but starting on day 3, I was constipated, nauseous, weak and lightheaded. I waited for it to pass, but it didn't. I was drinking lots of water, taking vitamins, and psyllium as directed, but continued to feel sick. Finally, when I couldn't stand the symptoms any more, I stopped the diet. I am now eating well, have cut out the refined flour and sugar products, and am eating fruits, whole grains, veggies and meat. Despite what Dr. Atkins describes in his book, eating fresh fruits and whole grains did not make me tired or crave food, but I am now losing weight and feeling energetic. My husband stayed on the diet longer than I did, but ended up with terrible side effects. Despite following all recommendations regarding vitamins, extra fibre, fluid intake, etc he developed a severe case of gout. For anyone who doesn't know what gout is - it is caused by a buildup of uric acid (which is a breakdown product of protein metabolism) in the blood. When the kidneys are unable to rid the body of the excess uric acid, it forms sharp crystals and deposits itself in the joints. This caused tremendous pain and near-total immobility. My husband had NEVER had gout before and does not have kidney problems. He immediately discontinued the diet, and with proper treatment has recovered. After watching what he went through, I would not recommend this diet to ANYONE. Please, don't take chances with your health.
Rating:
Summary: Questions Dr.Atkins Does Not Answer
Review: I agree that the carbs MOST people eat make us fat and crave more carbs. However, I believe that we should eat brown rice, not white. Whole wheat flour instead of white, no sugar period. BUT - while Atkins claims that fat does not cause heart attacks, etc. he nevertheless fails to address the FACT that meat and all animal products are loaded with hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, etc. A diet high in animal fat is a toxic diet. Look at Asians - they are thin, they have only a third of the breast cancer that American women have, they smoke more but have half the lung cancer, etc.etc. They aren't eating steak and eggs.
I would challenge anyone thinking of going on this diet to read "Diet for a New America" - read about the cattle, poultry & dairy industries and what it does to our bodies and our planet. It's sickening. Finally, women don't do as well on Atkins as men and often suffer DEPRESSION from a low-carb diet - women's bodies need carbs to produce estrogen and progesterone which in turn affects seratonin. Again, stay away from the white stuff. But enjoy your carbs in moderation - a bowl of brown rice with vegetables will keep you full for a long time. And you'll be helping the planet as opposed to contributing to its environmental demise by stuffing your North American face with cheese, meat, eggs, and other foods which require a huge amount of land, energy, natural resources, etc. to be produced.
Rating:
Summary: mediocre
Review: This book isn't any better than Dr. Atkins' original book. There isn't a whole lot of new information, so if you already own the original book...don't waste time to get this one too. However, if you don't own one of Dr. Atkins' books...this is the one for you simply because it's a little more up to date.
Rating:
Summary: Compulsive Overeater/Food addict
Review: Thank you Dr. Atkins. You have given me my life back. Why did it take me so long to try this diet? I certainly had tried every other diet at least three or four times. People think this is just a diet book but it is so much more than that. Only a portion of the book is about the actual diet itself. Dr. Atkins explains in detail why we can't succeed on diets and why we have these cravings. All my life I thought I had some sort of character defect. That I had no willpower. That I was weak or irresponsible. Why can't I stick to a diet?? The cravings are real and intense. I craved cake, donuts, and other items like this as if I was a drug addict. I couldn't fathom the idea of giving them up so I didn't care how many people told me atkins worked. I wasn't going to give up bread, pasta, cake etc. I was an addict. I finally got desperate enough and obese enough that I was ready to have a gastric bypass surgery and it was my doctor who told me that even for the gastric bypass patients, after the sugery the diet they are given is basically the atkins diet...low carb. He told me that I needed to try it first and see if it did not help relieve me of these horrible cravings that I couldn't beat. I had tried everything else. I really thought I had a mental disease that kept me overeating. Dr. Atkins explains very well that some of us are insulin resistant or have hyperinsulinemia. There is a biological reason for why we crave sweets and other foods like this. You will go through withdrawal for at least a week but when it's over with you will be free!!!!!! For the first time in my entire life I am free of these cravings, I am not hungry at all. I have to remind myself to eat. He taught me so much about how my body works. Now I know that if I suddenly find myself craving sweets again, that means something I ate triggered it. I can go back and find that there were hidden carbs in that food or maybe too much sugar but there is ALWAYS a reason if I start to have cravings again. Dr. Atkins taught me that intense cravings are NOT normal and that you do not have to live with them every day. You do not have to go through your life craving constantly and always being hungry. Not only that you will get your life back. Your energy level will improve. I never realized that I was walking around in a carb fog. I was depressed, tired, in pain, with mood swings and no energy at all. After only a few weeks I felt like I had been cured of a terminal disease. From someone who has been on diets for 15 years, this is not a diet. This is a way of life. People that say you gain the weight back don't understand that this is not a diet...it's a long term way of life. They gained the weight back because they started eating their addictive foods again which started the craving cycle back up again and took them back into that hell. Alcoholics don't get sober and then go have a beer, ok? You have to really read this book though. Dr. Atkins has the answer. He is the only person who knew what was wrong with me and cured it. Something Weight Watchers, Meridia, Overeaters Anonymous,in-patient treatment programs and therapists could not ever do for me. He tells you in intricate detail the do's and don'ts and if you accept what he offers you will be free of these cravings and get your life back. He has everything in this book from how to deal with your cravings if they come back, how to deal with things emotionally etc. This book saved my life, literally. Dr. Atkins is my angel in heaven. I hope that if you suffer from compulsive overeating or a binge eating disorder you take the time to read this book through, every word, twice and then give it a try. Get online too and find the "active low carb support forum" and find others on atkins. There is a way out of this hell. You are not mentally deficient or lacking in willpower. You have a biological disorder and there is a cure.
Rating:
Summary: Atkins is only short-term..
Review: I tried the Atkins diet, incurred many headaches and followed the book's guidelines to the nose.. I did lose 12 pounds the first month, and struggled to remain "long-term" on the maintenance phase.. After all the stomach sickness and headaches, I decided to start adding a "moderate" amount of complex carbs in my daily diet, and in two months time I gained the 12 pounds back, plus 6 more!! I gained more weight back, yet I ate less carbs than what I did before I started the diet.. The diet does work, however you and you're body will suffer trying to remain on this diet for more than a few months.. And when you finally do start eating a "moderate" amount of carbs, you gain it all back, plus more!! For dieting, the most luck that I have had was with a book called the "Rotation Diet". This actually worked for me, I lost more weight, and the results were more long-term. The maintenance period and breaks also make the diet easier to sustain with.., and when you quit the diet all together, you don't gain it back like I did with the Atkins. If your goal is a "short-term" weight loss, it may be right for you, howeve the diet and weightloss is not a long-term solution.
Rating:
Summary: "nay-sayers" are misinformed...probably didn't read the book
Review: I gave the book four stars.....I agree with some of the other reviewers that it could've been a "better read", more simply worded, and shorter, BUT being that it is a factual diet book, (not for entertainment purposes) the information is EXCELLENT and IT WORKS!!! Many people, including those in the medical field are still misinformed about Atkins. If you read and follow the book (many people don't, they just stop eating carbs altogether and call it "Atkins"), it will work and be healthy. In fact, even in the first two weeks, called "Induction", the strictest phase of the program, you are supposed to eat carbs (mostly salad and veggies, along with protien), just a much lower amount and healthier type than "normal" for an overweight American. It is not a "protien only" diet, and you don't eat bacon every day (in fact bacon, along with other highly processed foods, is not recommended because of the preservatives in it); it is a balanced diet, but much lower in the carbs, especially sugar and junk food, that the typical American diet is largely made up of. I read the whole book and lots of reviews and talked to my doctor before I started the diet, and I am doing fine. I started the diet in March, I am 5'2', and was 160+ lbs., had pain in my knees and feet, tiredness, was growing out of all my clothes....by mid-May, I was down to 140 pounds, my feet and knees no longer hurt, I have had to buy 2 sizes smaller clothing, and I have much more energy. I have slowed my weight loss, and am now starting an exercising program to help change my body shape and continue this healthy lifestyle. Now that I am in the "Ongoing Weight Loss" phase, I do eat a few more carbs, but healthy ones like veggies, salad, seeds, nuts, some fruits, and some bread. When I read the book, what struck me as making sense, is thinking about how the human body has evolved throughout time. After all those thousands of years hunting (meat) and gathering (raw veggies and non-refined carbs - fruits, seeds, and nuts) and drinking water (not soda, sugary juices, and milk) our bodies are naturally evolved to work with these types of natural fuels; not a bunch of white refined flour, and tons of sugar and high fructose corn syrup. I believe the abundance and over-use of refined carbs in many of our convienience foods are a huge reason why the American people are such an overweight group. Many Atkins DOUBTERS (who have not read the research) say all you lose is water weight and muscle tissue and that tons of people just gain the weight back after Atkins......well, just the opposite is really true, and that is addressed in the book and here. Initially you do lose some water weight (just a couple pounds are water weight) as with ANY diet, and Atkins even tells people this in the book; but if you are doing the program right, you will not lose muscle tissue, in fact, you will start building it - which we all know helps increase metabolism and burn fat faster. Also, the reason people start gaining weight after Atkins is just that....there is no "after"; Atkins is a lifestyle change, if you stop doing it and go back to eating way too many carbs for your particular metabolism, of course you will gain the weight right back. Other diets do that same thing (if you are on a low calorie diet, and then when you get to your goal weight, you go right back to the number of calories you were eating before, you will gain it all back)...but most of them don't offer a long-term maintenence plan - BUT Atkins book(s) explains in detail the "Lifetime Maintenence" phase of the program, and how to find the right level of carbs to maintain (neither lose more nor gain back) the weight you have achieved in a healthy way (no yo-yo dieting) for the rest of your life. Sorry for the long post, but when people are misinformed, I like to give them as much correct information as possible. Please read Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution for more info if you are interested. It really does make sense and it works.
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