Rating: 
Summary: 2 years later, I'm healthier and thinner.....
Review: After reading some of the other book reviews, I became infuriated as it became obvious to me that many people DID NOT READ THE BOOK! Allow me to give you the good, bad and the ugly on the Atkins Diet: First the BAD and UGLY: for the first 2 weeks, your carbohydrates are very restricted; you may feel tired for a few days; you can't have sugar, refined flour products , alcohol, certain fruits or vegetables or caffeine; you will have to fill yourself on chicken, fish, salads, nuts, eggs and some cheese; you may suffer constipation; you have to exercise and drink water; you should also take vitamin supplements; after you lose the weight, you cannot go back to your old eating habits. Now the GOOD: You will add 5 grams of carbs per week into your daily meals until you reach your goal weight-- this means you GRADUALLY ADD HEALTHY CARBS BACK INTO YOUR DIET (FRUITS, VEGGIES, WHOLE GRAIN BREAD). This is the on-going loss period. By this time, the fatigue you may have experienced is gone. You will feel great. You won't fall asleep at your desk at 2:00 in the afternoon. You will sleep better. You can now have 4 oz of wine or beer a day. If you have the success I had, you will lose weight, your cholesterol ratios and triglyceride level will improve, and your energy level will increase. You will be able to maintain your weight by eating all the foods you ate during induction and on-going periods, plus you can even cheat occasionally, as long as you realize that this (as well as any other diet) is a life-long behavioral change (pizza or pasta or cake occasionally, not every day). And any doctor will tell you that you must exercise regularly. Oh, and if you have ever had hypoglycemic "shakes" before going on this diet, they will disappear as well. My doctor has told me that the diet, when followed correctly, is not unhealthy, as the body learns to use protein and fat as primary fuel, instead of the carbs. No diet works for everyone, but if you are considering this diet, please be well informed and READ THE BOOK. It explains the why's, how's and when's of this diet.
Rating: 
Summary: Diet Overview
Review: I just finished reading this and my husband and I intend to try it. The book was much longer than it had to be, but contained many good points. I also searched the Net for yeahs and nays, including reviews here. To sum up: Carbo intake increases blood sugar, which increases hunger, which increases eating, which equals weight gain. Proof: Who can eat just one chip or pretzel and not the whole bag? The book also has a good chapter near the end on debunking fallacies. My advice to most critics on this list: TRY READING THE ENTIRE BOOK BEFORE YOU PUT IN YOUR TWO CENTS! I saw MANY comments proving the book was not read. Also, I saw on this list as many doctors/nurses for the diet as I did against it. Also found on the Net: Many kids hospitals are using this diet to treat Epilepsy...does that sound like a bad diet? Also, this diet is not new. Some version has been around 40 years. On the other hand, Phen/fen was around a much shorter time, AMA recommended, and FDA approved. We know how that turned out! To those who are really concerned about their cholesterol on this diet, there are simple home tests sold at your local pharmacy. To those who had nausea and headaches: Did it last longer than a week or two? Were you maybe heavy into caffeine before the diet? If you said "no" and "yes", this was just withdrawal. (Also true of "no" and "no".) To those whose medical problems got worse, the book strongly urges people with health problems to see a doctor before and during doing this diet. Yes, you are told to take supplements, but you should be doing this whether on this diet or not. No one gets every nutrient they really need in the right amount. And you ARE NOT REQUIRED to buy Atkins product. He gives the formula, so feel free to look for a cheaper brand as I did. The diet is not zero carbos. It is not 20g carbo for the rest of your life either. It is 20g. for the first two weeks and then you gradually climb to your personal level. Complaints of no variety are shocking since you can have almost ANY meat, seafood (omega-3), or cheese you want. And veggies in limited quantities that are slowly increased. It IS NOT the NO veggie/NO fruit diet for the rest of your life as some here have claimed. I've also seen some comments of people who admitted they are not really meat eaters. Why would you try this diet then? To those who say they gained as soon as they went off the diet, that happens on any diet! And if you read the book, you would know Atkins is a four stage LIFE TIME eating plan. You don't go off it. Atkins DOES recommend exercise, not being a couch potato. And no, the diet does not have you gorge yourself on fat all day. You are to eat high protein foods until you are full...these foods happen to be high in fat usually. But still, you are not to binge! You should not attempt to enter Ketosis on day 1...you have two weeks! Also, claims that you only lose water on this diet are outrageous. I have seen many testimonials on the Net of people who lost 50-100 lbs. That is NOT all water! As I said before, read the ENTIRE book before you decide.
Rating:
Summary: Read the Entire Book
Review: I've been on the diet for 4 weeks primarily because the low-fat diet was taking me know where. I've lowere my body fat from 22% to 18%, losing 1.5 inches around the whaste. The FDA is reviewing the Atkins's plan at which time a more scientific analysis can be presented on the overall claims made. Ignore reviews from those who only tried the plan for 2 days. Most of these people do not have Nutritionist backgrounds and obviously lack the self control required for the plan to be affective: Pizza, bread, sweets. My only real advice is to READ THE ENTIRE BOOK FIRST, then start the diet. GNC carries the two-week started pack of vitamins and oils to get you going. Having read the entire book, you can easily quiet the ignorant who spout off about the Diet. In a worse-case scenario, if the diet turns out to be harmful, it's not like phen-phen.
Rating: 
Summary: A SURE-FIRE ROUTE TO AN EARLY DEATH!
Review: Okay...I only gave the Atkin's 2 days and gave it up. Was it easy? Yes. Did it help me lose weight? Probably. However, I cannot at all say that this diet is healthy. The sheer amount of fats and oil that I had to consume to 'ensure ketosis' was utterly disgusting and can no way be healthy for anybody. I still shudder when I think of it!After two days of so much saturated fats that I felt ill, I had to stop. The doctor may have said that this diet was a 'luxurious' one but I certainly beg to differ! This diet is probably a sure fire way of ensuring several heart attacks, stroke and the similar in the future. As a relatively fit, healthy girl of 23, I am 30 pounds overweight. I would love to be slim and sleek at 110 pounds but definitely not at the expense of my overall health. The book, as another reviewer did mention, is more suitable for guys, not for women, who generally enjoy fruit and veg and grains. I cannot imagine eating meat, meat, meat all my life. Hey... that is not living! The book itself is poorly written. The doctor wastes way too much time trying to sell his book and justify his diet (which contradicts so many medical theories).... 'it works because... blah blah.... it is for you because...blah blah... it's healthy because....blah'. It was a waste of time reading this endless meandering when he could have easily just gotten to the point. As a word of advice, when you read this book, make sure you have a pen with you to mark out important points. The messiness of his writing will make it impossible for you to find such points later when you need them for reference. All in all, I WOULD NEVER encourage anyone I love to try this diet. The long term effect of ketosis is not yet discovered. I dont want to drop dead in 5 year's time (I'll only be 28 then) with a coronary bypass (touch wood! ). Also, this diet does not appear to be a highly sustainable one. Perhaps hermits with no social life will be able to maintain, but the rest of us with dinner parties and meals with friends will probably have problems keeping to the very rigid restrictions imposed. There are definitely more balanced and effective diets out there. Think about the long term future b4 you throw yourself into this one. Once you are trapped in his diet, you'll be trapped for life.
Rating:
Summary: Wow. . .
Review: It really does work. I bought the book and started one week ago today, and as of this morning, I have lost 10 pounds. I still can't get over it. I'm over six feet tall, and weighed in at 260 last week, and now I'm at 250. I had heard about this diet only a short time ago from friends and coworkers, and everyone had something good to say. So-and-so lost 20 pounds, someone else lost 40...I figured I might as well give it a shot. I had decided to try eating better anyways, and had cut out the Coke and Pepsi drinking, so this would just be another step. I never would have guessed that my "better" eating was still causing me to gain weight. This book is definitely worth it. Out of all the diets, supplements, pills, liquids, shakes, and foods I've ever tried, this is the only one that has shown me such a drastic result, all while still eating normal foods. The first week is certainly rough, as everyone seems to attest to. I had several headaches, a couple of bouts of nausea, and general crankiness, but once I found a well-rounded way to follow the recommendations of the book, I've been great. I drink an Atkins strawberry shake in the morning (albeit, I add a few real strawberries in the blender for a better flavor) and a multivitamin, a normal lunch that consists of polish sausages, or taco salad (sans tortilla), or a big salad with sliced chicken, and have an equally filling dinner consisting of just about anything I can BBQ up. If you can handle giving up pasta, pizza, Coke/Pepsi, breads, and junkfood for a while, you can do it. When you're ready to start the diet, prepare a grocery list of the low-carb foods that you like, and think about what combinations of food you can make that will offer you diversity in your meals. Part of my problem the first week was not having enough variables, and eating the same thing all the time. You can only eat so many omelets before it gets old. Prepare in advance. If you're a snacker, prepare baggies of the snack items you can eat. Pack some sliced pepperoni, or some macadamia nuts, or sugar-free Jell-O. Now that I've found my balance, I can burn through my workday without feeling hungry, or pining for my next meal, all while keeping my carb intake well below 20g. If you're still debating on the diet, just dive in. It's worth it to yourself and to anyone who cares about you. Stop wishing you felt better, or looked better, or weighed less. With this book, some good eating habits, and willpower to do it, you can lose weight.
Rating:
Summary: diet works!withdrawal causes your tiredness!
Review: I lost 15 pounds in 12 weeks, cheating here and there along the way (or i'd have lost more, sooner). I have never been able to lose >any< weight in my life up until this plan. To those who complained about feeling tired and/or lousy the first week or two: when someone goes into detox for drugs or alcohol, they feel awful too! (but do we feel sorry for them and tell them to go off the detox plan? no!) those carbs we eat are toxins in our body, and we feel tired and lousy at first because our bodies are spoiled and we are forcing them to do something healthy, which they seem to be rebelling against! so they go through WITHDRAWAL, and the symptoms can be uncomfortable at first for some people (the more carbohydrate addicted, the worse the symptoms perhaps?) -- but quickly it's over and you soon feel less tired, more motivated and instead of bloated, you feel light and energized.... don't give up on something good for you, just because you don't like going through the withdrawal period!
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Summary: Its been three years!
Review: and I have not return to my prevoius weight. I tried it all. The excercise, the counting calories. I was going through sugar highs and lows with eating so much carbohydrates. I was so hungry all the time. I lost the weight slowly only to gain it back quickly. I am a single mom, working 50+ hours a week as a nurse with 3 kids, I had no time for excercise, I felt I was doing enough running after the kids and working. There were several nurses on this diet at the hospitial where I worked. They face so much criticism from doctors and other nurses(whom knows nothing of the research that has been done that Dr. Atkin's explains in his book) that I was reluctant to try the diet. However what I was doing did not seem right either. Why was my body always hungry. Why did I feel so tired and weak. Resort to diet pills to curve my appitite did not seem to be the answer. So I bought the book just to see what they had to say. You really need to read and understand what Dr.Atkin is trying to tell you. It is a way to eat for life, not to just loose a couple of pounds for a wedding, vacation, or a big dance..ect. Its a way to eat healthy for life. You have to really understand what Dr. Atkins is trying to tell you Carbohydrate when converted turns to sugar, hello. Thats why people whom try Atkin's then think they can go back to eating what they thought was healthy and gain weight. Did'nt you try this diet because the one you were on did not work? I have to admit it is not easy to be on this diet. I love sweets, chocolate is my down fall. If you love pasta and breads and not willing to let it go this diet is not for you. Dr. Atkin's does go on and on like one review I read. He is just trying to get you to understand why eating the way you have does not work, and why its bad for you. I was fortunate to meet a nurse that had been on this diet since 1975. In the years she tried all the other diets out there (because they say it was not healthy) only to come back to this one. I was 5'2 and weigh 170lbs, I lost 40lbs. It's been three years and never lost faith. You have to be serious and need to understand why your doing it. Not only to be thin but to be heathy too.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book, Great Diet!
Review: This is a great diet. Its easy to follow if you really want to lose weight. I'm down thirty pounds so far...
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Summary: The Diet Revolution is not over yet, try Dr. Atkins and win.
Review: In 1978 I was a young mother and weighed 160 lbs. on my 5'5" frame. I lost all the weight I wanted painlessly and no one even knew I was on a "diet" because I wasn't. I was doing behavior modification which is essential to any diet and particularly this one. I have been proud to say I remained slim for 10 years after the initial loss. I only gained when I quit smoking and began eating carbohydrates again for comfort foods. Biggest mistake of my life. I am now back on the wagon and hoping that someone will notice how good I look thanks to Dr. Atkins. Please listen and try and succeed on this regimen. At barbeques noone would know you were on the diet at all, you can eat the meat and olives and pickles and cheese. No sweat. Do it, just do it! As far as being unsafe, phooey. I was dying emotionally and the change of body image is a lifesaver alone. Barbara Trammell Black , Texas.
Rating: 
Summary: Too strict for a long term program
Review: I found myself sick to death of protein (something I never would have figured could have happened) It seemed the diet became blander and blander as time progressed.
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