Customer Reviews

Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution: Completely Updated!

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1989 I, a white divorced male aged 29 at 6'1", 270 lbs and a 42" waist, went on the Induction phase of Atkins. 13 months later I was 175 lbs and had a 32" waist. Looked and felt sensational, like a teenager. I had a routine doctor's exam and was counseled that my Atkins diet could be hurting my health. Scared out of Atkins, I hired a nutritionist at $150 / hour who designed an eating plan for me that was balanced and included good carbs and fruits. looked and sounded sensible and well planned. A lot of lab work and I felt confident this was the best way to go. About three months and $3,000 later, I was up to a 36" waist and 205 lbs and my body fat went up. Nice, I fired the nutritionist and went thru two more plus a dietician and a naturopath. I tried the following diets on my own: The leptin diet, Mc Dougal plan, Ph Miracle, Raw foods, Vegeterianism, The Zone, The glycemic index diet, Low fat, etc..etc.. thousands of dollars in supplements, hours of exercising a day, and I finally managed to work my way up to 250 lbs and a 40" waist. Pretty much anything you may have tried, CLA, L-Carnitine, etc.. I tried but no effect, in fact just the opposite, kept getting fatter. Felt ok on the diets I tried, but nothing special and kept getting fatter. I have had enough!

2009; About four weeks ago, I bought a new copy of the Atkins diet and started. Feel better than on any other diet, more energy, more pleasant disposition, better mental and cognitive function. As it has always done for me and is now, the Atkins diet just works for me. Better than any other diet, weight and body fat are melting away just as before. At the age of 49 I am feeling better and better. Atkins works for me, it may not be for everyone, but considering all the things I have tried I will no longer allow anyone to shake my faith in it. How can you argue against positive results? Positive in every way, my blood work lab results prove it, my body shows it. Atkins is the way for me. I am getting thinner and healthier every week now. I have already dropped one pant size and just feel magnificent.

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.

I get so annoyed with the people (mainly those who have not even read one page of the book) who solidly maintain that this diet is a "steak and eggs" diet and deprives you of vegetables. I'm eating more vegetables than I ate when I was a vegetarian, and keeping the protein in no more quantities than the average non-dieter!

I am not sure how eliminating appetite-stimulant foods like processed grains and sugar and upping your vegetable intake is supposed to make the protein (for me it's mainly fish) one eats suddenly more unhealthy than the protein one consumes with a giant plate of rice or potatoes, but, oh well.

I know, I am missing out on vitamin M, the Muffin and bagel vitamin, and vitamin P, the pasta vitamin (pasta is flour and water, with very little nutritional value), oh and vitamin S (sugar), can't forget that very essential vitamin... I guess my poor kidneys are going to fall out and I am going to get a heart attack :)

And yes, you can even eat fruit on the Atkins diet! After you've rid your body of the addiction to processed sugar and grains, you can eat lower glycemic fruits like blueberries, raspberries, etc.

I never experienced any of the symptoms people report on induction. I ate salad liberally, ignoring the two-three cup rule, so I was never really "on" induction, but increased my carbohydrates by adding berries, nuts, and more vegetables.

Oh, and I've lost 60 pounds, no longer have seizures, depression, or heartburn, and I can walk for miles at a time whereas before a block's journey would have me puffing and panting.

And by the way, one does not need to consume pork rinds and boatloads of butter to be on Atkins... I don't consume pork, and my primary fat source is from olive oil. I also don't care for sugar or artificial sweeteners, and am doing just great!

The main factor for me, aside from the symptoms I had clearing up, is that I am no longer hungry every half hour! Thus, I am less inclined to overeat. Now, combine all of the above, and this is healthy, people!

I read the 'New Diet Revolution' book in around 2004 and for 6 months or so it really helped me and my health and also helped me lose weight.

I'm not a fan though of the idea that losing a ton of weight per week is healthy, nor that soy products or rice cheese is a health food, or that Splenda or saccharin or protein bars are health foods. I also don't agree that commercially farmed grain-fed meats and commercial diary products are health foods and found it disappointing that pasture-fed meats etc. weren't talked about in the book.

While the Atkins diet is hands down better than any low-fat or low calorie diet out there, it is not one I would recommend to others any more. I feel there are better ones out there, which take the best of what Atkins has to say and go a bit further with making it a really healthy diet.

I did really well on the original Atkin's diet with 20 grams of carbohydrate a day diet for 6 - 9 months or so. I felt well and had no more hypoglycemia and lost a lot of weight. But after that 6 months was up my body seemed to really struggle with it, perhaps due to the fact I have severe metabolic, endocrine, and cardiac problems. (I'm housebound and 95% bedbound and very disabled.) When I finally went back up to 50 - 75 grams of carbs a day (years later) I felt so much better, and finally was able to start losing some of the weight that had crept back on on my super-low carb regime. It was also a much more pleasant way to eat; being able to have 5 cups of veggies a day and a bit of fruit! Not eating so much meat was also WONDERFUL!!! I feel like staying on this super-low carb diet for so long delayed my health from beginning to improve as well, as it made my body work harder than it had to on food assimilation which of course leaves less metabolic energy and bodily resources left over for the work of healing.

Books such as Perfect Health Diet: Four Steps to Renewed Health, Youthful Vitality, and Long Life explain that eating very low carb and making your body convert proteins to carbs puts strain on the liver and uses up bodily resources, generates ammonia as a toxic by-product, puts a person at risk of glucose deprivation if the are ill or lacking in certain nutrients and makes nutrient deficiencies more likely due to lower fruit and vegetable intake. Very low carbohydrate intake can also cause problems with vitamin C utilisation that may even lead to scurvy, as vitamin C is stimulated by insulin. For these reasons they recommend eating an amount of carbs daily which is very close to how much the body actually needs; 200 - 400 carb calories daily (or roughly 50 - 100 grams of carbs daily). I agree with these authors that healthy people will likely have few problems converting one macronutrients to another (such as protein to carbs, and carbs to fat) but for those of us that are ill it is best to save your body the work and to eat foods in the appropriate macro-nutrient percentages to start with. That just seems to make so much sense!

I really regret staying on Atkins as long as I did. But I just couldn't accept that the book was wrong, or that what worked for a while so well might be no longer working somehow. My very poor health is now finally very slowly improving and I feel my dietary change is playing a significant role in that.

Where Dr Atkins really excels is in his book on nutrients and orthomolecular medicine. If you buy one book with Atkins written on the cover, make it Dr. Atkins' Vita-Nutrient Solution: Nature's Answer to Drugs for sure! That is a real 5 star book. It is still one of the best there is on this topic. It is an amazing achievement by Dr Atkins. I still refer to it regularly. I think it has just been re-released as an ebook too.

For books on eating low-carb and high fat, and how to eat the foods we were designed to do best with and so improve your health through diet, I instead recommend books such as Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and a Longer Life (by far the best diet and health book I know of) and also The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram your genes for effortless weight loss, vibrant health, and boundless energy (Primal Blueprint Series) and Perfect Health Diet: Four Steps to Renewed Health, Youthful Vitality, and Long Life (without their 'safe starches!).

5 stars for the work of Dr Atkins but only 3 stars for this problematic book.

Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for M.E.

at first i was a bit worried that a diet that promotes eating far, far more than the 60 grams of protien a day the americain dietary assoication recommends, just might overload my kidneys and liver. but what other options do i have, excercise, eat less, But why go to such extremes when i can do nothing but eat all day and melt away the pounds without promoting any healthy change in my life or my environment!!! bacon, sausage,ie all gods little critters sure look good on my plate, and i can eat as much as i want!!! not only can i eat all the red meat that i want now, i can also feel safe knowing that with the amount of antibiotics in my meat,i am safe from the kidney infections and colon cancer that are sure to follow! i would like to thank dr. adkins and his supporters the american cattlemens beef association for finding new innovative ways for me to be lazy yet lean. no carrots for this guy!!

I followed the conventional thinking of the 80's and 90's and ate my fill of carbs but counted every gram of fat that I let myself eat. The result was that I slowly gained 50 pounds in the 25 years after high school. A friend of mine, who is a retired professional (pedal) International Bike Racer told me about the Dr. Atkins diet two weeks ago; about how he had lost 12 pounds in only 14 days while on this medically sound, but unconventional low carb diet! What a crock I said, starve yourself of carbs and let your body fall into Ketosis so you body has to burn your own body fat -- Ridiculous! But with his continued insistance, I took his copy of "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution" and after reading the first 50 - 60 pages I decided to start the diet as described in the book.

Now, I have already lost 10 pounds in 9 days, only partway through the 14 day initial stage of the lifetime diet approach this book promotes. Well, I can honestly tell you I have not craved any foods, including my former daily addiction: chocolate. I have not gone hungry, or had any ill health. In fact, my mental sharpness has increased, especially my short term memory! Of note, I have the one of those nifty Tanita "Fat" Weight Scales that measures your weight and also your % of body fat. My lean body mass (weight - fat = lean body mass) has stayed within one pound of my before diet LBM, so the weight loss has all been fat! My weight and my % body fat have both decreased in direct proportion, so I am not losing water, nor am I scavaging muscle protein -- it's all been fat loss! The big bonus is that my muscle strength has increased, and my build looks more and more muscular as the fat disappears. Even the double chin that I inherited from my Mother's side of the family is getting smaller every day! (Now, if only my hair would stop receding and grow back...)

I understand that I am just starting this diet, and I also understand that it runs against the current tide of low fat / high carb diets out there, but THIS DIET WORKS FOR ME! I have effortlessly lost 10 pounds in 9 days, and reduced my weight down to what it was 4 years ago. No low fat, high carb diet has done anything like that for me in one or two months, let alone in just 9 days! I now have no doubt that I will be able to lose 30 more pounds and stabilize my weight down at 200 pounds, and keep it there in the years to come!

This diet is really worth trying, especially if you can't lose weight by restricting fats and replacing them with carbs. For many of us, "fat free" foods are not the answer, and Dr. Atkins explains why in this book. Honestly, for less than the cost of a good meal at a restaurant, what do you have to lose by buying this book and trying one more diet. I hope your success equals my own!

I am 58 and had been gradually gaining weight for years, even though I exercise regularly at a gym. I had some cancer surgery at age 53 and because of that and my advancing age had figured that my weight gain and loss of energy was just a normal cycle in growing older.

I decided to try Atkins when my wife bought the book and he said you would regain energy you thought you could never see again. Hell, that was worth two weeks of trying.

I started at 213 pounds with a target weight of 195. The first three or four days were tough but after that it was not so bad. To make a long story short, I have lost 35 pounds, weigh less than I have since I was in my 20's, and have more energy than I can remember in many years. I am an animal at the gym! My weight loss occured over 3 months.

Now, I must say, that I don't adhere strictly to Atkins now that I am in maintenance phase....I eat some potatoes, bread, etc. But I have an extremely high exercise regimen (10 hrs week, hard). I avoid my old nemesis, chocolates, chips, pastas...ie empty carbs. Generally I average about 90 carbs a day including a couple glasses of milk. I am not gaining any weight back. And it is easy for me to restrict carbs if I gain an ounce or two. I probably have my lowest body fat percentage ever. Oh, and I have been able to discontinue the blood pressure medication I had been on. Not bad, eh? I would give this a try if you've got some try left in you!

My Doctor asked me if I had tried Atkins when I complained about the incredible frustration I had trying to lose weight while I just got bigger and bigger. I bought it. I read it (4 times now). I've lost 54lbs and have kept it off for over a year so far. I will lose another 20-30. No I don't "hope" I can. No I'm not "trying" to. I will. I now have control of my eating for the first time in my living memory. I eat healthier than I ever have in my life. Your choice but for me this has been the most beneficial book for my health physically and mentally that I have ever read plain and simple.

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.

I gave this book one star so that, if you're like me and you list all the reviews by 'lowest rating', you'll be sure to get some TRUTH with the other low reviews. Simply, this diet works, and it works on more than one level. You will lose weight, and you will feel better!
The reviewers who mentioned they were in pain from low carb intake must be lying. I personally had no pain, and I don't know anyone who has tried this diet who has complained of any pain. Personally, I assume such reviews are phony and probably come from competitors in the 'diet market'.
I've been on this diet for 10 days and have lost 9 pounds. Both of my parents are on the diet and have lost about the same amount as I have. We all feel great! In the last week, I lost 3 pounds, which is less than the 6 pounds I lost the first week. However, you will lose water weight the first week, so don't be surprised if you slow down after the first week.

If you eat a lot of sugar, you will go through withdrawals just as you would from cessation of any other addiction (yes, sugar is addictive). You may feel tired for the first few days on this diet, then you're energy will come back stronger than ever!

Also, many people confuse ketoacidosis in diabetics, which can cause kidney damage, with the benign dietary ketosis that this diet will put you in. If you do not presently have kidney problems, and are not diabetic, you should have nothing to worry about. I am (was) mildy hypoglycemic, and have had no problems with this diet.

As for variety, I recommend getting the cookbook that Dr. Atkins puts out - it has about 200 recipes - including low carb breads you can make (2 gms carbs per slice). If you only eat eggs and bacon for breakfast, you will get bored... try to mix it up a little! Once you get beyond the first part of the diet, your choices grow.

The first part of the diet is the most restrictive. It limits you to 20 gms of carbs a day for a two-week period. If you can't do that, try 30 gms carbs/day... most people can go into benign dietary ketosis with under 40 gms carbs/day. I think Dr. Atkins uses 20 gms as a rule so that everyone will go into ketosis - even those who are metabolically resistant. Read the book through all the way before you go on the diet; do the research and find out how you can vary your diet.

As with any diet, if you are not healthy, consult your physician (however note: many physicians don't know the facts about benign dietary ketosis and will confuse this bdk with the ketoacidosis of diabetics).

I recommend adding exercise to your program after you experience the newfound energy of the diet and after you see the pounds coming off on their own. When all that happens, you WILL be highly motivate to GET YOUR BODY IN SHAPE.