What Can You Eat With Dr Atkins Diet?

Dieting to many people means eating boring food from limited choices. On the Atkins' Diet, you can eat hundreds of food types prepared in delicious ways. The only consideration in making food selections requires limiting the grams of carbohydrates consumed with an emphasis on selecting carbohydrates from whole foods with high fiber content. The food choices to avoid on the Atkins' Diet include those prepared with sugar, hydrogenated oils and white flour.

Meat and Fish

On the Atkins' Diet, you may eat all meat including beef, pork, lamb, veal, ham or venison as long as the preparation does not include processing with added ingredients or curing with sugar. Eating chicken, turkey, duck, goose, quail and pheasant presents no problem in staying on the diet. You may consume all kinds of fish---although you should limit oysters and mussels to 4 oz per day. These rules do not change as you move through the four stages of the Atkins' Diet.

Vegetables

In Phase 1 of the Atkins' Diet, the glycemic food index -- the effect of individual foods on blood glucose levels -- limits approved vegetable choices primarily to green and white-colored vegetables excluding potatoes. Add higher glycemic value vegetables such as legumes, carrots and squash in later Atkins' Diet stages.

Dairy

You can consume 3 to 4 oz per day of cheese including cheddar, cow or goat cheese, cream cheese, blue cheeses and Swiss cheese. Fresh and aged cheeses become available in Phase 2. You may eat or use dairy products with high fat content such as cream and butter, but not higher carbohydrate dairy products such as milk, chocolate milk and yogurt.

Recipes

You can find recipes representing favorite foods with French, American, Asian, Italian, Mexican and Mediterranean style on the Atkins' Diet, as long as the quantity of individual recipe ingredients and food types remain with approved limits. Dr. Atkins' cookbooks and website provide inspiration for meal selection and preparation.

Preparation

Prepare foods for the Atkins' Diet in any preferred way as long as you do not add carbohydrates such as breading or sauces with sugar or flour. You can eat foods that you broil, grill, bake, steam or fry. The Atkins' Diet gives high recommendation to foods served raw rather than cooked including salad ingredients and snacks.