The Atkins Diet has different menus for its four phases because it is based on the principle that you shouldn't eat bread, fruits, pasta, rice and starchy vegetables at all during the first phase and your carbohydrate intake during the latter stages depends on how it affects your weight. Atkins' menus encourage consumption of a lot of high-fat, high-protein foods such as eggs, fish, fowl, meat and shellfish.
Principle
The late Dr. Robert Atkins believed that body fat is caused by a rapid increase in your blood-sugar levels. The glycemic index measures which foods cause rapid hikes in blood sugar. "Fat causes virtually no blood sugar elevation and protein, very little elevation," wrote Atkins in "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution." Many foods that have little fat have very high glycemic index scores, including bagels, pineapples, macaroni, instant rice and baked potatoes. Other carbohydrates, including leafy vegetables, have low glycemic index scores.
Introduction
You're allowed to eat only 20 g of carbohydrates daily during the two-week induction phase of the Atkins Diet. The complete ban on all carbohydrates, except for limited amounts of cheese and nonstarchy vegetables is based on Atkins' belief that your body needs to convert from relying on carbohydrates for energy, to relying on fats, as soon as possible. Atkins' induction menu includes eggs for breakfast eight times in 14 days, salads for lunch 12 times in 14 days and veal, salmon, steak, turkey, pork and chicken dinners.
Transition
Your body craves fewer carbohydrates after it starts to rely on fats for energy. Consequently, you can add carbohydrates to your diet during the ongoing weight loss phase, which lasts until you're only 5 to 10 lbs. overweight. Atkins recommended adding 5 g of carbs weekly. You can start eating nuts, berries, beans, other fruits, starchy vegetables and grains in this phase. Atkins' ongoing weight loss menu includes a lot of vegetarian dishes such as stuffed peppers, eggplant parmesan, tofu over spinach and spaghetti squash.
Individuality
Different individuals react to carbohydrates differently. Consequently, your Atkins diet, during its third and fourth phases, can be different from that of a friend. During the third phase, the premaintenance phase, you can add 10 g of carbohydrates weekly. However, you must stop adding carbs when they cause weight gain. People with "extremely low-carb tolerance" might have to return to their phase one and two diets, Atkins wrote. Fish, however, is carb-free so everyone's premaintenance menu can include bass, salmon, crabcakes, shrimp, scallops and lobster.
Lifetime
The Atkins Diet's fourth phase, the lifetime maintenance, begins when you're at your ideal weight. Atkins didn't believe that calories cause weight gain unless meals contain too many carbohydrates, so you can eat "a lifetime of delicious meals," he wrote in "Diet Revolution." The diet's typical lifetime maintenance menu includes snacks and a dinner that features herbed-roast chicken with lemon, wild rice with mushrooms, lettuce and watercress salad with French dressing and chocolate cake. Lamb, veal, poultry, pork and beef can all be eaten in generous quantities.
References
- "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution"; Dr. Robert Atkins; 2002
- "Atkins Diabetes Revolution"; Dr. Robert Atkins, Mary Vernon and Jacqueline Eberstein; 2004
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