Atkins Phase 1 Ideas

The first phase of the Atkins diet is definitely the strictest of all because of the very limited food choices allowed. Also called the induction phase, the objective of this phase is to decrease your cravings and jump-start your weight loss by switching your body into fat burning mode quickly. This occurs via a metabolic pathway known as ketosis. This is why the induction phase limits carbohydrates to 20 g a day, which should be provided mainly by non-starchy vegetables, as all grains, legumes, fruits, milk, yogurt, sugar and even nuts and seeds are eliminated during this first phase of the Atkins program.

Breakfast

Without toast, oatmeal or breakfast cereals, you may find that your options are quite limited. However, if you enjoy eggs, you will be happy to learn that you can have them every day for breakfast. You can prepare them in a variety of ways: hard-boiled, fried, poached, scrambled or as an omelet. Throw in your favorite vegetables, such as spinach, mushrooms or broccoli, some ham, bacon or cheese and you are good to go. However, if you need to skip the eggs a few days a week, you can have smoked salmon with cream cheese, avocado and cucumber, slices of roast beef rolled with mayonnaise, cheese and slices of red bell pepper, grilled portobello mushroom caps stuffed with ground meat, diced veggies with a bit of cheese, or even leftovers from last night.

Lunch

The easiest option for lunch is salad. This is a good way to introduce large quantity of your foundation salad vegetables, including leafy greens, radishes, cucumber, alfalfa sprouts and mushrooms, for example. Top your salad with an appropriate serving of protein, which can be either chicken, sliced beef, pork, ham or salmon. You can add some cheese, bacon, olives or avocado and use a low-carb salad dressing or a mixture of vegetable oil and vinegar.

Dinner

At dinnertime, everybody in the family can eat the same meal, even though you are on the induction phase of the Atkins diet. Simply remove the carbohydrate-rich foods, such as potatoes, rice, bread or pasta, from your own plate. For example, you can have a generous serving of steak, chicken breast, chicken leg, salmon or tilapia fish served with an abundance of foundation vegetables. Add salad dressing, cream, butter or oil to get your required serving of fat. If pasta is served, replace the traditional carbohydrate-rich pasta with spaghetti squash.

Snack

There are a lot of yummy low-carb snack ideas suitable for the first phase of the Atkins diet. You can have 1 to 2 oz. of cheese, beef jerky, one to two hard-boiled eggs, slices of roast beef rolled with mayonnaise and cucumber, a lettuce leaf wrapped around a slice of ham and grated cheese, a celery stick spread with cream cheese or cucumber slices topped with tuna salad. After two weeks on the induction phase, you can introduce nuts and nut butter to add more variety to your snack options.