The Atkins diet consists of four phases that are supposed to help you change your eating habits permanently to lose weight and keep it off. The strictest of the four phases is phase one. As each phase progresses, you can slowly incorporate more carbohydrates back into your diet, but still in limited amounts. Check with your health care provider before you start the Atkins diet to ensure it's right for you.
Sugars
Almost all sugars are prohibited in the beginning phases of the Atkins diet because they contain carbohydrates. Even fruits are prohibited in phase 1 because they contain sugars, although they are natural sugars. The beginning phase consists of eating meats and vegetables. You are allowed to eat any type of meat and almost every type of vegetable you want.
Alcohol
Alcohol is not allowed in the beginning phases of the Atkins diet because it contains sugar. Beer, wine and hard liquor are all off limits. The official Atkins website does note that you can have a low-carb beer or a small amount of mixed spirits with club soda or water, but you cannot have a mixed spirit that has mixers containing added sugars or natural fruit juices if you've been on phase 1 for longer than two weeks. The official Atkins website says alcohol can impede weight loss. After the initial two-week mark of the Atkins diet, this will become one of your newly adopted lifestyle habits: low-carb beer and mixed spirits that do not contain mixers with carbs or natural fruit juices. There are no exceptions.
Slow Reintroduction
In the second phase of the Atkins diet, you can begin to slowly reintroduce sugars and other carbohydrates back into your diet. You can include certain fruits, such as blueberries, strawberries and cantaloupe, along with other carbs and increase this amount with each phase, until you reach the last phase, which is supposed to be a permanent lifestyle adjustment stage.
By the Numbers
In phase 1, the strictest phase, you can have 12 to 15 grams of net carbs daily. In the second phase, you can add five daily net carbs per week and 10 in the third phase. In the final phase, you can eat foods from the approved phase 1, 2 and 3 food lists to add variety to your diet.
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