Skyspinner:

I put Atkins on one end of the diet spectrum and Pritikin on the other. The basic difference is in daily carb intake. I found Atkins too limiting for me with 30 or fewer carbs/day.

Schwarzbein recomments 60 to 90 depending on your activity level. She advocates exercise. You don't count anything other that carbs each day. She also says never eat a carbohydrate alone. Each meal should have PVCF (protein, veggie, carbo, fat). 3 meals/day. Plus 2 snacks which are PV or PC or PF. She also strongly recommends: no caffeine, aspartame (or any other artificial sweeteners), no man-made processed food. That includes protein powders, bars, etc. For carbs the program includes starchy veggies, whole grains, and fruit, again, which you have at each meal. One other recommendation she makes is with cheese. She says no to any yellow cheese. Most white cheese varieties are fine (a few she lists in a 'eat occasionally' list).

Most of the TSP'ers find that weight loss on the scale is much slower that Atkins, but inches come off. The difference for me is that great feeling that I'm not dieting and the TSP program is very do-able for life. The underlying foundation of her program is to build a healthy body and a stable metabolism.

I'm afraid that until the public catches on to this WOE, coffee shops and airplanes will be places where we LC'ers avoid eating.

There's actually much more to learn from reading Dr. S's book so I apologize for the very brief summary of her excellent explanations.

Susan