Sun, Aug-23-09, 14:12
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Senior Member
Posts: 10,733
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Plan: Atkins (DANDR)
Stats: 290/141/130
BF:
Progress: 93%
Location: Bournemouth (UK)
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Originally Posted by Bexicon
I don't have either of Atkins' books; would someone who does mind clarifying his rationale for eating vegetables?
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Here are a few veggie quotes from the first few chapters of DANDR 2002
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The Atkins Nutritional Approach is composed of protein and fat, both essential to the human body, plus controlled quantities of the most nutrient-dense carbohydrates, primarily in the form of vegetables
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Vegetables do contain some carbohydrates, but they also contain a wide and wondrous variety of vitamins and minerals. However, you can eat plenty of vegetables with high concentrations of beneficial nutrients and still control your carbs.
During Induction, your primary source of fiber will be vegetables.
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Let us sing a song of veggies. Such beautiful, health-enhancing, varied foods. Adaptable to every cuisine worldwide, nothing in the world of cooking has more variety of taste and texture. I am waxing rhapsodic about vegetables, but their virtues are firmly grounded in scientific research.
Vegetables, if you choose the right ones, are very high-powered nutrient packages. These advantages come-once again if you choose your vegetables carefully-at a relatively low metabolic cost. That means that you are getting high fiber and phytochemicals with relatively low numbers of calories and carbohydrates.
So if some misguided individual tells you that you won't eat vegetables when you do Atkins, wave this chapter (with a stalk of celery, for good measure) at him or her. You will. And, it's just possible, if you are a typical American, that you will eat more vegetables than you ever ate before. Because despite what Mom, and countless other mothers before her, advised, most people do not eat nearly the amount of vegetables they should.
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Nature dovetails with the Atkins plan beautifully, and the vegetables densest in nutrients happen to be those lowest in carbs. Salad greens and other leafy greens-escarole, spinach, parsley, watercress, arugula, Boston and romaine lettuce-are nutrient powerhouses that are low on the glycemic index.
Some other excellent health choices include asparagus, bamboo shoots, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, eggplant, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, okra, onions, pumpkin, scallions, snow peas, spaghetti squash, string or wax beans, Swiss chard, tomato, turnips, water chestnuts and zucchini.
Even during Induction, the first phase of Atkins, and the one which is most restrictive of carbohydrates, most of you will be able to eat one cup of those vegetables daily, as well as two cups of salad vegetables (or just three cups of salad vegetables). As your metabolism permits, most of you will add more vegetables during the increasingly liberal phases that follow.
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One way to look at nutrient value is to measure the concentration of antioxidants in food. Antioxidants are a special group of vitamins and phytochemicals that protect your cells from the ravages of environmental pollution, stress, disease and aging. Researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston studied the antioxidant capacity of common vegetables and assigned each vegetable an antioxidant score. I've taken that score and divided it by the number of grams of carbohydrate in the same-size serving of each vegetable or fruit and thus computed what I now call the Atkins Ratio.
Look at the numbers in the Atkins Ratio below. As you can see, garlic is in a class by itself. The cruciferous vegetables-broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts and cabbage-which extensive research has shown to be a group of potent cancer fighters, are well up there. Onions also play a starring role. From this already rich list, let's identify some vegetable all-stars.
Atkins Ratio
Garlic (1 clove) 23.2
Leaf Lettuce (1 leaf) 8.2
Kale (1/2 cup raw) 6.5
Onion (1 tablespoon) 6.2
Spinach (1/2 cup raw) 5.0
Broccoli (1/2 cup raw) 3.2
Red Bell Pepper (1/2 cup raw) 2.5
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The world of vegetables is filled with natural chemicals that help protect you from illness. Scientists now call these defenders phytonutrients-phyto being Greek for plant. Here, for instance, are three phytonutrients that have been shown to lower the risk of cancer. Bear in mind that a complete list would be long enough to fill an entire book.
1. Beta carotene: You'll find a rich supply in green vegetables such as spinach, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and beans, as well as in squash, peppers and yams.
2. Lycopene: The king of this nutrient hill is the tomato, and there is very good reason to think it will help protect you from prostate cancer. Note, however, that fresh tomatoes contain less lycopene than tomato puree or tomato juice.
3. Lutein: This carotenoid has been identified with reduced breast cancer risk, and it can be found in kale, collard greens, spinach and yellow squash.
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Vegetables don't have to become your favorite food, but if you can lure yourself into dietary habits that put more of them on your plate than most Americans eat, you will be doing your noble, hard-working body an immense favor.
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