From the Atkins Website
There are a number of dos and don'ts you must adhere to for successful weight loss.
You must:
Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of pure water daily. This can be filtered, mineral or spring water (not seltzer). You may also have unlimited amounts of herbal tea (without sugar), but these do not count toward your total of eight glasses.
Drink only decaffeinated coffee and tea and use only acceptable sweeteners.
Treat aspartame (NutraSweet® or Equal®) with caution. Avoid whenever possible. This includes products sweetened with these ingredients, such as diet sodas and diet Jell-O. Instead use sucralose, (Splenda®) or saccharin (Sweet 'n Low™).
Check labels on other products that purport to be low- or controlled carb.
When eating out, be careful you're not consuming "hidden" carbohydrates in sauces or breaded products. Tell your waiter that you would like your food prepared free of sugar, flour and cornstarch.
At a minimum, take a good daily multivitamin with minerals, including potassium, magnesium and calcium, but without iron.
Unless you are physically unable to do so, exercise every day, even if it's just a walk around the block. This is an important part of the program in all phases and will certainly increase the rate at which you lose weight. That's because exercise not only causes you to burn calories, it also accelerates your metabolism.
You can:
Have a snack of a permissible food an hour or two after a meal if you wish.
You must not:
· Overeat. You may have heard that you can eat as much as you desire of the acceptable foods. No so. Stuff yourself with steaks and cheeseburgers, and some of that protein will convert to glucose in your body. Instead, simply eat the amount that allows you to feel satisfied.
· Drink alcohol in any form.
· Use more than three packets of sucralose (Splenda) daily. (More and more products are being made with Splenda so if you use any, don't forget to include those grams in your tally.)
· Cheat. It takes two to three days for the body to switch from burning carbohydrates (in the form of glucose) to fat burning. One cheat and you're back to a glucose-burning metabolism, and you can lose the effects of two or three days of fat burning.
You must not eat any of the following:
· Sugar (in any form, including corn syrup, honey and maple syrup)
· Milk or yogurt (cream is allowed in limited amounts)
· Fruit and fruit juice
· Flour products (breads, pasta, crackers, etc.)
· Grains or cereals
· Beans and legumes
· Starchy or high-sugar vegetables (potatoes, yams, corn, peas, parsnips, beets, carrots)
· Sweet condiments (such as most ketchups, barbeque sauce and balsamic vinegar)
· French dressing, Thousand Island dressing (check labels for carb count)
· Cottage cheese, farmer's cheese and other fresh cheeses
· Nuts and seeds
Acceptable Foods
These are the foods you may eat liberally during Induction:
All fish, including All fowl, including All shellfish, including All meat, including All eggs, including
Tuna Chicken Oysters* Beef Scrambled
Salmon Turkey Mussels* Pork Fried
Sole Duck Lobster Lamb Poached
Trout Goose Clams Bacon** Soft-boiled
Flounder Cornish hen Squid Veal Hard-boiled
Sardines Quail Shrimp Ham** Devilled
Herring Pheasant Crabmeat Venison omelets
*Oysters and mussels are higher in carbs than other shellfish, so limit them to four ounces per day.
**Processed meats, such as ham, bacon, pepperoni, salami, hot dogs and other luncheon meats—and some fish—may be cured with added sugar and will contribute carbs. Try to avoid meat and fish products cured with nitrates, which are known carcinogens. Also beware of products that are not exclusively meat, fish or fowl, such as imitation fish, meatloaf and breaded foods. Finally, do not consume more than four ounces of organ meats a day.
Other Foods That Are Acceptable During Induction
Cheese You can consume three to four ounces daily of the following full-fat, firm, soft and semisoft aged cheeses*, including:
cheddar cow, sheep and goat cheese cream cheese Gouda
mozzarella Roquefort and other blue cheeses Swiss
*All cheeses have some carbohydrate content. The quantity you eat should be governed by that knowledge. The rule of thumb is to count 1 ounce of cheese as equivalent to 1 gram of carbohydrate. Note that cottage cheese, farmer’s cheese and other fresh cheeses are not permitted during Induction. No "diet" cheese, cheese spreads or whey cheeses are permitted. Individuals with known yeast symptoms, dairy allergy or cheese intolerance must avoid cheese. Imitation cheese products are not allowed, except for soy or rice cheese—but check the carbohydrate content.
Vegetables You can have two to three cups per day of: These salad vegetables are high in phytonutrients and provide a good source of fiber.
alfalfa sprouts daikon mushrooms arugula
endive parsley bok choy escarole
peppers celery fennel radicchio
chicory jicama radishes chives
lettuce romaine lettuce cucumber mâche
sorrel
Other Vegetables You can have one cup per day of these veggies if salad does not exceed two cups. The following vegetables are slightly higher in carbohydrate content than the salad vegetables:
artichoke celery root pumpkin rhubarb
artichoke hearts asparagus chard sauerkraut
bamboo shoots scallions collard greens dandelion
snow peas bean sprouts beet greens dandelion greens
spaghetti squash eggplant spinach kale
hearts of palm broccoli string or wax beans Brussels sprouts
summer squash broccoli rabe kohlrabi tomato
bean sprouts leeks turnips cabbage
okra water chestnuts cauliflower onion
zucchini If a vegetable, such as spinach or tomato, cooks down significantly, it must be measured raw so as not to underestimate its carb count.
Salad Garnishes
crumbled crisp bacon grated cheese minced hard-boiled egg sautéed mushrooms
sour cream
Spices All spices to taste, but make sure none contain added sugar.
Herbs
basil garlic cayenne pepper ginger
rosemary sage cilantro oregano
tarragon dill pepper Thyme
For salad dressing, use oil and vinegar (but not balsamic vinegar, which contains sugar) or lemon juice and herbs and spices. Prepared salad dressings without added sugar and no more than two carbs per tablespoon serving are also fine.
Acceptable Fats and Oils Many fats, especially certain oils, are essential to good nutrition. Olive oil is particularly valuable. All other vegetable oils are allowed, the best being canola, walnut, soybean, grapeseed, sesame, sunflower and safflower oils, especially if they are labelled "cold-pressed" or "expeller-pressed." Do not cook polyunsaturated oils, such as corn, soybean and sunflower oil, at high temperatures or allow to brown or smoke.Butter is allowed. Margarine should be avoided, not because of its carbohydrate content, but because it is usually made of trans fats (hydrogenated oils), which are a serious health hazard. (Some non-hydrogenated margarines are available in health-food stores.)You don't have to remove the skin and fat from meat or fowl. Salmon and other cold-water fish are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids.Remember that trying to do a low-fat version of the Atkins Nutritional ApproachTM will interfere with fat burning and derail your weight loss.
Artificial Sweeteners
You must determine which artificial sweeteners agree with you, but the following are allowed: sucralose (marketed as Splenda™), saccharin, cyclamate and acesulfame-K. Natural sweeteners ending in the suffix "-ose," such as maltose, fructose, etc., should be avoided. However, certain sugar alcohols, such as maltitol, do not affect blood sugar and are acceptable.
Saccharin has been extensively studied, and harmful effects were produced in the lab when fed to rats only in extremely high doses. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has removed saccharin from its list of carcinogens, basing its decision upon a thorough review of the medical literature and the National Institute of Science’s statement that there is "no clear association between saccharin and human cancer." It can be safely consumed in moderation, meaning no more than three packets a day. Saccharin is marketed as Sweet'n Low™.
We discourage the use of aspartame (marketed as NutraSweet® and Equal®) because of clinical observations that it slows weight loss in certain individuals. The FDA has approved the herb stevia for use only as a supplement, not as a sweetener.
The Atkins preference, however, is sucralose (Splenda™), the only sweetener made from sugar. Sucralose is safe, non-caloric and does not raise blood sugar. It has been used in Canada for years, and the FDA recently approved it after reviewing more than 100 studies conducted over the past 20 years. Note that each packet of sugar substitute contains about 1 gram of carbohydrate, so don’t forget to include the amount in your daily totals.
Acceptable Beverages
Be sure to drink a minimum of eight eight-ounce glasses of water each day, including:
· Filtered water
· Mineral water
· Spring water
· Tap water
Additionally, you can have the following:
· Clear broth/bouillon (not all brands; read the label)
· Club soda
· Cream, heavy or light (limit to two to three tablespoons a day; note carbohydrate content)
· Decaffeinated coffee or tea*
· Diet soda made with sucralose (Splenda™); be sure to count the carbs
· Essence-flavoured seltzer (must say "no calories" and should not contain aspartame)
· Herb tea (without barley or any fruit sugar added)
· Lemon juice or lime juice (note that each contains 2.8 grams carbohydrate per ounce); limit to two to three tablespoons
*Excessive caffeine may cause unstable blood sugar and should be avoided by those who suspect they are caffeine dependent. Everyone should try to avoid caffeine. Grain beverages (coffee substitutes) are not allowed. Alcoholic beverages are also not permitted during Induction; those low in carbohydrates are an option, in moderation, in later phases.
Special Category Foods
To add variety, each day you can also eat 10 to 20 olives, half a small avocado, an ounce of sour cream or three ounces of unsweetened heavy cream, as well as two to three tablespoons of lemon juice or lime juice. But be aware that these foods occasionally slow down weight loss in some people, and may need to be avoided in the first two weeks. If you seem to be losing slowly, moderate your intake of these foods.
Convenience Foods
Although it is important that you eat primarily unprocessed foods, some controlled carb food products can come in handy when you are unable to find appropriate food, can’t take time for a meal or need a quick snack. More and more companies are creating healthy food products that can be eaten during the Induction phase of Atkins. Just remember two things:
Not all convenience food products are the same, so check labels and carbohydrate content. While any of these foods can make doing Atkins easier, don’t overdo it. Remember, you must always follow The Rules of Induction.
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