[airspirit]

There is a problem with listening to nutritionists (sounds funny, doesn't it?): 1) this goes against everything they were ever taught, 2) they look at this as a short-term diet rather than a long-term way of eating, and 3) most of them have a stake in discounting this (since they have advocated other dietary methods for years, and in many cases could be open to liability). Most of the things listed on that site are completely unapplicable to the vast majority of people that stick with it long-term.

The biggest misunderstanding is in blood-lipids and cholesterol. People think that eating fatty foods will increase them, and that's true ... if you're eating a large carbohydrate load as well. If you're not, then your body will be able to take care of these better than it could if you were "eating healthy" by the nutritionist's standards. I was actually pointed to this diet because of my horrible numbers ... and it takes a few months before you start seeing significant drops.

As far as this being a "dramatic" diet form, I would have to strongly disagree. For most of human history (and even now in many areas) this is the typical diet. Greece is a prime example, being steeped in whole grains and fatty foods, though they have some of the lowest risk rates of disease of most areas worldwide. France was the same way, until they were McDonaldized. Before believing what the "experts" tell you, actually look for research. Many of the things that are asserted on those links are directly refuted by scientific studies (which IMHO are more reliable than the "expert" conventional wisdom you're linking to). You can find tons of links to these studies at the atkins web site (and yes, they are all independent studies that were NOT funded by atkins ... they were linked to make a point).

Naturally, though, if you go on this as a short term diet plan then you will fail and gain your weight back. I don't plan on going back, so I'm not going to worry about it. Besides, I feel better now than I have in a very long time.

Oh, and I'm at -23 lbs after 3.5 weeks. So much for the -20 lbs in six months as reported by one of those links. I've lost about 2-3 inches off of my waist, my replacement wedding ring (my old one wouldn't fit anymore) is too loose to really wear safely, and my extra chin is almost gone. I'm still on track to hit my goal by mid-October. I figure I'm at the end of my pound-a-day loss area and I should settle down to about .2-.5 lb/day shortly.