After over 17 million copies of the book has been sold, this book is still labelled as “…the only one you need”.

At an impressive 542 pages long this book is quite a read in which Dr Atkins explains the basis for his diet, the implementation and gives some idea of the results you should expect.

The book is very dull to look at inside but does an excellent job I feel of explaining the how and the why. Once I had read the book I had a full understanding of how to carry out the diet and didn’t feel the need to go back and reread any sections.

What I would say is that if you have any level of health knowledge the intitial chapters in the book may prove rather simple and unchallenging and I found myself skiping ahead at various stages.

The recipes contained in the book are good though I would recommend getting the additional Atkins Diet recipe book which is available and so provides you with plenty more choices. The fact is that on the Atkins Diet Induction Phase the food choices are pretty limited to the more recipes you can have the better.

Dr. Atkins also provides in the book a useful table giving the carb counts for a wide range of foods meaning you can create your own meals (like the ones I have mentioned on this blog) and still factor them into your daily diet regime.

Atkins also encourages exercise which is a good point and he states it is a vital component of the diet. This is refreshing to see after the GI Diet book I read recently said exercise was unnecessary when on that diet.

Well worth getting hold of as an introduction but get the additional recipes if possible to give you more food choices.

Popularity: 12% [?]

The Atkins Diet is unlike any other diet and requires a special type of person to succeed at it. It takes quite a bit of getting used to initially and I thought that as I am now nearing the end of my month-long experiment into the Atkins Diet I would take you through what I see as some of the pros and cons of the diet so you can make up your own mind on whether you want to give it a try.

Pros

Immediate Results

I lost almost a pound a day in the first week. That’s an absolutely amazing result. So many people are searching for rapid weight loss and this seems like the best way so far to do it. Sure, my weight loss slowed down considerably after that, but it’s a good motivator and will help shed a few critical pounds if needs be before a party or vacation.

You Get To Eat Some Good Stuff

Cream, bacon, eggs and so on. There is some good stuff you can eat. We have made some delicious meals over the past few weeks and there are a multitude of recipes available for you to try out. On what other diet can you have bacon and eggs for breakfast? What about roast duck for dinner?!

You Can Eat Out

It’s not easy, but a steak or piece of fish, together with authorized vegetables or a salad plus a glass of water should be achievable if you’re going out to eat so you don’t have to hide away while on the diet.

Cons

Loads Of Washing Up

There aren’t really any quick and easy snacks or meals possible. The best I found was to buy some prepared salad, add some chopped feta cheese and ham and eat that as a salad. But you can’t eat nuts, fruit, cereal, crisps etc. on the Atkins Diet. Virtually everything has to be cooked because of the basic dairy, meat and vegetables premise. THis created a lot more washing up than we are used to.

It’s Expensive

While vegetables tend to be reasonably priced, buying lots of eggs, cheese, cream and meat soon gets expensive and our grocery bills soared while on the diet. The upside is you know you’re buying quality produce but this is not a diet to start if you’re on a tight budget.

I Felt Deprived

Even though I could eat bacon and so on, I still actually felt more deprived than on the Body For Life diet. I missed my bowls of cereal. I missed my fat-free yogurts. I missed my fruit. The “sweet element” was lacking in general though we did find a few suitable desserts. I don’t even have a very sweet tooth, but after a while the thought of yet more bacon and eggs does make you crave something sweet and light on the stomach.

Because of this, plus the fact I soon started to get bored with the limited food choices available on the Induction Phase I would regard Atkins, for me at least, as a short-term diet rathet than something I could see myself carrying on for years to come. This is in stark contrast to the Body For Life diet which I feel can be maintained indefinately.

People Think You’re Mad

Fair wanring: if you tell most people you’re on the Atkins Diet they think you’re insane. There is an aura around Atkins. Most people have no experience or knowledge of it and their opinions are based purely on what is said in the media, or what a friend of a friend said. So beware. You may need to re-educate some of your friends. It may be easier to just say you’re on a diet and only eat meat and veg at the moment.

Is It Safe?

I’m not a doctor and I’m not here to tell you whether it is safe or not. My suspicion is that it certainly isn’t the healthiest diet around with all the fatty foods you eat but that for short periods of time the effect is going to be minimal. However only you can make that choice for yourself.

Popularity: 14% [?]

The closest thing I could create to that instituation - the fast food restaurant.

We took some beef mince and kneaded it together with carefully shopped red onions and red pepper for flavor and color. We added in butter to help the mixture stick and to also add a nice texture and then took small golf-ball sized balls of the mixture, flattened it gently and placed them onto a grill tray.

Oven cooked until brown throughout these took around 20-30 minutes, with a small amount of grated cheese added a few minutes before they were ready to come out.

The “fries” were simply butternut squash, cut into thin strips and coated in sunflower oil and assorted herbs.

Served with a little sugar-free mayonnaise this Atkins diet recipe really went down a treat!

Popularity: 20% [?]

Bonus Tip 1 - Desserts

I don’t really have a sweet tooth but while on the Atkins Diet eating lots of dairy and meat I did start to long for something sweet. I am therefore pleased to reveal the two things which kept me going.

Firstly there is an egg custard recipe you can make with sugar substitute, coconut milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and  egg yolk. It’s quicka dn easy to make and tastes great once it has set. The full recipe is in the standard Atkins Diet book.

The other thing was sugar-free jelly with cream.

I only ate these desserts once every day or two, but they rounded off the day nicely for me after all the other food.

Bonus Tip 2 - Condiments

Typically when you look at sauces to add to meals they contain all sorts of non-Atkins things. Sugar. Cereals. And so on. Over time I started to use plenty of herbs and spices to, well, spice things up. I made garlic butter. I added ginger and lemongrass to cream and condensed it down to make an oriental-style sauce. I used vanilla, rum extracts, basil and so on. So use your brain. Gather a load of herbs and spices and see what you can come up with.

Popularity: 15% [?]

This meal is the closest I could come up with to a Chinese takeaway meal (which I love!) which would still stick within the guidelines of the induction phase of the Atkins diet.

The meal consists of roast duck in the center - cooked in the oven at 200′C for 20 minutes per 500 grams of weight plus 20 minutes (which clocked in at around an hour and a half for our duck).

Accompanying the duck are water chestnuts and yellow pepper for color and added bulk.

Next, the slices of cucmber added a welcome coolness and worked really well both with the duck and the sauce.

The sauce for this Atkins diet recipe was single cream gently reduced down on the hob with chopped garlic and grated ginger added to it. Leave it on for 5 minutes or there abouts until it has thickened up ot prodice a thick, creamy sauce as shown and serve!

Delicious, and one of our all-time favorite Atkins diet recipes!

Popularity: 20% [?]