Low Carb Diets - The Atkins Way

Keeping your Diabetes in control using Dr. Atkins books and products

The intent here is to provide a brief overview of the Atkins Blood Sugar Control Program (ABSCP) to encourage readers to learn more about how diabetes may be controlled through better diet to live a a healthier and more fulfilling life.

The ABSCP (Atkins Blood Sugar Control Program) is fundamentally very simple: control carbohydrates - meaning both quantity and quality - to control blood sugar, insulin levels, and your metabolism. As with the ANA (Atkins Nutritional Approach), you can eat satisfying portions of a wide variety of nutritious, delicious foods, and you never have to go hungry. The difference is that in addition to careful carbohydrate control, your diet will be rich in foods that have been shown to help control not only blood sugar, but also lipid levels, high blood pressure, and the many other health problems that go along with metabolic syndrome, pre-diabetes, and diabetes.

The basic phases of the Atkins Blood Sugar Program parallel those of the Atkins Nutritional Approach (ANA).... However, because your primary goal is normalizing insulin/blood sugar, the time you spend in each phase of the program, and when you decide to move on to the next phase, will be based on your lab values, not just on your weight loss.

First things first

Before you start the Atkins Blood Sugar Control Program, its important to visit your doctor to assess your current state of health. In particular, you need to know if you have any special medical problems that will require monitoring and you need your baseline lab results.

Know your numbers

You'll be measuring your success not so much by weight loss as by improvements in your blood sugar, your blood pressure, and your blood lipids. When your goal is metabolic control you use your lab values and body measurements, such as waist-to-hip ration, as a way to gauge results.

It all begins with Induction

Start by lowering your daily Net Carb intake to the Induction level of 20 grams a day, primarily in the form of vegetables. This will start to get your metabolism under control rapidly. Judge your progress at first by your blood sugar numbers. Once they normalize, continue at the 20-gram level until slow, steady weight loss begins. Many patients with diabetes stay at this level for weeks or even months - and a a few even must stay at that level indefinitely.

Moving On to the Ongoing Weigh Loss Phase

One difference between Atkins Nutritional Approach and the Atkins Blood Sugar Control Program is that moving on to this phase should not occur until your metabolism is fairly well under control. Once it is, you can slowly start to add more carbs to your diet. If either your blood sugar or blood pressure rises or weight loss stops, you've gone too far, too fast. Your body wasn't yet ready to expand your carbohydrate budget.

Find your Atkins Carbohydrate Equilibrium (ACE)

When you are following the Atkins Nutritional Approach, the Atkins Carbohydrate Equilibrium (ACE) is the number of grams of Net carbs you can eat in one day and maintain your goal weigh. However, if you've already developed a metabolic syndrome, pre-diabetes, or diabetes, your ACE number will also be the amount of carbohydrates that keeps your blood sugar at an acceptable level, improves your blood lipids, and keeps your blood pressure down.

How will you know what the right number is for you? Start by following the Induction phase described above. When your lab values have shown improvements, start by adding carbs back into your daily diet in 5-gram increments. On the Atkins Nutritional Approach, you can typically increase carbs slowly, adding in carbs as you observe the status of your weight, blood sugar (if possible), and blood pressure closely. You will know if you've passed your Atkins Carbohydrate Equilibrium if:

• You start to regain weight
• Your fasting blood sugar goes up
• Your blood pressure goes up
• your cravings or hunger increase

If any of these signs of diminished metabolic control occur, cut back on your carb consumption until they improve. When they do, you've discovered your Atkins Carbohydrate Equilibrium. For some of you, that number will be only 20 grams a day; others may be able to go up as high as 40 or even 60 grams a day. As you continue to follow the program, lose weight, and taper off some of the prescription medications that may be slowing or preventing weight loss, you might be able to moderately raise your carb intake.

Prescription Drugs and the Atkins Blood Sugar Control Program

As you reduce your carb intake, your need for insulin (if you take it) and other prescription medications will almost certainly decrease or even vanish. You may be able to work with your doctor to decrease your medications gradually as you control your carb intake and thus take back control of you metabolism. When you have reduced or eliminated medications (especially the ones for blood sugar control) and your fasting blood sugar levels have stabilized in the normal range (below 100mg/dL), you can experiment a bit with your Atkins Carbohydrate Equilibrium. You may be able to eat a few more carbs without gaining weight or making your blood sugar go up.

If you take any drugs-prescription or over-the-counter - discuss your decision to follow the controlled-carb approach with your doctor before you start. Work with him or her to monitor your condition regularly and lower your doses in a systematic way that will avoid sudden changes and possible over- or under medication.

The Atkins Blood Sugar Control Program will help you restore your own health by solving underlying metabolic imbalances. The program requires a permanent change in the way you eat and the amount of exercise you get. Is that difficult? Thousands of Dr. Atkins' patients say just the opposite. Once they were under way on the program, they felt so much better that making the long-term commitment to the Atkins approach was a very easy choice. It will be for you too.

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