Atkins Diabetes Revolution (20 page)

This cycle is more common in overweight individuals, but it can occur even if you are slim, especially if you eat the standard American diet (or SAD), which is high in refined carbohydrates. Eating excessive amounts of carbs or even frequently eating refined carbs triggers the fat-storage mechanism. Remember, insulin promotes the storage of fat. Your body burns sugar (derived from carbohydrates) for energy and stores the excess sugar as fat for future use. Fat can be stored anywhere in the body,including around the belly,in the liver,around your internal organs,and even in the walls of the blood vessels.Triglycerides are one form in which fat is transported in your bloodstream. Other lipoproteins also transport fat—and insulin is involved in regulating their production. So when you put the wrong kind or amount of carbohydrates in your mouth,insulin goes up—and so do the fats in your bloodstream. Now let’s talk about your new lifestyle—the diet, exercise,and supplement program that’s going to turn your health around.

THE ATKINS WAY

The Atkins Blood Sugar Control Program (ABSCP) is designed to help you control your individual metabolism through food and other lifestyle choices. We stress the word
individual
because, with ABSCP, one size doesn’t fit all. For many of you, this program will be the very tool that prevents further blood sugar stress (such as hypoglycemia), and takes diabetes off your road map altogether. For those of you who have later stages of blood sugar stress (prediabetes) or full-blown diabetes, it will help you to control your blood sugar and even normalize it, which means you may be able to minimize or even stop the use of some prescription medications.

As Dr. Atkins routinely observed in his patients, the ABSCP increases patients’ energy, decreases aches and pains, improves numerous other symptoms,and enhances the overall quality of life.Likewise, published studies of people with diabetes and the metabolic syndrome document improvements in blood sugar and blood lipid values on a controlled-carbohydrate program. This dietary approach provides the tools you need to take control of your metabolism.

Because the ABSCP is based on the famed Atkins Nutritional Approach (ANA), let’s start with an overview of this safe, effective, controlled-carbohydrate approach to rebalancing the metabolism, managing weight, and improving health. Later we’ll look at how the ABSCP differs from the ANA.

If you’re overweight or if you have only a slightly impaired insulin/glucose mechanism, the ANA alone will probably help you lose weight as well as lower and stabilize your blood sugar and insulin levels. At the same time, you’ll improve your health in other important ways, because weight loss and normalizing blood sugar help improve lipids,lower blood pressure,and reduce the inflammation markers associated with heart disease. As your blood sugar stabilizes, you’ll have more energy, and you’ll probably find that your mood and mental sharpness improve as well.

Some of you undoubtedly are already familiar with the ANA as a weight-loss program. For those of you who are not acquainted with it, a brief review of the four phases is in the next section.When people are on the ANA,their body fat slowly,steadily,and safely vanishes; most of them do not experience food cravings after the first few days. You progress toward your goal of improved health without feeling deprived.And this is not a temporary fix; learning how to do Atkins provides you with a tool for lifelong control of your weight and metabolism. A brief review of the ANA follows.

THE FOUR PHASES OF THE ATKINS NUTRITIONAL APPROACH

Phase 1: Induction.
To kick-start weight loss, limit your carbohydrate intake to 20 grams of Net Carbs a day. (The simple way to calculate Net Carbs in a whole food is to subtract the grams of fiber from the total number of carbohydrate grams in the portion. Net Carbs are the only carbohydrates that have an appreciable impact on your blood sugar.) During this phase, which lasts a minimum of two weeks, you satisfy your appetite with foods high in protein and natural fats, along with carbohydrates in the form of 3 cups of salad greens (dressed with olive oil and vinegar, lemon juice, or your favorite controlled-carb dressing). Alternatively, you can have 2 cups of salad and a cup of fresh,nonstarchy cooked veggies,such as broccoli or zucchini.You can also eat 3 to 4 ounces of aged cheese, a handful of olives, and half an avocado each day.

Phase 2: Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL).
When you move on to OWL, you deliberately slow your weight loss as you continue to eat protein and natural fats,along with salad greens and nutrient-dense and fiber- rich vegetables. As you continue to lose weight, you gradually add back nutrient-rich carbohydrates. Each week, you increase your daily carb count by just 5 grams of Net Carbs by eating more vegetables, nuts and seeds, and even berries. After incorporating these foods, some people can even reintroduce small portions of legumes (beans) and fruits other than berries—until weight loss stalls. At that point, drop back 5 grams of Net Carbs and you should have discovered your Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing (CCLL)—the amount of Net Carbs you can eat while continuing to lose weight. To continue your steady progress, keep your carb intake at or below your CCLL.

Phase 3:Pre-Maintenance.
When you are within five to ten pounds of your goal weight, you’ll want to slow down your rate of weight loss even more, so that your new, improved eating habits become in- grained. (Expect it to take at least two months to trim the last ten pounds.) You can now broaden your food choices to include moderate portions of starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes and peas and even some unrefined whole grains. Each week, simply add another 10 daily grams of Net Carbs to your program—or treat yourself to an extra 20 to 30 grams of high-quality carbs twice a week—until weight loss stops. Then drop back down 5 or 10 grams, and you will have found your revised CCLL. Continue at this level until you reach your goal weight. When you have maintained your goal weight for one month or more, you will have achieved your Atkins Carbohydrate Equilibrium, or ACE, the number of grams of Net Carbs you can eat without gaining or losing weight, and you are now officially in the Lifetime Maintenance phase.

Phase 4: Lifetime Maintenance.
Now that you’ve achieved your goal weight, you can continue to enjoy a wide range of delicious foods. Of course,you still need to keep an eye on your total carb intake.Remember, this program is not simply about the quantity of carbs, but their quality as well. Accept the fact that junk food is a thing of the past; instead, spend your carb allowance on nutrient-rich and fiber-rich foods. Understand that you may or may not be able to add back whole grains, such as oats, brown rice, wild rice, and barley, and higher-carb fruits (like bananas) and vegetables (like potatoes). Your ACE will depend upon your age, gender, activity level, hormonal status, and any metabolic issues you have. Most people can raise their ACE if they exercise regularly.

For more details on weight loss and the science behind controlled- carb intake for weight control, good health, and disease prevention, read
Dr.Atkins’ New Diet Revolution,Atkins for Life,
and
The Atkins Essentials
or visit www.atkins.com.
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To track your carbohydrate intake easily, we recommend using
Dr. Atkins’ New Carbohydrate Gram Counter.
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THE NEXT STEP

When it comes to weight loss, the ANA works for just about everyone. And because slimming down almost automatically ameliorates many health problems—including blood sugar abnormalities—losing even a moderate amount of weight might well be enough for you to start feeling a lot better.

But if your health picture now includes the metabolic syndrome, prediabetes, or diabetes, you may well need to take a next step beyond the ANA. Why? Because you must work on reversing health problems that have developed over months or even years. That’s where the Atkins Blood Sugar Control Program comes in.As in the ANA, weight loss is a crucial component of the program, but now there are also other very important goals. In fact, some of you may be at normal weight or only slightly overweight but still have blood sugar abnormalities, high blood pressure, high blood lipids, and other markers of metabolic imbalance.

The ABSCP concentrates on getting your metabolism back into balance by normalizing your insulin/blood sugar levels and blood lipids, reducing other markers associated with impending heart disease, and lowering your blood pressure. As your metabolism improves, you will almost certainly lose weight (if you need to).

A LITTLE CAN DO A LOT

The loss of stored fat and an improved ability to burn fat are very important steps on the road to improved health. However, weight loss may be secondary to the other improvements on the ABSCP. In fact, it is possible to improve your blood sugar, lipids, and blood pressure numbers without losing all—or even very much—of your excess fat. Your journey back to health begins with improvements that will happen before the pounds begin to fall away. Until these occur, your weight loss may well be slow or even nonexistent—and that’s just fine. More important than seeing the numbers on the scale move down is stabilizing your metabolism. For now, your lab values (your blood sugar number, for instance) are more important than how much extra fat you have.When you start following the ABSCP,these lab values can be positively improved early on, even before significant weight is lost. When those numbers improve, it means you can reduce the dose or even stop taking some or all of the medications you might be on.

A 75-year-old patient with diabetes named Jim H. came in to see Dr.Atkins; at the time he was taking nine different drugs to control his blood sugar, blood pressure, blood lipids, and some other ailments. After six months on the ABSCP, Jim was down to just three drugs (and lower doses of those), and his blood sugar was under control. Jim had lost just five pounds in that time.

I had a patient who likewise did not lose a lot of weight, but the weight she did drop made a tremendous difference in her health. At age 37, Maureen J. had the lab results of someone twice her age. Weighing 197 pounds and five feet six inches tall, she had a total cholesterol of 327; her triglycerides were 298; her HDL, 53; and her LDL, 214. Moreover, her blood pressure was creeping up to 138/80. I put her on the Induction phase of the Atkins Nutritional Approach for two weeks and she then moved to 25 and later 30 grams of carbohydrates a day. After six weeks,although she had only lost ten pounds, Maureen’s improvement was remarkable: Her total cholesterol was down to 199, her triglycerides, to 121; her HDL was 46 and her LDL was down to 172. Her waist was also two inches smaller.
    —M
ARY
V
ERNON

Remember, long before your lab values become abnormal, the gradual shift from good health to increased risk and finally to outright illness has been set in motion.Years before tests reveal that you have a problem, damage to the blood vessels in your heart, eyes, nerves, kidneys, and brain may have been silently accumulating. Although some of these changes may be permanent, the good news is that you can impact your metabolism
immediately
by simply changing the food you eat. This will give your body every chance to repair itself.

On the other hand, if you do need to lose weight, don’t take this as license to settle for only minimal weight loss as your final goal. We’re not going to let you off the hook that easily. You owe it to yourself to ultimately take off those extra pounds, which increase your risk for a litany of diseases and contribute to the insulin/blood sugar abnormal- ities.Fat is not only a sign of the problem; excess fat also contributes to the problem.

It is important to understand that we are talking about a
permanent
lifestyle change. If you have a tendency toward the metabolic syndrome or diabetes, you can manage this with careful attention to your diet—but your blood sugar problems don’t ever go away. If you return to your old way of eating, the old symptoms and risk factors will come roaring back. To get your blood sugar under control and keep it there, you’ll almost certainly need to follow the basic principles of the ABSCP for a lifetime.

THE ATKINS BLOOD SUGAR CONTROL PROGRAM

The ABSCP is fundamentally very simple: Control carbohydrates— meaning both quantity and quality—to control blood sugar, insulin levels, and your metabolism. As with the ANA, 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 carbo hydrate 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 the metabolic syndrome, prediabetes, and diabetes. Two of the reasons that the Atkins Blood Sugar Control Program is so easy to follow are that those foods can be found in any supermarket and that they just happen to taste great.

SEE YOUR DOCTOR

Dr. Atkins designed the ABSCP to help the specific health issues caused by the metabolic syndrome,prediabetes,and Type 2 diabetes.But before you begin to follow this program,you must have a complete medical examination and discuss the results with your doctor.

The ABSCP is safe and effective, but you may have special medical problems, such as advanced kidney disease, which may mean this program is not right for you—unless it is prescribed and monitored by a physician trained in this type of metabolic management. You also need to know your baseline lab results for important markers such as insulin/blood sugar,blood lipids,and blood pressure
before
you begin the program.Finally,if you take prescription medications,you need to plan ahead for possible changes in the doses as your metabolism normalizes.

SETTING REALISTIC GOALS

In the earlier chapters of this book we explained exactly what happens to your body when your insulin and blood sugar levels rise. With that information in mind, now let’s look at your objectives as you start following the ABSCP.