Atkins: A Review

The Man swears by Atkins. He lives and breathes telling me what carbs are, where they're hiding, and how many there are in my Hostess Powdered Mini-donut pack. I get it. They're everywhere. This post is brought to you by my osmosis learning from him. I have not read any of the Atkins books, but I have read a lot about Atkins and we all know their premise.

The gist: Carbs are bad. Fat and protein are good. The more detailed explanation is during the Induction phase, you are to consume approximately 20-30 grams of carbohydrates a day. This goes on for 1-2 weeks (or longer, if you wish), and then you begin Phase 2 which allows for the slow addition of carbs back into your diet so long as you continue to lose weight. If you gain, back to Induction. For reference, 1 small apple has approximately 20 carbs. Therefore, the majority of your carbs should come from vegetables; non-starchy such as kale, spinach, lettuce, tomato, broccoli. No carrots!

Pros: If you stick to you, you lose. Typically. I have heard that you feel better; less bloated, more clear headed, less acid reflux, improved sleep. All good things. And, cravings will slowly wane. Atkins meals, shakes, and desserts are available widely as well as online support groups and recipes. Creativity abounds as you try to bring about new techniques to enjoy "normal" foods, but 'Atkins-style'. A la 'protein style' burgers, or cauliflower crust pizza (not bad), cauliflower mashed 'potatos' (delicious), lettuce-wrapped fajitas, the list can go on and on!

Cons: Who can really stick with this forever?! Pizza, pasta, garlic bread, In N Out, tacos, mmmmm. You have to be very meticulous when using Atkins because carbohydrates are in a lot of foods. Ranch dressing has approximately 1 carbohydrate per 2 Tb serving. Most fruit (with the exception of berries, citrus and some melon) contain too many carbohydrates.

Conclusion: The diet consists of high protein and fat. Oil, cheese, cream, and butter are all allowed, but within moderation. It is possible to lose weight with this diet, but I doubt the long-term viability. My personal experience was I felt I was constantly eating protein and fat. Carbs are sneaky and there are everywhere! The more I avoided, the more I craved!

Final grade: C+--short term results, difficult long term. 

Nurse Practitioner

I'm a Nurse Practitioner. In the small, rural town in Central California that I work in, I have learned a lot about myself and about what patients what and what providers want. Below you will find a few tips that may help you make the most out of a visit with an NP or Dr. Good luck!

 1. Be specific
We are medical detectives and so we will ask the 'who', 'when', 'where', 'what', 'how', 'why' questions. "A few weeks ago" doesn't count! 1 week? 3 weeks? The more details you can offer us the better! For example: I noticed this rash on my legs 3 days ago after being at my Grandma's house". Perfect! The rest of the interview will consist of more details, but the more you give, the better diagnosis we can make!

 2. Bring your medications
Most medications are "small, white pills". There are apps to help me elicit exactly which small, white pill you're taking, but it would be immensely more helpful if you bring them in with you. There is a lot of information we can obtain from the label; who wrote the prescription, where it was filled, the name of the medication, dose, frequency, side effects, etc. Additionally, "I take a blood pressure pill", isn't helpful. There are hundreds of blood pressure medications!

 3. Know why you're here
I have seen a few patients who have absolutely no clue why they're here to see me. One was a man who said, "My wife told me to come back, so I did"! A man who does what he's told, I like that! Seriously though, tell us (and by 'us', this includes the medical assistant who is taking your vitals). And, please, tell her the real reason you're here. She brings me the chart and before I even walk into your room, I'm already thinking about our plan based on your reason for the visit. It makes things much easier for all of us. Along this same line, no problem is embarrassing for me. I know you may be shy about that rash or odor, but trust me, I've seen, heard, smelled it all.

 4. Know what you want
A referral? An antibiotic? An x-ray? Please be specific! If you tell me what you want and it works out, then we're great! If you can articulate what you think is going on and I can help/direct/guide you in that process, then we will have a really good working relationship. Your healthcare is important to me, but I can only do so much. You have to meet me halfway. I have patients come to me with a problem, I prescribe medication and ask them to return in a week or two. They come back a month or more later only to tell me the problem was never resolved and is now worse. Well! Come back and tell me that! Or, they won't have taken any of the medication I prescribed and are wondering why their rash hasn't resolved (true story).

 5. I'm the Nurse Practitioner; you're the patient
Unless you did in fact go to medical school or nursing school, please don't argue with me. You have come to me for help and I am trying to help you. Antibiotics will not be effective against a virus. I apologize to every 30+ year old who received an antibiotic every time you went to the Dr growing up. I did, too. I know how it went: you get sick, you go to the Dr, you receive an antibiotic (Amoxicillin), you take it for 7-14 days, you feel better. I get it! But, we now know that viruses will not die with antibiotics. Typically, a cold is viral (wash your hands!) and will generally resolve on it's own in 3-5 days. Those 3-5 days will be miserable (stay home!), and you can use OTC medications for symptom relief, but coming to me asking for an antibiotic will not work. I will not write that prescription. Some Dr's may; I will not. Finally, I'm trying to educate you. Educate me about yourself. Listen to me and I will listen to you. Respect my education and training, and I will respect your situation.

 Bottom line: Help me help you.

Hiatus vs Cancellation

I'm back. For good? Who can say? There is a sudden burst of desire to blog lately. Maybe 'blog' isn't the right word. Online journal? Perhaps this is more in-line with what my expectations are currently. Stagnation has absorbed the majority of the past 2 years. Let me rephrase, weight stagnation. Plateau. Boredom. Whatever. Life certainly hasn't been stagnant. Graduation, moving, break-ups, new job, new family members, loss of family members, travel, new relationships. Hardly stagnant. But, in the midst of all the mountains and valleys, the weight has remained within about 20 lbs. That sounds outrageous to some and even writing it makes it seem like a huge number. However, it is the truth. And, it hasn't been pretty. I have been able to lose 10 here, gain 5, lose 15, gain 10, etc., etc. Seriously, I've lost over 100 lbs; it's just the same 5-10 over and over! I say that lightly, but there is nothing light about the reality. It's extremely disheartening. Being honest, there were periods of extreme determination (loss) and then periods of apathy (minimal loss to gains), times of semi-determination (slight loss). But, nothing lasting. Nothing to get past the hump. Past the set-point. Ah. The Set-Point. I first heard this term in a nutrition class in 2007 and it has stuck with me. At that time, I was having great success with WW and hadn't reached my lowest set-point. It wasn't until I gained quite a bit of weight back that I realized no matter what I did, what I ate, how much I worked out, how many carbs I did/n't eat, etc., the weight wouldn't push past a certain number. I couldn't break the ceiling. Floor? You know what I mean. How have things changed? Have they changed? Let's wait to find out!

The NP becomes the patient

After seeing hundreds of patients over the past few months, it was finally my turn to go to the doctor.

There have been three weeks of working out, eating right, and then gaining at the scale on Saturdays. I'm over it.

While I haven't given up, I'm discouraged.

At the doctors office, we did some blood work to rule out anything metabolic.

Now we wait. And continue to work out.

Fresh

Can you tell I've been on a food-movie kick lately? :) I'm watching this movie as I type and I had to pause it because this woman just said, "The raising of chickens now is totally different now than back when I was growing up". Ok, keep going. "The type of feed that was given to them, they didn't grow as fast". Ok, she's right. Keep going. Her husband pipes in with, "We're controlling the air temperature, the type of litter they're on", ok...and then she chimes back in with, "I don't believe there's anything unhealthy in these chickens just because they grow as fast as they do, I just think these chickens are genetically bred to do this. It's not steroids, they just eat. They're comfortable so they eat". Then her husband comes back with, "It's good, quality feed, but I don't know what's in it".

Alrighty then. I pray she's not as ignorant as she just came across.

For the past two weeks I have led a pretty vegetarian/vegan diet. Nuts, fruit, veggies, hummus, lentils, water, oatmeal. Very little to no animal product. I gave up beef for Lent, so yesterday was the day to break my fast. I hadn't intended to eat beef yesterday, however, instead of ham, my BF's mom had tri-tip. I love me some tri-tip but I was a bit hesitant. I had just succeeded in not consuming beef in 40+ days, did I need to eat it? Was it worth it? What was my real rationale for giving it up originally? Let me answer that last one. I gave it up to see if I could. Plain and simple. However, over the past 6 weeks or so, I began to realize how much beef I did eat and how it made me feel. Don't get me wrong, I love the taste and flavor, but it wasn't providing me with much beyond that. I was still alive after 40 days with no beef. I didn't need it to survive. So, I broke my fast. and I paid the price. I also was more relaxed on what I ate yesterday and I felt horrible last night. I woke up gagging after I almost aspirated on some acid reflux. This has not happened in months. And I attribute it to diet. So, today, I am back to low-to-no animal product.

I feel like I need to humble myself for some reason. I am not a PETA supporter, nor am I pro-slaughter. I believe God gave us dominion over animals, but the way we do this in America, is not conducive to what I believe God planned. Maybe going back to a biblical diet isn't such a bad idea, after all.

Biblical eating

What is that anyway?

I am by no means the first person to come up with such a concept. In fact, I googled it and found a lot of people have their own ideas, theories, diets, programs, etc., all claiming to be "the way Jesus ate".

So, what did he eat? Fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs, meat, bread, milk (and honey!) were probably included in his diet and those of his contemporaries in the Bible. While some did keep kosher, the gentiles may have eaten meat that was considered unclean (crab, lobster, pork).

I didn't see anything that said Jesus (and by Jesus, I also mean people in the Bible times) ate Twinkies, donuts, chips, etc. These people were afflicted with cancer as early as 1500 B.C. as breast tumors were recorded on papyrus in Egypt (who knew you were getting a history lesson today?!) just as we are now. The prevalence may be increasing and what can we atribute that to? Diet. Exercise. Lifestyle.

We no longer walk to school, walk to the store; heck! We barely walk the dog! People didn't have to deliberately exercise as their lives were simply more physically active than ours. I remember playing outside at the park, in the back yard, with a friend, running, riding bikes, and swimming with my friends as a kid. Now kids watch TV and play video games at alarming rates and this cause contributed to the obesity epidemic facing the youth today. (Am I on a rant or what?!)

Basic nutrition states burn more calories than you consume and you will lose weight. Great. How is that possible when the food of today consists of burgers, pink slime, pizza, Ranch dressing, sugary coffee drinks, and hormone-antibiotic-dye laced meat products? It is near impossible to consume these foods and maintain a healthy waist. Therefore, we come back to Biblical eating.

More fruit. More vegetables. More whole grain. Less processed foods. More home cooked foods. Less meat. More legumes.

This is my goal. More to come.... :)

Whole food

No, this isn't a post about the grocery store; rather, what is a whole food? What is whole food eating?

These are questions I've been pondering for the past few weeks. If you're anything like me, you've considered many different 'diets' or eating plans, nutrition options, good food vs easy/convenient foods.

Over the last six months or so I have watched several movies about food, nutrition, and health. Forks Over Knives; Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead; and Food, Inc are all wonderful! They are available on Netflix, too! Each has a different agenda and point of view, but each spoke to me in it's own way.

As a result of watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, I drank fruit and vegetable juice for four days. I noticed more stability over my mood, emotions, which lead me to conclude my blood sugar was more stable throughout the day as a result of not eating refined sugar and processed foods. Food, Inc challenged me to buy protein (beef, chicken, eggs, pork, etc.) that is hormone-free, free-range, grass fed, antibiotic free, etc. And to the best of my ability, I have done just that. Finally, Forks Over Knives challenged me to do something I don't want to do. FOK promotes a vegan lifestyle citing meat as a leading cause for cancer and many other health problems. As an RN, I know (and teach my patients) that fruits and veggies are best. Whole grains over white grains are a better choice. Soda is poison, and on and on. I like meat. I like Filet and chicken. I believe God gave us dominion over animals and provided them as food for us.

Let me clarify. I do NOT believe the animals in the Bible are the same as they are now. A cow is and was a cow, yes. But, the cow and sheep and chickens were part of the family. They lived with other animals, grazed all day, were treated well, slaughtered responsibly and used to their fullest potential. They were not crammed in a feed lot, standing in feces all day, pumped full of hormones to create breasts larger than any poor chicken should have on their body.

So, that leads to me to my next thought about Biblical eating. Which, I'll save for another day!