Health

Alicia from Alabama is 22 years old and 5' 8" tall. Alicia has been following the Atkins program for three months, and has slimmed down from her starting weight of 200 pounds to just three pounds shy of her goal weight of 150 pounds. Alicia began following Atkins wearing a size 18, but is now sporting size 10/12s. She would like to eventually wear a size 8/10.

Ruth Glick doesn't know it yet, but her family is about to become larger. After reading her cookbook, Fabulous Lo-Carb Cuisine, trying some of the recipes, and talking to her on line, I've decided to ask her to adopt me. I want to eat like this all the time, and I'd like to enjoy her company. She's delightful.

In my last article, I discussed the development of the diet pill phenomenon. This brilliant marketing strategy changed the course of the medical treatment for obesity by grouping together different kinds of drugs that might (or might not, for that matter) have some relation to weight loss, and then selling the patient all the drugs at once. The plan was enormously lucrative for the drug companies who manufactured the chemicals, and also for the so-called "fat doctors" who prescribed them. But before we put all the blame on the drug companies and the doctors, we must face a certain reality. The public was very willing to hear the message that overweight can be treated with chemicals.

Jennifer Eloff, author of "Splendid Low Carbing" has created a wonderful 14 page guide and menu of wonderful recipes for you to share on that special day. This free document is available in Adobe Acrobat format and can be downloaded here. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you may download it here.

Nancy from Monterey, Tennessee did not start low carbing for weight loss. Nancy is 69 years old, 5' 3" tall, weighed 111 pounds, and wore a size 6 when she began Dr. Richard Bernstein's program more than six years ago to control her diabetes. Today she still wears a size 6 and now weighs 114 pounds.

In this series of articles, I've been talking about diets and dieting. We've looked at plans and paraphernalia, machines, food combination diets, calorie counting, meals in cans, and weight loss clubs. The easy answer to losing weight continues to evade discovery.

Low-carb shopping can be hard on the budget, particularly if you are purchasing hard-to-find or specialty items. Where should you look for your groceries, and how can you be sure you're getting the best price?

Alicia from Pennsylvania is 33 years old and 5' 4" tall. Alicia has been following the Atkins program since July 23, 2002, and dropped from a high weight of 234 pounds to 190 pounds. Her dress size has shrunk from a size 20 down to a size 16. Alicia's goals are to weigh 135 pounds and wear a size 10.

Jeff Martell from Ontario, Canada, is 46 years old and 5' 6" tall. He has been following the Atkins program since February of 2002, and has dropped from a high weight of 276 pounds down to just 190 pounds! His waist has shrunk from a size 48 waist to a 40! Jeff's goal weight is 175 pounds, and he's well on his way.

When you first begin low-carbing, it can seem a daunting task to prepare your kitchen. Not only do you have to divest yourself of all those high carbohydrate staples in the pantry and fridge, but you'll quickly discover that many of the more interesting recipes call for ingredients you've never heard of! Xanthan gum? Soy lecithin? Vital wheat gluten flour? Rice protein powder? How are you ever going to know which items you really need and which are so esoteric that they'll take up space in your cupboards forevermore?

I am happy to report to my CarbSmart readers that Cathie from Florida reached her goal size of a 5/6 right before Thanksgiving!

Mary Ann from Pennsylvania is 51 years old and 5' 1" tall. "I don't believe in 'weight.' The scale is the biggest deceiver in the history of dieting and weight loss," Mary Ann told me. "You see 'miracle' potions in a bottle that claim you can loose 10 pounds in a weekend, and you might. But it is not 'fat' you are loosing. You can be a skinny little thing and you might think you are wonderfully healthy, but when you starved yourself to get that way, you actually may have lost muscle mass and even bone because if you do not eat 'right' to loose weight, your body will actually begin to cannibalize itself!"