High protein it's not.

I lowcarb. Atkins, specifically.

er...perhaps I should admit that with pregnancy cravings, Lowcarb has not been high on my priority list, though I do try to choose lower-carb options when available.

No, Low Carbohydrate diets are not bad for pregnant women or their babies. In fact, if you think about what materials the body is made up of (exclusively proteins and fats, NO sugars) you realize that it's actually an ideal diet for pregnancy. Plenty of baby-building materials in a Low-carb diet.

I used to be of the opinion that everyone (including doctors) has been indoctrinated in - that we all need copious amounts of carbohydrates, or you will die some horrible, nasty, lingering death. Not so. Honestly, what prompted my switch was when Hill's company came out with their Prescription Diet m/d for cats. Lowcarb. I figured, well, if they're doing it for cats, why not try it myself?

So I went out and got a copy of "Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution" - this is where you should start. Some of his other books, like "Atkins for Life" are more for experienced LC'ers and are not really great for learning the science and technique behind why Atkins works. There are other "lowcarb" diets out there, but Atkins is the one "pure" science that started it all.

At this point, let me break in here. I, obviously, decided to LC because I wanted to lose weight. I'm 5'8, and at the time of my "I have to lose this weight" crisis, was 165 pounds. That doesn't sound very heavy, but I really do have a very small bone structure, and given the fact that during my college track career, I was 122 pounds in full dress, that 40 pound difference was *huge* to me. So I decided to do Atkins, and set myself a goal of 140 pounds. I figured for my height, that was perfectly acceptable.

On Atkins, you start out at what is termed "Induction" - this is where Atkins really gets it's bad reputation. People hear the super-restrictive regimen and assume that this is the way the good Dr. wants you to eat for the rest of your life. Not so. Induction is essentially a "cold turkey" approach to breaking your physical and psychological addictions to sugar. And as anyone who's done Induction correctly can tell you, you *do* go through withdrawal from the sugars. The first week is absolutely miserable. You have a headache. You feel sick. You wonder what the heck you're doing this to yourself for. Classic withdrawal symptoms. Then it goes away, and you feel great. Your time to "detox" is different in every person.

Induction foods are restricted to salad vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower, cheese, meat, and butter/mayo. You can find a complete list of acceptable induction foods at the Atkins website. Suggested veggie intake is 3 cups a day, which is more than most people eat anyway. So much for a meat-only diet. Realistically, I at a lot of deli meats (dipped in mustard and mayo), a lot of chicken salad, tuna salad, or taco salad (no tortilla!) and cheeses. Broccoli or cauliflower with cheese sauce (made with cream cheese, heavy cream, butter and cheese) It is very easy to do, really. Even eating out is a breeze, since most restaraunts are going to have a chicken cesar salad option (hold the croutons!)

After induction, you gradually begin adding back different types of food. There are several different stages, and by the time you reach "maintenence", you're basically eating normally, minus refined flour and sugar. Berries, melon, and to some extent fresh fruit are all perfectly acceptable, once you find at what level you need to keep your carbohydrate intake so you don't gain more weight.

Anyway, that's my Atkins lecture. Basically, it boils down to the fact that carbohydrates are an unnecessary nutrient. Their only purpose is to provide energy, and if you have a lot of sugar in your system (by "sugar" I mean any carbohydrate, including bread) your body burns that and won't burn the fat you have stored. Carbohydrates contribute absolutely nothing to the building of body materials and last only a short time as an energy source. In the absence of carbohydrate, your body burns fat, and can also turn dietary protein into fuel for the body. Simple, and very scientific. The best thing is that the vicious cycle of eating/glucose spike/glucose drop is leveled off, and you do not feel hungry as often. As a result, you eat fewer calories, thus losing weight.

Amazing. It took about 3 months to get to my goal weight, and since I was feeling good and not having trouble sticking to the diet, I thought I'd simply continue and see where my body wanted to be. Finally, my weight loss stalled out right at 127 pounds. That's officially going from a size 13 to a size, oh, about 7, though I could fit in size 5's not infrequently. Not bad, I think, since I'm not in the kind of shape I was for college track. Now, since little Nolan has messed with my system, I'm back up to that dreaded 165 pounds, but I'm not really worried. I figure 20 of that will go away immediately, and if I did it once, I can do it again to lose back down to where I feel comfortable.