I don't plan on changing anything. I pay no attention to whether the fats I eat are saturated, unsaturated or monosaturated but avoid completely anything hydrogenated (transfats). My cardiac profile has never looked better so that tells me I'm on the right plan.

I agree with Judyr, my opinion exactly!

I'm not changing......

Alina

I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the "low fat high carb craze" of the early 80s, and I'm not about to pay much attention to this either.

My strategy has always been pretty simple. Keep carbs to 100 - 120 grams, and eat whatever I'd like irrespective of fat ratios, kind of carbs, or anything else.

Why sweat the little things, right?

Well we all know what Dr Atkin's would say... I'm sticking with him.

I've always eaten a variety of fats and I will continue to do so. In addition to red meat, I eat lots of fish, chicken, eggs, and cheese. I really like fish and I have it for dinner several times a week. I also use lots of olive oil (I dress my salads with olive oil and red wine vinegar). I cook my vegetables in butter. I think it is good practice to eat a variety of different foods and by doing that I naturally getsdifferent types of fat. Aside from not eating anything that says partially hydrogenated, which is what I have been doing all along, I'm not going to worry about the exact proportions of different types of fat I eat. However, my guess is that I am probably somewhere near the percentage the Atkins folks are pushing anyway.

Why should I change what is obviously working? My cholesterol profile improved quite a bit during my first nine months of low carbing -- total cholesterol went from 214 to 199, hdl went up, ldl went down, and triglycerides bottomed out at 52. I'm eager to go for my next check-up this spring and see if there has been further improvement in my cholesterol profile.

I eat a tremendous amount of saturated fat. I love fatty meat, cream, butter, coconut oil, bacon, eggs. After all, the person saying bad things about saturated fats is a nutritionist. Ive never heard a nutritionist say anything right about nutrition. There are experts in fats out there:
http://www.westonaprice.org/know_your_fats/skinny.html

I will try for more polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.

I just make sure I don't take in any transfats. I just will not go out of my way to have the skin on chicken, otherwise, nothing will change. This has been working since July 2002, so why change anything?

I won't change a thing............I don't feel like I overeat red meat.
pati

Nobody change a thing. Atkins Nutritionals has issued a rebuttal/correction.

It's posted on the atkins website.

K.

Trans fats are the one to avoid, very strictly.

Nothing wrong with saturated fats, as the Eskimos demonstrated for thousands of years.

And the only ways you can cut the fat in your daily diet are:

1. Eat more carbohydrates.

2. Starve.

It is very difficult to increase protein over what we are already eating, about 30% of daily intake, and if you were dedicated enough to do so, the added protein load would almost certainly be more harmful than eating a normal, healthy amount of saturated fats.

Most of our good, natural sources of high quality protein also has a high percentage of saturated fat, right?

I guess you could drink a lot of alcohol, and exist on that, but such a regimen has not proved to be that healthful for those trying it. YMMV

mle...do you REALLY believe that saturated fats are not bad for you? I just don't see how you can say that? We KNOW that they are bad for us! They cause hardening of the arteries and a multitude of other problems. I am confused because I read a lot of posts that state that Dr. Atkins did not want this to be a high fat diet, rather a limiting of the "bad" carbs and eatng real foods, like chicken and beef (lean), eggs, veggis and whole grains!


Which is it? Everytime someone criticizes Atkins, people on this board jump to the defense saying that if someone read the book, they would know that this diet is all about veggis, high fiber foods and lean meats. I guess I am confused that some say that they are going to continue eating high fat!

Help me understand?

ALso, my mom did this diet for six months...at the start her cholesterol was 196 (very good). She did the diet to lose weight, after six months her cholesterol was 266. If saturated fats are not bad for you, how do you explain that? She has always been an avid excercisor and has NEVER had a cholesterol problem!

I thought the ratio thing was faiirly clear in his books
 

Mybe I made this up in my own head, but I thought the books explained the importance of LDL/HDL ratios and that the amount of sat fat didn't really matter so long the amount of unsat fat in the diet was higher.

I definitely believe that the media has always portrayed Atkins as the "Bacon and Steak" diet and I wonder if the Atkins decided that perhaps if they revised the diet to have some restrictions on sat fat, they could win more endorsements from the medical community.

What also interests me is the oversimplification of fat saturation issue. Things like butter (which, sat fat aside, has a lot of vitanutrients) and the tropical oils (llike the medium chain triglyceride coconut oil) are extremely beneficial.

interesting developments to follow