I've read CAD (not CALP) with an eye toward seeing how it would suit me as a maintenance-type plan, and I decided I was better off sticking with Atkins. There are a couple of principles in it that I like, but they were pretty much things I was already doing, and they weren't the least bit incompatible with Atkins. So here's an Atkins perspective on CAD -- again, I haven't studied it extensively, and these are just my opinions and observations.

The meal schedule is one of the things I find really appealing about CAD, though the overall plan as written is a bit complex for my tastes. I've never been a snacker, and I think that's been a critical factor in my success with Atkins -- like I said on the mini-meal thread a couple weeks back, I don't tend to eat less at meals to compensate for between-meal snacks. And I think after-dinner snacking is something that should be avoided no matter what plan you're on, because it never leads to any good. I also like the idea that if you're going to eat something off-plan, confine it to a single meal and balance it out with good-for-you foods.

However, I have some reservations about the RM concept, both as it deals with insulin management and with the problem of bingeing. CAD works really well for some people, but I've seen it send a lot of other people completely off the rails. I know a couple of CADders on here avoid certain foods (i.e. sugar) even at RMs, and to me that tends to argue that CAD is not always the best answer to sugar addiction. My limited observation suggests that starch-lovers do better on it, and that people who go into it because they're craving sugar don't generally do well, but maybe Potatofree would have more and better input here.

I also still don't understand how it's OK to spike your insulin way up high once a day, but bad to send it on barely-noticeable increases from LC snacks or even diet drinks. I know they say that eating the RM within the hour and balancing the carbs are the keys to good insulin management, but I don't think I buy that, because I know I still feel a sugar rush/crash if I eat something high-GI even if it's balanced and consumed according to CAD rules. That's pretty much what I do when I do cheat at Christmas and suchlike -- eat a balanced meal, with *one* serving of something high-carb -- and I always feel the reaction. I have some cravings, too, as a result -- nothing too hard to overcome, just "oh, another piece of that would be nice", but they're still there. On the contrary, I drink, well, let's just say more than one diet coke per day, and not with meals, and I don't notice perceptible insulin reactions or cravings on a routine basis.

I think it also depends on how addicted to carbs you really are, and that's hard to tell with the self-test. People tend to evaluate themselves a llittle more to extremes on tests like that -- I've taken it and tested as moderate to severe, even though I think I'm weakly addicted if at all. Having a temporary snacking problem doesn't necessarily mean you're a carb addict, especially if it's a recent development, and my understanding is that CAD isn't a plan for non-addicts.

You don't have to do CAD just to do the no-snacking thing, you know -- the Atkins police will not come and take you away if you don't eat snacks. Eat your dinner, clean up your kitchen, and be done for the day. It's helpful just to have lots of nibbly foods in the fridge, and to cook filling, satisfying, well-balanced meals. I know you've been doing the mini-meal thing for a while, and sometimes it's helpful just to shake things up a bit. Why not just switch to three squares/no snacks for a while, rather than swap plans entirely?