hi there,

I think you're refering to Dr. Atkins' first book, Diet Revolution, pub. in the early 1970's. That is an excellent program, it still works just fine. However, Atkins published his New Diet Revolution in 1992, with a recent update in 2001. In the decades since his first book, he determined that the program is just as successful in the early weeks if a person consumes up to 20g per day in the form of low-carb vegetables and salads. Generally speaking, if a person were to follow the original program as written, and added carbs each week .. eventually you'd catch up and be at the same level as a person following the newer version at OWL (ongoing weight loss).

From a purely technical perspective, you will not do yourself physical harm by eating fewer carbs, or even no carbs. But why would you want to? Vegetables and salads will add variety and interest to your meals, as well as fiber and flavour

Check out Atkins' official website .. http://atkinscenter.com/ .. There's a section on Induction and updated food lists for the new version. Note, if it's not on the list, you don't eat it for the 2 weeks of Induction. Another feature of the updated version is the concept of "net carbs" or you may see members on other forums refer to "effective carbs" or ECC. This means you can subtract the grams of fiber in a food from the total carbs listed. For example, broccoli has 2.5g total carbs in ½ cup, and 1g fiber. So, you would count 1.5g net carbs for the broccoli Fiber is not absorbed, therefore it does not contribute carbs or calories, nor does it cause a rise in blood sugar or insulin.

I recommend you get your hands on a copy of Atkins updated New Diet Revolution. Very likely your library has a copy you can borrow, but the paperback version is cheaply available just about everywhere.

Doreen