I decided to send her a letter as well. Reporting such as this shoudn't go unchallenged. Here is a copy of the letter I sent:

quote:
"For those of you who continuously live the Atkins lifestyle, I admire you."

I have to say I'm sorry that you had such a negative experience with low carbing. Then again, with they way that you reported going about it, I'm not terribly surprised that you had the experience that you did and was a good example of how NOT to do low carb.
Those of us who live a low carb lifestyle continuously eat nothing like you did for those 5 days and most of us have read far more about the subject than a page or two from a website. To those who are thinking about giving low carb a try I give this advice: learn something about it first. Pick a plan and actually buy (or borrow from the library) the book for your chosen plan first and READ IT! Read it twice or three times if you have to so you understand what is going to be required and what you can and cannot eat and in what amounts.
Just for the record, here are some of the things that you did incorrectly:
1) Your veggetable intake/carb intake was way to low even for induction levels. Unless you are consuming carbs in the form of other foods allowed besides veggies such as cream, cheese and lemon juice (or low carb junk food), you can have far more vegetables than a salad or a small serving of another vegetable from the allowed list than the recommended 3 cups a day. Forget the low carb candy bars. Eat more veggies instead. They'll satisfy you far more and for far longer. Yes, everything has carbs, but there isn't a single low carb plan out there that is NO carb. Veggies are a requirement for all of them even in the initial phases.
2) You were eating nuts. Nuts are not allowed during the induction period on the Atkins diet and can actually make carb cravings worse in many people.
3) You made no mention at all of drinking water. Eight 8 oz. glasses a day is the minimum requirement.
4) You made no mention of taking a multivitamin or any other vitamin supplements.

Here is an average daily menu for me and I've been doing this for over 2 years:

Breakfast: 1 serving Keto hot cereal (various flavors) with 2 tbsp. added ground flax for the Omega 3 fatty acids and fiber. I eat eggs for breakfast maybe twice a week. I'll also sometimes have 1 cup of full-fat unflavored yogurt with 1/2 cup of strawberries or raspberries sweetened with Splenda.
Lunch: Chicken Caesar salad with mushrooms, onions, parmesan cheese. Hold the croutons.
Dinner: Sirloin pork chops with mushroom sauce, 1 1/2 cups broccoli, mixed greens salad with Bleu cheese dressing.
Snacks: Sugar free jello with whipped cream, celery with cream cheese, raw veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, green peppers) with dip or 1/2 cup sugar-free ice cream. Occasionally, I'll have a handful of macadamia nuts as a snack.

If you're going to give low carb a try and then write about it, at least do all your readers a favor and research it properly first and then follow it properly before reporting on it. Researching it poorly, giving it a half-hearted attempt and then reporting how horrible it was does a great disservice to a lifestyle that many are following in good health and with great success.