My sister is very worried about me because I'm starting Induction with Atkins again and I go to the gym. She said she read from a medical sourse that Atkins and regular gym workouts have been shown to cause weakening in the heart. I don't believe her but I'm curious if anyone has heard of this and what is the truth of this matter. Thanks..

I did much reading before starting this WOL and never read anything that confirmed any of this being unhealthy.

Exercise will make you strong. Just listen to your body.

Take care!

I met with my personal trainer for some orientation tonight at the gym, and he's really nice, but he's terrified by Atkins. He's been told it's a no-no and "thousands of people have died from it." I told him that I'm under a doctor's care, but he pointed out that doctors aren't the same as nutritionists (and I have to admit that he's right). That's what he really doesn't like about Atkins himself - he says Atkins has no nutritional certifications. I'd have to check that.

I told him I'm concerned about my triglycerides and scared of developing diabetes, and he was sympathetic. I said that, in fact doing Atkins has given me control of my carbohydrates, but if my workout requires that I add more, I'm comfortable doing so, and that they would be the right carbs, whole grains instead of sugar, etc. I think that made him feel better.

He does know his stuff in general, but I suspect he hasn't read the Atkins book, anyhow.

I might talk to a nutritionist one of these days, which I assume will be another dissenting opinion. But for now, I think that having some carbs in the morning does help me immensely. I do think I'm working out a fair amount and I'm increasing it, so I think I should be open to adding more carbs.

*sigh*

Hi Kassie,

Marlaine and I did the Body For Life program while doing Atkins and we not only lost weight and built muscle but we felt great. (We were BFL buddies - we live near each other) Have you checked out the BFL forum? Lots of members have combined BFL with PP & Atkins. BFL is very intense & if lots of us thrived on it, I'm sure you'll be fine with what you're doing in the gym. You'll need to consider whether you will require more carbs, especially if you are lifting weights. If you have intense workouts, you will need to more carbs than induction allows. In addition, weight training will require adequate protein (1g per lb of body weight), otherwise your body will cannibalize your muscle to make glucose. Please don't aim to lose weight quickly while working out ....it could lead to loss of muscle mass rather than body fat. You don't want to go there. 2-3 lbs a week is safe & you may be pleasantly surprised to find that you do better than that once you start building muscle.

Final word: I don't believe that Induction carb levels and intense workouts belong together. If you are just walking on a treadmill at a comfortable pace, I can't see any problem. That's my $.02 worth.

Best wishes for a stronger, slimmer body!

Ysabella,

Your trainer is nutty. Dr. A may not have any "official" nutrition training, but my guess is that after 30 years of treating patients with diet and supplements, he's learned a thing or two. The Atkins center also has registered dietitians on staff that don't seem to think this diet kills people. Dr. A wrote an entire book called The Vita Nutrient Solution which is an extremely comprehensive survey of nutritional supplements and illnesses/disorders that may benefit from supplementation. It's a terrific book and, unless he had a ghost writer, proves he knows his stuff. The book has the same somewhat irritated tone as DANDR, so I really suspect he wrote it himself. My pharmacy actually has a copy of this book for people to thumb through and make vitamin purchasing decisions.

If you are feeling at all nervous about following this WOE, I'd suggest reading, Protein Power. There's about 40-50 pages on how how to follow the plan and about 150 pages on the biochemistry of low-carb. There's an entire chapter on cholesterol, blood pressure, obesity, exercise...it's a terrific book and after you read it, you will be able to whip ignorant people in the face with biochemistry (always a pleasure, because it makes a funny noise). I don't know if you're like me, but I like to know why things work (kind of suspecting you are) and, for me, DANDR didn't really have enough of the why. It seems at times that he's just kind of saying, "Trust me, this works, and here's another anecdote about one of my patients who used to weight 8000 pounds and now can't be seen if they stand sideways." If you think your trainer might respond well, you could loan Protein Power to him afterwards and maybe make a convert (lord knows we need some in his industry).

If you feel like making a quick point with the trainer dude, you could ask him, "How could the optimal diet for human health be one we couldn't attain if we were lost in the woods?" If you were in the woods alone, with just your own body as a survival tool, you'd be able to grab a sharp stick, maybe sharpen it with a rock and then go around spearing things. You could gather berries, some nuts, seeds, greens, etc. and you could eat raw meat. Fruit would only be available seasonally, so you wouldn't be able to eat it year round. The optimal human diet seems a lot like Atkins to me. If your trainer tries to claim we've evolved, then you can point out that agriculture is only 10,000 years old which isn't enough time for Madame Evolution to do her magic thang.

If thousands of people had died doing Atkins, you would have heard about it. Don't you think the low-fat experts would be pulling that out at every possible opportunity? With all the publicity low-carbing has had in the last six months since "What If It's All Been A Big Fat Lie?" appeared in the New York Times Magazine (which, btw, employs armies of fact-checkers) don't you think if thousands of people were dying, it would have appeared somewhere in print? Over the last six months I've heard plenty about the dangers of dying while taking ephedra/ma huang, but nothing about low-carbers dropping dead on treadmills.

Okay, I didn't mean to get all long-winded on you (please don't zap me with the death ray) but I haaaaaaaate it when people who are authority figures (like trainers) spout off half-truths when they haven't bothered to look into the plan themselves. In my mind, they have a higher responsibility to know what they're talking about before they open their mouths, because people depend on them to know their stuff. It's his job, for goodness sake.

Lessara, if your sister read from a reliable medical source that Atkins and regular gym workouts weaken the heart, the study would appear here, on the Medline database. I wasn't able to find anything in the 10 minutes of searching I did, but maybe your sister could remember more about the article which would help you do a more thorough search. The heart is a muscle, however, and a ketogenic diet is muscle-sparing, which is why competitive body-builders use it as a tool when shedding fat (they want to lose as little muscle as possible while doing so), so I doubt Atkins causes weakening of the heart. If anything, I think it would make it easier for your heart to become stronger in response to the stress of exercise. Your body needs tons of protein to make that new muscle.

You may find that having your carbs at Induction level isn't compatible with the gym just because of perfomance issues if you weight-lift. If you feel tired or sluggish during the day, you may want to up your levels 5 or 10 grams and see if that helps.

I'm not an expert of any kind and I've just spouted off, royally. I'm hoping that someone who really knows what he or she is talking about will stop by this thread and add their two cents and/or kick me in the buns for being mistaken.

Sigh, sorry. Sometimes, I can't stop myself...

Happy workouts, Dig

While I was writing my tantrum, Ruth posted her message. She's definitely one of the aforementioned "someone who knows what she is talking about."

This is a woman who really knows her stuff.

D

someone already did

Nat

I agree Natrushka.. Digwig knows her stuff.
The amazing thing is that there was a mention that a Dr is not a nutritionist. But he does have access to a great deal of information about what your body chemistry is up to.
Ysabella, I would challenge your trainer to come up with real names about who has "died" doing atkins. Really.
Then challenge him to find out the effects of raised insulin that the food pyrmamid causes. And what insulin does to Bp, cholestral and other such lovely numbers that we all get obsessed with.
Nutritionists are also for the most part too involved with the politically mandated food pyramid. They don't think. they don't use the education they have to actually DO something, they just follow in line with the eat more carbs than we really need crew.
And tell him your Dr is still the best person to monitor your Body chemistry.. your nutritionist can't order those tests and wouldn't always understand the results if they could.

Ooo.. and ask your Trainer to name you one essential carb.
Just one
Nedra