When it comes to doing the Atkins diet, I would not recommend that anyone go straight in to doing the diet with out first doing a little research and reading up on the diet before beginning. I of course think this is true of most diets but it is even more important when beginning a diet that eliminates or reduces the intake of certain food groups. I am not going to go into great detail about the Atkins diet itself in this review since I have already done that in my review about the: ATKINS NEW DIET REVOLUTION. If you would like to read that review you may go to.

http://www.epinions.com/content_125235138180

For further nutritional information and some important health information I would also suggest that you read the Epinion on this book and on this type of diet in general by Jankp. You can find her review by following this link.

http://www.epinions.com/content_96788057732

This review will be based on the book, its contents, and my personal opinions, rather than on the diet itself. I will tell you that to date my husband has lost 29 ½ pounds on the Atkins diet and has been maintaining that weight for over a month now. I myself have lost 12 pounds to date. Also keep in mind that I just had a baby 2 ½ months ago. I am 12 pounds thinner than before I was pregnant, so I have not only lost 12 pounds but all my pregnancy weight as well. I only gained 26 pounds though so I did not really gain that much weight on myself. But I am pleased to say that at a time when other women are struggling to lose their pregnancy weight that I have actually gone beyond that. I owe this success to Atkins. However in the last couple of weeks I have hit a wall and have only lost one pound in the two week period. That is our weight loss update.

Atkins for Life

I purchased this book because I like to follow menu plans. We started out by following the menu plans in the Atkins New Diet Revolution, but I like a large variety of options. And this book seemed to provide plenty with its 30 meal plans, plus 20 additional meal plans for special occasions, more about that later.

The first part of the book or part one, explains the Atkins diet. It of course talks about its advantages. It also discusses carbs and how it is ok to eat them, but which ones and how. It also talks about how to put the diet into practice, the importance of exercise, and every day challenges that people on Atkins face.

The book also goes into some detail of how excess carbohydrates can affect your body as you age.

I am not going to go into great detail on the information o provided in Part 1 of the book. Most of that information is covered in the: Atkins New Diet Revolution. So if you have read that book, the information in part 1 of this book will be more of a review for you or something you may skip all together. I would suggest however that you read chapter 8, (Looking Forward) as there is very important information in that chapter about aging, and disease including information about Chronic elevated levels of glucose due to high carbohydrates. It also covers such things as: A sluggish Thyroid, changing prescriptions, hormones, and stress. It also covers how to avoid back sliding.

It also reminds you to talk with your Dr. about Atkins and it goes into detail about how. I must also stress here that you should not go on a diet like this with out discussing it with your doctor first. If your doctor has doubts as my husband’s doctor did, tell him or her that you would like to give this a try and that you will allow your doctor to monitor your progress and your health regularly, my husband checks in with his Doctor once a month.

I have also had my progress checked by my doctor and he is impressed that my over all blood sugar has been greatly reduced. I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant and my doctors feared that I would not get rid of it after this pregnancy and therefore become permanently diabetic. I am pleased to say that I was able to shake off diabetes, at least for the time being, and am not even border line at this time.

In the midst of all of the chapters in part one you will find some success stories of people who have been on Atkins along with before and after pictures of them. Along with their personal stories are their: personal tips, weight before and after the Atkins diet, and their total cholesterol before and after.

There are also little tip boxes thrown in through out all of the part one chapters, tips such as: “shopping the perimeter of the grocery store where the unprocessed foods such as meat, cheese and vegetables are usually placed. Snacks and other junk foods tend to occupy the center aisles.” and “To keep fresh herbs fresh longer, rinse them and lightly wrap in paper towels. Place wrapped herbs in the plastic bags and refrigerate. There are also blue boxes of information thrown in on several pages that provide additional information to the information that is provided in the regular chapter. Again most of the information in Part One can be found in other Atkins books and if you are already familiar with the diet and understand how it works and why and how to safely use it then this book will not really provide much new information for you. If you are new to Atkins however this information is invaluable so read it. My main purpose for purchasing this book was the meal plans so it is time to discuss those.

The Meal Plans

As I mentioned above there are 30 different meal plans and 20 additional meal plans for special occasions and ethnic dining. Each meal plan provides an entire days worth of menus including: Breakfast, lunch, Dinner, and a snack.

The menu plans are broke down for all of the different levels of Atkins, if you are not familiar with Atkins that would be the induction phase, the on going weight loss phase, and the maintenance phases. They are listed by amount of Net Carbs you should be consuming for your own particular ACE or carbohydrate intake need or allowance. There is a menu plan for those on 45 net carbs., 60 net carbs., 80 net carbs., and 100 net carbs. Of course the larger net carb meal plans include either additional items or a larger serving of certain items.

The total net carb. content for each food item is next to the food item, along with the total for the entire meal, and then there is a total for the entire day.

Each days menus includes at least some item that you will have to follow a recipe for and prepare. There are also some Atkins products thrown in here and there. I was actually surprised to find that several of the breakfasts even in the 45 net gram category included things such as “Dutch Baby” Baked Pancakes, Blueberry silver dollar pancakes, and pecan buttermilk waffles. Of course these are all made using special recipes. Each item that requires a recipe is in blue print. When you are ready to prepare and item following a recipe you will find that recipe provided for you in the pages that are blue on the outer edge. The exact order of the recipes is not pointed out to you which is a bit inconvenient and can cause you extra time trying to find certain ones, but they do kind of follow an order, they start out with appetizer type things and move onto breakfast, soups, salads, entrees, desserts etc. so it is not extremely difficult to find things.

The Holiday Menus

The holiday menus are not entire day menus. They are instead menus that you might follow as your main meal for that day, so that you are not tempted to go off of the plan. Each of the holiday menus also comes with a dessert which in my own opinion is the most difficult thing about holidays, watching everyone down those Christmas cookies and fudge isn’t easy. The menus all sound quite delightful, and I have tried many of the individual item recipes, and know that those items are yummy such as the “Perfect Filet Mignon with wine sauce”, and “crab stuffed deviled eggs,” you get to enjoy at Christmas along with a salad with Brie and spicy nuts, flat bread and mixed veggies. You also get to enjoy a Christmas Yule log made with cocoa powder and chocolate frosting. I have not yet tried this recipe, but something tells me I won’t be waiting for Christmas to make it. Other holidays include Easter (yes you can have ham), Valentines Day, 4th of July, Memorial Day, New Years Eve, Super Bowl Sunday, Thanksgiving (including Pumpkin pie), Chanukah, and Mother’s Day brunch.

Ethnic Menus

The Ethnic menus are similar to the holiday menus in that they only include main meal of the day, and they each include a dessert as well. Included are 1 menu a piece for the following ethnicities: Italian, French, Mexican, Asian, Indian, Greek, Middle Eastern, Caribbean, Southern, and Brazilian.

Some Helpers

Following the menu plans are lists of items that contain a certain amount of carbs., they call this: “Carb Counting Made Easy.” There are lists for items that contain approximately 5 Grams of carbs, and 10 grams of carbs, They provide this information to make mixing and matching simple along with substituting.

There is also a listing of the 125 recipes, and the net carb. count for each this also makes changes and substitutions more simple. It also allows you to create your own menus using the recipes provided. These are listed very conveniently under the proper categories such as appetizers, breakfasts, soups and sandwiches, etc.

My Thoughts

I like all of the meal plans provided, the book does a fantastic job at providing that information. I also find most of the items to be delicious and really enjoy preparing the recipes. Here is my problem though. This book is entitled Atkins for Life. This would imply that the book was created to make Atkins easy to follow for ones life time. However all of the menu plans are labor intensive. They require that you prepare something for just about every meal following a recipe. Now this is great a lot of the time, but what about those busy days when you just don’t feel like cooking, there is no easy day or quick meal solutions, meaning meals that take very little preparation, or cheater meals where a lot of the work is already done for you, using convenience foods (yes some convenience foods can work in nicely with Atkins), or how about some menus for eating out or for take out. We have busy lives folks we don’t always have time to cook, and therefore I think a book that is for following an eating plan for life should include some helpful information on how to eat when you just don’t have the time to prepare things.

However if you have lots of time, and you enjoy cooking and don’t mind doing a lot of extra shopping to get just the right ingredients this book is wonderful. After all if you enjoy meal plans that are spelled out for you like I do then you should expect that you will have to do some specific shopping, and recipe following. The meal plans provided are very tasty and do have a great deal of variety, and therefore if you have the time to prepare them on a daily basis, I think you will pleased, as well as very successful in the Atkins program.

I would say this book is not for everyone, but for the right people who enjoy cooking, and have the time this book can be wonderful. However for those who hate to cook or just do not have the time, this book may be a bit to optimistic for you. I must also add that the Atkin’s diet as a whole has gone really well for both my husband and I. Several people we know have now started doing Atkins because they can’t believe how much weight we have lost, and how much we still eat.

Note: A special thank you to Jankp for allowing me to reference her Epinion.


Recommended: Yes