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Hi Everyone,
In the short time I've been posting here I just can't express how much I have learned from so many of you.
As an example, when I first tried Atkins there were very few "Low Carb" products on the market - back then Atkins was being demonized and ridiculed 10 fold of the way it is now. But if you wanted the low carb substitutes you could find them - if you looked hard enough, and boy did I look hard.
Not long after the Bars, the Shakes, the treats were everywhere and looking back they were my absolute downfall. Many of the Moderators and more experienced Atkins folk here have written posts and answered my questions regarding these foods and my feeling is, that especially for new folks and older folks like me, they're an absolute accident waiting to happen.
When I stopped drinking 6 years ago, there was no room for a "slip up" it was all or nothing. I was either going to stop or die - period. And anyone who has read my long winded posts in the addiction and depression forums knows that alcohol wasn't my only addiction.
But this post really is about you and for you so I'll leave my "sordid past" on hold for the time being.
A drug of choice as you all know is whatever we allow ourselves to become addicted to. Be it carbs, sugar, cocaine or heroin - addiction is addiction and it's the most insidious disease on the planet. Addiction doesn't discriminate and it shows no mercy not to anyone, not ever.
What it does, is comfort you for very brief moments and for that comfort you pay dearly. It strips away your health, your emotional well being and your potential. You think about your food or your booze or your drugs 24/7 and life just passes you by as you get sicker or fatter or both.
Now this is only my opinion, but these low carb foods are incredibly risky. They're triggers on loaded guns. If we were all alcoholics talking about the new alcohol free vodka, there isn't a Dr or substance abuse counselor who would consider it anything other than madness.
Heroin addicts are put on Methadone, but what is methadone? it's synthetic heroin! The addict is still an addict and the dealer is just a switch from street pusher to Pharmaceutical company.
When I was being detoxed from a perscription drug called Xanax, I met addicts of all kinds you name the drug there was someone addicted to it. From Doctors to College professors to, brownie baking grannies to blue and white collar workers - the people I was in treatment with were an amazingly diverse group. And the one common thread that held those who recover together was an absolute refrain from taking anything that had the slightest potential of being a trigger.
Not much is known about the carb free substitutes because they're all so relatively new. But one thing seems clear to me and that's that they appear to sabotage more people than they help.
No one likes to be uncomfortable and in pain but sometimes it's necessary, sometimes it's important.
Induction is hard no doubt about it. Temptation is everywhere. If you stay the course and do Atkins the right way, in it's purest form you will succeed. These foods pose so many potential hazards from weight stalls to abandoning your commitment to yourself entirely that I have to wonder are they worth it?
We obviously all reached a point where we just couldn't stand the misery anymore - that's why we're here. Be it your first day or your 100th none of us are here because we were fit and healthy and proud of our bodies.
I know how hard we all work, I know you know how hard we all work at this, how badly we want to finally be the person we've always known exists under all this fat, compromised health and bruised and beaten self esteem. Why even take a the slightest risk of ending back there?
In recovery they told me "your brain hasn't been working for you - that's why your here, so for the time being use ours"
So on that note, why don't we use Dr. Atkins? He may be gone but his voice lives on in his books, in this support board and in every lost pound from every person whose very presence here is testimony to the success of this WOL.
A success that can't be measured only in pounds and inches or by scales and measuring tapes. So I've made a plan for myself, a blue print if you will, here it is and maybe you'll want to make one too.
Sorry for the long post, and I edited this!
It was turning into war and piece, I think it would have crashed the site!
Much Love to all of you
Peter
ha
In the short time I've been posting here I just can't express how much I have learned from so many of you.
As an example, when I first tried Atkins there were very few "Low Carb" products on the market - back then Atkins was being demonized and ridiculed 10 fold of the way it is now. But if you wanted the low carb substitutes you could find them - if you looked hard enough, and boy did I look hard.
Not long after the Bars, the Shakes, the treats were everywhere and looking back they were my absolute downfall. Many of the Moderators and more experienced Atkins folk here have written posts and answered my questions regarding these foods and my feeling is, that especially for new folks and older folks like me, they're an absolute accident waiting to happen.
When I stopped drinking 6 years ago, there was no room for a "slip up" it was all or nothing. I was either going to stop or die - period. And anyone who has read my long winded posts in the addiction and depression forums knows that alcohol wasn't my only addiction.
But this post really is about you and for you so I'll leave my "sordid past" on hold for the time being.
A drug of choice as you all know is whatever we allow ourselves to become addicted to. Be it carbs, sugar, cocaine or heroin - addiction is addiction and it's the most insidious disease on the planet. Addiction doesn't discriminate and it shows no mercy not to anyone, not ever.
What it does, is comfort you for very brief moments and for that comfort you pay dearly. It strips away your health, your emotional well being and your potential. You think about your food or your booze or your drugs 24/7 and life just passes you by as you get sicker or fatter or both.
Now this is only my opinion, but these low carb foods are incredibly risky. They're triggers on loaded guns. If we were all alcoholics talking about the new alcohol free vodka, there isn't a Dr or substance abuse counselor who would consider it anything other than madness.
Heroin addicts are put on Methadone, but what is methadone? it's synthetic heroin! The addict is still an addict and the dealer is just a switch from street pusher to Pharmaceutical company.
When I was being detoxed from a perscription drug called Xanax, I met addicts of all kinds you name the drug there was someone addicted to it. From Doctors to College professors to, brownie baking grannies to blue and white collar workers - the people I was in treatment with were an amazingly diverse group. And the one common thread that held those who recover together was an absolute refrain from taking anything that had the slightest potential of being a trigger.
Not much is known about the carb free substitutes because they're all so relatively new. But one thing seems clear to me and that's that they appear to sabotage more people than they help.
No one likes to be uncomfortable and in pain but sometimes it's necessary, sometimes it's important.
Induction is hard no doubt about it. Temptation is everywhere. If you stay the course and do Atkins the right way, in it's purest form you will succeed. These foods pose so many potential hazards from weight stalls to abandoning your commitment to yourself entirely that I have to wonder are they worth it?
We obviously all reached a point where we just couldn't stand the misery anymore - that's why we're here. Be it your first day or your 100th none of us are here because we were fit and healthy and proud of our bodies.
I know how hard we all work, I know you know how hard we all work at this, how badly we want to finally be the person we've always known exists under all this fat, compromised health and bruised and beaten self esteem. Why even take a the slightest risk of ending back there?
In recovery they told me "your brain hasn't been working for you - that's why your here, so for the time being use ours"
So on that note, why don't we use Dr. Atkins? He may be gone but his voice lives on in his books, in this support board and in every lost pound from every person whose very presence here is testimony to the success of this WOL.
A success that can't be measured only in pounds and inches or by scales and measuring tapes. So I've made a plan for myself, a blue print if you will, here it is and maybe you'll want to make one too.
- * Don't deviate from the accepted foods list
* One cheat leads right to another
* Take this one day at a time, one second at a time
* Exercise - there's no wiggle room or negation, it's a must
* Substitute carb free foods are triggers for me. I won't take that risk
* I'll read DANDR - again and again
* In helping others I help myself
* I won't measure my success by the pounds I lost this week or didn't lose
* I would have to be insane not to love this way of life
* I miss certain foods - so what, I indulged every whim long enough
* Tomorrow will be better.
Sorry for the long post, and I edited this!
It was turning into war and piece, I think it would have crashed the site!
Much Love to all of you
Peter
ha
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