Should I be scared?

[TwitterBean]

Today in another group of mine a lady posted this

"So true that the Atkins diet makes you lose weight fast. I did. Then my ketones shot up and my kidneys failed and I only have one working kidney. You may remember the issues I talked about when I had my oldest and almost died during delivery... That's why. I fried my kidneys.

IF you try the atkins or a no carb high protein diet, you NEED to have your protein monitored closely because it can KILL you.

And it's not good for your heart. Sorry to rain on the parade."


I am trying to get details about what went wrong for her, but anyone here know what I can do to make absolutely sure this doesn't happen?? I know water is a big deal and I will be better about that from now on. Anything else?? Too much protein perhaps?? What's a good amount? I'm sort of freaked out so any words would be helpful, thanks!

[planetclaire]

Re: Should I be scared?

Gotta love the naysayers! There always seems to be someone around in forum-land that nearly died doing atkins.

Bodybuilders are eating way more protein than we are. They are waking up every 3 hours to consume protein shakes. If you are otherwise healthy, I wouldn't be too worried.

[liv]

Re: Should I be scared?

If she ate a no carb high protein diet she was not doing Atkins. We eat high fat, moderate protein, low to moderate carb (depending where we are on our journey)

[kibskix]

Re: Should I be scared?

You can go back and ask that woman what she was eating, and i'd bet you there would be next to no carbs and next to no veggies. It really ticks me off when unintelligent people go babbling about things when their failure is their own fault, and go blaming it on the system. I eat more veggies than I EVER have in my entire life on atkins. Yesterday, i had 3 eggs, 1 chicken breast, and 1/3lb hamburger. Since when is that 'high protein'? I wouldn't be surprised if that was just someone sent to boards to discourage atkins from another weight loss company.

[Peej]

Re: Should I be scared?

Honestly, I don't think I eat much more protein than before Atkins. Mostly I've just replaced carbs with veggies and fats. If you are eating enough protein to destroy your kidneys, I'd guess that you're not getting in your veggies/fat/water and you're probably not just eating when you're hungry.

I'd say this woman probably is either lying, wildly exaggerating, or already had kidney issues to begin with. You do have to be careful about your water and get checked out by a doctor before you begin any diet/exercise plan, but I don't think you have anything to worry about.

[TwitterBean]

Re: Should I be scared?

I agree that I don't know the whole story with her. She's from my pregnancy board though and we were pregnant together so I know it's not a conspiracy! lol I'm worried about this because my husband is really really bad about bringing food with him to work, so he goes the whole day without eating until he gets home and then I cook dinner which is balanced, meat veggie, and then we have cheesecake (lol). We just had ababy, he's 4 months old, and normally I'd make him some sort of breakfast to take with him, or even lunch but I just don't have the time or energy anymore and no matter how much I harass him he can't seem to get himself to get his breakfast and lunch together. We're thinking that he's going to have to do the shakes they sell for lunch. I know they can cause stalls, any improvement on these shakes in the last few years? anyone have success with it? thanks, Liz

[rajenki]

Re: Should I be scared?

Twitter, I don't have an answer for your last post about shakes and stuff...but wanted to pipe in about your friends statement that this WOE isn't good for your heart.

Back in 1998 when I did this the first time around, I had no idea that I had a major fatal heart condition caused by a birth defect in my aorta. I had high blood pressure since I was 10 years old due to this but it was repeatedly misdiagnosed. While on Atkins diet, I got my blood pressure into the normal range for the first time in 14 years...including years of repeated attempts at WW and other low-fat diets. I also brought my triglicerides and cholesterol down...

Now since then I've had my heart defect corrected and I always have very normal blood pressure now...but I think it's pretty incredible that Atkins brought it down without the correction all by itself.

I can't really speak for kidneys (although I think even Dr. A advised that if you have pre-existing kidney issues you should be monitored anyway), but from a heart perspective, I'm pretty sure this is a great heart healthy way to go.

Becki

[TwitterBean]

Re: Should I be scared?

Sorry for stirring up the old controversies! I think every now and then I just need to reconvince myself I'm doing the right thing. I've been doing atkins off and on for years and have always felt good doing so. It's only when someone like this lady comes forth with some sort of tragedy that I get nervous. In my head though I'm thinking, how can 2 eggs for breakfast, a salad for lunch and a regular meat&veggie dinner be bad for you? Some people might be doing this woe on accident just to be healthy you know what I mean? I also love the fact that all that processed food is out of my house and I don't eat it anymore. Absolute garbage.

[Jace]

Re: Should I be scared?

The short answer is, if you're worried, get your kidneys tested by your physician before beginning.

Atkins has not been shown to have adverse effects on healthy kidneys when done correctly, but people with preexisting kidney disease are generally discouraged from this way of life because it can exacerbate any problems they may already have.

We should all get checked by our doctor before beginning any weight loss program, and those that do experience genuine kidney problems are either not following the plan or had a preexisting kidney problem that went undiagnosed. When we are overweight we tend to avoid the doctor so we don't have to listen to the inevitable "you need to lose" weight song and dance or we're just too embarrassed to be faced with the medical reality that we've gotten ourselves into.

If you get the all clear from your doctor and you follow the plan as the good Dr. Atkins designed it, you'll experience great success! I'd be willing to bet this person from your pregnancy forum was to blame for any problems she may have had and not Dr. Atkins.

~Far la bella figura!

[SunnySmile501]

Re: Should I be scared?

You've been a member here since 2007. I have been doing Atkins for almost four years. not2late, Elizellen, Mitzi, Sherri, Betty (can't remember her screen name right off) Jace, and SugarFreeSheila all have been doing Atkins longer than I have. This is just a few posters here--there are many more. Do any of us look like we are about to die? We obviously haven't died, because we are still posting. I had a problem with my kidneys (renal insufficiency) before I began. It has been completely gone for most of the time I have been doing Atkins. My kidney function improved.

If you do Atkins by the book--high fat, moderate protein and lots of low carb veggies, drink your water, you will not harm your health in any way. As you lose and move up the carb ladder, the amount of fat goes down as the amount of carbs go up. The protein stays the same. About 35% of calories. That is not high protein. Atkins has never been high protein.

If, on the other hand, you are looking for a crash diet to dump a lot of weight and you "modify" the diet to something like all meat & eggs, the fat fast or something you have heard that will cause you to lose massive amounts of weight in a short time, then you might just damage your kidneys or cause heart problems from severe loss of potassium, magnesium and sodium (electrolytes) as you lose a large amount of fluid/water weight in too short of time.

[keriann_forgoodthistime]

Re: Should I be scared?

Sorry for stirring up the old controversies! I think every now and then I just need to reconvince myself I'm doing the right thing. I've been doing atkins off and on for years and have always felt good doing so. It's only when someone like this lady comes forth with some sort of tragedy that I get nervous. In my head though I'm thinking, how can 2 eggs for breakfast, a salad for lunch and a regular meat&veggie dinner be bad for you? Some people might be doing this woe on accident just to be healthy you know what I mean? I also love the fact that all that processed food is out of my house and I don't eat it anymore. Absolute garbage.

Everyone else has already told you WHY atkins IS healthy - but think about that last line you said - "I also love the fact that all that processed food is out of my house and I don't eat it anymore. Absolute garbage."

I know - when people start in on me - that's one thing that I ALWAYS talk about...I look at it like this - how could atkins be "unhealthy" for us when our ancestors NEVER even HAD the processed foods that we do today?
Atkins - for the most part (maybe 95%) is totally pure / whole foods. FAT and PROTEIN are WHOLE REAL foods and that's how our ancestors lived - and hey - it worked for them until processsing foods came into existance, right?

Now - like I'm sure someone else has said, the woman is TOTALLY mis-informed about what atkins really is. And I understand where she's coming from because - until January 03 of this year when I actually READ THE BOOK and educated myself on what a low-carb diet truly is, I probably believed the same thing. Just realize that she's honestly "ignorant" of what atkins is all about.

As you and everyone else on this board knows, atkins is NOT no-carb. It's low-carb. Our bodies do not NEED to have 300 grams of carbs a day to survive...and again as pointed out already - vegees, fruits, nuts, legumes, etc...etc...are the healthy carbs that you SHOULD eat that on atkins you WILL eat - to me, atkins is really learning how to stop eating processed SUGAR.

good luck and just believe that you know what's right!

[milfit77]

Re: Should I be scared?

The short answer is, if you're worried, get your kidneys tested by your physician before beginning.

Atkins has not been shown to have adverse effects on healthy kidneys when done correctly, but people with preexisting kidney disease are generally discouraged from this way of life because it can exacerbate any problems they may already have.

We should all get checked by our doctor before beginning any weight loss program, and those that do experience genuine kidney problems are either not following the plan or had a preexisting kidney problem that went undiagnosed. When we are overweight we tend to avoid the doctor so we don't have to listen to the inevitable "you need to lose" weight song and dance or we're just too embarrassed to be faced with the medical reality that we've gotten ourselves into.

If you get the all clear from your doctor and you follow the plan as the good Dr. Atkins designed it, you'll experience great success! I'd be willing to bet this person from your pregnancy forum was to blame for any problems she may have had and not Dr. Atkins.

~Far la bella figura!

Well SAID!!

[TwitterBean]

Re: Should I be scared?

ok here's the scoop. She had gotten pregnant about 3 months after being atkins and developed pre-eclampsia which lead to the kidney failure and near cardiac arrest. It's a shame she didn't post the whole story, this was in an email. Now the other women trying to lose weight won't know the benefit of this woe. I have a near identical story to hers with the exception of the kidney failure. 3 months in, pregnant, developed pregnancy induced hypertension, was miserable my whole pregnancy.... but I'm 99% this is because I was 190lbs when I got pregnant and near 250lbs at the end of it. As much as I don't like it, being 190lbs was in the obese category and with that comes risks when you are pregnant.

She also went on to say that she was vitamin deficient because of the diet and "I'm not telling you not to do low carb. It WORKS. Just don't skip vitamins and minerals that you need. If the weight loss is slower because you're getting what you need to stay healthy, it's ok."

Again sorry to drag up the drama, seems I fell for the sensationalized version of her story. Thanks for all the replies though! This site was down for a day or two a few weeks ago and I nearly collapsed! Yes I have been on here since Oct 2007 and it's been an amazing resource for me while trying to get healthy!

[SunnySmile501]

Re: Should I be scared?

Your baby is absolutely adorable! No matter what diet you were or were not on, you grew a precious baby. I love babies!

[Peej]

Re: Should I be scared?

I'm glad you got the whole truth. Its a shame that she wasn't telling the whole story and may have scared off some people who can use this WOE to improve their lives!

I have to admit, I get a little scared sometimes too. So many people jump out of the woodwork talking about how horrible Atkins is for you and that you'll end up with heart disease and high blood pressure/cholesterol etc. It can be scary when you're doing something that everyone else says is horrible for you. I need some reassurance sometimes too. Then I realize that if it was really that bad for me, it wouldn't make me feel so much better. Still, its hard to get past all the naysayers sometimes.