In the spirit of my blogs first birthday and quite a bit of summer travel I made a request for a few guest authors in June and July.

Brad Shorr of WordSell.Inc is someone I met a year ago, at a class where he spoke about blogging. He made the wonderful distinction about the anatomy of a blog, vs a website – which I found particularly insightful. We met up again at SOBCon08 and found we had a lot in common. Since then we have been reading and commenting on each other’s blogs, which is another thing I love about the bloggy people I have met this past year. Great folks!

Brad sent me an email that said,  I’ve been checking out your blog. You have some really fine information here. Kudos!

Tell me that wouldn’t just make your day!

I liked Brad’s share, it’s very true that a bit of weightloss – in his case just 15lbs, can have remarkable impact on overall health and well being. 

Thank you.  

My Life on Atkins

By Brad Shorr

When I went on the Atkins diet about five years ago, everyone was skeptical, including me. The stereotypical image of an Atkins dieter was (and maybe still is) someone shoveling down 64 ounce steaks and shoebox-size blocks of cheese. Much to my surprise, the actual diet turned out to be nothing like that at all. The health benefits I experienced were amazing and totally counterintuitive.

The first thing to know about Atkins is that you can and should eat plenty of vegetables. Since a good number of other foods are discouraged, including grains and many fruits, I found myself eating – and enjoying – a greater variety of vegetables than I ever before. Though I’m no longer rigidly on Atkins, my taste for spinach, cauliflower, endive, and broccoli thankfully remains.

Here are two other important realities of Atkins. First, by no means should you limit your protein intake to red meat and cheese. It’s just as good if not better to go heavy on chicken and fish, which are more nutritious and save calories. Which brings me to the second point – Atkins is not a license to eat unlimited calories. The idea that you can eat 30 slabs of ribs a day and not gain weight is incorrect. Calories always count.

What happens on Atkins is that you have less of an appetite, because without the carbs your body doesn’t experience the spikes in sugar level that stimulate appetite. For the first few weeks on Atkins, I had to force myself to eat. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t perpetually hungry.

After one year on Atkins I went in for a physical exam. For one year, no carbs, virtually no fruit, large portions of vegetables, and lots and lots of protein. You might be as surprised as I was to find out –

q My cholesterol had dropped from 275 to 210

q My blood pressure had dropped from slightly elevated to normal

q My glucose levels had plunged from borderline high to below normal

Go figure! All this in addition to dropping about 15 pounds and having more energy than I had felt in years. That said, I eventually went off the diet because I really missed things like pasta and rice. However, I still stick to general Atkins principles and seldom eat those nasty, “empty” carbs. If you want to give the diet a try, read Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution cover to cover before you do anything. The book makes an awful lot of sense.

Happy Blog Birthday, Karen!

Karen Hanrahan ~ Wellness Educator/Nutritional Consultant/Blog Publisher
708.482.0678 ~ Websites: Nutrition, Weight Loss, and Green Clean