My husband

[Tzu]

Hi all,

My husband has been on Atkins for about two and a half years now. He dropped in the first year or so from size 40 trousers to size 36. He seems to feel better on the diet and his blood results for diabetes type 2, cholestrol and also his high blood pressure have dropped .. though he is still on meds for all three. The thing that worries me is he still has too much around his waist in my opinion .. he does agree on this. He probably needs to lose another 15 lbs. Should he go back to the initial part of the diet (induction I think u call it)?

Also .. I see him sometimes eating sweet stuff a piece of cake or icecream (he claims it's within his number of calories he's allowed) and I almost panic as I have it in my head that sugar combined with this high fat diet could be so bad for his heart/arteries?? My family are all nurses and can only preach low fat diet .. they sort of look on in disgust at the mention that he is on a high fat diet when both his parents died of heart attacks ... so I do feel anxious about him a lot of the time as I have this high fat scare story stuck in my head from years of being preached to by my mom who was a nurse too. Any advice?

[Bren]

ok, sounds like he is trying to mix the best of both worlds? Sweets and High fat. You cannot do both. Especially being a diabetic he needs to pick a plan and stick with it. Even through the maintenance phase. When he did Atkins the first time did he move up through the rungs? This also sounds to me like he maybe did not and therefore maybe went into maintenance too fast?

IMHO the best course of action for your hubby would be to do Atkins (not just induction), climb the rungs, and find the balance between his maintenance carb intake and his blood sugar readings. Climbing the rungs is a natural progression to eating a healthy life style, as you progress you naturaly consume less fat.

Does he exercise?

[Tzu]

Originally Posted by Bren

ok, sounds like he is trying to mix the best of both worlds? Sweets and High fat. You cannot do both. Especially being a diabetic he needs to pick a plan and stick with it. Even through the maintenance phase. When he did Atkins the first time did he move up through the rungs? This also sounds to me like he maybe did not and therefore maybe went into maintenance too fast?

IMHO the best course of action for your hubby would be to do Atkins (not just induction), climb the rungs, and find the balance between his maintenance carb intake and his blood sugar readings. Climbing the rungs is a natural progression to eating a healthy life style, as you progress you naturaly consume less fat.

Does he exercise?

Hi Bren ... thanks for ur reply ... He doesn't go to gym or anything like that .. but he does a fair bit of walking with his job (and up and down flights of stairs during the week with the job). As far as I know he did the induction properly and then moved on as he was supposed to. He basically starts his day with egg, bacon, mushrooms and tomotoe .. or sometimes lamb chops on their own. Then lunch is often a couple of oat biscuites he buys (they are sweetened with syrup or sugar) .. at dinner time he often has steak fried in butter and maybe some corn with it or green beans. I think he must be sneaking other food ... cos on what I've said here he should be stick thin ... Some nights he will have what we have but with a much smaller helping of carbs than he used to consume before Atkins. So are u saying he should have no sugar at all?

[Bren]

Tzu,

Pick up a copy of the Atkins Diabetic Revolution. A great book and it will answer alot of your questions. And......if you have any more questions........that is why we are here!
Refined sugar, especially for a diabetic is not a good thing!
Sometimes when people lose alot and then stall out it means they have not adjusted their intake down to suit their new weight? Something to think about.
Also, shaking up his exercise could help too!

[Tzu]

Originally Posted by Bren

Tzu,

Pick up a copy of the Atkins Diabetic Revolution. A great book and it will answer alot of your questions. And......if you have any more questions........that is why we are here!
Refined sugar, especially for a diabetic is not a good thing!
Sometimes when people lose alot and then stall out it means they have not adjusted their intake down to suit their new weight? Something to think about.
Also, shaking up his exercise could help too!

Many thanks Bren .. I'm hoping he'll have a read here when he has a moment ... We have a couple of the Atkins books here .. I have read some in each .. I'll heed ur advice and have another read ... thanks once again for ur help

[ConfusedAndNeedHelp]

If he's eating sugar/ice cream, he isn't doing atkins. He's doing his own thing.

[Tzu]

Originally Posted by ConfusedAndNeedHelp

If he's eating sugar/ice cream, he isn't doing atkins. He's doing his own thing.

Hmmm ... that's what I'm worried about .. I don't want to nag him though .. I hope to get him to read the replies here and hope he takes notice. Thanks for ur coment

[msperson]

my husband has just be diagnosed as type 2 diabetic himself! i am starting atkins. his docrtor told him strick diabetic diet. so that means in t he house no sugar, no flour and no fried food! your hubby probably should be on a calorie controlled diet especially iwth the hight blood pressure! i work in dietary and i would recommend he go to diabetic counseling!