Which of these two books should I buy?

[Maddy McCall]

Poll question: Which of these two books should I buy?

I need to drop a few pounds, and all of my girlfriends are raving about the Atkins diet...some have lost as much as 11 pounds in a week.

So, maybe it's a good thing? Experiences with Atkins?


OR, maybe I should read Fast Food Nation...since the closest restaurant to my office is a McDonalds, this book could profoundly alter my nutritional choices, eh?

I am headed to the book store this afternoon, and will pick up one of these.

[plurality]

1. all diets are BS

just try and avoid crap (fast food) and only eat when you're hungry as opposed to scheduling meals. should help

[arcane1]

2. FFN can work wonders on the waistline

you should be warned in advance, you'll never look at food, or the nation, the same way again

[wryter2000]

3. Exercise

I hear people lose a lot on Atkins, but when they go off, they gain it back. Plus, if you go back on it later, it doesn't work as well.

What you need to do is get into a gentle exercise program for 30 minutes a day and cut back on calories. The best way to cut back on calories is to eat less fat. I've lost 70 pounds that way and kept it off for 2 years.

Plus, you need to have a life. If mom bakes you an apple pie, eat a piece. If you're starving and dying for a chocolate sundae, eat one. Then, go back to your exercise, low calorie program.

Alice
Who has a #3 breakfast with extra hash browns once a week.

[wryter2000]

4. Or...

Buy a book by Weight Watchers, instead.

[Maddy McCall]

5. I exercise frequently...only need to drop about 10 lbs...

that I put on after I broke my knee. Treadmill regularly.

And I have a life--too much of a life--so much of a life that I enjoy the solitude of my home.

I don't like sweet stuff--don't ever eat candy or desserts...but love mountain dew for the caffiene I need to keep me perky to burn the midnight oil, which my job requires.

I put the ten on in recupperation with my knee, and just can't seem to find the motivation to get it off. But now that my friends are losing weight, I want to!

Thanks for the advice.

[supernova]

11. About Atkins

If you go "off" it, i.e. return to your original eating habits, of course you will regain weight. Didn't work the first time, remember?

Atkins is not a "diet" per se. It's about changing your eating habits and relationship to food permanently so that you can lose and then maintain a lighter weight.

So, exercise and change your eating habits to lose weight and keep it off.

[sujan]

6. To drop a few pounds

Exercise and eat a healthy diet.

[otohara]

7. South Beach Diet

is all the craze now, all I know is Bill & Hillary are on it.

[otohara]

8. No Sugar

not even fruit...

[gully]

9. Fat is a Feminist issue...

I'm reading it now.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. I've read both

Fast Food Nation is more of a political commentary on the marketing and psychology behind the ingestion of fast foods. It doesn't qualify as a diet book but by revealing the context in which one consumes these foods and is driven to purchase them to thier own detriment it is enlightening.

The Atkins diet's basic premise is that one cannot balance their diet from carbohydrate rich diets without first swinging the pendulum extremely the opposite direction in order to arrive at a healthy level of metabolism. The great think about the diet is that it really takes the rug out from under the marketing of "fat free' or "fat reduced" foods by underscoring the increased sugars in these foods ( sugar is converted to energy but if not used in approximately 48 hours converts to and is stored as fat.

(the underlying point being that people are eating more carbs than ever and are fatter than ever due to poor management of glucose in their systems0

The diet DID work for me in the past...