Atkins No Carb Foods

The Atkins diet plan emphasizes eating fats and proteins. On this diet, you eat very few carbohydrates. Normally, your body burns carbohydrates for energy. Without carbohydrates, your body begins to burn fats. To achieve this, the Atkins diet recommends many substitutes for normally carbohydrate-rich foods, both in recipes and in prepared foods you can buy.

History

The Atkins diet began in 1972 with the publication of "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution." Atkins' theorized that Americans were gaining weight because they had been overeating carbohydrates and burning them less efficiently. Normally carbohydrates are burned and turned into glucose. Dr. Atkins' solution was to severely restrict carbohydrate intake. The goal for the dieter is to find your perfect level of carbohydrate intake. For the first two weeks of the diet, you severely restrict carbs. This shocks your body into burning fat for fuel. Advocates of the diet suggest that this helps the body burn fat more efficiently.

Function

The Atkins plan uses the term "net carbs:" Take the total amount of carbohydrates in a food and subtract the amount in grams that have a slight effect on blood sugar. For example, if a food has 20 grams of carbohydrates, but two of these are fiber and 15 are sugars, the "net carbs" are three. In Phase One of the Atkins diet, you are allowed 20 net carbs per day. Using "net carbs," a food that has carbohydrates may be considered "no-carb" if its "net carb" total is zero.

No-Carb Foods

Typical foods with no carbohydrates are fats and proteins. Butter, all oils, mayonnaise and margarine are fats that contain no carbohydrates. Proteins, including red meat, fish, chicken and pork, are all carbohydrate free, as are cheese, eggs and whipping cream. Alcoholic spirits such as gin contain no carbohydrates, whereas beer has about 12 grams in a 12-ounce can. Wine varies depending on its "dryness:" a dry red wine has only .5 carbs per glass. Coffee and tea have no carbohydrates.

Atkins Cuisine

The Atkins diet plan has several ways to get around the low carbohydrate restriction. It offers recipes for carb-free versions of foods that normally contain carbohydrates, such as bread sticks and pie crust made using soy powder instead of flour, and something called the Atkins Cuisine baking mix: 1 cup soy flour, 2 cups soy protein isolate, 2 tablespoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons Splenda. Atkins Nutritionals sells processed foods; most of these contain carbohydrates, but the shakes have only about 3 grams per serving.

Substitutions

Use recipes that substitute meats and other foods for carbohydrates. For example, grated and steamed cauliflower can replace rice. One cup will contain 2 grams of carbohydrates, making it technically low carb. Pepperoni slices cooked briefly in the microwave can be a substitute for potato chips. Pork rinds can replace many carbohydrate-rich snacks, according to diet advocates.

No Carb Snacks

You can also replace carbohydrate-rich snacks with vegetable and protein-rich ones. For example, celery with peanut butter or tuna salad is easy to make; celery contains .5 grams of carbohydrate per piece and 0 net carbs. Deviled eggs have no carbohydrates. Use lettuce leaves instead of bread for sandwiches: Just roll them around your favorite no-carb fillings.