Hi Doris. You are right that one can lose a lot of weight on the Atkins diet, which is meat, meat, meat and more meat.

I used to be a fan of low-carb diets, but now I'm not sure. I have always eaten a lot of carbs as a vegetarian, and have never been over-weight. Since cutting out dairy, I've lost weight. Most vegetarians eat a lot of carbs and are not over-weight aswell.

One concern with low-carb diets is that because the body is not getting the energy it needs from intake of carbs, it burns up stored fat - hence why eating a lot of fatty foods makes no difference to the low-carb dieter. One puts on weight when the body stores more calories than it uses, so I read.

So, if someone is eating a lot of meat and a lot of carbs, it stands to reason they would be consuming more calories than they are using, hence they put on weight. I believe the recommended fat for a woman is about 20-30 grams saturated and 30-40 grams unsaturated. Unsaturated comes from things like nuts, which are also high-protein. A 100g of nuts can give about 50-70g of fat and about 14-25g of protein.

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Sorry, but I have to disagree with you, Demi. Sugar and worthless carb foods make one fat. Saturated fats are good for us especially when we are ill, because our bodies often cannot make them from any fatty acids we ingest. Our bodies were not designed to eat PUFA's like corn oil, etc. If one really checks the saturated fat and cholesterol studies that were done in the last 50 years, you would see the true conclusions of these studies. The more calories, the more saturated fat, and the more cholesterol one eats, the less heart disease and the healthier they are. We have been duped by the early American researchers that performed their studies trying to prove that their theories were correct. True scientific research means coming up with a hypothesis and then tries every means they can to prove it wrong. If it cannot be proved wrong, then the chances that the theory might be correct has great merit. Just see how much weight you can lose on a low-carb diet. This means eating lots of good meat from animals that have been fed correctly (not soy crud or chicken poop or any chemicals), berries, and many vegetables and nuts. Any farmer can tell you that when they feed their animals saturated fats like palm oil and coconut oil - they lose weight, but when they feed them soy bean oil, they gain weight.