I did not know what to expect from my first day on the Atkins diet. Would I crave the foods I wasn’t allowed to eat? Would I be hungry? What would the Atkins diet do to my allergies, and other health issues? I was about to find out.
The Atkins book strongly suggests that you read up to the chapter that talks about the first phase before you go ahead and start Phase 1. I discovered this when I flipped directly to the chapter describing Phase 1, (which is also called Induction). Despite this warning, I must admit, I started this diet without doing the required reading first.
I had my reasons for doing this. My husband tried the Atkins diet several years ago, and he did most, if not all, of the reading before starting it. I remember him talking to me about how and why this diet worked. I figured if I had questions, perhaps he would know the answers. I also had two friends who were starting Atkins close to the same time I was starting whom I could also ask questions to.
I should also admit that I am someone who, once making up my mind that I am going to do something, will immediately jump in with both feet. I didn’t have the patience to wait to begin the diet until after I did the reading.
The very first meal I ate after starting Atkins was the “Southwestern Omelet”. I got the recipe from the Atkins website, and made some alterations. I don’t particularly care for onions, and I elected to go with bacon instead of ham. My husband, who is the cook in our family, made enough for both of us to eat. We decided to make it like scrambled eggs instead of trying to make an omelet just to make things a little easier.
This was the first time we had eaten scrambled eggs that were not cooked with milk. I am lactose intolerant, so this actually works better for me than how we used to eat scrambled eggs. My husband also found this recipe to be tasty, and says he will eat this again with me sometime.
The biggest thing I noticed the first day was that I was eating a lot of fresh, raw, vegetables. I ate several leaves of lettuce today, as well as some stalks of celery. I was looking forward to eating tomatoes, salmon, and tuna in the days ahead.
I realized that I really missed eating these foods, but was unaware of how much I’d missed them. These were foods that I ate a lot of before I met my husband. I tried to remember the reason why I stopped eating that way, and couldn’t remember.
People who are married end up sharing a lot of meals with each other over the years. I think that at some point I just switched over from how I was used to eating to how he liked to eat. The Atkins diet is going to give me a good excuse to switch back.
Image by Public Domain Photos on Flickr