The original Atkins diet - 1972 version

This is the diet I started in 1974, and was very successful - until I listened to the 'experts'!

The Diet Revolution Rules (Level One)
1. Don’t count calories
2. Eat as much of the allowed foods as you need to avoid hunger.
3. Don’t eat when you are not hungry.
4. Don’t feel you must finish everything on your plate just because it is there.
5. Drink as much water or calorie free beverages as thirst requires. Don’t restrict fluids, but it is not necessary to force them either.
6. Frequent small meals are preferable.
7. If weakness results from rapid weight loss, you may need salt.
8. Everyday take a high-strength multivitamin pill.
9. Read the labels on “low-calorie” drinks, syrups, desserts. Only those with no carbohydrate content are allowed.

I will be eating only the foods that are on this list.

Meat: Steaks, corned beef, lamb chops, tongue, hamburgers, bacon, any kind of meat in any quantity— except meat with fillers such as sausages, hot dogs, meatballs, most packaged 'cold cuts'

Fowl: Duckling, turkey, chicken, anything with wings, but no stuffing

Fish: All fish, including canned salmon, tuna; any kind of seafood, including oil-packed and smoked, except oysters, clams, muscles, scallops, and pickled fish

Eggs: Boiled, fried, scrambled, poached, omelet – any style and without limit

Desserts: Gelatin with artificial sweeteners

Salads: Two small green salads a day - each less than one cupful, loosely packed - made only of leafy greens, celery, or cucumbers and radishes.
Dressings with vinegar, oil, salt, dry spices, herbs, grated cheese, or anchovies. Or else a sour pickle in place of a salad, plus green olives.

Butter & Mayonnaise Fats: Butter, cold-pressed oils, shortening, lard & mayonnaise. [Warning: make your own mayo as Hellman's is made of soybean oil]

Cheese: Four ounces a day of any hard aged cheese. No cream cheese or cheese spreads.

Heavy Cream: Four teaspoons a day. [double cream in the UK]

Condiments: Salt, pepper, mustard, horseradish, vinegar, vanilla, and other extracts; artificial sweeteners; any dry powdered spice that contains no sugar

Drinks: Water, mineral water, Vichy, Club soda; beef or chicken broth, bouillon; sugar free diet soda; coffee, tea, decaffeinated coffee

Juice: Juice of one lemon or lime

Diet Revolution Salad Material: Celery, chicory, Chinese cabbage, chives, cucumber, endive, escarole, fennel, lettuce, olives, onions, pickles (Sour or Dill), parsley, peppers, radishes, scallions, watercress.