I'm not on the Atkins diet but I know what to order and what to eat if I was on that. I can't remember when, but my best friend happens to still be on the Atkins diet. Don't remember when he started the Atkins diet but it's been a good while and he's currently twenty-seven years of age. I think he's been on the diet for about five to seven years so far. I've been around him long enough to observe his eating habits.

When going out to eat, don't order any soda. Soda has all that sugar and that defeats the whole purpose of being on the Atkins diet. That's the equivalent of eating a ton of carbs. Because carbs turn into sugar and all that unused sugar turns into fat. The same with drinking soda, in excess will cause you to gain weight. When you're ordering something to drink order water or juice. If you're going to order coffee, you're going to have to be choosey with the creamers or drink it straight black.

If ordering a salad, no crutons. Crutons are bread products and adds to your carb content. No clam chowder because they have diced potatoes in the soup and potatoes are loaded with carbs. No crumpling crackers in the soup either because that's constitute to your carb count as well. But that's mainly for an American oriented restaurant. Basically stay away from the wheat products and stick mainly to the proteins. That pretty much applies towards any restaurant. In a Chinese restaurant, don't eat the forture cookie.

Basically eat the stuff that provides protein and not carbs. If you're eating a cheeseburger, don't eat the bun. Leave that alone. I've seen my friend eat cheeseburgers without the bun. My friend's wife has a father who's also on the Atkins diet and told me he had pizza without the crust. I'm not going to ask how that is possible. Avoid pizza because it has a lot of carbs because of the pizza crust.

In short, do not eat any fries, baked potatoes, potato skins, noodles, rice, bread, crackers, anything with batter, and so forth and you won't break the diet. If you must drink soda, drink diet soda. In short, stay away from breads and carbs. The reason I say keep away from battered foods is because batter is made from flour. Flour is a wheat product used to make crackers, breads, and noodles. In short, battered foods add to your carb intake.

Also, no dessert at all after dinner.

I have another friend that was on the Atkins diet for a few months. He drank water and diet sodas. During lunch after play rehearsal, we all went to Red Lobster. We purposely tempted him with delicious pasta. And he broke. Thus, we got him to break the Atkins diet.

In short, no carbs, no sugar. That's too much discipline for me. I need my cakes, doughnuts, muffins, and caffinated sodas.

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