Atkins Math 101 Courtesy of Sharon

Sharon, one of our most faithful OFL's  has conducted a recent "class" on how to achieve the correct percentages of fat, protein and carbs in our WOE. It is excellent, fun and easy to understand! So take a look:

Good morning, girls, this is Atkins Math 101. Please turn off all cellphones -- and, you two in the back row, we would all appreciate it if you either quiet down or let us hear what you have to say!

Now then.

To master the principles of Atkins Math 101, all you need is a computer, Internet, and a lovely site called fatsecret.com. Now, everyone take your laptops, go to www.fatsecret.com and open an account. Who already has an account? Oh, good, there's one girl who does. I want you to be my monitor while everyone else is doing that, and make sure there's no talking or disruption. Meanwhile, if anyone has trouble opening an account, just raise your hands and I'll be right there to help.

-- OK, we all have accounts. Now let's go to "Diet Calendar" -- on the right side of the page -- and click on "Enter Food". Got that? Now, look at "Breakfast". Everyone click "Add item" under "Breakfast" and enter what they had for breakfast this morning, one item at a time.

All done? Good. Now scroll down to the bottom of the page. You'll see a pie graph labeled "Calorie Breakdown". This shows you how much of your breakfast was fat, how much was protein, and how much was carbs. Do you all see it?

Now, here is the most important part of our lesson. To do well on Atkins, we want the numbers on the pie graph to be as close as possible to this: *70% fat, 20% protein, and 10% carbs* -- Do you have a question? -- Yes, you're right, that 10% is total carbs. If you want to count net carbs, you have to tell Fatsecret.com to do so. Go to "Edit preferences" right under the "total calories" at the top of the page. You can do that after class. But net carbs are counted at the top of the page, and not in the pie graph. So the 70-20-10 is fat, protein and *total* carbs.

OK, who has more than 70% fat? Please raise your hands. -- Thank you. All of you will eat more protein and carbs, and less fat, at lunch.

Who has more than 20% protein? Please raise your hands. -- How do you think you should correct your lunch? -- That's right! More fat and carbs, and less protein. And the same for carbs -- if you have more than 10% carbs for breakfast, eat more fat and protein, and less carbs, for lunch.

Do you have a question? -- Oh, that's a *good* question! Anything you eat between breakfast and lunch is a Snack. Enter it under "Snacks / Other" and check the pie graph again.

Checking after dinner is especially important because it's your last chance to correct your ratios for the day.
Remember to check and correct after every meal and every snack, and keep your ratios as close as possible to 70-20-10

Thank you, girls. Put away your laptops. You may turn on your cellphones at recess -- and tomorrow we will talk about RDI -- that's the little square chart next to the pie graph -- and what it means.

Class dismissed!