This is from www.atkins.com-I am not promoting Atkins, but it is a good explanation of how it all works! My high protein diet, based on weight loss surgery principles, follows the same theories.HOW AND WHY ATKINS WORKS:Atkins turns your body into a fat-burning machine. Metabolism is the process that converts food into either energy or your body’s building blocks. Eating the right foods can improve your body’s metabolism, particularly how it handles fat. When you eat fewer carb foods—relying mostly on vegetables rich in fiber—your body switches to burning fat (including your own body fat) instead of carbs as its primary fuel source.

Get an exit pass off the blood sugar roller coaster. When you digest carb foods, they convert to glucose (sugar), which your bloodstream transports throughout your body. A rise in blood glucose level triggers the release of the hormone insulin, which moderates your glucose level. So carb intake is largely responsible for blood sugar fluctuations. Food need not taste sweet—think mashed potatoes and white bread—to convert rapidly to glucose.

Because your body can store no more than half a day’s energy supply of glucose—unlike our ability to store almost limitless amounts of fat—it makes sense that we burn as much carbohydrate as we can as soon as it’s digested and absorbed. After each carb-heavy meal or snack, your body stops burning off fat as your insulin level escalates to deal with the rising tide of blood sugar. Fat calories are always pushed to the back of the line—where more than likely they’re stored. That’s why insulin is called the “fat hormone.” As long as you keep making glucose into fat, you’re doomed to being heavy.

Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that way. That’s why cutting your carb intake and eating mostly whole food carbohydrates is the core premise of the Atkins Diet.

By changing the balance of carbs, fats and protein in your diet, you boost your energy level and keep it on an even keel. When you eat foods composed primarily of protein, fat and fiber, your body produces far less insulin. And when the carbs you do eat are in the form of high-fiber whole foods, which convert to glucose relatively slowly, your blood sugar level holds steady, along with your energy level. You don’t crave a fast-fix energy booster in the form of sugary, starchy food. And you’re less hungry at meals.

This perfectly normal process of burning primarily fat for energy has a welcome side effect: weight loss. There’s nothing strange or risky about a primarily fat metabolism. In fact, fat is your body’s back-up energy source. The ability to carry a “fanny pack” of energy in the form of fat actually helped our distant ancestors survive in times of famine and when hunters returned home empty handed.

Just to be clear, eating fats doesn’t make you fat as long as you give your body permission to burn them. Place the blame where it belongs: overeating and overreacting to carbs. And herein lies the not-so-secret secret of the Atkins Diet and the key to weight loss—and later weight maintenance—without cravings or undue hunger.

Vegetarian Protein Primer
by Lesli Bonci
Vegetarianism is gaining in popularity among active individuals. By definition, a vegetarian does not regularly include meat, poultry, fish, or seafood in his or her diet. But the term is broken down further into three subcategories: Lacto-vegetarian, Ovo-lacto vegetarian, and Vegan.

Lacto-vegetarian: A vegetarian who consumes dairy foods, soy, legumes (dried beans and peas), nuts/seeds, fruit, vegetables, and grains.

Ovo-lacto vegetarian: Same as above, plus eggs are added to the list of acceptable foods.

Vegan: A vegetarian who consumes no dairy but eats soy, legumes, nuts/seeds, fruit, vegetables, and grains.

With the exception of soy protein, most plant foods are incomplete protein foods—in other words, they do not contain all the essential amino acids. Not to worry. Since most of us eat a mix of foods at each meal, it is fairly easy to meet the protein requirements. A peanut butter sandwich is a complete protein, but if you just ate peanut butter off the spoon, or just bread as your only food sources for the day, the body would not get all the essential amino acids and would be unable to synthesize new proteins. The bottom line: Vary your diet, even if it's plant-based. Don't just eat all grains or all beans or just nuts and seeds, but include some of each throughout the day. Four tasty examples for how to get complete proteins in vegetarian form: hummus and pita bread; black bean burrito; peanut butter sandwich; red beans and rice.

Dairy foods are complete proteins, so you'll want to incorporate some yogurt, cheese, milk, cottage cheese, or an occasional egg to help meet your needs. If vegetable burgers are your chosen entree, choose the soy ones—they're higher in protein. Remember, vegetarianism can be a healthy lifestyle, as long as when you eliminate the food with a face from your plate, you find an alternative. A new bean, grain, or soy dish will not only keep you healthy; it will keep you happy, too.

8 Ways to Speed Up Your Metabolism
By Dietitian Juliette Kellow BSc RD
1. Get active - it's a sure-fire way to increase the amount of muscle you have, which in turn will speed up your metabolism. Do a mixture of aerobic and resistance training for best results. And don't forget to be more active in your daily life too.
2. Eat little and often - there's evidence that eating small, regular meals throughout the day, rather than one or two large meals, may help to keep your metabolism ticking over. Surprisingly, around 10 percent of the calories we use each day go on digesting and absorbing food - so the more times you eat, the greater this effect is likely to be.
3. Eat plenty of protein-rich foods - research shows that around 25 percent of calories in a protein-rich meal may be burnt off. But make sure you choose low-fat protein foods such as lean meat, skinless chicken and low-fat dairy products.
4. Spice up meals - it's not an old wives tale after all! Spices like chilli are thought to raise metabolism by up to 50 percent for up to three hours after eating, due to increasing your heart rate. But before putting the local Indian takeaway on speed dial, work out which curries have the lowest calorie and fat content.
5. Swap you daily cuppa for green tea - there's evidence that it contains antioxidants that speed up metabolism.
6. Try a CLA supplement - more extensive studies need to be carried out before any definite conclusions can be drawn, but research has shown that conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) might increase muscle and therefore boost metabolism.
7. Chill out - research shows that being very cold can increase metabolism by up to 20 percent.
8. Have a sauna - being very hot is also thought to boost metabolism by about 20 percent (but check you don't have any underlying medical problems that mean you shouldn't go in saunas or steam rooms).