Friday, February 27, 2009

The Truth About The Atkins Diet

By Slim Slater

Many people have heard of the Atkins diet, the short name for Atkins nutritional approach. It was the brainchild of the doctor named Robert Atkins. He put on a lot of pounds while he attended medical school. He read about this diet in the medical journal. He built on that diet and eventually made it popular.

Atkins, in his Atkins Diet, believed prevailing theories about weight gain were all wrong. He disagreed that saturated fats were the problem. Instead it was carbohydrates that led to the weight problems Americans have. In Atkins theory eating too little fat make things even worse. Many low-fat foods are packed with carbohydrates. Dieters were being tricked into eating foods that would cause them to gain more weight.

The Atkins diet changes this. By cutting out carbohydrates people would burn stored body fats. Lose the fat lose the weight. It's not just a matter of eating less. Dr. Atkins held that your diet could actually help you burn calories. In fact Atkins cited a study that claimed the body would burn an extra 950 calories on his diet. But later reviews of his studies found that his claims were false.

In addition to claims of weight loss, Dr. Atkins said his Atkins diet could help people with type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is most often associated with obesity. Therefore, by means of losing weight a person on the Atkins diet would be addressing their type 2 diabetes. But the Atkins diet is also low in carbohydrates, which must be avoided with type 2 diabetes regardless of caloric intake, so by means of this aspect of the diet Atkins claimed those who suffer type 2 diabetes would no longer need medication such as insulin. The medical world, in general, disagrees with Atkins on this point. They agree lower carbohydrates help with type 2 diabetes, but there is no proof that carbohydrates cause the disease.

So just how does this Atkins diet work? Induction, ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance are the four necessary phases of the diet. Here are more details of Induction which is the most crucial of the phases.

The Induction phase is the most difficult phase of the Atkins diet. This phase should be followed for a period of two weeks. Carbohydrates are nearly removed entirely from the diet, only 15-20 grams can be consumed each day. The result of this phase should be ketosis, a metabolic reaction by which the body converts stored fat into fatty acids, generally prompted by a lack of glucose. Weight loss of 20 pounds over this period isn't uncommon that's a staggering amount.

The next three phases of the Atkins diet help establish the levels of carbs people can consume in order to lose weight and to maintain a desired weight. Millions of people are still losing weight on this diet but beware the dangers of taking in too much fat.

For losing weight the Atkins Diet is for sure the right way. - 17944

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