Atkins Diet
Losing Weight with the Atkins Diet: How does it work?
The Atkins Diet is a high-protein, low-carbohydrate weight loss diet developed by Robert Atkins, M.D., during the 1960s. The Atkins Diet severely restricts the consumption of carbohydrate-rich foods and encourages the consumption of protein and fat.
According to Dr. Atkins, many overweight people may be insulin resistant. The remedy is to restrict the consumption of the "bad"carbohydrates (or simple carbohydrates) like those found in processed, pre-packaged and junk foods (cookies, sodas, etc.) and to follow this high-protein eating plan.
Our bodies burn both fat and carbohydrates for energy, but carbs are used first. By reducing carbs to a mere fraction of that found in the typical diet, while eating more protein and fat, our bodies naturally lose weight by burning stored body fat more efficiently.
Benefits
- Many people like being able to eat as much protein and fat as they wish, since these foods are often restricted in more traditional diet plans.
- If one follows this low carbohydrate, high protein diet, Dr. Atkins claims that you will recondition your body to burn fat efficiently, and thus lose weight, never going hungry again. Dr. Atkins states that, "most people will lose 10-30 pounds in the first month."
- 44% of Atkins dieters rated the diet favourable on controlling cravings, as compared to 21% of low-fat dieters who found their diet favourable in controlling cravings.
- Atkins claims that your overall health will improve on the diet and you will feel better as you burn stored fat and clean out your body.
Risks
- Eating unlimited amounts of fat, especially saturated fat found in meat products, can lead to increased risk of heart disease.
- High amounts of dietary protein increase calcium loss, which can contribute to osteoporosis.
- Once you are committed to this diet plan, you have to be committed to follow it for life. After you have lost weight, you can’t go back to your normal eating diet.
- Participants of the program reported bad breath, headaches, and in some cases hair loss.
- Plenty of research shows that fruits, vegetables and whole grains can help protect against cancer and other diseases. Any diet that restricts these foods is missing important nutrients. Even if supplements are taken to provide missing vitamins and minerals, they will not provide the wide variety of disease-fighting phytochemicals found in plant foods.
- Extensive research on healthy populations tells us to eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Restricting these foods in the name of weight loss may lead to long-term health problems.
What do experts say about the diet?
When the Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution was first published, the President of the American College of Nutrition said, "Of all the bizarre diets that have been proposed in the last 50 years, this is the most dangerous to the public if followed for any length of time."
The warnings from medical authorities continue to this day.
"People need to wake up to the reality," former U.S. Surgeon
General C. Everett Koop writes, that the "Atkins Diet is
unhealthy and can be dangerous."
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