Atkins Diet

SaraSlank | September 7, 2009 | 0 Comments

If you are one of those that are desperately trying to lose weight, then there are various diet programs available in the slimming market. Some of the known diets are Zone Diet, Liquid Diet, Dash Diet and of course the very famous and even controversial Atkins Diet.

The Start And Spread Of Atkins Diet. This diet started off in the shape of a book called Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution by Dr. Robert Atkins, in 1972. Over the years millions of books were sold and many people tried out Dr. Atkins form of dieting in the hope of reducing their weight. The diet’s popularity could be due to the fact that Dr. Atkins promoted his diet on the principle of consuming a very low carbohydrate diet, which included not cutting down on the consumption of fat-inducing meats and cheeses. Dr. Atkins belief that packaged foods contained a lot of processed carbohydrates that were harmful for the body found a lot of support but his method of losing weight by consuming meat, cheese, nutritional supplements, and several other foods that were rich in protein and fat were hotly contested by many people.

The Various Phases In Atkins Diet. There are 4 phases in this diet. The 1st phase is known as Induction and in this phase you would be restricted to a carbohydrate intake of 20 net grams per day, out of which 12 to 15 grams would come in from eating green vegetables. You would also be allowed to eat fish, meat, eggs, butter, and oil. You would also be required to drink at least 8 glasses of water every day along with an exercise routine, although alcohol would not be allowed during this phase. The 2nd phase is known as Ongoing Weight Loss [OWL], will allow you to increase your carbohydrate intake to 25 grams every week. A carbohydrate ladder created by Dr. Atkins needs to be followed for this phase and once you are within 10 pounds or 4.5kg of your target weight, then you can move on to the next phase. The 3rd phase is called the Pre-maintenance phase where your carbohydrate intake is increased by 10 grams per week. It is in this phase that you need to calculate the maximum number of carbohydrates that you can have in a day without increasing your weight. The 4th phase is the Lifetime Maintenance, where you would be required to stick to your 3rd phase diet for the rest of your life and you could also fall back on any phase if you notice a gain in your weight.

How Does It Work? By reducing your carbohydrate intake, the Atkins Diet forces your body to enter into a state of ketosis where your body starts burning fat to use for fuel. This state will also alter your body’s insulin production and will not allow new fat to be formed and will also reduce your craving for carbohydrates, although some experts warn that this state could be dangerous for the body. This will result in a reduction of weight, as your body will become more efficient in burning stored fat. However, this diet has not been free of controversies with many studies conducted for and against it.

Although some people swear by this diet, it would be wise to keep a watchful eye on all your vital signs such as blood pressure, blood sugar, etc. once you decide to adopt Atkins Diet to reduce your weight. The biggest advantage is that this diet does not place too many restrictions on fatty food and you can always go back to a particular phase if you so desire.

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Atkins Diet

SaraSlank | April 21, 2009 | 0 Comments

The Atkins-diet is one of the most discussed diets for permanent weight loss and many people consider it to be the best diet.

It was called after Dr. Robert C. Atkins (1931-2003), who has invented the diet. Dr. Atkins was a heart specialist from Dew York who was specialised in the treatment of people with overweight.

People Magazine declared Dr. Atkins one of the 25 ‘most intriguing people’ and Time Magazine praised his contribution in the field of health and nutrition.

Many weight loss- methods have been based on Atkins carbohydrate-theory, including one of the most popular slimming-pills of the last couple of years. The only difference between losing weight with the Atkins diet and loosing weight with Phase 2, is that with the diet you have to keep an eye on the amount of carbohydrates in your food. With Phase 2, the carbohydrates get blocked so you don’t have to watch what you eat.

The basic principle of the Atkins Diet:
The diet that has been developed by doctor Atkins means you can eat as much protein (from meat, chicken, fish and cheese) and fat (oil, butter and cream) as you want. You have to reduce the amount of carbohydrates, which are found in bread, cereal products, potatoes, rice and pasta.

The Atkins diet is the complete opposite of the usual diets that are base don calories. These usual diets often provide a short term solution but dr. Atkins claims these diets do not have effect on the long term. Dr. Atkins diets, though, does have long term effects.

Advantages of the Atkins diet are:

  • Permanent loss of weight
  • Stabile blood sugar level
  • Low insulin level
  • Low cholesterol
  • Normalising of blood pressure
  • More energy
  • No yearning for sweet food
  • No hunger



    • How does overweight begin according to dr. Atkins
    Dr. Robert Atkins found out that most people get overweight because the level of insulin in their blood is too high. Insulin is a hormone that allows cells to use the blood sugar.

    Research has shown that fat does not automatically turns into body fat. This only happens when people eat meals with lots of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are so-called ‘fast sugars’ and can be turned into fat very quickly with the help of insupn.

    So the body burns the carbohydrates first and the fat later. If the meal contains more carbohydrates than the body needs, the fat will be stored. Apart from this, the insupn stimulates the brain to give hunger-signals.

    The consequences are that the body becomes entangles in a vicious circle and eventually the body cells will become immune for insupn. The pancreas has to work harder (and produce four to five times more insupn) to be able to process the incoming carbohydrates. The result is that the body gets fatter and fatter. When the body burns fat, it will issue a by-product called ketones. A part of these ketones leave the body through the breath, which causes bad breath. Another part of the ketones leave the body in the urine.

    When the fat burning is in process, you will find that you feel less hungry and the weight starts dropping. Without sugars and refined carbohydrates, your blood sugar level will not drop and cause hunger and fatigue. Most people get into this ketose process if they pmit the amount of carbohydrates to less than 30 gram a day.

    The different phases of the Atkins Diet:

  • In the first phase of fourteen days, the intake of carbohydrates is reduced by not eating any starchy products or fruit. The goal of this phase is to stop burning carbohydrates and start burning fat. You are not allowed to eat more than 20 gram of carbohydrates per day. It is important that these 20 gram has to come from greens and salad. In this phase it is important to drink a lot of water to loose waste products.
  • In the second phase of the Atkins-diet, you keep losing weight and slowly start increasing the amount of carbohydrates in your food. This will help you discover how much carbohydrates you van eat while still losing weight.
  • In the last phase you keep adding more carbohydrates until you loose not more than a pound per week. Sugar is still forbidden in this phase.



    • Scientific research into the Atkins diet:
    Two studies in the “New England Journal of Medicine” point out that losing weight with the Atkins diet is much faster at the beginning and not as bad for your health as many people claim.

    Dr. Eric Westman from Duke University and dr. Gary Foster from Pennsylvania University were supporters of the usual, calorie-based diets. These scientists were worried about the increasing popularity of the Atkins diet and decided to examine it.

    120 People with overweight were chosen for this test. Half of them was put on a low calorie die tand the other half on Atkins diet.

    So this second group was allowed to eat as much as they liked, as long as they did not eat carbohydrates. After 6 months of research the results were amazing. The Atkins group had lost twice as much as the low-calorie group. Dr. Gary Foster continued with a research to determine whether or not the Atkins diet increased the risk of heart-attacks.

    Although they did eat fat, the cholesterol of the people in the Atkins group was 10 times better than that of the people in the low-calorie group.

    Effectiveness of the Atkins diet:
    Many people who have tried the Atkins diet state that they were less hungry than when they used other diets. This can be the effect of the large amount of fat and proteins in the food, in combination with the production of ketones. This stimulates the feeling of satisfaction and if this results in eating less, that means weight loss.

    Many people did feel like eating sugar, candy and/or salty food. This did not take long, though. Because there are not many carbohydrates, the blood sugar will stabilise and the hunger for sweet food will disappear. The best remedy against hunger for sweet food is proteins like stuffed or boiled eggs, and water. The amount of weight loss depends on:

    - How long you follow the diet
    - How many calories you eat
    - How much exercise you get

    Advantage Atkins diet:
    You will not be hungry and therefore the diet is easy to keep up. Apart from that, it works quickly!

    Disadvantages of Atkins diet:
    Fruit, some vegetables (carrots, beets and corn), legumes, cereal products and bread have many vitamins and minerals you cannot do without. The shortage of carbohydrates is said to be irresponsible. These substances provide energy to the brains and the nerve system.

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