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Today everybody is interested in finding out some way to lose weight. There are so many diet plans available, and people find it confusing as to which diet plan to choose. Some people keep jumping from one plan to another, without any results, because they are not able to understand the proper methods of the plan and how it works.
You have to also understand the pros and cons of the plan, before you head into it.
The Atkins Diet, promoted by Dr. Atkins, is a low-carb diet, and is the latest trend among dieters today.
Pros and cons of low carbohydrate diet:
Low carb diet might not be effective:
Some people complain about the low-carb diet, saying that it does not seem to be effective. Instead of achieving weight loss, they are becoming fatter. This is because their diet consists of high calories and fat. Also people who follow a low carb diet are facing a lot of health problems and are prone to a number of diseases.
Low carb diet can also cause deficiency:
There is another version too. People who consumed too much of carbs are found to be suffering from a deficiency of healthy fats, needed for the body. Hence they are cutting down their consumption of carbohydrates, which is also bad. So both low carb and excessive carb diets are creating health problems.
Low carb diet can help you to lose weight:
But then there are people who have been successful with the low carb diet and lost weight. I’ll explain how that happens. When you cut carbohydrates from your diet, you will surely lose weight. When you deprive your body of carbohydrates, the body takes the energy required from the glycogen stored in your muscles and liver. For each gram of glycogen used, you lose four grams of water.
When the body uses glycogen from the muscles, it leads to muscle loss. Loss of muscles reduces the muscle toning and also makes you feel sluggish.
So the fact is that loss of water and muscles from your body reduces your weight and you are not losing weight due to loss of fat.
Carbohydrate is good for brain functioning:
But carbohydrate can also be good. You brain gets energy by using carbohydrates in your body. When you consume less carbohydrate, it affects the function of the brain, and you are not mentally healthy. Some people feel mentally ill, after a few weeks of low carb diet. Though there are other people, who have no problems with a low carb diet.
Excess carbohydrates can cause fat storage:
It is also said that excess carbohydrates is stored as fat. For that matter, any food you consume in excess, gets stored as fat. It need not be only carbohydrates. Not only that, for people who exercise regularly, the excess carbohydrates get burnt and are not stored as fat. That’s the benefit of exercising. So vary your carbohydrate in take according to your exercise. Also consume carbohydrate which is high in fiber.
So a balanced diet consisting of carbohydrates, fat and proteins is needed for a healthy body, and you have to plan your diet, depending on your physical activity.
