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What exactly is The Atkins Diet? It is a way of eating which puts focus on the consumption of nutrient-dense, unprocessed foods and vitamin supplements. The Atkins diet restricts the dieters diet of processed and refined carbohydrates (which often makes up over 55% of a person's diet). The Atkins Diet is one of the worlds most popular diets with an estimated 20 million people worldwide on the program since the inception of the Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution in the mid 1970s.
The Atkin's Diet...
The two week induction phase of the Atkins Diet, is the strictest phase of the diet, where only pure proteins are allowed, and a very limited amount of carbs. The proteins allowed include meat, fish, poultry, and eggs, an pure fats such as olive oil, butter, and mayonnaise.
Only 20 grams of carbohydrates per day are allowed during this period, via vegetables such as broccoli, salad, and asparagus. No bread, grains, starchy vegetables or fruit should be eaten during this phase.
The dieter then moves through two more phases, slowly building their carbohydrate intake, until they know how much can be eaten without putting on weight - and moves into the Life time maintenance phase.
The way in which the Atkins diet works is through changing the body’s metabolism. The body burns fats and carbohydrates in order to provide the energy to function normally. Carbohydrates are turned into glucose and are used before fats in our bodies. According to Atkins, if we reduce the amount of carbohydrate intake, our body will burn our fat as fuel, cause weight loss. Through this burning of fat, we also affect our body’s insulin production which, according to Atkins, will prevent more fat from being formed.
There are four phases in the Atkins Plan:
- Phase 1 – the Induction Phase - carbohydrate consumption is restricted to 20 grams per day.
- Phase 2 – Ongoing Weight Loss – you increase carbohydrates to 25 grams daily the first week, 30 grams daily the next week and so on until your weight loss stops and then cut back 5 grams to continue moderate weight loss.
- Phase 3 – Pre-Maintenance – helps you change from weight loss to weight maintenance by increasing the daily carbohydrate intake in 10-gram increments each week.
- Phase 4 – Lifetime Maintenance – you select from a wide variety of foods while controlling carbohydrate intake.
The Atkins Diet claims the following benefits:
1. Weight Loss
Your body burns both carbohydrates and fat as fuel for its energy needs. Carbohydrate is the first fuel to be metabolized. However, when you cut down sufficiently on your intake of carbohydrates, your body converts from the metabolic pathway of burning carbohydrate to burning fat as the primary energy source. This results in weight loss.
2. Weight Maintenance
For each individual there is a tightly regulated carbohydrate threshold below which fat burning and weight loss occurs. This is called your Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing (CCLL). However, your carbohydrate intake exceeds this threshold, carbohydrate burning predominates, allowing fat to be accumulated resulting in weight gain. Each individual also has a level of carbohydrate intake at which he/she will neither gain nor lose weight. This is known as your Critical Carbohydrate Level for Maintenance (CCLM).
3. Good Health
People following an individualized controlled carbohydrate nutritional approach that includes nutrient-dense foods are more likely to meet their nutritional needs and promote good health than people following low-fat, calorie-restricted diets.
By adhering to an individualized controlled carbohydrate nutritional approach that combines food sources with vitamin and mineral supplementation as needed, you can safely achieve a nutritionally complete diet. Regular exercise is also essential for controlling weight, toning muscles and maintaining a sense of well-being.
4. Disease Prevention
By following an individualized controlled carbohydrate nutritional approach that both lowers carbohydrate intake and insulin production, people who are at high risk for or diagnosed with chronic diseases can see improvement in clinical parameters.
Dr. Atkins's diet is extremely low in carbs, which helps to regulate insulin production and decrease circulating insulin; and less insulin will result in less fat storage and therefore fewer food cravings.
It is claimed that over 80% of Dr. Atkins's patients have experienced dramatic weight loss. The Atkin's book includes recipes for low-carb dishes and oncludes various calculators to help gauge your weight loss.
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