Sunday, January 18, 2009

Atkins Diet Things You need To Know

By Cathy Maree

The Atkins diet is really called the Atkins nutritional approach. It was the brainchild of the doctor named Robert Atkins. He had gained a lot of weight in medical school. Atkins read about a low-carb diet in one of his medical journals. He built on that diet and eventually made it popular.

Dr. Atkins came up with new ideas, his Atkins diet, about the nature of weight gain. 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. He pointed to all the low-fat foods that were high in carbohydrates. Eating a low-fat version of foods was actually less healthy.

The Atkins diet shifts the focus. Once Carbohydrates were removed from a diet, people would burn more stored body fat. Lose the fat lose the weight. It's not just a matter of eating less. Now it was all about what your diet can help you burn. The Atkins diet supposedly burned an extra 950 calories everyday. But the claims were not true.

Dr. Atkins also touted the positive influence this Atkins diet could have on people with type 2 diabetes. Being overweight is generally considered the major cause for type 2 diabetes. Weight loss associated with the Atkins diet, as with any diet, would therefore help people manage 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? It follows four phases - induction, ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance. Here are more details of Induction which is the most crucial of the phases.

The first phase of the Atkins diet, Induction, is like the boot camp for the diet. Atkins is flexible as to the time period but recommends two weeks. During this phase carbohydrates are severely limited only up to 20 grams per day. The lack of carbohydrates will prompt the body to convert fat into fatty acids for fuel a process known as ketosis. Weight loss during this phase can be extreme some Atkins followers reported losses of 5-10 pounds a week.

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. - 15995

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