The Atkins Diet
If you want to lose weight your in the right place.
Can you say hype? If
you’re living in any Western world country then you’ve
probably heard of the famous Atkins diet. Whether this is the most
successful diet ever or not it’s still up for debate, but it
certainly is the more advertised one. The Atkins diet has been for a
while the most hyped eating plan around and millions of people have
tried it at some point or another. This is no exaggeration. It was
estimated that more than 3 million people in the United Kingdom alone
have tried the Atkins diet at the peak of the hype in 2003.
The basic idea behind this diet is that cutting down on the carbohydrates,
while allowing people to eat high-fat food is going to work. One of the
best things in favor of the Atkins diet was the fact that it allowed
people to eat eggs and cheese and steaks. It sounds like a dream diet
actually. Who’d pass up the chance of losing weight while still
enjoying a good eggs and ham breakfast? Well, the downside is that you
get no bread or salad with that steak. None whatsoever. Which becomes a
real problem after a week or so. How much meat can you eat without
touching any vegetables at all?
Anyway, the theory is that cutting out the
carbohydrates will force your body to use the stored fat in order to
obtain the energy needed through the day. This means that you get to eat
no bread and pastries, potatoes, pasta, milk, rice, fruit, vegetables
(well, there are a couple you can still eat) and, obviously, no junk
food or soft drinks. On the other hand, you are allowed to
eat red meat, fish, chicken, cheese, mayonnaise, cream, butter and
eggs. This is going to be your only food for the first two weeks, which
are called the Induction Phase.
The second phase of the diet is called Ongoing
Weight Loss and it lets you increase the intake of carbohydrates by 5
grams per day, starting from the basic 20 grams per day stipulated by
the Induction Phase. The user must find how far the amount of
carbohydrates can be increased before the body is unable to lose
between 1 and 3 pounds per week. This is called the Critical
Carbohydrate Level for Losing Weight and this is where the amount of
carbs stops growing. This phase is supposed to last until you almost
reach the desired weight.
With 5 to 10 pounds left to shed
it’s time to enter the third stage of the diet. This one is
called Pre-Maintenance and it’s supposed to increase the carbs
intake by 10 grams a day in order to slow down the weight loss process.
Welcome to the world of 30 grams of pasta per day. The final phase is
called Lifetime Maintenance and a lifetime of eating around 90 grams of
carbs per day for the rest of your life. Moving from 250 grams or more
to less than 100 grams and for the rest of your life could be quite a
challenge for many people.
The side effects of the Atkins diet depend on the user.
Some people did fine on this diet, some got infections of the kidneys
from the high-protein content or heart problems from all the fat food
they ate. Dizziness and general weakness are also to be expected as the
body goes into starvation mode when denied carbohydrates. With
high-fiber fruit and vegetables out of the way you can also expect
constipation to become a problem. Also, the lack of many dairy products
leads to a significant drop in the amount of calcium absorbed by the
body and may cause osteoporosis or other bone conditions later on.
|
