Sunday, January 18, 2009

The Atkins Diet - Will it Really Work for You?

By Ricardo d Argence

Whichever way you turn, someone is hyping a new diet that will make you reach all of your weight loss goals. Some have been established to be beneficial and others have ended up being harmful for your health. This brings us to the Atkins diet, what is it? Will this diet work for you?

Dr. Robert Atkins finished medical at Cornell University in 1955. Some years later, he found himself overweight and looking for answers. He based his currently popular diet program on a diet something like what he saw in the Journal of American Medical Association. He first published Dr Atkins Diet Revolution in 1970.

Over the years, he revised his plan somewhat but never strayed from the diets core principals. The diets focus is on eliminating carbohydrates from the western diet.

The entire diet revolves around the idea that carbs are the main cause of being overweight. As you can see, the diet limits your intake of carbs. There are four steps in this plan, each step building on the one before.

Induction. The first part is definitely the most limited. The suggested time to stay on this phase is two weeks, but Atkins states that you it is safe to stay at this phase for months. Carbohydrates are limited to 15-20 grams per day of which 12-15 must come from leafy vegetables. This part of the diet will also let you eat little amounts of cheese, large amounts of meat and essential fats. At this stage, the goal is to put the body into ketosis and add some healthy fiber to the diet.

Ongoing Weight Loss. The second phase is to gradually increase the intake of carbs until a sustainable weightloss of 1-2 pounds per week is achieved. Carbohydrates will increase by five grams each day from a special food list, but vegetables can be eaten depending on how much carbohydrates are in them. Dieters stay in this phase until they are within five to ten pounds from their goal.

Pre Maintenance. This is the time when weight loss slows even more, Atkins recommends loosing the last ten pounds or so over a 1-3 month period. During this phase, dieters should use the method in phase 2 and add carbohydrates in at as much as ten grams per day again to the point that they are able without gaining weight.

Maintenance. Here is when you take all that has been learned from the previous phases and continue on a healthy plan in order to stay at your best weight. Prevent the typical end of diet mentality and going back to bad habits.

Now, let's talk about ketosis. When the amount of ketones in the blood are elevated, this is called Ketosis. This normal response of your liver happens when you decide to go on a strict low carb diet. Your liver will work for you in converting the fats into fatty acids. Under normal conditions, your body uses glucose made from carbs that you eat. When that supply runs out, then your body will start to burn its stored fat. You can be pretty sure that your body is in ketosis state when you notice that you have foul smelling breath or a metal taste in your mouth.

Medical professionals are divided in their opinion on ketosis. There is still some controversy, but there are those who believe that it needlessly stresses the liver and can destroy muscle tissue.

For many people the diet does work. Just in the first phase, people can net a ten to fifteen pound loss in as little as a week. Just like any diet, the outcome will be much better if you exercise because it raises the metabolism and helps you to avoid cardiovascular disease. - 16752

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