According to the Atkins website, by permanently adopting the Atkins Nutritional Approach, you will achieve four things that will change your life:
- Weight loss
- Weight maintenance
- Good health
- Disease prevention
The Atkins diet sets few limits on the amount of food you eat but instead severely restricts the kinds of food
allowed on your plate (no refined sugar, milk, white rice or white flour). It allows you to eat foods that have previously been regarded as “fatty foods”
such as meat, eggs and cheese while claiming to reduce your appetite at the same time.
On the diet, you're eating almost pure protein and fat.
You consume full fat (no non-fat, or low-fat) red meat, fish, shellfish, cheese, butter, mayonnaise and oils.
Carbohydrates are severely restricted to less than 20 grams per day in the first two weeks.
There are no exceptions to these rules during the first two weeks because low-carb consumption is supposed
to activate biochemical weight-loss. Your carb allowance is gradually increased in the form of fiber-rich foods, but you will never again eat any refined sugar.
The diet does allow for adding fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain foods after the two-week induction period.
By restricting carbohydrates, the body goes into a state of ketosis, which means it burns its own fat for fuel.
When the body is in ketosis, you tend to feel less hungry, and thus you're likely to eat less than you might otherwise.
Unfortunately, ketosis can also cause a variety of unpleasant effects such as unusual breath odor and constipation.
Your body changes from a carbohydrate-burning machine into a fat-burning machine.
According to the Atkins theory, the "first step in an unhealthy metabolic path" leads to "the early stages of diabetes."
However, a body in ketosis returns to normal metabolic function. Though all the fat in this diet may temporarily increase someone's cholesterol level,
this is usually short lived and eventually lowers cholesterol and triglyceride levels and encourages weight loss.
For most people, the carb consumption must be no more than 40 grams a day for this biochemical mechanism to occur.
Unlike other diets, Atkins some people will not need to add physical activity for ketosis to kick in.
This diet does, however, encourage the use of supplements with vitamins, because they will be lacking important nutrients from fruits and vegetables.
Additional materials:
- This article supports the Atkins diet as a healthy lifestyle choice.
