ATKINS DIET

Most people will have heard of the Atkins Diet, but the correct name is The Atkins Nutritional Approach or sometimes just as Atkins. Without question, the Atkins Diet is the most published and popular low-carbohydrate diets in the World. It was created by Doctor Robert Atkins in the 1960's after reading about a diet in the American Medical Association's Journal and he thought he would use the diet to help with his own overweight situation. He went on to successfully treat many thousands of patients and he marketed the Atkins diet in a number of books, the first of which was called "Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution" and was published in 1972. In a later version - called "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution" - he updated some of his concepts but retained most of the original ideas..

In later years, the Atkins franchise was created and has enjoyed tremendous success because of the popularity of the diet itself. However, a number of things have contributed to the recent demise of the franchise - Atkins Nutritionals - which was set up by Dr. Atkins back in 1989. Atkins died in 2003 and two years later the company filed for bankruptcy but resurfaced in 2006.

The Atkins diet explained

The Atkins Diet is controversially at odds with all the pre-existing theories. Atkins maintained that there were two essential factors concerning Western eating behaviours and argued that the significant cause of obesity arises from eating refined carbohydrates and in particular sugar, flour and other high-fructose syrups. In addition, he maintained that saturated fat is overly emphasised as a nutritional problem. He also argued that only trans fats derived from sources like hydrogenated oils should be avoided in particular. As a result, Dr. Atkins rejected the prevailing conventional theories and stated that the massive increase in refined carbohydrates was partly responsible for the rise in disorders involving people's metabolisms in the last century. Furthermore, he asserted that the continued focus on the harmful effects of dietary fat was actually contributing to the rising levels of obesity by increasing the ratio of dietary foods that induced the production of insulin.

If you are looking out for information about the Atkins Diet or even for recipes for the Atkins Diet, the following links may also be of interest to you:

The Atkins approach limits what is described as "net carbs" or carbohydrates that have an impact on blood sugar levels. The amount of net carbohydrates can be measured by subtracting sugar alcohols and fibre from a person's dietary intake from the total carbohydrates. However, sugar alcohols should be regarded with a degree of caution, because whereas they may be much slower to convert into glucose, they can also be a big source of glycemic intake and can lessen the overall weight loss. It had been found that fructose - which is present in a number of sweeteners - can also contribute to calorific intake, though sitting outside the control-loop for glucose-insulin. By far the preferred foods are whole, unprocessed foods with a low glycemic content.

There are four distinct phases of the Atkins diet and these are induction, ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance.

The induction phase is the most restrictive stage of the Atkins Nutritional Approach. It is meant to make the body quickly enter the condition called ketosis. During this phase, the intake of carbohydrates is restricted to 20 net grams a day (this is measured in terms of the grams of carbohydrates taken in less the weight of fibre that is consumed), of which about 12 - 15 net grams must be sourced from salads greens and other vegetables. The permissible foods include a good amount of every meat, fish, shellfish, fowl and eggs; as much as four ounces of hard cheese; other low carbohydrate vegetables; and even butter and vegetable oils. During the induction phase, it is not allowed that you consume alcoholic drinks of any sort. If taken in moderation. it is permissible to intake small amounts of caffeine provided it does not create cravings or low blood sugar levels. If a caffeine craving emerges, it is better that people do not have any intake at all until later phases of the diet. It is also recommended that a multivitamin with minerals is taken every day. It is common that during this initial stage of the diet people will see the largest weight loss and it is claimed that this can be between five to ten pounds in a single week. However, this will depend on the degree of over-weight and the level of physical exercise that is undertaken. Atkins also recommends the use of Ketostix to supplement the diet. These are small chemically reactive strips that are used by diabetics. These allow people on the Atkins Diet to measure when they enter the fat burning phase of the programme. However, if you simply monitor your weight, you will find that if you are losing between one and two pounds in weight per day you will be in the ketosis stage.

The next phase of the diet is the Ongoing Weight Loss stage. This consists of increasing the level of carbohydrates consumed while remaining at amounts where loss of weight takes place. The level of carbohydrate taken in every week increases by five net grams. An objective during this phase is to establish what is known as the "Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing" and also to understand how certain food groups increase a person's glycemic levels and furthermore, to identify the foods within the groups that affect how you manage tour craving. The phase of the diet generally ends when you are within about ten pounds of the aspiration weight. During the first period it is important that more good vegetables are added to the intake. For example, a few stalks of asparagus, some salad, a cupful of cauliflower or perhaps half an avocado pear. The following week it is necessary to adopt the carbohydrate ladder that Dr Atkins created for this phase. During this period, it is also expected that you will add fresh dairy products. The Atkins ladder has nine rungs and each needs to be included in the order prescribed. It is possible to miss a rung if the person does not plan to include that food group as a permanent way of life. The Atkins rungs are as follows: introduction of acceptable vegetables, then fresh dairy produce, followed by nut, then berries, followed by sensible levels of alcohol, legumes and other fruits, starchy vegetables and finally grains.

The pre-maintenance phase involves increasing the carbohydrate intake by a further ten net carbs a week from the Atkins ladder groupings and during this stage, the key objective is to establish the "Critical Carbohydrate Level for Maintenance". Broadly, this is the maximum level of carbohydrates you can safely consume every day without adding weight. In some cases, this may exceed the level of carbohydrates inducing fat burn using a testing stick. As a consequence, it is not important to maintain a positive ketosis test over the long term.

The final Atkins Diet phase is called lifetime maintenance and it is intended to continue with the habits formed during the previous phases and crucially it is important to avoid the usual attitude that commonly prevails after concluding a weight loss programme that people can safely return to their previous eating regime and lifestyle. In particular, unprocessed foods are recommended and people have the choice to return to an earlier stage if they begin to add weight.

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