Low carb diets are currently being promoted as an effective therapy for weight loss. One of the most popular extreme diets that was first brought to the public eye is the Atkins diet. In fact, this diet is now not even seen as radical, and you’d probably be hard to come by anyone who’s tried dieting who hasn’t been on the Atkins diet for any amount of time. It is now one of the most common and popular diets in North America and the United Kingdom, and many people claim that it is the only way to lose a noticeable amount of weight through dieting.

The Atkins diet is a low carbohydrate, high protein diet. In fact – the Atkins diet doesn’t condone carbs at all, in any form. That means to follow this diet, you will have to say bye bye to the likes of potatoes, bread, and pasta. Might not sound too difficult, but carbohydrates are found in most food, and these three things are three major foods that a lot of people live on. Going from eating a lot of carbs to no carbs at all is a drastic change in diet, and you may have more success if you just cut down and gradually wean them out of your diet.

The main aims of the Atkins diet are to remove the carbohydrate cravings, readjust the body’s metabolism, and induce weight loss by eliminating carbohydrate-containing foods. The Atkins diet includes high saturated fat, high protein, and avoidance of almost all carbohydrates. The Atkins diet is, in fact, a ketogenic diet conprising almost exclusively of food from animal origin. The low-carbohydrate diet promoters claim that dietary carbohydrate, unprocessed sugars in particular, causes hyperinsulinemia, resulting in obesity, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular disease. They think all carbohydrate-containing foods contain whole grains, or have vitamins and minerals, are responsible for weight gain because of the way they affect blood glucose and insulin which is a hormone regulating blood sugar levels and is released by the body after a dieter eats carbohydrates. Based on this theeory, high carbohydrate food is viewed as a metabolic poison and thus is limited in the diet.

The Atkins diet suggests unlimited protein and fat intake, with carbohydrate intake initially limited to 20 g/day, primarily as salad greens and other non-starchy vegetables. The Atkins diet recommends restricting breads, rice, pasta, fruit, potatoes, sugarfilled sweets, corn, peas and other starchy vegetables. The diet suggests the use of highprotein foods such as chicken, beef, eggs, fish pork, and high-fat foods, such as butter, heavy cream, salad dressing, and oils just because fat and protein do not stimulate the insulin release. There is an initial amount of quick weight loss at the first phase of the diet program. This initial weight loss comes from the liver glycogen stores becoming depleted to help maintain blood sugar levels. After two weeks, program participants can increase their carbohydrate consumption by 5 grams every week until weight loss stops and then begin to add gram increments as weight maintenance is sustained.

The Atkins diet consists heavily of food high in protein, which is primarily fish and meat. Chicken, beef and pork are excellent meats to eat during the diet, as well as soy products. If you are vegetarian, the Atkins diet may be rather difficult for you as you’ll not have a big choice of food. Alongside meat products, some vegetables are good to eat, such as green salad produce, broccoli, asparagus, spinach and cauliflower. Fruits are also good in moderation, but be careful, as some fruits actually contain a lot of carbs. Pears, raspberries, blueberries and avocados are some of the best ones to enjoy whilst on the Aktins diet. Dairy products should also be minimised as much as possible.

The Atkins diet includes four phases, including induction, ongoing weight loss (OWL), pre maintenance, and lifetime maintenance. In In the induction phase which lasts up to 2 weeks, dieters are the state of ketosis and starts to burn fat for energy. The Induction phase is the most restrictive phase of the Atkins weight loss program. It is intended to cause the body to quickly enter a state of ketosis. During the ongoing weight loss pahse the daily carbohydrate intake can be increased by 5 net grams per week. Then comes pre maintenance phase when no more than 10 pounds of body weight need to be dropped. Like the critical carbohydrate level for loosing (CCLL) as part of the second phase to determine how many carbohydrates can be eaten to be remained in a state of ketosis, the critical carbohydrate level for maintenance (CCLM) is used in the OWL phase. The CCLM refers to the maximum quantity of daily grams of carbohydrate intake in order to avoid gaining weight. The lifetime maintenance phase is intended to maintain the diet intake habits acquired in the previous phases.

Carbohydrates are your body’s main source of energy. If you don’t get enough carbs, then your body turns to its own fat store and burns this into energy – which results in weight loss. This is how the Atkins diet makes it possible for you to lose a noticeable amount of weight in a short amount of time. This makes it very appealing to lots of people, but it does have its drawbacks.

If you are following the Atkins diet for a long term diet, the absence of a complete food group can cause problems for your health. Medical experts have expressed concern that it can cause problems to the kidneys – causing kidney stones and ulcers. The high amount of fat intake can also cause high cholesterol, which in turn could lead to heart disease.