How Does The Atkins Diet Work?

Many people have heard of the Atkins diet, the short name for Atkins nutritional approach. Dr. Robert Atkins invented this low-carb diet. He put on a lot of pounds while he attended medical school. A medical Journal had an article about a diet. He built on that diet and eventually made it popular.

Dr. Atkins had rather radical theories about the nature of weight gain as expressed in the Atkins diet. First, he dismissed the idea that saturated fats were bad. Carbohydrates, found in potatoes, and breads, were the real problem. In Atkins theory eating too little fat make things even worse. Many low-fat foods are packed with carbohydrates. Dieters were being tricked into eating foods that would cause them to gain more weight.

This all changes in the Atkins diet. By cutting out carbohydrates people would burn stored body fats. Lose the fat lose the weight. The goal wasn't necessarily to take in fewer calories. Now it was all about what your diet can help you burn. In fact Atkins cited a study that claimed the body would burn an extra 950 calories on his diet. But the claims were not true.

The Atkins diet also could help people with type 2 diabetes.. Type 2 diabetes is most often associated with obesity. Therefore, by means of losing weight a person on the Atkins diet would be addressing their type 2 diabetes. In addition the Atkins diet also addresses the measure of taking in fewer carbohydrates which is part of managing type 2 diabetes, so that Dr. Atkins suggested people on his diet would no longer need to monitor their blood sugar or take insulin. The jury is still out in the medical world as to the causes of type 2 diabetes. So while science agrees with Atkins that lowering intake of Carbohydrates will help with the disease, it would disagree that the step alone would remove the necessity for medicine.

What are the specific rules of the Atkins diet? It consists of four steps or phases which are induction, ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance. Here is an overview of the most important phase - Induction.

As the first phase, Induction is the most crucial and most restrictive portion of the Atkins diet. Atkins is flexible as to the time period – but recommends two weeks. During induction the dieter can consume only about 20 grams of carbohydrates on a day to day basis. The result of this phase should be ketosis, a metabolic reaction by which the body converts stored fat into fatty acids, generally prompted by a lack of glucose. During this phase weight loss can reach as much as 10 pounds per week.

The next three phases of the Atkins diet help establish the levels of carbs people can consume in order to lose weight and to maintain a desired weight. Millions of people are still losing weight on this diet – but beware the dangers of taking in too much fat.

1. Prev:What Is The Atkins Grapefruit Diet?
2. Next:Five Tips On How To Start Losing Weight