The short name for the 'Atkins Nutritional Approach' is the 'Atkins Diet', which was the invention of Doctor Robert Atkins. He had put on a lot of weight while in medical school and after reading about a certain diet in the medical journal, he decided to improve it and release it under his own name.
Atkins, in his Atkins diet book, wrote that he was sure that the current theories about weight gain were terribly wrong. First, he dismissed the idea that saturated fats were bad for weight loss; instead he said it was it was the carbohydrates that led to the weight problems Americans have these days. Atkins declared that on the contrary, our obsession with avoiding fat actually aggravated the problem. He pointed out that the low-fat diet foods on the market were high in carbohydrates but were not helping the nation, which probably meant that people on a 'normal' diet often ate foods that were worse for them than what they had been eating before.
The Atkins diet moved the focus. Atkins stated that by cutting out carbohydrates, people would consume their stored body fats. And, of course, if you lose the fat, you lose the weight. He said it was not only a matter of eating less. Atkins held that a diet could actually help you burn calories and that The Atkins Diet supposedly burned more calories than were being consumed everyday. But the claims were contested.
Dr. Atkins also promulgated the positive influence that his diet should have on people with Type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is a disease you usually get early in life, but Type 2 is more often closely associated with diet and excess body weight. Therefore, it should follow that any diet that helps reduce weight, will help people with Type 2 diabetes. The Atkins diet is low in carbohydrates, which ought to be avoided by those with Type 2 diabetes regardless of the caloric intake, which the Atkins diet does, so Atkins claimed that those who suffer Type 2 diabetes would no longer need medication such as insulin. Doctors do not agree with Atkins on this point, although they do agree, that a lower carbohydrate intake helps control Type 2 diabetes, but there is no proof that carbohydrates cause diabetes.
What are the procedures one has to follow to do the Atkins diet? It goes in four phases - Induction; On-Going Weight loss; Pre-maintenance; and Lifetime Maintenance. Here follows a brief precis of the most important phase - The Induction Phase.
The Induction phase is the most difficult phase of the Atkins diet. Atkins is flexible about the time period " but recommends it lasts for two weeks. During this phase carbohydrates are severely limited " you can only consume up to 20 grams per day. The idea is to enter a fat burning metabolic phase called ketosis when the body, starved of glucose, will begin converting stored fat into fatty acids needed to power the body. Weight loss during this phase can be extreme " some Atkins followers reported losses of 5-10 pounds a week or more.
Learning the ideal carbohydrate levels for weight loss and for day to day intake after the weight loss ends, are the goals of the three final phases in the Atkins diet. Millions of people are still losing the weight they want to on this diet " but be aware of the dangers of taking in too much fat. - 30249
Atkins, in his Atkins diet book, wrote that he was sure that the current theories about weight gain were terribly wrong. First, he dismissed the idea that saturated fats were bad for weight loss; instead he said it was it was the carbohydrates that led to the weight problems Americans have these days. Atkins declared that on the contrary, our obsession with avoiding fat actually aggravated the problem. He pointed out that the low-fat diet foods on the market were high in carbohydrates but were not helping the nation, which probably meant that people on a 'normal' diet often ate foods that were worse for them than what they had been eating before.
The Atkins diet moved the focus. Atkins stated that by cutting out carbohydrates, people would consume their stored body fats. And, of course, if you lose the fat, you lose the weight. He said it was not only a matter of eating less. Atkins held that a diet could actually help you burn calories and that The Atkins Diet supposedly burned more calories than were being consumed everyday. But the claims were contested.
Dr. Atkins also promulgated the positive influence that his diet should have on people with Type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is a disease you usually get early in life, but Type 2 is more often closely associated with diet and excess body weight. Therefore, it should follow that any diet that helps reduce weight, will help people with Type 2 diabetes. The Atkins diet is low in carbohydrates, which ought to be avoided by those with Type 2 diabetes regardless of the caloric intake, which the Atkins diet does, so Atkins claimed that those who suffer Type 2 diabetes would no longer need medication such as insulin. Doctors do not agree with Atkins on this point, although they do agree, that a lower carbohydrate intake helps control Type 2 diabetes, but there is no proof that carbohydrates cause diabetes.
What are the procedures one has to follow to do the Atkins diet? It goes in four phases - Induction; On-Going Weight loss; Pre-maintenance; and Lifetime Maintenance. Here follows a brief precis of the most important phase - The Induction Phase.
The Induction phase is the most difficult phase of the Atkins diet. Atkins is flexible about the time period " but recommends it lasts for two weeks. During this phase carbohydrates are severely limited " you can only consume up to 20 grams per day. The idea is to enter a fat burning metabolic phase called ketosis when the body, starved of glucose, will begin converting stored fat into fatty acids needed to power the body. Weight loss during this phase can be extreme " some Atkins followers reported losses of 5-10 pounds a week or more.
Learning the ideal carbohydrate levels for weight loss and for day to day intake after the weight loss ends, are the goals of the three final phases in the Atkins diet. Millions of people are still losing the weight they want to on this diet " but be aware of the dangers of taking in too much fat. - 30249
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