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Some Facts To Consider About The Atkins Diet

By: Kay Brown

The ever popular Atkins diet is one of the most successful low carbohydrate diets available today. Its success has sparked dozens of copycat diets who focus on the same principles of high-protein, low-carbohydrate consumption. There are a lot of choices when it comes to choosing a low-carbohydrate diet.

Studies have shown that low-carbohydrate diets have a lot of benefits. There have been scientific results that prove high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets do promote significant weight loss without having to cut back on calories. There are many testimonials by people who follow the Atkins diet who swear to its success in successful weight loss.

There are studies that prove that eating less carbohydrates improves triclycerides levels, reduces blood glucose and increases good cholesterol - HDL. This is beneficial for people who are diabetic or pre-diabetic. Low-carbohydrate consumption has also proven to lower blood pressure, improve insulin sensitivity, and lower blood insulin levels. When compared to low-fat diets, people on low-carbohydrate diets do not lose as much muscle mass.

Although not scientifically proven, there are many benefits reported by people who follow the Atkins diet, or people who just generally consume small amounts of carbohydrates. These include increased energy, reduced craving for sugary snacks, improved concentration, better moods and an over all more positive outlook on life.

Also, there are some added joys specific to the Atkins diet. If your previous dieting efforts consisted mostly of low fat foods, leaving you still feeling hungry, you will now enjoy eating all of those forbidden foods you once had to go without. Atkins dieters are encouraged to eat their full of rich meats, cheeses, fats and oils.

Compared with other low-carb diets on the market, the Atkins diet is also simple to use. You will need to learn some basic food carbohydrate counts, but after that, you are free to choose from the acceptable food lists.

With the Atkins diet you will be shown how to find your own personal carbohydrate level of tolerance. It is usually different from person to person. Some people will gain weight eating just 90 carb grams per day, while others will gain no weight what so ever eating 120 carb grams per day. During the pre-maintenance and weight loss phases, you will learn to maintain and adjust your carbohydrate levels to meet your weight goals for life.

There are a few downsides to using the Atkins program. You need to stay within your personal carbohydrate range by monitoring all the carbs you consume in all the food you eat. Also starting the Atkins diet can be very difficult to get through.

Many people mistakenly believe that the beginning phase of the diet is the way the diet is the entire time. They have been used to diets that burn carbs and sugar and for the first few days they experience grogginess and low energy. This will end when the body gets into a state of ketosis.

Ketosis is when the body starts burning the bodies fat for fuel instead of the carbohydrates it normally burns. So the groggy phase does not last but many people will leave the Atkins diet forever because of this experience. The truth be known, they just did not give it enough time for it to start working.

Overall, the Atkins diet works even with its initial downsides. Many thousands of people have had success with the the low-carb way of living. But there is a lot of information and a lot of opinions on the subject, so be prepared if you are pro-atkins to have to defend your position. Personally it is one of the few ways I have ever lost weight successfully with out the feeling of going hungry.

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