Posts Tagged ‘Atkins Diet’

Which Low Carbohydrate Diet Is Best For You?

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

We’ve heard that diet plans don’t work the same way for everyone, even if they collectively claim that they can reduce the amount of “bad” carbohydrates in our bodies. But if that’s the case, how are we supposed to know which low carbhoydrate diet plans would work best for us as individuals? The answer lies in careful study. Look into the requirements and benefits of each diet plan, and based on what you’ve learned, decide on the plan that would give you the best returns, in terms of time, money and effort.

Here are three of the more popular low carbohydrate diet regimes. Check them out and see how each one relates to your lifestyle and routines:

1. The Atkins Diet – This is currently the most popular patented diet plan in the market. The creator of this plan, Dr. Robert C. Atkins, is known as “The Father of Modern Low Carb Diets.” This diet promotes cutting back on carbohydrate intake, but stresses that different people have different nutritional needs, and therefore the diet plan must vary from person to person. The Atkins books contain information on a “carb ladder,” which details the amount of carbohydrates a person may introduce into the body, based on one’s glycemic load. The books also advocate balancing Omega-3 fatty acids and Omega-6 fatty acids. All this means you need to pay close attention to the amount of food you eat when you’re on this diet.

2. The South Beach Diet – This diet scheme, recently patented by Dr. Arthur Agatston, is thought of as a modified Atkins diet, with a few significant changes: while both Atkins and South Beach promote the elimination of “bad carbs,” the South Beach diet actively discourages eating the dark meat or butter of poultry, as they are fraught with saturated fat that produces “bad carbs.” Atkins poses no such restriction.

4. The “Caveman” Diet – This low carbohydrate diet advocates a return to our ancestral roots, in a liberal sense; it simply promotes the elimination of artificial processed foods from regular meals. In this diet you can eat pretty much anything except foods that contain sugar, salts, and seasoning. Most dairy products are not allowed either, as they are often found in processed form in this modern age. Meat, eggs, fish, fruit, most vegetables, and nuts are okay. This may seem somewhat permissive, but it is still a rather tough call if you live in a country like the United States, where it isn’t easy adhering to an all-natural organic diet scheme.

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Are Atkins Diet And Low Carb Diets Safe?

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Are low carb diets safe? How safe is Atkins diet? Are low carb and Atkins diets dangerous to your health? These are burning questions for dieters all over the world.

I have personally tried low carb diets and Atkins diet and these diets made me lose weight very quickly. However not only did I lose body fat weight, I also lost muscle weight. I had very obvious muscle and fat loss because I can visually see my reduced muscle mass in the mirror.

This certainly isn’t healthy. Furthermore, the more muscle mass that you lose, the less toned your body shape is. The end result is that you will end up thin and yet looked flabby with lose skin.

The frustrating part will be that after you are off the low carb or Atkins diet, you will very probably gain back all the weight that you have loss and even more. This is because your muscles are active and they continuously burn calories. Since you have less fewer muscle mass now, your body’s metabolism or capacity to burn calories slows down tremendously.

In other words, when you put on weight again, you are putting on body fat instead of muscles if you do not exercise. You will be fatter and less healthy than before you went on the low carb or Atkins diet. To compound matters, because of lesser muscle tissues resulting in lower metabolism and thus lesser calories being burnt, you are going to get fatter.

Since then I have stayed off both low carb and Atkins diet. Both types of diets are almost similar as they require you to cut down drastically on your consumption of carbohydrates. Atkins diet went a step further by advocating almost no carbohydrate consumption for 2 weeks before adding some carbs to your meals gradually thereafter.

Besides losing muscles, how safe are low carb diets? This is what Dr Lyn Steffen and Dr Jennifer Nettleton from the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health commentated in a Lancet report, “Low carbohydrate diets for weight management are far from healthy, given their association with ketosis, constipation or diarrhea, halitosis, headache and general fatigue to name a few.”

The doctors warned that the diet increases protein load on the kidneys and alters the balance of acid in the body. This also results in loss of minerals from the bone stores and affect bone strength. The doctors went on to say that, “Our most important criterion should be indisputable safety and low carbohydrate diets currently fall short of this benchmark.”

Dr Atkins, the creator of the Atkins diet died in 2003 after he was alleged to have slipped on an icy road and hurt his head fatally. However his medical report stated that he had a history of heart attack, hypertension and congestive heart failure.

Were Dr Atkins medical conditions related to his low carbohydrates diet is anybody’s guess. Do you want to take the risk by going on a low carb diet? I don’t think I will. If I ever want to lose weight again, I will rather go on the proven method of healthy eating and regular exercises instead of jumping on any fad diets.

Chris Chew is a fitness personal trainer of actors, fashion models, pageant contestants and celebs at Lose weight tone muscles naturally www.sgfitness.com and Be a personal trainer career www.sgfitnessonline.com/yourfitnesscareer.htm

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Discover All About The Atkins Diet – Also Know As The Low Carb Diet

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

Nearly everyone has heard of the Atkins Diet by now, even if not necessarily clear on what it is. Some may even know it as the source of “low-carb” diet craze in the country, but don’t know much about it beyond that. Considered as controversial as it is revolutionary, the Atkins Diet has worked successfully for a tremendous number of people, and not so successfully for a good amount of others. This article aims to place a neutral and objective eye on this popular weight loss program.

Re-introduced in the 1990’s (after an initial period of popularity in the 1970’s), the Atkins Diet is the brainchild of Dr. Robert Atkins.

The diet works in several phases, the first – or the “induction period” – lasting only 2 weeks. In this phase, dieters are not to eat any more than 20 grams of carbohydrates of any form each day. The bulk of a person’s diet during this period, then, is fats and proteins. Usually, a dieter will reach their 20 gram limit on carbohydrates simply from the small amounts in foods like salad dressing, cheese, sauces, condiments, and vegetables.

Forbidden from a participant’s diet during this 2 week induction period are fruits, grains, breads, cereal, milk, and vegetables with a high-glycemic index (a measure of the effect a food has on the body’s blood sugar).

During this period, the body enters a state called “ketosis”, where it begins burning its own residual deposits of fat in order to produce the energy for which it previously had been relying on your regular consumption of carbohydrates.

Atkins also asserts that the source of most weight problems people experience is an “insulin-resistance” that causes overweight bodies to have difficulty converting carbohydrates into glucose (or sugar) which becomes energy. In this state of ketosis induced by the induction phase of the Atkins Diet, the insulin function of the body is affected in such a way that impedes the production of more fat.

After the two week induction period ends, dieters are then permitted to increase their carbohydrate allowance by 5 grams each week. In other words: they’re allowed 25 grams of carbs per day throughout week 3, 30 grams of carbs per day throughout week 4, 35 g in week 5, etc.

Depending on the person’s body type and weight objectives, this gradual increase in carbs should level off somewhere between 40 g and 90 g per day. At this point, the dieter is considered to have entered the “maintenance” phase of the diet, where they ought to remain for the rest of their lives. Although counting calories is not a part of the Atkins Diet, studies by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity found that adhering to the restrictions imposed by the Atkins Diet led to a decrease of 1,000 calories from participant’s daily caloric intake.

A quick perusal of the recommendations published by most traditional health experts and health organizations will reveal that 40-90 grams of carbs per day is still a miniscule amount compared to that of what they consider a “standard” healthy diet.

The Atkins Diet also contradicts authorities (US FDA and the American Cancer Society included) that extol the virtues of eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grain breads and cereals. According to Atkins, even “healthy” carbohydrates are harmful in large quantities.

Studies by the Annals of Internal Medicine and the New England Journal of Medicine have actually found that participants on the Atkins Diet experienced an improvement in heart disease indicators.

Like the 80’s and 90’s were to “low-fat” and “fat-free”, Dr. Atkins has helped make the early 21st century “low-carb”. Whether that’s for better or worse is up to you.

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How Healthy Diet Can Help You Burn Fat

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

Healthy diet is one of the initial steps you must look in to when you begin thinking about how to increase your metabolism. You can find theories about loosing weight with diet anywhere you look.

One of the most popular such theories is a diet based on increasing protein and lowering carbohydrates in your meals (Atkins diet). Many of doctors use it themselves and highly recommend it. However, by now I hope you know the basis of a long term HEALTHY weight loss is in increasing metabolism.

Because all of us want to loose weight, preferably if we can without giving up on our favorite food sometimes we look for short cuts.

Because of reduced calorie intake, you should be very careful what food you eat during your low calorie diet. Make sure to eat 5 6 smaller meals, but reduced in volume and calories. If you reduce daily calories in your meals without supplementing it with low calorie foods, yes it is very possible that your metabolism will slow down. Besides calorie intake, there are other factors that influence metabolism speed, such as daily activities and genetics.

High protein diets produce results, and they produce it fast, no doubt about it. If you are looking for a fast, short-term weight loss then yes you should consider it. However, you are your weight loss plan should be based on a long term, healthy approach to loosing weight.

Lots of diet experts in the recent years are focusing their attention to low carb foods that can if taken correctly help people with their weight loss efforts. Recently available foods low in carbohydrates are very different then those before. They taste great, are very low cost and can if taken with persistence help you with fast weight loss.

Based on this information the best type of a diet is healthy diet. It will provide your body with all the nutrients it needs in order to stay healthy or to improve your health. This will be accomplished with reduction in calories and not in the amount of the meals per day. As a matter of fact youll probably have to eat more often then before.

Healthy diet is a slightly changed version of a health diet pyramid. It contains various food groups in specific amounts. It will require you to make a change in your eating habits but it will result in long term, healthy weight loss. In other words, your weight will not jump right back at you as soon as you stop with your high protein diet.

Every diet including the healthy diet can be adjusted to your individual needs and preferences, as long as you stick with general principle of it. In the beginning, it will be much easier to stick with your healthy diet if you include foods you prefer. For example, if you like apples and are not all that fond of oranges, eat apples. Nevertheless, keep in mind the overall principle and do not substitute oranges with burgers. ;)

Keep up with this basic healthy diet principles and you will soon see the difference it makes. In addition, for the end, when loosing weight do not count pounds lost, count inches.

Discover truth behind diet myths, visit www.Complete-Diet.net and learn how to increase metabolism and burn fat.

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Is A Fast Weight Loss Diet A Healthy Choice?

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

With the countless fad diets on the market pushing misleading and deceptive claims it’s no surprise that nearly everyone who wants to lose weight is looking for a fast weight loss diet plan or program. An example of fast weight loss diets include low carb diets which instruct you to limit how many carbohydrate foods you eat.

In fact, fast weight loss diets, such as the Atkins Diet and the South Beach Diet, often have phases instructing you to put your body in a a state called “ketosis” where it switches from using carbohydrate for energy to using fat by eliminating carbohydrate from your diet. Not only will you lack many vital nutrients by doing this, it is very extreme and unnecessary, and very difficult to follow through.

What no-one tells you is that it’s only realistic for your body to lose two pounds a week of fat and anything else you lose on a fast weight loss diet will be either muscle or water loss. Not only is this very bad for your health but your body uses up fewer calories as you lose muscle. Water loss also causes you to become dehydrated, since your body is 75% water.

Another side effect of fast weight loss diets is that sudden changes in your diet where you eat a lot less than normal could trigger your body’s natural starvation response. Your body will then conserve its energy and won’t let go of your body fat, which is why often dieters find their fat loss stalling despite how low their calories are.

Something else to consider is that it is very likely that you will re-gain any weight you lost on a fast weight loss diet when you complete your diet. This is due to the extremely restrictive nature of low-carb diets which can result in cravings and subsequent binges as you fall back into your old way of eating, and is also due to the muscle loss which slows down your metabolism.

On top of all this you also have fast weight loss diet programs which tell you to pay for monthly supplies of “necessary” shakes, bars and other supplements while making huge weight loss claims in return. Since 9 out of 10 dieters return to dieting after putting the weight they lost back on imagine how many customers are sucked into the hype, invested hundreds of dollars on fast weight loss diets, only to find that despite all that money they invested they’re back where they started!

The key to successfully and permanently losing the fat is not to drastically lower calories, nor to label carbs as evil and avoid them like the plague, as many fast weight loss diets advocate. Instead, you will get more effective results by changing your eating habits and eating smaller, but more frequent meals and cutting way back on processed, fatty and high-sugar foods.

Fast weight loss diet plans and programs should be avoided if you want to lose the fat safely. The only solution to permanent weight loss is to make healthy eating part of your lifestyle by replacing your negative habits, and incorporate regular exercise into your routine. This should include both aerobic exercise which helps melt the fat off and strength/resistance training which will build muscle to speed up your metabolism and avoid muscle loss, something many fast weight loss diets are guilty of.

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