Atkins Diet Pros And Cons

Is the Atkins diet good for you or bad for you?

This diet has both good and bad points. In this diet, Dr. Atkins created new awareness and introduced new concepts that will forever affect how we look at diets for weight loss as well as diets for health. Although the low carb diet was first written about in the late 1800's, low carb dieting truly came to life with the birth of the Atkins diet.

Here’s some of the good points:

1. THE ATKINS DIET BURNS FAT FASTER THAN ANY OTHER DIET. The human body is designed to use two different fuels to sustain life - glucose from carbs or ketones from fat. Glucose is the primary fuel, fat the backup. Every weight loss diet is based on the concept of burning fat. Conventional diets generally are designed to burn fat by starvation - by eating fewer calories than you use every day. This causes the body to dip into its reserve energy source - the fat surrounding your abdomen and your thighs first.

The Atkins diet approaches fat burning a different way. It limits the glucose (carb) intake so the body adjusts itself to using ketones (fat) as its primary fuel. Normally within three to four days of starting, your body is literally a fat burning machine on the Atkins diet.

2. THE ATKINS DIET DOESN'T LEAVE YOU HUNGRY. Due to the types of foods you eat, if you do the Atkins diet properly you will not be hungry. You see, the diet is not based on calorie intake but on protein vs. carbs. The diet is based on eating lots of meat - meat has fat - and the two combined will make you feel full longer.

3. THE ATKINS DIET IS SAFE AND HEALTHY. Contrary to what you might have heard, most of the studies done show the Atkins diet to be healthy when compared to other types of diets. It has been shown to reduce cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure. In addition, many cases of acid reflux, sleep apnea, and diabetes have either had the symptoms reduced or completely disappear while on the Atkins diet.

Also, you'll often hear "we have no way of knowing the long term safety of low carb diets". Fact is, the Atkins diet has been around for over 30 years - longer than most other weight loss programs. Although first written about at the end of the 19th century, the low carb diet has actually been around for centuries prior to that.

How so? The North American Eskimo. Their diet has primarily been no or very low carbs. Yet chronic diseases that are epidemic today, such as diabetes and heart disease, were practically unknown among the Eskimos. At least this was true until they were introduced to sugar and white flour. The Eskimos have been well studied and found to be a healthy and hardy bunch, even after centuries of living on a low carb diet. Yes - a low carb diet much more extreme than even the Atkins diet.

Now Here’s The Bad Stuff

1. THE ATKINS DIET BURNS FAT TOO QUICKLY. What so bad about that, you might ask? Well the problem with burning fat too quick is that it can produce too many toxins for your body to handle. Toxins are eliminated through the liver and kidneys and if it is overloaded, it will store some of the toxins in your fat cells. When burning fat these toxins are released again into your bloodstream. You can experience toxic overload when you burn fat too fast, as in the first weeks or months of the Atkins diet.

2. THE ATKINS DIET CAUSES FATIGUE. Ok, you’ve probably heard the opposite and that is true after a while, but at first you may be quite tired on this diet. When you start on a low carbohydrate diet, your body is switching from using glucose to ketones and this puts a stress on your system. Also, you may have a “carb addiciton” and your body is actually going through withdrawal! Secondly, as we learned a minute ago, your body will quite likely be working hard dealing with toxic overload if burning fat too fast, as early in the Atkins diet.

3. THE ATKINS DIET LACKS GOOD NUTRITION. Plant life is the basic nutritional source for all living creatures, including humans. When an animal eats plants, some of the nutrients, such as calcium and other minerals, are sent to different parts of the body where needed. And even if we eat an animal from nose to tail, including the bones, we are still missing some of these nutrients and essential enzymes that are burned up in the metabolic process. Good nutrition suffers when we drastically limit carbs, particularly with the induction phase of the Atkins diet.

Atkins Diet - Is It Right for You?

The diet has been proven safe and might be a good choice for quick weight loss for a special event. If you need to lose 10 pounds for that tropical vacation, then this might do the trick. While on the Atkins you do need a good supplement and to drink lots of water.

For the long haul, this type of diet may not be practical. It depends on your lifestyle. Certainly you can modify any restaurant meal to be in compliance with this diet and meals at home can be made to your needs - or include the bread and potato for the kids but don’t eat them yourself. It really depends on the individual and his lifestyle.

The Atkins diet can be adjusted to a less aggressive program if you have a lot of weight to lose and wisely choose to lose the pounds more slowly over a longer period of time. This would be less stressful, much healthier and give the stretched skin a chance to shrink. Skipping the induction phase is one way. You may find this more sustainable over the long haul using the Atkins diet.

One important key to health and success with any low carb diet is to make every carb count by choosing nutrient dense live carbs. These include fresh vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, spinach, and green beans. This is critical where total carbs are very limited - such as with the first two stages of the Atkins diet.