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Low Carb Atkins Diet

Submitted by Loring A. Windblad on January 24, 2011

Low Carb Diet Plans

The low carb Atkins diet is a creation of Dr Atkins, a researcher and guru in the field of weight loss. This is probably one of the most significant developments in the history of weight loss because of its sheer simplicity. There are conflicting voices when it comes to the efficacy of the diet but the fact is that it has a 30 per cent success rate. The low rate of success has been attributed to a lot of general indiscipline in people who are not used to controlling what they eat.

This is a fundamental paradigm that one is following in any diet.

No diet is going to really be pleasant over a period of time but the entire point of a diet is to correct a health situation that you are prone to, namely obesity.

The Atkins diet is a ketogenic diet and uses the body mechanism of fuel switching. When we eat a regular meal, we ingest carbohydrates, which are broken down to glucose that the body uses as fuel.

The body can also use fat as a fuel source in a process called ketosis and this happens when the levels of insulin in the body are low; insulin levels drop when the amount of glucose in the body is low.

Therefore, if we were to eliminate carbohydrate from the diet and ingest the same amount of fat but also exercise a bit more than we do; technically speaking, we would burn our own fat stores and lose weight. Take this to yet another level and if you only ingest protein instead of fat, you accelerate the process even more.

It is worth noting that ketosis in a runaway situation is what usually sends diabetics to the emergency room but this is a result of prolonged period of being in a state of ketosis.

Without going into the controversies of the Atkins diet, we can be safe in the knowledge that the process is fundamentally sound. To cut carbs, you need to cut the amount of starch and sugars in your diet.

This means that you are literally eating salads and animal protein like meat. This can be a bit problematic for vegans; therefore, some dairy intake would have to be allowed to avoid nutritional deficiencies. There is a tendency for the cholesterol levels in your body to rise when on the Atkins diet and this can be corrected by using a cooking medium like olive oil.

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