For people who live in the western countries, I am sure that you have heard of the famous Dr Atkins diet plan. It isn't important if the Atkins diet is a successful diet or not, in all cases it is still up for debate, but it's the most advertised diet. Atkins plan has been for a while the top hyped dieting plan around and there are millions of people have tried it in all over the world. It was estimated by researchers that more than three millions people in the UK alone have tried this diet.
- Cutting down carbohydrates
The question here is what is the idea behind Atkins diet? the basic idea is "cutting down carbohydrates" but dieters is allowed to eat high fat food. Yes Atkins diet allows people to eat steaks, eggs and cheese. It sounds like a dream. The diet that give the chance of losing extra weight while still enjoying the ham food will be very exciting diet. But there are other bad things behind Atkins, you not allowed to eat bread and salad with the steak. This will become a problem after one or two weeks. The problem is how much meat may you eat without eating a one vegetable at all?
So, the basic idea of Atkins diet "cutting out the carbohydrates" this action will force our bodies to burn the all stored fats to generate the energy that our bodies need. Carbohydrate food like vegetables, rice, potatoes, bread, pastries, pasta, milk, fruit will be not allowed according to the Atkins diet. Junk food and soft drink will also be not allowed. What about the allowed food list, you are allowed to eat chicken, mayonnaise, meat, butter, eggs, fish , cheese and cream. these are the only food for the first two weeks, we can call this period the Induction Phase.
Ongoing Weight Loss
After 2 weeks, you can increase the intake of carbohydrates by five grams/day. This is the 2nd phase and we can call it the ongoing Weight Loss. The dieter should find what is the amount of carbohydrates should be increased before his/her body is unable to lose between one and three pounds/ week. We can call this process as the Critical Carbohydrate Level for healthy weight loss and in this process the amount of carbs will stop growing. The Ongoing Weight Loss phase will be continued until you reach your desired weight.
Pre-Maintenance
With five to ten pounds left to shed it is time to enter the third stage of the diet. This one is called Pre-Maintenance, in this phase the dieter can increase the carbs intake by ten grams/day to slowdown the whole weight loss process.
Lifetime Maintenance
Let's go to the fourth phase that can be called the Lifetime Maintenance, in this phase the dieter will begin a lifetime of eating, this lifetime eating plan adjust the amount of carbs to 90 grams of carbs/day. The big challenge here is the dropping from 250g or more to less than 100g and for the rest of your life. It is really a big challenge.
The side effects
In fact, Atkins diet may cause some dangerous side effects . You can do well with this plan, but you may got heart problems from all the fat food they ate, kidneys problems from the high-protein content that you eat. Dizziness is very expected during this diet, weakness also an expected symptom when the body goes into starvation mode after the missing of carbohydrates. Without fruits and vegetables that give you the high-fiber content, the dieter can also expect the symptom of constipation. The lack of dairy products will also lead to a significant drop in the amount of calcium which your body need it and may cause osteoporosis or other bone conditions later on.
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