The Atkins diet is not a new phenomenon. The diet first appeared in the late 1970s and has grown popularity in recent years in response to the low-fat diet craze. As dieters had trouble with low-fat plans, they searched for a new solution and Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution book found a new audience.

A lot of people have jumped on the Atkins bandwagon and there has been a lot of hype as a result. But what are the basic principles of the Atkins diet?

The Atkins diet is based on a theory of why we get fat. According to Dr. Atkins, the over-consumption of carbohydrates and simple sugars leads to weight gain. The way your body processes the carbohydrates you eat have more to do with your waistline than the amount of fat or calories that you consume. In his book, Atkins outlines a phenomenon called insulin resistance. He theorizes that many overweight people have cells that do not work correctly.

When you eat excess carbohydrates and sugar, your body notices that sugar levels are elevated. Insulin is released from the pancreas in order to store sugar as glycogen in the liver and muscle cells for extra energy later on. However, your body can only store so much glycogen at once. As soon as your body reaches its limit for glycogen storage, the excess carbohydrates are stored as fat. This happens to everyone who eats too many carbohydrates.

However, insulin resistant individuals have an even harder time of using and storing excess carbohydrates. The more insulin that your body is exposed to, the more resistant it becomes. Overtime, the pancreas releases more insulin and cells become insulin resistant. The cells are trying to protect themselves from the toxic effects of high insulin. They create less glycogen and more fat.

As a result, insulin resistant individuals gain extra weight. The carbohydrates get converted into fat instead of energy. Other side effects include fatigue, brain fog (the inability to focus, poor memory, loss of creativity), low blood sugar (which can leads to hypoglycemia), intestinal bloating, sleepiness, depression and increased blood sugar. There is much more than weight at stake when you are insulin resistant.

The remedy for people who are insulin resistant is a diet restricted in carbohydrates. The crux of the Atkins diet is a limitation of carbohydrates in all of its forms. The foods restricted on the Atkins plan include simple sugars (like cookies, sodas and sweets) and complex carbohydrates (like bread, rice and grains). Even carbohydrates that are considered healthy, such as oatmeal, brown rice and whole wheat bread, are restricted on the program.

The diet has you restrict your carbohydrate intake to less than 40 grams a day. This will put your body in a state of ketosis. While in ketosis, your body will burn fat as fuel. According to Dr. Atkins research, the ketosis state will also affect insulin production and it will prevent more fat from being formed. Your body will begin using your stored fat as an efficient form of fuel, and youll lose weight.
Another benefit of the Atkins plan is that ketosis will end your cravings for carbohydrates. If youve been living on a carb-heavy diet, you may have found that you simply cannot get enough carbohydrates. With carbohydrate restriction and ketosis comes a reduction in carbohydrate cravings. People who have been on the Atkins diet for some time report that they do not crave carbohydrates as they once did.

Although the initial phases of the Atkins diet are rather strict, the program teaches you to restore balance to your diet in the long run. People who use the diet slowly reintroduce minimal amounts of carbohydrate into their eating until they find a comfortable balance between their health and carbohydrate use.

The basic principles of the Atkins diet have been adapted to many other low-carb diet plans. However, Atkins popularity still remains strong as one of the most effective low-carbohydrate solutions for those who are insulin resistant.

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Induction Diet – The Top Priority For The Atkins Weight Loss Plan

If you have ever heard of the induction diet and wondered what it was, then you’re in luck. The answer is simply that it’s the beginning of the Atkins Weight Loss Plan. This diet plan is famous for eliminating or reducing the intake of carbohydrates; at least that’s the popular myth. The Atkins Diet actually permits carbs, but they are kept to their absolute lowest during the induction phase. This is so the ketosis process can begin.

In fact, the induction diet can be thought of as the most vital phase of the program. If you want to try the Atkins Weight Loss Plan, then don’t skip this part as the rest of the diet hinges on this all-important phase.

The general theory of the Atkins Diet is that you can burn fat instead of muscle by replacing carbohydrates with protein. However, you should be warned that it’s a very strict regimen, and you need to follow it closely. This is even more true when going through the induction diet phase.

Most people find the induction process to be the most difficult aspect of the Atkins Weight Loss Plan. This is likely due to two reasons. One, you will have strong cravings for foods that are rich in carbohydrates, and the cravings will be at their strongest when you first start the plan. Two, you are limited to 12 grams of carbohydrates per day. That means the variety of foods you can eat is minimal. Even something like nuts–which most people think of as being high in fat and protein–are prohibited during this early stage of the diet.

Sure, there may be some foods that you can’t eat, and you may be craving carbs, but there is also some good news: you won’t be going hungry. That’s because you can eat as much of the allowed foods as you want. For example, eggs, shellfish, meat, poultry and fish are acceptable. And those can augmented with a small amount of vegetables, as long as you don’t exceed the 12 gram limit on carbohydrates. (That’s why it’s a good idea to have a form of reference that lists the carb content of any foods you want to eat.)

Avoiding pre-packaged foods will help you to keep your carb count under control. But you still need to double check before eating anything. Planning your meals carefully will also help give you more variety within the induction diet phase when doing Atkins. Yes, you may be looking forward to eating all of the bacon you want, but it can get boring after a few days, which will only increase the temptation to cheat.

Speaking of cheating on the induction diet (or any phase of the Atkins Weight Loss Plan): this is not the kind of diet you can cheat on and then resume it the next day. Atkins relies on changing the way your body works, and cheating will undo everything you’ve done so far.

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How Much Weight Will Be Lost On The Atkins Diet

The Atkins Diet is one of the most popular eating plans to come along in quite some time. Perhaps the most common question people have before starting it is how much weight will be lost on the Atkins diet. That’s a fair question, but there is no direct answer. We can, however, take a look at one study where the average weight loss of 120 overweight adults was 26 pounds over the course of one year. This was then compared to the results of another proven diet, that turned out to have an average weight loss of 13 pounds.

Maybe this is all the evidence you need to start the Atkins Diet, but it doesn’t tell the entire story. The sample size was fairly small to draw any solid conclusions, but then again we are dealing with an average amount of weight lost. Another thing to keep in mind is that the findings imply they only counted those people who stayed on the diet for a full year. This could certainly skew the results upward. Also, it would be interesting to see how different the other diet plan was from the Atkins diet.

These are only the problems with one study, and the problems that should be caught with a critical eye. Dig deeper into the results and you will discover that even if the average weight loss was 26 pounds, it doesn’t say how much of that was fat, muscle or water. Of course, if most of it was fat loss, then that’s worth knowing. This really is an important piece of information as it can indicate how healthy the weight loss is.

If you are losing muscle or water weight, then there could be serious, long term health consequences. The problem is that you may be losing weight the whole time, never knowing that there is a figurative time bomb ticking away…or maybe not. More studies really need to be done to determine just what the long term results of the Atkins Diet are. So, it’s not just how much weight will be lost on the Atkins diet, but what kind of weight will be lost. This isn’t the kind of thing dieters should have to be guessing about.

Assuming the Atkins Diet is safe and effective, how much weight you can lose will be a direct result of how closely you follow the program. This sounds pretty obvious, but it is harder to do in practice. Far too many people think they can only do the part of the diet that appeals to them.

This usually means they eat a lot more meat and fatty foods, but cheat by eating more carbohydrates than the Atkins Diet allows. So, while they may be looking forward to how much weight will be lost on the Atkins Diet, they will only be let down in the long run. But it won’t be because they followed the program (though that’s what they’ll blame), it will be because they didn’t follow it the way they should have.

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Carb Pills – Can You Now Have Carbohydrates On The Adkins Or South Beach Diet

Low carbohydrate diets, like the South Beach Diet or the Atkins Weight Loss Plan, are not always that easy to stick to. The problem a lot of people have is how few carbohydrates they can have. They may be able to follow a low-carb diet for a few days, but then the cravings become more than they can handle. One possible solution people have been turning to is anti carb pills. Just so you know, these are not prescribed by a doctor, but are supplements that contain all-natural ingredients.

While the South Beach and Atkins diets don’t get as much media attention as they once did, they are still popular diets. But why would people go on such diets if they’re only going to end up having major food cravings? The reason is that the diets work quite well, but only when you stick to them. However, carb pills claim to solve that problem in a unique way.

It should be noted that newer low-carb diets allow people to have more complex carbs–whole grains for example. Still, it can be quote tempting to have a piece of cake every now and then. The idea behind the carb pill is that you can eat some of the carbohydrates you crave, and then the ingredients in the pill will prevent your body from absorbing the carbs in those foods. One such ingredient is white bean extract, which is 100% natural, and appears to be safe.

You should, ideally, take carb pills just prior to eating anything that has more carbohydrates than your diet plan allows. If you forget to take it before eating, you can still wait until after your meal, but it won’t be quite as effective.

Here is a basic overview of how carb blocking pills work. Fat builds up in your body after carbohydrates are broken up by the pancreatic enzyme known as alpha amylase. These carbs can be burned through expending energy, but if you take in more than you can get rid of, then the extra gets stored as fat. Carb pills keep this from happening by preventing the digestive enzymes from going to work on the carbs. This allows them to pass through the body without getting absorbed; in theory, anyway.

So, the question is whether or not carb pills really work. The practical answer is “it depends”. The medical and scientific communities have not done a lot of research on these pills, and therefore have not embraced them as a weight loss option. However, the companies that make these pills have conducted studies of their own. Their research has shown that as much as 45 grams of carbohydrates may not be absorbed by the body when carb pills are taken.

However, what these studies fail to test is how this carb blocking affects low carbohydrate diets like South Beach and Atkins. So, while they may help keep your body from storing extra carbohydrates as fat, there aren’t any conclusive results in relation to specific diet plans. That being said, carb pills could still be worth trying.

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