Weight Management

with the

ATKINS DIET

A high protein/high-fat, minimal carbohydrate diet that dispenses with calorie/kilojoule counting.

Weight management is achieved with dieters testing their urine using paper test strips to assess the level of ketosis, a chemical indication of how effectively the body is burning up fat.

This weight management diet is high in saturated fats and cholesterol, very low carbohydrate, basically contravenes all today's medical recommendations for a healthy, well balanced and moderate diet.

A weight management diet which relies almost exclusively on a plethora of fat seems an anomaly at a time when doctors are attempting to make is more conscious of the rising rate of heart disease.

It is, after all, hard to ignore increased medical research which lays the blame for arteriosclerosis and coronary disease, as well as some forms of cancer, fairly and squarely on a diet high in rich fatty food.

The fact that the Atkins weight management diet does make you lose weight fast

- initially at the rate of about ten pounds (4.5 kg) in one week -and without deprivation, cannot be denied.

Fast weight loss is based on the premise that, if you restrict your carbohydrate intake to almost zero, your body will use up fat for energy rather than storing it, and at the same time also tap into accumulated body fat for energy rather than storing it.

According to Dr Atkins, the proof of this "internal combustion" lies in the amount of ketones excreted in the urine. Ketones are like Ash, the unburden chemicals left behind when your facts are burned. Their presence in the year-round shows that the body is metabolising its own store of fat.

Dieters are advised to check their urine daily to make sure they are still producing chemicals. The test is carried out using special paper test the strips which turned purple if your body is in ketosis.

While ketones do curb your appetite and so help you lose weight, over longer periods they can prove harmful, creating acidity, irritating the kidneys and allowing your blood sugar level to plummet.

For this reason the Atkins weight management diet consists of just one week of "zero carbohydrate" menus, naturally easy of to admit more carbohydrate foods such as fruit and vegetables, during which time you must continuously test your urine for ketones.

Cutting out carbohydrates, says Dr Aitkens, also triggers the secretion of a chemical called Fat Mobilising Hormone (FMH) which stokes up the body's fat burning mechanism even further.

Overweight people, he maintains, have a deficiency of FM H because they are fundamentally "allergic" to carbohydrates, storing them away is that instead of using them up as energy.

It is a spurious claim if you bear in mind that many people do manage to lose weight on a high carbohydrate, low-fat diet.

Just as significant Is the fact that the American Medical Association states that there is yet no scientific evidence to prove that FMH exists, or is produced when you starve yourself of carbohydrates.

Altogether Dr Atkins uses some pretty specious arguments to bolster his high-fat slimming theory. While he rightly condemns sugar, sweet food and alcohol for causing ill-health and obesity, he chooses to overlook the dangers to the heart and arteries of eating a lot of saturated fats and cholesterol.

He also tells dieters to be beware of the "hidden" sugar and carbohydrate content in such important staple foods as fruit and fruit juices.

The very fact that Dr Aitkens prescribes very large vitamin supplements to patients embarking on the diet, surely indicates its degree of nutritional imbalance.

However, on the positive side, provided you are not pregnant, do not suffer from kidney problems and have no history of thrombosis, heart or circular treat trouble, you may find the Atkins weight management diet one of the easiest ways of losing weight.

Ultimately, however, it does nothing to help dieters towards healthy eating patterns, or to re-educate their taste buds to appreciate "healthier" foods. It is, therefore, very rapidly losing ground to the healthy, more streamlined, high-protein diets like the Scarsdale, or high fibre diets like the F Plan.

Dr. Atkins' Quick & Easy New Diet Cookbook: Companion to Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution (See all Cooking, Food & Wine Books)

weight management atkins new diet for a new you

New Atkins for a New You: The Ultimate Diet for Shedding Weight and Feeling Great.

weight management dr robert atkins new diet revolution

weight management with the Dr Atkins quick and easy diet cook book

Basic principles of the Atkins diet.

One of the fundamental principles of the Atkins diet approach is that most overweight people are carbohydrate sensitive.
Their weight management problems stem from the way their bodies process carbohydrates, not the amount of fat they eat. These individuals, do not metabolise carbohydrate properly because the hormone insulin isn't doing its job.

When you eat carbohydrates, your blood sugar, or glucose, rises. In response, your pancreas pumps out insulin, which converts glucose into energy for cells.

Many overweight people suffer from a condition known as insulin resistance, a complex and not fully understood disorder that affects how insulin processes glucose.

In simple terms, the "resistance" refers to the fact that cell receptors for insulin don't work properly; they "resist" the insulin, thereby interfering with the conversion of glucose into energy. As a result insulin turns more glucose into fat, primarily in the form of triglycerides, which puts on the pounds and may also damage the heart.

In what becomes a vicious cycle, the body responds to the inefficient processing of glucose by pumping out more insulin, and if the person continues to eat carbohydrates, even more insulin is produced and the fat continues to build up.

How to slow down the "fat-packing" insulin that is causing harm to your body and causing you to put on weight.

The answer is to break the vicious cycle by restricting carbohydrates, especially process junk foods such as frozen pies, pizza, cookies, non-diet soft drinks, and ice cream.

Indeed on a low carb weight management diet, Dr Robert Atkins claims, you can eat even more calories than you are eating before and still begin losing weight. And in addition to losing pounds of body fat, the Atkins diet regime will help your heart by lowering triglycerides.

An explanation of the Atkins Weight Management Diet.

The claim may seem far-fetched, that you can eat more and actually lose weight. However according to Dr Atkins, the secret is in a biological process called ketosis.

If you drastically reduce the amount of carbohydrates you eat to 40 g or less per day, your body enters ketosis, a state in which it burns fat for fuel.

This reduces stored fat in the body and at the same time makes what Dr Atkins calls "an end run around insulin" limiting its production of fat in the first place.

For diehard doughnuts and pizza addicts, curbing carbohydrates might sound like torture. But supposedly, once your body starts burning fat the craving for carbohydrates abates.

And in the absence of carbohydrates, fat rich foods like cheesy omelettes, sizzling steaks and butter drenched lobster do such a good job of dampening the appetite that-according to Dr Atkins-you will tend to eat less fat on his diet then on an austere low-fat regime.

The evidence that the Atkins Weight Management diet works.

Dr Atkins argues that for millions of years-long before they learn to plant grains and bake bread, much less process: as an candy bars-humans survive on a low carb diet of meat, fish, berries, fruits, and vegetables.

It was not until the 20th century that consumption of sugar-the chief carbohydrate culprit-skyrocket.
From 1975 to 1995 alone, per capita consumption of sugar in the United States went from a world leading 118lbs a year to over 150lbs per year per person.

On the face of it, Dr Atkins insistence that sugar and not fat is the culprit causing obesity appears confirmed by this fact: between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s, the percentage of daily calories from fat fell from 40% to 33% in the United States, while a obesity rose from 25% to 33% - and addition of 20 million cases.

In his clinical practice, Dr Aitkens claims, he has personally treated frustrated dieters who were unable to lose weight on low-fat 700 cal a day regimes but found success with this low carb, high calorie diet.

Further evidence comes from a landmark study done in the 1950s when British researchers are said to have demonstrated that a low carb diet of 1000 cal took of weight, whereas a high carb diet of 1000 cal per day gave disappointing results.
Another study by the same authors claimed that obese subjects did not shed pounds on the balance 2000 cal diet that did lose weight on a low carb, high-fat diet of equal calories or more.

How the Atkins Weight Management Diet works.

There are four stages to the Atkins diet:

Induction, Ongoing Weight Loss, Pre-Maintenance, and Maintenance.

Stage 1 Induction Weight Management

Induction is a 14 day crash course during which dieters may lose anywhere from two -sixteen pounds.

The dieter enters ketosis by limiting themselves to 20 g of carbohydrate a day. This stage pyramids cream and butter, but only 3 cups total of low carb vegetables such as lettuce, mushrooms, avocados, Brock line, and tomatoes.

Skim milk and yoghurt are not permitted (they contain more carbohydrate and cream does), as are all fruits, breads, grains, and starchy vegetables. In addition to losing weight, you will be cutting out foods to which you may be either addicted or allergic, such as alcohol, caffeine, chocolate, sugar, and the grain gluten.

Stage 2 Ongoing Weight Management

The next stage is ongoing weight loss, which can last from two weeks to 2 months. During ongoing weight loss you ratchet up your consumption of carbs gradually, by approximately 5 g a day, until you discover the maximum level you're able to eat while continuing to lose weight.

5 g a day isn't exactly a lot. It's the equivalent of 15 almonds, six spears of asparagus, or a half cup of tomato juice.

Stage 3 Pre-Maintenance Weight Management

When you cease to lose weight you've reached your maximum and its this point you ease off carbohydrate consumption by the time you are five pounds-ten pounds away from your ideal body weight you're in the pre-maintenance stage, which can last from a few weeks to a couple of months.

Now weight should be shared more slowly, less than a pound a week. This is the time to establish what exceptions you can make your diet during the course of a week, perhaps adding a slice of whole wheat bread or half a cantaloupe-whilst still seeing your body weight.

Stage 4 Maintenance weight Management

Dr Aitkens warns because you will be burning less fat, and the appetite suppressing benefits of ketosis will begin to vanish.
Once you reach your ideal weight you enter the lifetime maintenance diet. Dr Atkins suggests a cautious introduction of large helpings of healthy carbohydrates, which can include starch vegetables, even an occasional potato, and whole grains such as oats.

But you must still restricts weeks to those containing sugar substitutes, and no more than one serving of fruit a day. Now the trick is to find the highest number of grams of carbohydrates you can eat without gaining weight back. This probably means somewhere between 40 and 60 g a day depending upon your metabolism.

The additional benefits of physical exercise.

Dr Aitkens recommends that you do a reasonable amount of exercise not only to trim your silhouette but also to make you feel better, strengthen your heart, and reduce your production of "fat-producing" insulin.

He urges those who haven't been exercising at all to begin by walking 10 min a day, gradually moving up to at least half an hour a day at a brisk pace.
Vigourous aerobic exercise will bring even better results.

Will it work for you?

If, like so many overweight people, you have insulin-related disorders, a low-carb high-protein diet will help you tamed the insulin and glucose rollercoaster.

And if the diet is low enough in calories, it will also help you take off weight. This diet is not for people with gout, kidney disease, osteoporosis or type I diabetes, or for pregnant women.