Atkins Diet
Atkins diet
ATKINS DIET GENERAL INFORMATION
This diet was found out by American dietitian Robert Atkins in 1970. The main aim of the diet is quick weight loss by eating food reach for fats and proteins and very limited carbohydrates content. Atkins thought that while carbohydrates shortage, the organism starts to get energy from fats and so to spend fats reserves faster. The Atkins diet is divided into two stages, duration – from 2 to 4 weeks and more. First diet stage is to get accustomed to new meal habits and at second stage the desired weight is reached and kept up on necessary level. Before starting Atkins diet, it’s necessary to make some preparations – to stop using drugs, to pass medical examination at hospital (especially pay attention to cholesterol, glucose and insulin level in blood) and to be assured you don’t have diabetes. Main aims of the Atkins diet: 1) To switch your metabolism from carbohydrates burning to fats burning; 2) Stabilization and support of sugar in blood on stable level to avoid hypoglycemia symptoms such as carbohydrates dependence, constant hunger feeling, drowse during the day; 3) To get rid of sweets prediction and other food dependence.
ATKINS DIET MENU
There is no preliminary menu or recipe to follow daily but there are main rules to be strictly held to. One of the most important rules is not to eat more than 20g of carbohydrates per day. For lots of people ketosis (the process of fats splitting) starts on this level. It’s not necessary to limit calories and food quantity, but you should eat only when you’re hungry and stop eating when you are full. Anyway there are restrictions in food – if some products don’t include, they should be avoided because even some quantity of products reach for carbohydrates leads to diet inefficiency. Atkins diet consists mainly of proteins, fats (mayonnaise, olive oil, butter etc. are not limited) and their combinations. Products consisting protein and carbohydrates or fats and carbohydrates combinations should be STRICTLY excluded during all diet period.
ATKINS DIET FOOD LIST
As all diets Atkins diet also has own recommended food list to eat. Below you can find list of available foods which you can eat while you are on Atkins diet:
Food
- All types of meat (pork, beef, mutton, bacon, ham, soft sausages etc.)
- All types of fish (tune, salmon, sardines, mackerel, herring etc.)
- All types of birds (chicken, goose, duck, game etc.)
- Sea food
- Eggs (cooked in any possible ways without carbohydrates additions)
- Cheese (all types of cheese with very low carbohydrates content)
- Vegetables for salad (lettuce, reddish, chicory, Chinese cabbage, parsley, cucumber, fennel, paprika, celery) - New sprouts of acrospires (in small quantity)
- Mushrooms, olives, radish;
- Herbs for salads and cooking (fennel, thyme, pepper, estragon, basilica, ginger, rosemary, oregano, garlic)
For salads it’s better to use vegetable oil plus lemon juice, vinegar and spicery. It’s also possible to add grated cheese, eggs, fried bacon to your salads.
Drinks:
- water and mineral water
- herbal teas without sugar
- drinks with sweeteners with zero carbohydrates content
- alcohol should be excluded in the first stage of diet, later on you may drink it taking into account carbohydrates quantity
To have best results with Atkins diet you should limit some of the products you have used to it. Here is Atkins diet limited food list:
- Other types of cabbage, asparagus, egg-plants, spinach, canned fruits, green peas boiled or canned, avocado, tomatoes, onion, artichoke etc.
From animal fats it’s better to use cod-liver oil and natural butter; artificial fats like margarine are prohibited. Also avoid dietician fatless products as they contain artificially produced fats and high carbohydrates content. It’s necessary to take into account that on the first stage you should fully exclude fruits, bread, cereals, starched vegetables, sweets. Always check product labels for carbohydrates content.
It’s recommended during the Atkins diet to use next bio-additions to food:
1) multivitamin with minerals and microelements
2) chromium
3) L-carnitine (especially effective for physically active people)
After the end of first Atkins diet stage (after 2 weeks) some necessary changes happened theoretically in blood and metabolism and now your main purpose is to find individually suitable level of carbohydrates use (by trial method). If you have achieved necessary body weight, you should find carbohydrates content level having which your weight would be stable (it means to use gradually carbohydrates and weight yourself periodically).
DISADVANTAGES OF ATKINS DIET
Atkins diet it’s a good method to lose unnecessary weight, but before using it, please note the next. In spite of the fact that Atkins wanted to reduce cholesterol and triglyceride quantity in blood, receipt of big fats and proteins quantity has its consequences. There is risk of atherosclerosis, cardiovascular system and blood circulation diseases. Moreover, the diet further to lithogenesis in gall-bladder. It’s possible to have constipation because of insufficient carbohydrates receipt. Also the organism doesn’t receive necessary quantity of vitamins and mineral substances, that’s why Atkins recommends using additional vitamins and this shows insufficiency of his diet.
