The Atkins Diet

Atkins Diet formally known as Atkins Nutritional Approach has been one of the most popular diet programs followed in America for losing weight effectively. Statistics have shown that in recent years Atkins Diet have enjoyed the height of popularity around the United States. This is shown by the survey result, which represents that almost every eleventh American adult is on Atkins Diet.

Atkins Diet was introduced in 1972 when Dr Atkins Diet Revolution hit the markets. Dr. Robert Atkins had this diet used for resolving his own weight issues and he uses the low-carbohydrate diet for this purpose. He later published the revised edition of the Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution book as Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution. In new edition the concepts were left unchanged while a bit of modification was made.

Atkins Diet program is based on the concept of low-carbohydrate diet which is more precisely known today as low carb food. Dr. Atkins had the fact evaluated that the obesity with which most of Americans are suffering from is as a result of their unhealthy ways of eating, for example taking carbohydrate rich food like flour, sugar, rice etc. So he proposed diet plans and preparations which contain fewer carbohydrates.

Don’t dig your grave with your own knife and fork.
~English Proverb

Eating low carbohydrate food helps your body to trigger the metabolic mechanism of the body, which in turn helps the body to burn the stored fat as fuel. This switched on the metabolic activity is as a result of lowered levels of insulin in the body. The glucose is responsible for the insulin production. When glucose levels are lowered the insulin production from pancreas is decreased which in turn triggers the metabolism.

Metabolism is the key mechanism to help lose weight. Atkins Nutritional Approach consists of four phases, which includes:

Induction:

The most limiting phase of Atkins Diet, making the intake of carbohydrates very low.

Ongoing Weight Loss:

This is the phase where the carbohydrate intake is increased but the levels are maintained to aid with the weight loss.

Pre-Maintenance:

During this phase the intake of carbohydrates is further increased but under the check to make sure that you do not take these carbohydrates to the extent which result in weight gain.

Lifetime Maintenance:

The last phase of the Atkins Diet is to stick with the practiced habit for controlled intake of carbohydrates, which result in the weight maintenance.

Although Atkins Diet has undergone a number of controversies, it has gained a remarkable popularity and has cleared all of the scientific tests to show that this is quiet a suitable sort of dietary plan that can relieve one from the pain of being obese and over weight.