Weight Loss Diet Reviews
Atkins Diet

Atkins Diet Review

Review In a Nutshell

Devised by the late Dr Robert Atkins, this world-famous diet is the classic approach to the high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. Filling up on high-fat foods needs to be balanced by giving up most carbs.

Update: eDiets is now offering the Atkins Diet program. Click here for more information.

How Does It Work?

Dr Atkins' theory is really quite simple: when you cut out carbs, your body is forced into burning its fat stores to provide it with energy. As you burn more calories when your body burns fat compared with carbohydrate, you'll lose weight more quickly. By cutting out carbs, blood sugar levels remain more stable throughout the day, discouraging overeating. Four nutritional principals are emphasized:

1. You will lose weight.
2. You will maintain your weight loss.
3. You will achieve good health.
4. You will lay the permanent groundwork for disease prevention.

Who Is It Good For?

People who are willing to exercise in combination with dieting. In general, this diet is better for non-vegetarians as well.

Keys: Phases

1. Induction
2. Ongoing Weight Loss
3. Pre-Maintenance
4. Lifetime Maintenance

Pros

• People can lose considerable amounts of weight relatively quickly, which can be very motivating.
• The Atkins diet has opened the gates for men to talk about the need to lose weight.
• There is no need to cut out foods that many people are accustomed to like meat, cream, cheese and other high fat foods.
• Because so many foods are permitted, there is greater variety on the Atkins Diet than on low-calorie diets. The risk of cheating may be reduced by this factor.

Cons

• It is somewhat more difficult to follow the Atkins plan if you're a vegetarian, as nuts, seeds, beans and many vegetables are off-limits in the early stages.
• Some nutrition experts have expressed concerns about high-fat, low carb diets.

Further Thoughts

It has been persuasively argued that a low carbohydrate diet is more natural for the human body. Because grains (in the form of wheat, rice and so on) only became a regular part of our diet at a later evolutionary stage, the theory is that our bodies have not had time to evolve to cope with them satisfactorily.