Atkins Diet

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Atkins Diet
By Kim Plomp and Angela Feyter
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What is a low carbohydrate diet?

• These diets call for restriction or reduction of
  carbohydrates to almost zero for part or all of
  your diet.
• This will include increasing fat or protein
  intake to replace this reduction of carbs.
• There is an emphasis on eating foods such as red
  meat, poultry, fish (fat does not need to be
  trimmed off), fatty foods ( with the exception of
  trans fats) and vegetables.
• Foods to avoid breads, grains, rice, fruits,
  baked goods, sugar soft drinks

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What is the Atkins Diet?

• The Atkins diet claims to change your life in
  four ways
• Weight Loss
• Weight Maintenance
• Good Health
• Disease Prevention
• These four changes will come about upon adoption
  of this diet as a life
• long practice.

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Claim 1 Weight Loss
As we know, carbohydrates and fat are the major
energy sources in our diets. They are used as
fuel in the energy processes the body goes
through. Since carbohydrates are the first to be
metabolized by the body, when it is removed or
restricted from the diet the body then burns fat
for energy allowing for weight loss.
Before
After
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Claim 2 Weight Maintenance
Atkins claims there is a carbohydrate
equilibrium. At this point you have taken in
enough carbohydrates such that the body is
neither losing or gaining weight. Your
carbohydrate input is not exceeding your energy
expenditures but at the same time you are not at
a deficiency in caloric intake for your energy
requirements.
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Claim 3 Good Health
With this diet, an individual is more likely to
meet their nutritional needs and promote good
health compared to people who are low-fat,
calorie restricted diets, since it allows for
additional vitamin and mineral supplements in the
persons diet.
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Stage 4 Disease Prevention

• By adhering to the approach, dieters are able to
  see improvement in chronic diseases. This is due
  to lower insulin production that the restricted
  carbohydrate intake causes.

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The Atkins diet consists of 4 phases and it is
considered a road map to success

• Phase 1 Induction
• Restriction to 20 g of Carbs a day from salads
  and non-starchy vegetables
  
  eg. Two slices of bread24 g of carbs
  Apple 21 g of carbs
• Phase 2 Ongoing Weight Loss
• Carbohydrate intake is increased to 25 g of
  carbs per day, in the form of fiber-rich food.
  This is for one week. Each successive week,
  increase carb intake by 5 grams until weight loss
  stops. After weight loss stops, subtract 5 grams
  of carbs to maintain a sustained moderate weight
  loss

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• Phase 3 Pre-Maintenance
• When desired weight is achieved, increase daily
  carb intake by 10 g each week as long as weight
  loss is still maintained
• Phase 4 Lifetime Maintenance
• Selecting from a wide variety of foods while
  controlling carb. intake allows for weight
  maintenance while promoting a lifetime of better
  health.

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History
The Atkins diet was not the first of its kind.
In the 1800s in France, a patient complained to
his doctor about an earache. The doctor, who had
been working with diabetes patients and seen
positive results in their overall health with
no-sugar diets, prescribed a low-sugar, high
protein diet. His belief was that by losing
weight, pressure would be decreased on the
eustachian tube and thus get rid of the earache.
This worked, and the patient promoted this diet.
This fad continued through the years with slight
modifications by physicians and now has come to
be known as the Atkins Diet
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Is this diet healthy or deadly?

• Dr. Atkins claims
• All sugar is bad
• the state of ketosis is a divine one
• Stabilizes blood sugar
• Burning of body fat while eating liberal amounts
  of food
• It will keep you healthy for decades
• Decrease risk of chronic diseases
• Fatty foods are good

Rating the Diets, 1974, 249
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Criticisms

• Ketosis is the overabundance of ketones which are
  the by-product of burnt up fat cells. With a
  lack of carbs, the body is burning more fat
  leaving more ketones in the blood. To be
  removed, these must go through the liver and
  kidneys so high amounts will cause damage to
  these organs.
• Should it really be called stabilizing, if there
  is not much to stabilize?
• What does liberal mean? Especially in terms of
  calories
• eg 10 g of meat vs. 10 g of lettuce
• Diets high in fat cause diarrhea which causes
  loss of water as well as nutrients (vitamins and
  minerals) which lead to health problems.
• Fatigue and depression have resulted over long
  periods of time, in order to prevent this from
  happening carbohydrates need to be ingested.
• Fats and foods high in cholesterol (larger
  amounts) are harmful to heart causing heart and
  heart diseases which are chronic diseases.

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Conclusion
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References

• Atkins Nutritionals Why Atkins Works
• http//atkins.com
• Theodore Berland, Rating the Diets, 1974,
• Illinois, Rand McNally and Company