Could the Atkins diet work for you?
Continuing with our countdown to a credit-crunch Christmas, this week we are focusing on diets in a bid to help you win the battle of the bulge. So far we've looked at The South Beach Diet, The Grapefruit Diet and The Traffic Light Diet this week and to finish things off this week, we're looking at an old favourite- The Atkins Diet.
Referred to as the miracle diet at the height of its success, Atkins was perceived as a diet that was too good to be true. Even so, it managed to capture the imagination of many famous A-listers at the time, such as Jennifer Aniston and Renne Zellweger. In fact, it's almost a statistical possibility that you yourself have been on the past, or you at least know someone who has been.
The popularity behind the diet is probably based on the fact that you are encouraged to start the day with bacon and eggs, snack on chunks of cheese and indulge on steaks fried in butter. Eat all this and you are expected to shed the pounds quickly? Anyone would want to give it a go and no wonder slimmers clamoured to try the diet.
The catch? well, in order to fill up on those lovely high-fat foods, you must ditch most carbs such as bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, chocolate and most surprisingly milk, fruit and veg in the early stages of the diet. So, in theory you'll still be ditching most of the things you love, which could prove just as hard as a normal diet.
Well, not according to Dr Robert Atkins who developed the high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. His theory was very simple: when you cut out the carbs, your body is then forced into burning its fat stores, to in turn provide it with energy. When your body burns fat rather than carbohydrates, you will burn more calories, so in turn you'll loose weight quicker.
There are four phases to the Atkins diet and they must be followed, or the theory will not work. The first stage is called 'Induction', which is by far the hardest to complete as essentially here's where your diet changes and it must be followed for two weeks. During this phase you must severely limit your carbohydrate intake, taking you from a normal 250g a day to a miniscule 20g a day.
As mentioned earlier, you're expected to cut out potatoes, pasta and chocolate and anything else that's rich in carbohydrates. However, you are allowed to eat unlimited amounts of red meat, chicken, fish, cheese, eggs, mayo, cream and butter. Induction is all about getting your body used to the diet change, and it's where your body switches from burning carbs to burning fat.
The second step of the programme is called 'Ongoing Weight Loss', which does allow you to increase your carb intake by 5g daily each week, until you find your Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing Weight. All this basically refers to is the amount of carbs you can eat a day and still be able to lose weight each week.
Phase three is known as 'Pre-maintenance', which is introduced why you have around 5-10lbs left to lose. You will need to further up your carb intake by 10g a day each week, as the idea is to slow down weight loss to prepare your body for the final phase, where you are expected to keep the weight at a stable level.
And finally the last stage is called 'Lifetime Maintenance'. While you are allowed to have a slightly more varied carb intake, you will still be expected to limit your carb intake to less than 90g a day. It may sound like a lot, but that's still only around a third of what most of us eat in a day, so in effect you will be on a low-carb diet for the rest of your life.
The side effects of Atkins can be unpleasant and at times possibly dangerous. For example burning fat can result in your body entering a state called ketosis. This could result in feeling weak and dizzy, in addition to experiencing insomnia and nausea. You will also probably experience constipation as a result of this diet, as you'll be avoiding all the high-fibre foods such as brown pasta, cereal and fruit.
In terms of the long-term side effects, health professionals have been concerned that the Atkins diet may be potentially very dangerous. With the increase of high-fat products being introduced into your system, it may increase the risk of heart disease, and in addition, the unbalanced nature of the diet may result in nutritional deficiencies, which may cause health problems later on in life.
There are some pros however, as it does encourage quick weight loss and that can be a great motivator. At the end of the day, Atkins may be a great solution for a short term diet to lose the weight, but maintained over time, this diet may prove very difficult.