Developed by Dr. Robert C. Atkins in the 1970s, the Atkins Diet is a high protein low carb diet that has been modified from its original structure of eliminating almost all carbohydrates from the diet regardless of where they came from to allowing you, over time, to gradually add some of them back into your diet.
Dr. Atkins wrote many books about his Diet, detailing the four phases involved in the low carb diet program, which include the Induction Phase, Ongoing Weight Loss Phase, Pre-Maintenance Phase, and the Lifetime Maintenance Phase.
The Atkins diet is also known as a high protein low carb diet because, in the absence of carbs, our calories must come from proteins and fats. The diet is set up in structured phases, with the first being the most restricted, as is normal for many diets. In fact, because of such severe restrictions in the first two weeks, or the Induction Phase, some people skip it altogether and just go into the second phase, the Ongoing Weight Loss Phase(OWL).
Sugars in carbohydrates require the body to produce a lot of insulin, which enables the body to convert more food into fat in the form of triglycerides, and this is stored in the body, making us gain weight. However, by severely restricting carbohydrates in the diet, the body will go into a state of ketosis, meaning that it creates energy by burning its own fat for fuel.
When in ketosis, your body derives energy from ketones which are the fuel created from the breakdown of the bodys fat stores, and which tend to suppress the appetite (we either feel that we have eaten enough very quickly, or we may not feel very hungry at all, causing the process of using our fat reserves for energy).
In order to bring on ketosis in the Induction Phase, dieters are permitted only 20 grams of carbohydrates per day, then gradually increasing those limits until they find the maximum number they can eat each day without gaining weight. A percentage of those carbohydrates must come in the form of green vegetables such as salad greens, broccoli, spinach, asparagus, and green beans. (The average person on a standard Western diet consumes around 300 grams of carbohydrates per day).
If you are a meat and dairy foods eater, the Atkins diet can be a refreshing change from other weight loss programs, which can help motivate you to stick with the diet. However, though the foods allowed on the diet include liberal amounts of all meats, fowl, poultry, fish and shellfish, along with eggs and cheese among other things, Dr. Atkins stresses in the more recent revisions of his book that the diet is not a license to eat unlimited amounts of fatty meats and cheeses.
And Atkins Nutritionals, a company founded by Dr. Atkins to promote his diet and to sell his branded products, recommends that a person limit their consumption of saturated fats to no more than 20% while on the diet.
With the Atkins diet, you must learn a whole new way of figuring out what to eat, which involves keeping track of the number of grams of carbohydrate that are in everything you consume. This can be a very boring diet, and many people complain that they do not get enough variety or essential nutrients while following it. This can be overcome by making an effort to include more vegetables and/or supplements in your diet, but Dr. Atkins does not tend to focus on these points as much.
Opponents of the Atkins diet say that the initial weight loss one experiences with the diet is common with most any diet, and that it can be contributed to water reduction rather than fat loss. Others say that the weight loss may be the result of a lower consumption of food energy rather than the lack of carbohydrates in the diet, as well as fewer available food choices.
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