There would hardly be anyone who is not interested in losing weight. While some of us may seek the help of a professional nutritionist or trainer, many of us end up finding about diets and eating habits from others.
One such diet that has been highly popular and widely followed is the Atkins diet.
Limited consumption of carbohydrates is one of the pre-requisites of weight loss. The Atkins Diet has been devised keeping this in mind. As the name suggests, the Atkins diet was designed by Dr. Robert Atkins, an American cardiologist. He first wrote about it in the 1970s in his book, “The New Diet Revolution”.
This diet is based on the premise that you can lose weight by restricting the consumption of carbs while consuming as much protein and fat as you desire. Though the claim is rather controversial, the diet did yield positive results in many cases and has become extremely popular over the last decade.
In short, this Atkins diet plan imposes a severe restriction on carbohydrate intake including foods with sugar, bread, cereal, starchy vegetables and pasta.
The theory of Atkins diet can be explained in a simple way. Our body is similar to an engine and the carbs are the fuel needed to make it run. When the availability or rather consumption of carbs is restricted, the engine (our body) is forced to use alternative fuel, i.e. stored fat.
Drastic reduction in carbs forces the body to burn body fat for energy. This process is known as ‘Ketosis’, where the stored fats are converted into fatty acids. A person in a state of ketosis gets energy from ‘Ketones.’ These are little carbon fragments that are created by the breakdown of stored layers of fat. In this stage, you tend to feel less hungry and hence, likely to eat less.
Another reason for the Atkins Diet to cause weight loss is that carbs stimulate the production of insulin. Insulin converts excess carbs into fat, resulting in increased hunger and weight gain. By restricting the intake of carbohydrates, Atkins diet stimulates the body’s metabolism. This causes the body to burn body fat rather than burn glucose. Moreover, less carbs lead to less insulin formation and hence, less fat creation.
Atkins Diet Plan involves four stages or phases, of which the induction stage is the toughest to follow. Each phase is well defined and less restrictive on the intake of carbs than the previous one. There is no specific duration of each phase as it largely depends upon the extra weight of the person. The four phases of Atkins Diet are explained below.
This is the introductory phase in the Atkins diet where the intake of carbohydrates is restricted to just 20 grams a day. In the first two weeks, focus on the consumption of low carb foods such as green vegetables, salads, meat, seafood and eggs.
In the second phase, carbohydrates are slowly re-introduced in your diet. This results in the slowing down of weight loss to 1 to 2 pounds per week. The daily intake of carbs is increased by 5 grams a day. In this stage, you can add dairy products, nuts, berries, fruits and grains in your diet.
This stage continues till the dieter is 5 to 10 pounds away from the desired weight loss and is basically concerned with increasing the food choices while continuing the diet program safely.
In this phase, weight loss slows down even further as the dieters near their goal weight. It aims to increase the carb consumption by 10 grams a day. According to Dr Atkins diet, this stage should last for about 2 to 3 months. It is basically a learning phase for dieters on how to maintain their ideal weight using the Akins approach. Complex carbs like beans, peas and starchy vegetables are introduced in this phase.