The Atkins Diet

Unless you've been living on Mars, chances are you've heard of the Atkins diet - and probably know someone who's tried it, if you haven't done so yourself. Atkins Nutritional Approach, popularly known as the Atkins Diet or just 'Atkins', is a well-known low-carb diet created by Dr.Robert Atkins and publicized in his book Diet Revolution in 1972 and the revised book, Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution.

What is it?

The Atkins Diet is a system that enables your body to lose weight in a natural way by motivating a change in your eating habits and metabolism. It works on the principle of severely restricting carbohydrates intake in your daily diet/meal plan. As your food cravings melt away, you will feel energized both mentally and physically.

How does it work?

This diet consists of four different phases: Induction, Ongoing Weight Loss, Pre-Maintenance and Lifetime Maintenance. These four phases focus on different aspects of the diet, and each one presents its own series of steps that help the dieter accomplish his or her goals:

• Induction: In this phase you should jump-start the fat burning process by eliminating almost all the carbohydrates from your diet. By doing so, the body is forced to use fat for energy. This phase is only 14 days long, and you should see results within these first two weeks.

• Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL): In this phase you are allowed only nutrient-rich carbohydrates. These foods help establish a fat-burning system in the body while still maintaining that lower carbohydrate balance in order to boost weight loss.

• The Pre-Maintenance Phase: It is intended to help you get set for lifelong eating habits. Phase three encourages increase of 10 gram increments of carbs as long as weight is still being lost.

• Lifetime Maintenance Phase: It is the stage at which you have reached equilibrium and you are making right food choices that will help you maintain your ideal weight.

Advantages of Atkins Diet           

• This diet promotes rapid weight loss
• The diet enables dieters to eat unlimited protein-rich and fatty foods
• The Atkins Diet has been proven
• This diet is not as time-consuming and expensive as some of the other popular diets  

Disadvantages of Atkins Diet

• It does not suit everyone (particularly women) and many people feel dizzy and faint due to the absence of carbs in the diet.
  
• This diet can cause bad breath, nausea, headaches etc.
• The diet, by default, cuts out many valuable nutrients.
• Many patients also reported a further weakening of the liver and kidney function.

With no additional cost and a wealth of online resources, the Atkins Diet is a great option for dieters who have a sense of commitment for their dieting plans. The simple diet bases its success on limiting carbohydrates to the bare necessities so that our bodies eliminate stored fat before using new carbohydrates as energy. The Atkins Diet is simply a smart choice when followed correctly.