What Makes The Atkins Diet So Unusual?
When the Atkins diet first appeared in the 1960’s, it started a dieting revolution that eventually led to the publishing of best-selling books that today have sold more that 10 million copies combined. While the diet faded slightly during the 1980’s, it experienced a resurgence during the 1990’s.
Essentially, the Atkins diet is based on the idea that the body can be converted or tricked into burning something other than carbohydrates in order to obtain the energy needed to perform basic biological functions. Under the idea of the Atkins diet, if an individual reduces the number of carbohydrates that they consume, it is possible that the body will turn elsewhere to find the energy it needs. In the case of the Atkins diet, the goal is to encourage the body to burn fats. The burning of fats instead of carbohydrates in order to obtain energy eventually leads to an increase in weight loss versus other types of diets.
In order to determine if the body of an Atkins dieter is actually burning fats instead of carbohydrates, a test is performed in order to check for the presence of ketones in the urine. Ketones are the by-product of fat burning. As the diet progresses, the participant dieter slowly reduces the amount of carbohydrates that are consumed until a specific level is reached. This level is referred to as the Critical Carbohydrate Level and is the point when ketosis stops. Carbohydrates are then slowly reduced in order to continue with weight loss.
What makes the Atkins diet so unusual is that it is able to achieve significant weight loss results by encouraging the consumption of foods that most other diets strongly restrict. It almost seems contradictory to say that a diet that allows people to eat all the proteins, fats, and oils that they want can actually help them lose weight, but it is true. Atkins considers carbohydrates to be the main contributor to individual weight gain in people. Since some carbohydrates take a long time to metabolize, a diet high in carbs that is coupled with poor exercise is bound to cause a person to gain weight over time.
As part of the Atkins diet, participants can enjoy a diet that is rich in foods like meat, cheese and oils, to name a few. The only true thing that the Atkins diet places restrictions on is the consumption of carbohydrates, which often occur in the form of sugars and starches. As long as individuals are able to keep track of the number of carbohydrates that they consume, every other type of food is fair game.
What most people find interesting about the Atkins diet is that despite the fact that it basically allows people to eat whatever they want, it still manages to yield significant results in terms of weight loss. Participants often report positive results in as little as a week or two after going on the Atkins diet. Some recent studies have also shown that the Atkins diet also helps reduce the overall number of triglycerides in the body while also helping to raise the body’s levels of HDL or “good” cholesterol.
Those opposed to the Atkins diet often consider it a diet that encourages malnutrition, since it essentially encourages participants to eat foods that are high in fats and oils while restricting the consumption of carbohydrates. Many equate it with a type of starvation, since it is so restrictive in terms of the carbs that can be eaten. However, supporters of the diet point to the fact that the diet does allow for the consumption of carbohydrates, to a certain degree or level.
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