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Low-Carb Diet Research and News
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. After all, it’s a diet that sounds too good to be true. To shift those pounds quickly you simply need to start the day with bacon and eggs, snack on chunks of cheese, top coffee with cream and feast on steaks fried in butter. Not exactly the typical foods you’d find on the shopping lists of most slimmers who’ve grown up with the idea that a low-fat diet is the best way to lose weight. But like all things that sound too good to be true, there’s a catch. In the case of the Atkin’s diet, it means that filling up on high-fat foods needs to be balanced by giving up most carbs including bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, chocolate, crisps, biscuits, cake – even fruit, milk and some veg in the early stages.
You might be setting yourself up for (health) problems down the road," explained ADA spokesperson Dr. Chris Rosenbloom in an interview with Reuters Health.
The Atkins Diet, and others like it, trigger short-term weight loss through a process called ketosis. Ketosis occurs whenever the body lacks a sufficient supply of carbohydrates, a prime source of energy. During ketosis, carbohydrate-depleted metabolisms turn to other sources, including ketones from stored fat or protein, to satisfy daily energy needs.
"So you do lose weight," Rosenbloom said. "The first bit of weight loss is water weight, the carbohydrate that's in your muscles, and then as you progress on the diet you will lose some fat, but you will lose some muscle mass."
However, she notes that "in my 25 years as a dietitian, I've never met anyone who's kept the weight off." She said boredom with the no-carbohydrate regimen (which eliminates breads and pastas and "starchy" fruits and vegetables) usually causes dieters to abandon the diet, at which point "they gain all the weight back -- and more."
Rosenbloom and the ADA believe that this type of diet can have a negative long-term impact on health. "It's so high in cholesterol and fat and total fat -- the opposite of what all the health organizations, from the American Heart Association to the American Dietetic Association, recommend," Rosenbloom pointed out. And she noted that the diet "is also low in fruits and vegetables and whole grains" -- foods with proven health benefits. While some of the vitamins and minerals in these foods can be obtained through supplements, other benefits -- like fiber or phytochemicals -- can only be found at the source.
In spite of this, the Atkins Diet has caused the biggest weight loss debate in years, generating almost as many column inches as advocates of the diet have claimed to lose from their waistline. And even today, nutrition experts have still not been won over. Here’s the lowdown…
What’s the theory?
Devised by the late Dr Robert Atkins, this is a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. Dr Atkins' theory is really quite simple: when you cut out carbs, your body is FORCED into burning its fat stores to provide it with energy; as you burn more calories when your body burns fat compared with carbohydrate, you'll lose weight more quickly; by cutting out carbs, blood sugar levels remain more stable throughout the day, and so prevent overeating.
How does the Atkins Diet work?
There are four phases to the Atkins diet. The first phase is called Induction, which must be followed for at least two weeks, although this phase can be continued for much longer if you can bear it! During Induction, you must severely limit your intake of carbohydrate to a tiny 20g a day (most of us eat around 250g a day). As well as avoiding carb-rich treats such as biscuits, cakes, chocolate, crisps, fizzy drinks, croissants and pastry, this also means ditching bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, milk, fruit and most veg from the menu. In contrast, you can eat unlimited amounts of red meat, chicken, fish, cheese, eggs, mayo, cream and butter. It’s during the Induction phase that your body switches from burning carbs to burning fat and blood sugar levels stabilise.
The second phase, known as Ongoing Weight Loss, allows you to slightly increase your carb intake – by 5g daily for a week at a time – until you find your Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing Weight. This is the maximum amount of carbohydrate you can eat each day to lose between 1 and 3lb a week. For some people, this may only be 25g carbohydrate, for others it might be 50g. Nevertheless, it’s still considerably lower than most of us are used to and really only allows for the introduction of a few more veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds. Bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and breakfast cereals are still off limits!
It’s time to enter phase three, called Pre-maintenance, once you have just 5-10lb left to lose. During this phase, you increase you carb intake by 10g each day for a week at a time. The idea is to slow down your weight loss to no more than 1lb a week in an effort to prepare your body for the final phase, weight maintenance. By now you can start to include tiny amounts of traditional starchy foods such as porridge, bread and pasta – and we are talking tiny amounts! For example, just 40g cooked brown rice or 30g cooked pasta each provide 10g of carbs!
The fourth and final phase, Lifetime Maintenance, aims to help you maintain your weight. While you can have a slightly more varied carbohydrate intake, most people need to limit carbs to less than 90g a day – that’s still only around a third of what most of us eat a day. The result: you’ll be following a low-carb diet for life.
So how much weight can I expect to lose?
Dr Atkins claims you can expect to lose 6-10lb in the first two weeks of Induction, which should slow to 1-3lb a week once you enter the Ongoing Weight Loss Phase. During Pre-maintenance, you can expect to lose 1lb a week at most.
I keep hearing about ‘net carbs’. What are these?
Not all carbohydrates can be digested by the body. Fiber, for example, passes through the body without affecting blood sugar levels. The Atkins diet focuses on those carbohydrates that can be digested and therefore affect blood sugar levels.
The ‘net’ carbohydrate value of a food, simply refers to the amount of digestible carbohydrate a product contains.
Does the Atkins diet have any side effects?
Unpleasant side effects can occur with the Atkins diet. To start with, burning fat results in the production of substances called ketones as your body enters a state called ketosis. This can result in bad breath, tiredness, weakness, dizziness, insomnia and nausea. For WOMEN, it can cause your menstrual cycle to change or even stop due to the high amounts of hormones that you intake when consuming a diet filled with farm-raised meats. Constipation may also occur as a consequence of avoiding typically high-fiber foods such as fruit, veg, beans, wholewheat pasta, brown rice, and wholegrains.
When it comes to long-term side effects, many health professionals are concerned that the Atkins diet may have serious dangers. While the high intake of fat, particularly saturates, may increase the risk of heart disease, there are also concerns that the unbalanced nature of the Atkins diet may lead to nutritional deficiencies, which cause health problems in later life. For example, poor intakes of bone-building calcium (found in dairy products) may increase the risk of osteoporosis, while poor intakes of antioxidant nutrients (found in fruit and veg) have been linked with a host of health problems ranging from heart disease and cancer to premature ageing and cataracts. Experts are also worried that high intakes of protein may cause kidney problems or weaken bones.
Are there any other bad points?
Because so many foods are off limits, the diet can get very boring with the result that many people give up after a short while. It’s also almost impossible to follow the Atkin’s plan if you’re a vegetarian as nuts, seeds, beans and many vegetables are banned in the early stages. Most experts also believe the Atkins plan fails to teach people about the basic principles of a balanced, healthy diet, which science irrefutably proves can help keep us healthy and free from disease.
IN CONCLUSION...dieticians, doctors, and other experts believe that lowering your calorie intake, drinking lots of water, exercising, and eating a diet with foods enriched with vegetables, fruits, fish (and other white meats), whole grains, and other healthy foods is the BEST WAY TO SHED THOSE POUNDS!!!
IF IT SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE...IT USUALLY IS!
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Me at my most fit (since highschool) 2004 25 years old 235lbs.
Not quite my heaviest...but close. 2006 325lbs. I now weigh 335lbs.!!!
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