All the time, at the gym, at workplace, at restaurants somebody is talking about starting a diet, finishing one, struggling to stick to one, praising one that apparently works the magic and so on...
Among diets there is one that in the recent years has attracted a lot of attention and controversy too (at least here in the US): the Atkins.
Since I didn’t know a lot about it, I did some research in order to discover in detail what all this fuzz is about.
How it all started out
The Atkins diet (also known as the Atkins Nutritional Approach) was created by Mr. Robert Atkins. The idea of the diet came after Atkins red in the Journal of the American Medical Association a research paper published by Gordon Azar and Walter Lyons Bloom.
According to Atkins he was inspired by such article and used the outcomes of such research to drop a lot of pounds (he apparently was really overweight) and, as a consequence, he designed a “method”: the Atkins Diet!
Rationale behind the Atkins
What is the rationale behind the Atkins diet? Well, this eating regimen involves an almost total restriction of carbohydrates in order to trigger a switch in the body’s metabolism from burning sugars (glucose to be more precise) to burning body fat.
This process, called ketosis, kicks in when insulin levels are low. In humans, insulin is lowest when blood glucose levels are low (which happens mostly before eating).
Technically speaking ketosis happens when some of the lipid stored in fat cells are transferred to the blood and are thereby used for energy instead. If you have sufficient sugar in your blood this will not happen because glucose is so much easier for your body to burn; thus it will go for that and not for fat.
Atkins made argument that the low-carbohydrate diet produces a metabolic advantage because "burning fat takes more calories so you expend more calories.”
The Atkins diet bans the so-called "net carbs" (digestible carbohydrates that impact blood sugar). One effect is a tendency to decrease the onset of hunger, perhaps because of longer duration of digestion (fats and proteins take longer to digest than carbohydrates).
Net carbohydrates can be calculated from a food source by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols.
Which foods make the cut?
According to the Atkins diet preferred foods are whole, unprocessed foods with a low glycemic index, although restrictions for low glycemic carbohydrates (black rice, vegetables, etc.) are the same as those for high glycemic carbohydrates (sugar, white bread). Atkins recommends that no more than 20% of calories eaten while on the diet come from saturated fat.
The Atkins Phases
There are four phases of the Atkins diet: induction, ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance.
Induction: this is the most restrictive phase of the Atkins Nutritional Approach. Two weeks are recommended for this phase. It is intended to cause the body to quickly enter a state of ketosis. Carbohydrate intake is limited to no more or less than 20 net grams per day (12 to 15 net grams of which must come in the form of salad greens and other fruits and vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, pumpkin, cauliflower, turnips, tomatoes, and asparagus, just to name a few of the 54 allowed by Atkins (but not legumes, since they are too starchy for the induction phase). The allowed foods include a liberal amount of all meats, poultry, fish, shellfish, fowl, and eggs; up to 4 ounces (113 g) of soft or semi-soft cheese such as cheddar cheese; most salad vegetables; other low carbohydrate vegetables; and butter, olive oil and vegetable oils. Drinking eight glasses of water per day is a requirement during this phase. Alcoholic beverages are not allowed during this phase.
Caffeine is allowed in moderation so long as it does not cause cravings or low blood sugar. If a caffeine addiction is evident, it is best to not allow it until later phases of the diet. A daily multivitamin with minerals, except iron, is also recommended. A normal amount of food, on Induction, is around 20 grams of sugar (or net carb), at least 100 grams of fat.
The Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL): consists of an increase in carbohydrate intake, but remaining at levels where weight loss occurs. The target daily carbohydrate intake increases each week by 5 net grams per day. A goal in OWL is to find the "Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing" and to learn in a controlled manner how food groups in increasing glycemic levels and foods within that group affect your craving control. The OWL phase lasts until weight is within 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of the target weight.
Pre-maintenance: Daily net carbohydrates intake is increased again this time by 10 grams each week from the latter groupings, and the key goal in this phase is to find the "Critical Carbohydrate Level for Maintenance", this is the maximum number of carbohydrates you can eat each day without gaining weight. This may well be above the level of carbohydrates inducing ketosis on a testing stick. As a result, it is not necessary to maintain a positive ketosis test long term.
Lifetime maintenance: this phase is intended to carry on the habits acquired in the previous phases, and avoid the common end-of-diet mindset that can return people to their previous habits and previous weight. Whole, unprocessed food choices are emphasized, with the option to drop back to an earlier phase if you begin to gain weight.
Controversy
The effects of the Atkins diet remain a subject of much debate. Some studies conclude that the Atkins diet helps prevent cardiovascular disease, lowers the low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and increases the amount of HDL, or so-called "good" cholesterol. Other studies concluded that the diet contributes to cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, arrhythmia, osteoporosis, and kidney stones.
I’m not getting into this one. First of all because I don’t know enough about it and second of all because I don’t think The Iron You is the appropriate place to do so.
If you want more info on the Atkins diet you should log on www.atkins.com and discover everything about this nutrition plan.
TheIronYou
Among diets there is one that in the recent years has attracted a lot of attention and controversy too (at least here in the US): the Atkins.
Since I didn’t know a lot about it, I did some research in order to discover in detail what all this fuzz is about.
How it all started out
The Atkins diet (also known as the Atkins Nutritional Approach) was created by Mr. Robert Atkins. The idea of the diet came after Atkins red in the Journal of the American Medical Association a research paper published by Gordon Azar and Walter Lyons Bloom.
According to Atkins he was inspired by such article and used the outcomes of such research to drop a lot of pounds (he apparently was really overweight) and, as a consequence, he designed a “method”: the Atkins Diet!
Rationale behind the Atkins
What is the rationale behind the Atkins diet? Well, this eating regimen involves an almost total restriction of carbohydrates in order to trigger a switch in the body’s metabolism from burning sugars (glucose to be more precise) to burning body fat.
This process, called ketosis, kicks in when insulin levels are low. In humans, insulin is lowest when blood glucose levels are low (which happens mostly before eating).
Technically speaking ketosis happens when some of the lipid stored in fat cells are transferred to the blood and are thereby used for energy instead. If you have sufficient sugar in your blood this will not happen because glucose is so much easier for your body to burn; thus it will go for that and not for fat.
Atkins made argument that the low-carbohydrate diet produces a metabolic advantage because "burning fat takes more calories so you expend more calories.”
The Atkins diet bans the so-called "net carbs" (digestible carbohydrates that impact blood sugar). One effect is a tendency to decrease the onset of hunger, perhaps because of longer duration of digestion (fats and proteins take longer to digest than carbohydrates).
Net carbohydrates can be calculated from a food source by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols.
Which foods make the cut?
According to the Atkins diet preferred foods are whole, unprocessed foods with a low glycemic index, although restrictions for low glycemic carbohydrates (black rice, vegetables, etc.) are the same as those for high glycemic carbohydrates (sugar, white bread). Atkins recommends that no more than 20% of calories eaten while on the diet come from saturated fat.
The Atkins Phases
There are four phases of the Atkins diet: induction, ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance.
Induction: this is the most restrictive phase of the Atkins Nutritional Approach. Two weeks are recommended for this phase. It is intended to cause the body to quickly enter a state of ketosis. Carbohydrate intake is limited to no more or less than 20 net grams per day (12 to 15 net grams of which must come in the form of salad greens and other fruits and vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, pumpkin, cauliflower, turnips, tomatoes, and asparagus, just to name a few of the 54 allowed by Atkins (but not legumes, since they are too starchy for the induction phase). The allowed foods include a liberal amount of all meats, poultry, fish, shellfish, fowl, and eggs; up to 4 ounces (113 g) of soft or semi-soft cheese such as cheddar cheese; most salad vegetables; other low carbohydrate vegetables; and butter, olive oil and vegetable oils. Drinking eight glasses of water per day is a requirement during this phase. Alcoholic beverages are not allowed during this phase.
Caffeine is allowed in moderation so long as it does not cause cravings or low blood sugar. If a caffeine addiction is evident, it is best to not allow it until later phases of the diet. A daily multivitamin with minerals, except iron, is also recommended. A normal amount of food, on Induction, is around 20 grams of sugar (or net carb), at least 100 grams of fat.
The Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL): consists of an increase in carbohydrate intake, but remaining at levels where weight loss occurs. The target daily carbohydrate intake increases each week by 5 net grams per day. A goal in OWL is to find the "Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing" and to learn in a controlled manner how food groups in increasing glycemic levels and foods within that group affect your craving control. The OWL phase lasts until weight is within 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of the target weight.
Pre-maintenance: Daily net carbohydrates intake is increased again this time by 10 grams each week from the latter groupings, and the key goal in this phase is to find the "Critical Carbohydrate Level for Maintenance", this is the maximum number of carbohydrates you can eat each day without gaining weight. This may well be above the level of carbohydrates inducing ketosis on a testing stick. As a result, it is not necessary to maintain a positive ketosis test long term.
Lifetime maintenance: this phase is intended to carry on the habits acquired in the previous phases, and avoid the common end-of-diet mindset that can return people to their previous habits and previous weight. Whole, unprocessed food choices are emphasized, with the option to drop back to an earlier phase if you begin to gain weight.
Controversy
The effects of the Atkins diet remain a subject of much debate. Some studies conclude that the Atkins diet helps prevent cardiovascular disease, lowers the low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and increases the amount of HDL, or so-called "good" cholesterol. Other studies concluded that the diet contributes to cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, arrhythmia, osteoporosis, and kidney stones.
I’m not getting into this one. First of all because I don’t know enough about it and second of all because I don’t think The Iron You is the appropriate place to do so.
If you want more info on the Atkins diet you should log on www.atkins.com and discover everything about this nutrition plan.
TheIronYou
No comments:
Post a Comment