The Atkins diet – The most popular low-carb diet

The Atkins diet, officially known under the name of Atkins Nutritional Approach, is a low carbohydrate diet designed by Dr. Robert Atkins after reading a research on overweight condition.

This diet helped millions of people to lose weight, due to the fact it is pretty simple to follow. Claiming to show the results fast, the Atkins diet recommends you to eat every two or three hours, mostly fruits, whole grains and starchy vegetables.

Targeting the minimized carbohydrates intake in favor of eating more foods rich in proteins, in the first few weeks when following the Atkins diet the quantities of carb require particular consideration.  The central principle about the Atkins diet is that too much intake of carb is the main cause of weight gain. The method how your organism processes the carbohydrates consumed leads to a weight problem, not the quantity of fat ingested.

If you decided to follow the Atkins diet, you firstly need to control and supervise the carb intake. You have to reduce the carb intake to less than 40 grams per day, refrain from consuming bad carbohydrates, such as processed foods, junk foods and even cookies and adopt a diet rich in protein. The bodily process called ketosis is wanted and targeted. During this process, the body burns fat as fuel, also affecting the production of insulin and preventing the forming of more fat. Once started the ketosis, the organism will efficiently burn the fat stored, your appetite for carbs will be suppressed and you will successfully lose weight.

The Atkins diet has four phases: induction, ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance.

The first phase, induction, is the most restrictive of the Atkins diet, it lasts two days and it is intended to cause the ketosis. The carb intake is reduced to less than 20 grams per day and it is recommended the consumption of salad greens and vegetables like broccoli, pumpkin, spinach, turnips, tomatoes, cauliflower and asparagus. In addition, it is allowed the ingestion of meat, fish, poultry, fowl, shellfish, eggs, some semi-soft cheese as well as some vegetable oils, such as olive oil and coconut oil. The most important requirement of this phase is drinking eight glasses of water per day. The alcoholic beverages are forbidden, the caffeine should be consumed in moderation and it is recommended a daily multivitamin with minerals. Physical exercises are as well recommended during this phase.

In the second phase, the ongoing weight loss, you could increase the intake of carbs, by 5 grams each week, but as long as you keep losing weight. The goal of this phase is finding the critical carb level for losing. The pre-maintenance is the stage of the Atkins diet when you have to find the critical carb level for maintenance and even including a few carbs forbidden until now.

The lifetime maintenance is designed to continue the eating practices, keep on drinking eight glasses of water per day and preventing the return to the previous habits and, as well, to the previous weight.

Following the Atkins diet and having a daily routine of workout could make a positive change for the health of any user. If you desire to lose weight and you think that you can embrace the principles of the Atkins diet, give it a try! Good luck!