Dr. Robert Coleman Atkins
Recognized as the world’s first low carbohydrate diet, the Atkins Diet was conceived in the early 1970s by Robert Coleman Atkins, M.D., an American physician who specialized in cardiology. With dozens of Dr. Atkins’ published book titles flooding the market and relating to his first published book, “The Diet Revolution” which was released in 1972, the Atkins Diet became extremely popular and continues to be just as popular today. People from all walks of life who are on a mission and a quest to lose weight view the Atkins Diet as a dream come. However, Dr. Atkins’ nutritional approach, which involves a drastic limitation of carbohydrate intake while increasing the protein and fat consumption, attracted then and still continues to attract much controversy among physicians, nutritionists, dietary specialists as well as other healthcare professionals who claim it to be unhealthful at its best and outright dangerous at its worst.
The Atkins Diet and Its Lifelong Commitment
Dr. Atkins presumed that humans were inherently meat and fat eaters and he believed that by forcing our systems to process carbohydrates, we are actually stopping the burning of stored fat because our bodies use the ingested carbohydrates for the energy they need. The result of this metabolic process is increased body fat and, along with it, increased weight. The Atkins Diet advocates the ketogenic fat burning process which is attained by limiting ingestion of carbohydrates to less than forty grams per day. To balance nutrition, to safeguard against deficiencies and to ensure optimal health, the Atkins Diet also endorses the regular use of dietary supplements.
In essence, the Atkins Diet was intended as a fully committed and lifelong dietary routine of eating red meats, poultry, fish, eggs and low carbohydrate vegetables. It is divided into the following four distinct dietary stages:
1/ The Induction Diet – Only twenty grams of carbohydrates per day are permitted for the first fourteen days of participation in the Atkins Diet.
2/ The Ongoing Weight Loss Diet - This is also known as the OWL Stage which allows an increase of carbohydrates to forty grams per day. Participants are to stay at this state for as long as it takes to reach their ideal weight.
3/ The Pre-Maintenance Diet - At this stage participants are allowed to gradually introduce more carbohydrates into their diets but they must stop the moment they begin gaining weight. This will give them a measurement of their bodies’ tolerance level to carbohydrates and it usually ranges between forty and ninety grams per day.
4/ The Lifetime Maintenance Diet - By the time participants graduate into this last and final stage of the Atkins Diet, they would have already reached their ideal weight and they would be aware of their carbohydrate thresholds. According to Dr. Atkins and his Atkins Diet, the slim and fit participants will, thereafter, limit their carbohydrate intake for the rest of their lives by staying away from white flour, white sugar, processed foods as well as hydrogenated oils and fats.
So, how long should you stay on the Atkins Diet? It was Dr. Atkins’ aim that you should stay on it your entire life.
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March 18th, 2011 at 7:56 am
Who has tried Herbalife and what was your experience compare to: Lighter Life I am considering trying Herbalife as I’ve heard it’s easy and cheap to do.