Is the Atkins’ Diet safe?
Is the Atkins’ Diet Safe?
The problem with the Atkins diet is that you are falsely led to believe that carbohydrates are bad for you and thus, are not allowed to have any! You are told that carbohydrates are like any other type of sugar and that the breakdown process is the same i.e. your body releases insulin in response to the sugar entering your blood which will spike your blood-sugar levels; with insulin being released, your body is more primed to store fat.
Persons on this diet tend to enjoy quick results in a short period of time during the beginning stages but as soon as they stop the diet, the weight comes back just as quickly. In many cases, people reported to gaining even more weight than when they previously started. One explanation for this is that your body is trying to compensate for the carbohydrate loss that it was forced to endure. Your survival mechanisms trigger your body to store even more fat than before so as to be prepared for the next time it has to survive without adequate carbohydrates.
The biggest flaw with this diet is its core principle which preaches that ‘carbs’ are the enemy. The truth is that your body needs carbohydrates for many important bodily functions including, but not limited to, supplying your brain and nervous system with energy. On the Atkins diet, you are consuming a high protein and high-fat diet. Protein is not an efficient source of energy, especially for your brain. Many persons on the Atkins diet often report symptoms such as dizziness and light-headedness. This happens because your body is struggling to provide energy for your brain and it’s only option is to pull protein from your muscle.
The high-fat part of the diet comes in the form of the excess amount of beef and pork that the Atkins diet actually encourages! That fat makes its way through your body and to the arteries in your hear;it accumulates to the point where you are at a much higher risk for a heart attack!
On a side note: Robert Atkins’ death (creator of the diet) was 258 pounds when he died. At 6’0 feet tall and at that weight, he was clinically obese.
November 10, 2009
12:44 pm
No, I wouldn’t do it for longer than the recommended time frame (I believe 2 weeks). I did this, and my carb intake was restricted to like 20 per day, which is just ridiculous. I was air-headed, spacey, and lacking energy the whole time. It did work…I lost about 15 pounds during that time. I then upped my carbs to a level where i could maintain that weight (around 80/day).
November 13, 2009
4:33 am
I totally agree with this article. I know someone who undergo the diet program, while it didn’t endangered his health, it surely weakened his stamina and endurance. We play basketball during the weekends and noticed that he can’t run the way he did unlike before when he was fatter.
November 16, 2009
5:21 am
Good, very good, very good….
November 17, 2009
4:23 pm
The problem is that there is no 1 diet for everyone. The atkin’s diet is great for people who genetically require more fat/protein and less carbs… like an eskimo. One problem I find is that when people do the atkin’s diet they don’t eat enough and they don’t eat vegetables. Most are too use to eating bread and pasta as their only source of carbs.
The state of health of Robert Atkins carries no weight (ha ha). There are many more people who eat low fat and are obese.
Eating fat does not make you fat. Eating processed carbs and sugar does.
January 19, 2010
5:13 am
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