There are so many diet plans out there, it can be difficult to know which is right for you. One such diet is Atkins Diet which promotes weight loss through a 4-phase eating plan.
Beginning this diet begins with a two-week induction phase in which carbohydrates are limited to 20 g/day in order to induce ketosis in your body and reach ketosis state.
Phase 1
Induction, or Phase One of The Atkins Diet, involves eating no more than 20 net carbohydrates daily for two weeks to cause ketosis – the process by which your body transitions from burning carbohydrates and glucose for energy to using fat instead for fuel – leading to weight loss benefits of this weight-loss plan.
Reducing calories may aid weight loss, but eliminating whole foods like fruits, some vegetables and legumes could lead to nutritional deficiencies. Furthermore, excessive protein consumption raises blood cholesterol and raises uric acid levels, increasing risk for kidney stones or gout in susceptible individuals.
Many find it challenging to stick with such a restrictive diet over time, particularly given that it limits healthy foods. Eating such a diet may result in electrolyte imbalances, constipation and dangerously low blood sugar levels as well as lessened fat burning leading to muscle attrition and lower metabolism rates.
Phase 2
Atkins’ diet allows dieters to gradually increase the number of net carbs consumed each day until they find an amount that supports weight loss or prevents weight gain, then stay there until either they reach their target weight or enter Premaintenance Phase.
The Atkins diet limits consumption of certain fruits, vegetables, grains, and starchy legumes while still ensuring you receive sufficient vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals from other sources. Furthermore, refined and processed carbohydrates which have been linked with elevated blood sugar levels, insulin resistance and excess fat storage as well as unhealthy triglyceride and cholesterol levels have been eliminated entirely from this plan.
Foster et al87 conducted a one-year trial that randomly assigned 63 obese subjects either the Atkins diet or conventional low-fat, low-calorie diets for one year; those following Atkins lost approximately 4 percent more weight than their control counterparts.
Phase 3
The Atkins Diet stands apart from other popular diets by restricting only carbohydrates without restricting either fats or proteins, which it claims encourages people to reduce. As carbs are cut out of a person’s diet, their bodies burn fat for fuel instead resulting in weight loss. One of few low carb diets to have been subjected to multiple controlled clinical trials; each trial showed significant and sustained weight loss as a result.
The Atkins diet advocates eating high-fat foods such as meat, fish and eggs as part of its plan, while also encouraging bars, shakes and ready-made meals as snacks that often contain artificial sweeteners, processed ingredients and high amounts of saturated fat that could potentially pose health risks.
Research suggests that high-fat diets alter the gut microbiome, increasing levels of tri-methylamine N-oxide (TMAO), an indicator of heart disease. If excreted into urine it could contribute to kidney stones or gout flare-ups.
Phase 4
Atkins asserts that when people reduce carb consumption, their metabolism switches from using sugar as fuel to burning fat instead – this process is known as ketosis and may help them experience weight loss as well as improved health conditions.
Beginning two weeks into a diet, carbohydrates should be limited to 20 grams daily for weight-loss purposes. After that period has concluded, carbs will gradually be increased at 5 grams each week until weight-loss has occurred and into maintenance phase which allows as many carbs as an individual can tolerate without regaining weight.
Atkins Diet provides an effective means to achieve weight loss through eating healthy low-carbohydrate vegetables and fruits, full-fat dairy products, nuts, seeds, avocado oil and olive oil as well as healthy oils such as avocado and olive. As any strict diet does, however, the Atkins Diet may not suit everyone. But if someone can stick with it long enough to meet their weight-loss goals then this diet could prove successful in helping shed extra weight.
