The Atkins Diet and Why It's Bad for You

The Atkins diet has been one of the most popular diets and gained lots of attention within the last 10 years. This diet was originally created for diabetes patients who wanted to manage their insulin levels more effectively. Atkins discourages refined carbohydrate intake and encourages protein intake and has gained notoriety because of the perception that you can eat loads of fat as long as you don’t eat a lot of carbs.

Many people experience rapid initial weight loss on Atkins and therefore believe that it is a miracle diet. Low carbohydrate diets have in fact been shown to reduce the fasting levels of triglycerides, but much of the weight loss is water weight. Also, one of the most controversial parts of Atkins is the beginning “Induction” phase, because of the negative reactions many people experience.

Here are 5 Reasons Why The Atkins Diet is Bad For You

1. Fatigue
Some people have a negative reaction to the diet during the initial stages. Carbs provide the fuel for your body and when you severely limit carbs, your body is not getting sufficient amounts of “fuel" that give you energy.

2. Getting the right amount of nutrients
The lack of grains, fruits, and vegetables may lead to deficiencies of key nutrients, including dietary fiber, vitamin C, folic acid, and several minerals.

3. High protein diet = more stress on the kidneys
Studies show the kidneys work harder in dieters on a high-protein diet. This puts them at risk for kidney ailments such as kidney disease, as well as gout.

4. It's definitely not heart healthy
Atkins dieters tend to have increased levels on all types of fat, which puts them at risk for heart ailments such as coronary artery disease and heart attacks. Recent research has found that high-protein diets speed up the progression of hardening of the arteries, the main cause of heart attacks. Also, extremely low-fat diets that don’t have sufficient amounts of “good fats” have been found to partially reverse heart disease.

5. Initial weight loss = water weight
Atkins has a diuretic effect and that the initial weight loss is due to water loss, not fat loss.

I definitely recommend checking out Zone Diet, South Beach Diet, or Sonoma Diet over Atkins.

Next: Zone Diet

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