The Atkins Diet: Pros and Cons

The Atkins diet has been one of the most popular diets and has 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. The pros of Atkins is that it discourages refined carbohydrate intake and encourages protein intake. The diet has gained notoriety because of the perception that you can eat loads of fat and processed meats as long as you don’t eat a lot of carbs.

One of the biggest problems with the Atkins diet is that many people experience rapid initial weight loss on Atkins and therefore believe that it's a miracle diet. Low carbohydrate diets have in fact been shown to reduce the fasting levels of blood triglycerides, but much of the initial rapid 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 We Don't Recommend the Atkins Diet

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 on Atkins may lead to deficiencies of key nutrients, including dietary fiber, vitamin C, folic acid, and several minerals.

3. High protein diet may lead to 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 consume more saturated 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 is mainly water weight

Atkins has a diuretic effect and much of the initial weight loss is due to water loss, not fat loss. Most people on the Atkins Diet gain back most or all of the weight a few months after initiating the diet.

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

Next: Zone Diet

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