I moved this from the WW thread as it doesn't really belong there.
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Originally Posted by Martian
Ustwo - No, no, no, stop! Atkins is very hard on your body. Read here for more info.
The Coles' notes is that the Atkins diet doesn't work as advertised. You lose weight due to improper nutrition and at best will probably end up gaining back. It can also lead to kidney stones, gall bladder disease, raise your cholestoral and possibly cause electrolyte imbalances (the article mentions the case of a 16 year old who died due to electrolyte imbalances that were probably due to using the Atkins diet). This is a classic example of a very unhealthy way of losing weight.
Instead, you should be following a regimen of caloric restriction and maintaining proper nutrition through use of a supplement. Eat a balanced diet and keep an eye on how many calories you're eating per day. I'm not sure if you're guy or gal, but I'll post target numbers for either. Males tend to burn more calories because we naturally have more muscle bulk and less fatty tissues, so our numbers are higher, the range generally bein between 1800 and 2200 caloires per day, whereas the fairer sex should usually be targeting around 1400-1800 per day. Keep in mind too that these are very loose guidelines and each individual has different needs when it comes to calorie intake.
Take my advice or don't, as you see fit. Atkins is a very popular diet and I know some people swear by it; just remember that there's a reason that vegetables, whole grains and legumes have been touted as healthy foods for decades now. I'd be wary of any diet restricting these sorts of foods. |
As someone who has taken far to many physiology courses I did all my own research I could on atkins before I started.
Its perfectly healthy and a more natural diet then we currently eat.
Veggies are fine on atkins, and based on my research into the subject (and there is VERY little real nutrition research) the most healthy diet one could have would be fish + veggies.
I wish I still had the paper on the subject I read back when my wife first mentioned atkins in 98. Basicly our bodies are designed for high protien, and many health problems can be directly traced to the high carbohydrate diets of argriculture. As a anthropology buff I knew this prior to my research into the subject I just never put 2 and 2 together.
One can eat a balanced diet without including a whole lot of carbohydrates, from a natural standpoint they are quite rare (for most of human history) and even my teeth are better due to cutting down on them.
A final note is I started to get heartburn off and on from about the time I turned 26 (yippie for aging), while on atkins I have no heartburn, I do when I go off for a number of weeks.
So for me at least atkins is a win, win, win, I feel better, I loose weight, I don't loose muscle, I know I'm eating closer to a 'traditional' diet, I don't get heartburn, and I have less dental plaque.
So while there are a lot of groups 'against' atkins, and its even political groups at times, I haven't seen a shred of credible evidence against it.
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Health Risks on Atkins
While many following the Atkins plan will never suffer any serious or major side effects, probably due to inability to adhere to the diet long term, a great many have suffered serious consequences. For one thing, we know that extremely high protein diets, like Atkins, can lead to acidic urine. Acidic urine leaches calcium from the body which significantly increases one's risk for osteoporosis and kidney stones. On the website atkinsdietalert.org, we learn about a man from Florida whose cholesterol shot up from 146 to 230 after two months following the Atkins plan; Rachel Huskey, just 16 years old, who collapsed and died due to electrolyte imbalances probably attributed to the Atkins plan; and a woman from California who experienced gall bladder disease and kidney stones (which is a common occurrence due to calcium loss) after just six months on the Atkins diet.
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Thats from the site you posted. The atkins diet is NOT all protein beyond the first two weeks, most peoples colesterol goes down (my fathers did) and the rest is silly. N=1 is a case study, N=5 is still a case study.
They also whine about the studies done being flawed but offer nothing of their own.
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The New England Journal of Medicine, and Annals of Internal Medicine. The findings were indeed surprising, in that several heart disease indicators actually improved in the participants following the Atkins diet. They saw a much larger decrease in serum triglyceride levels as compared to the low fat group, and a greater increase in serum HDL (which is "good" or beneficial cholesterol to the heart) than the low-fat group. Both groups saw similar reductions in LDL cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol for the heart) and total cholesterol levels. In addition, at the end of one year, both groups had achieved similar levels of weight loss.
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I'll take the journals word over a e-diet site.
So while I do appreciate the advice, as I know you mean to help, but this old doc is pretty happy with the atkins diet. I'll still eat fruit, I eat a lot of veggies (which again is just fine), I take vitamins, and I work out.