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Originally posted by Plan9
I don't like the negative effects it has on the people's energy levels who are on this diet and I also am a firm believer in not fucking with our system like this.
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What's fucking with our system is the glut of junk carbs most people eat these days. The lifetime approach to the Atkins way of eating is NOT about being in ketosis permanently, it's about breaking the carb addiction most of us walk around suffering from.
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Another thing that bothers me about this diet is that almost all fiber comes from carb food. Not getting enough fiber causes all kinds of internal problems in the colon area. There is an old medical saying- "All problems begin in the colon." This is due to the fact the waste builds up on the inside and isn't properly eliminated with a normal diet. Take away your fiber and you are asking for problems.
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Atkins Myth #1: It calls for you to cut out fiber.
Atkins very clearly recommends alternate sources of fiber. I'm doing 3000mg of Psyllium Husk daily, myself. I've never been so regular. Fiber intake isn't counted into your carb load for the day--it's a freebie.
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Another reason a high protien diet is bad is that it stresses out your heart and liver. Huge amounts of protein and no carbs means higher cholestrol and clogged arteries.
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Atkins Myth #2: It gives you high cholesterol and is bad for your heart
ALL the studies done about this show a marked decrease in cholesterol levels and a dramatic improvement in all blood lipid levels. This assertion that it's bad for the heart is patently false and has been disproven many times.
Atkins was a
CARDIOLOGIST for crying out loud...
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Another downside of low-carb diets is that they severely restrict fruit and vegetables (as these contain carbohydrate). This means the diet is low in beneficial antioxidant vitamins and low in fiber, all of which increases the risk of heart disease, cancers and bowel disorders.
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Atkins Myth #3: You don't get to eat vegetables. (I'll deal with fruit in a minute.)
I'm eating more veggies on Atkins than I have since I left home and my mommy quit making sure I ate right. Today with Lunch I had a big spinach salad and a double-handful of steamed broccoli with butter. The Atkins Diet REQUIRES vegetables, cannot be done WITHOUT eating vegetables. To say otherwise is simply incorrect.
The Atkins Diet as laid out by Dr. Atkins in
Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution calls for people not to eat fruits for PRECISELY seven weeks. On the eighth week, fruit is to be added back into the diet, starting with the lower-carb fruits--berries, mostly.
Explain to me how abstaining from
any type of food for seven weeks causes heart disease, cancer or bowel disorders?
Now, I grant you, many people do something they
call The Atkins Diet which is NOT the way of eating created by Dr. Robert Akins. I can't speak for any damage those people do to themselves. It is possible to hurt yourself doing a zero carb diet, or staying too low on carbs for too long, but if you're doing that, you're NOT doing Atkins. If you're still eating 20 grams of carbs a day on your 4th week and you don't have more than 100 lbs to lose, then you're NOT doing Atkins. If you're on your sixth week and you haven't progressed up the Carb Ladder (the WHAT!?) you're NOT doing Atkins.
All those people you work with who are experiencing low energy... Dollars to donuts they're doing their own personal version of Atkins. I'm NOT defending anything that might come as a result of that. I say, follow a plan that's worked for millions of people over the last thirty years, you're probably ok. Go off on your own, and you're probably asking for trouble. This includes people who treat it like a crash diet--like thinking that the intense, Induction phase is the whole diet, and once they use that to reach their goal, they go back to the popcorn and potato chips. That's not Atkins either. But that's the behavior that gives the way of eating a bad name.
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High-protein diets may also increase calcium excretion, which may reduce the health of bones and cause osteoporosis (weak bones).
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I honestly don't know enough about this to argue about it sensibly. For all I know, that's true. I would say that the high-protein phases of the diet are not the phases intended to be permanent. The "Lifetime Maintenance" phase looks remarkably like a traditional balanced diet.
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There are also concerns about the impact of this high-protein diet on the kidneys, which have to work harder as there are more toxins that need filtering out in our urine. And this is a particular worry for people with diabetes, as the condition already increases the risk of kidney disease.
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It does cause increased kidney function, which is not a problem in people with healthy kidneys. People with kidney disorders shouldn't do the program. People get all weird about that, but there's never been a study done that demonstrates any sort of kidney damage to someone with normal renal health.
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You can lose weight on the Atkins diet. In fact, you probably will lose weight fast this way. You could lose weight even faster by using cocaine, but that doesn't make it a good idea.
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And you said you
don't have an agenda? Look again.
You didn't touch Atkins Myth #4 ("It's a diet for the lazy. Get up off the couch, lardass!"), so I'll have to cover that one for you. Atkins is VERY CLEAR that exercise is a REQUIRED component of the diet. He covers that in several places in the book. He doesn't lay out a whole plan for it the way something like Body For Life does, but he make it plain that it's not optional.
As for me, I have an agenda. I'm completely up-front about it. This way of eating has changed my life and I want everyone to know it's possible... and just how EASY it is. It's not about weight loss, for people who treat it as a lifetime thing. It's about being and feeling healthy.
This way of eating violates common sense. No two ways about that. It challenges what "everybody knows" about how a healthy diet is supposed to look. Nonetheless it works, and it's demonstrated to be healthy. So.... So much for what "everybody knows"!