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Old 07-05-2004, 11:09 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Is Atkins diet safe?

A woman at work wants me to go on the Atkins diet (she does it full time) and I said I would try it for two weeks... but is it safe? Ive read stuff of people having heart attacks by doing it, and that it gives you high cholestoral and so on... another of my friends has told me definitely not to do it... I have started going to the gym again, so would Atkins also be bad if I am trying to work out a bit? Always at school and so on we were told carbs were good for you and you should eat those foods and not fats, but on Atkins I am supposed to eat fried breakfast instead of cereal (which I normally have for example)... I'm just not sure. There must be something to it if so many still do it, but is it not dangerous?
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Old 07-06-2004, 12:29 AM   #2 (permalink)
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Re: Is Atkins diet safe?

Quote:
Originally posted by Strange Famous
it gives you high cholestoral and so on
Say what? Says who?

I did Atkins for six months last summer and lost 40 pounds. My cholesterol didn't budge. The people that hurt themselves are those that "cheat". You can do damage putting yourself into and out of keytosis repeatedly.

Stay under 10 grams of carbs a day for the first two weeks, and make sure the carbs you do ingest come from healthy veggies like corn and peas.

You'll be amazed at the results.
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Old 07-06-2004, 01:19 AM   #3 (permalink)
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i wouldn't have a problem with doing it ... a lot of people eat way more unhealthily than the Atkins and still survive for years

i would have thought Atkins would be fine for working out ... make sure you drink plenty of water though... the other diet i've heard mentioned (on this forum, in fact) is the South Beach diet... that looked ok too

i wouldn't do it just cos someone wants you to though, that's just wrong
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Old 07-06-2004, 03:50 AM   #4 (permalink)
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Go for a variant of the atkins diet, high protein, low carbs and medium fats and oils (as opposed to high).

But, if you want to go on the atkins diet, by all means do, just drink plenty of water, and watch for any thing that you think is bad, in which case stop the diet.
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Old 07-06-2004, 07:27 AM   #5 (permalink)
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The carbohydrates that you're supposed to keep away from are sugars (this includes alcohol ) and highly processed starches like white bread. If you decide to watch your carbs, make sure you get enough fibre in your diet, it's considered a carbohydrate but your body doesn't digest it, so fibre serves to push all the crap (literally) out of your system.
You may have less energy than normal if you reduce your carbs, feel free to go to the gym, but don't push yourself if you start feeling lightheaded and weak, and get plenty of water like folks have said.
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Old 07-06-2004, 07:30 AM   #6 (permalink)
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Read the book, Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution. I cannot stress this enough.

Too many people I have talked to have the wrong impression about lo-carb from what they have heard in the media and from misinformed friends.
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Old 07-06-2004, 09:33 AM   #7 (permalink)
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skip the diet and really make an effort to change what you eat. like said above hit a high protein, low carb, with a moderate fat intake.

go over to bodybuilding.com and read the nutrition section in the forum. learn how many calories you need to maintain your weight then you can change your intake to met your goals. educate yourself on how protein, carbs, and fat are used by the body.

you need to find out what works best for you.

BMR calculator: http://www.caloriesperhour.com/
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Old 07-06-2004, 11:03 AM   #8 (permalink)
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i don't think atkins is "unhealthy." i don't know how good it is for you long term, but i've never seen any studies that have shown it to have any negitive effects, if done properly. that doesn't mean binging on bacon and fried foods though.

eat fish, poultry, watch your saturated and trans fat intake, drink lots of water. sunflower seeds (still in the shell) are a great snack. red meats okay, but have that be every once in a while as opposed to often. there are also a lot of low carb food products being made these days, i've seen low carb pasta even.
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Old 07-06-2004, 12:32 PM   #9 (permalink)
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It seems pretty impossible to stick to... Im supposed to eat an omlette for breakfast! I know what an omlette tastes like but I have no idea how it is made... and if I cant eat bread, fruit, cereal; what am I supposed to have for lunch? I am at work, I cant cook any of the things they say... dinner it seems I could have cabbage and pork chop, I couldnt think of many other meals, cabbage and corned beef, erm, cabbage and cod... I just dont see how it is possible to follow a diet when so many basic foodstuffs are not allowed at all!
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Old 07-06-2004, 05:37 PM   #10 (permalink)
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http://atkins.com/food/

it's really not that tough, after a week you probably won't crave most foods anymore. hot dogs, frozen meats (microwave them at work), cheese, eggs (any style, just don't have too many yolks), and there are lots of stuff that's now made low/no carb that you can get at the store or through the web.

if you do this, make sure you take vitamins and other recommended supplements.

don't forget to exercise.
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Old 07-06-2004, 09:44 PM   #11 (permalink)
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If you're having a problem following a diet that cuts out foodgroups like that, then I suggest not going on it. A diet's going to work a lot better if it's something you can enjoy. If you eat a well balanced diet, and eat the good carbs (i.e. whole grains) instead of the bad ones, then you can still lose plenty of weight. I've lost about 60 pounds over the past year and a half, and I eat loads of carbs everyday (cereal, bread, pasta, etc...). I'm not aware of any inherent health risks with it, but from what I've seen from friends on the diet, and what I've learned from nutrition classes, it's hard to live the rest of your life on the Atkins diet, and once you go back to eating regularly most people put the weight back on. The key is to change the way you eat so that you can live with it for the rest of your life. Weight loss ultimately comes down to the number of calories consumed versus the number burned, so you don't have to cut out an entire foodgroup if you don't want to.
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Old 07-06-2004, 11:16 PM   #12 (permalink)
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I have done Atkins. It works. The menu is critical. If you cheat you start over. It has become very obvious that people do not read the book or practice Atkins. They practice their own version and get poor results or create their own health problems.

If you are serious about losing weight, read everything on this page. Then decide for yourself.
http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...0e0e7dd9a77652

I suggest Atkins for 2 weeks then LOW GI foods for 2 weeks. It is easier than trying to stay in induction for a long time. I also believe that it makes the diet healthier.

A also try to eat oatmeal at least once a day when not in induction.

Remember that all alcohol will be burned before fat, so drinking will almost completely stop weight loss.
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Old 07-07-2004, 12:48 PM   #13 (permalink)
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I will try my two weeks... but to me it just seems crazy that they tell you you cannot eat cereal or fruit, and instead to have steak, bacon, fried egg and so on.

I have skimmed milk, and instead they tell me to have cream!

How can this be a diet?? I have skim read the book, but I dont know... well, for two weeks I can try at least, but I always have understood to lose weight it is simple, to burn more calories than you consume, the tough part if just to have the willpower to do it.
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Old 07-07-2004, 01:14 PM   #14 (permalink)
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And so, the South Beach diet homepage says that I should not do Atkins because it will cause heart disease!

Maybe to be unbiased, I should check the Atkins webpage, and see if it tells me South Beach might kill me...

I wish the information on all of this could be more clear, I am starting to think now just calorie control is the best way, at least it is logical and straight forward.
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Old 07-07-2004, 03:16 PM   #15 (permalink)
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eating protein is fine, just drink lots of water with it, and don't neglect your fruit and veg...

balance! too much fat is bad, too much sugar is bad, too much anything is bad, just eat healthy food, do plenty of exercise and don't stress too much (stress is DEFINITELY bad for you)

in my personal opinion, most people are trying to sell you something... just eat reasonable food, do some exercise and enjoy yourself
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Old 07-08-2004, 05:39 AM   #16 (permalink)
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I am personally not a fan of Atkins. Mostly because of the reasons stated before. I just can't convince myself that a pound of bacon is better for me than a bowl of cereal.

I have been on a mission to reduce my body fat % lately and it has been going very well. All i've been doing is exercising a lot (keeping my normal weight lifting routine but adding in some intense cardio at the end of every workout) and eating well. Lot of chicken salads. Tuna sandwiches. Chicken stir fry's. Healthy all the time. Whole wheat bread only. Avoid fried food. Lots of chicken. Eat many small meals a day. I try and eat every two hours to keep my metabolism up.

I would just go with the tried and true method. All it takes is some determination. You will drop the pounds.
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Old 07-08-2004, 06:19 AM   #17 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally posted by bookerV
I am personally not a fan of Atkins. Mostly because of the reasons stated before. I just can't convince myself that a pound of bacon is better for me than a bowl of cereal.
if that were what the diet was, i'd agree with you. but that's a misconception that you're supposed to just eat lots of bacon and other fried/fatty meats. i'd take a breast of skinless chicken over a bowl of cereal anyday. (well, it depends on the cereal, i go crazy for the captain!)

i kinda look at the whole dieting thing two ways. The whole idea is to lose weight, but you either do it by...
a) making minor modifications to your diet where you lose weight slowly and train yourself to use better eating habits plus exercising

or

b)use a "fad" diet where once you get to your desired weight/appearance you go off it and most likely back to your old eating habits or close to it. this means either keepign up the exercise enough to keep the weight off or gaining it back.

obviously "a" is best for the long term unless after using a diet like atkins you retrain yourself to eat right when you go back to normal foods and keep exercising. i think in deciding which to do, the best thing to look at is which you can do and stick with to lose the weight and the time in which you want to do it. with either option you could fall back into your old habits, it's just more likely to happen, especially sooner rather than later, with a fad diet.
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Old 07-08-2004, 07:05 AM   #18 (permalink)
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I wanted to share some information I read from "Nutrition Concepts and Controversies" by Frances Sizer and Eleanor Whitney in my BIO 204 (nutrition class) from a while back. I had read an few paragraphs of Dr. Atkin's book where he put an inaccurate spin on the whole issue of Ketosis, but unfortunately I do not have it present for reference. However, I do have my reply that I wrote after reading Dr. Atkins information (used the information for a similar discussion on the Atkins Diet). I want you know that I am not saying that these authors are correct, and Dr Atkins is not; rather, I think that you might be interested in the information from a biological perspective. I will just retype a section in the book concerning this issue.

"Although glucose can be converted into body fat, body fat can never be converted into glucose to feed the brain adequately. This is one reason why fasting and a low-carbohydrate diets are dangerous. When the body faces a severe carbohydrate deficit, it has two problems. Having no glucose, it must turn to protein to make some (the body has this ability), diverting protein from critical functions of its own such as maintaining the body's immune defenses. Protein's functions in the body are so indispensable that carbohydrate should be kept available precisely to prevent the use of protein for energy. This is called the protein-sparing action of carbohydrate.

Fat fragments have to combine with carbohydrate before they can be used for energy. Using fat without the help of carbohydrate causes the body to go into ketosis, a condition in which unusual products of fat breakdown (ketone bodies) accumulate in the blood, disturbing the normal acid-base balance. Ketosis during pregnancy can cause brain damage to the fetus, resulting is irreversible mental retardation after birth.

The minimum amount of carbohydrate needed to ensure complete sparing of body protein and avoidance of ketosis is around 100 grams of digestible carbohydrate a day for an average sized person. Three of four times this minimum is recommended. "

Furthermore, they define ketosis as "an undesirable high concentration of ketone bodies, such as acetone, in the blood and urine."

Ketosis is abnormal, the body is not meant to go into that state. Unfortunately, after only a couple years of research, significant studies are showing that Atkins really is not safe. If these studies were being performed by rival diet plan companies, I wouldn't believe them, but discounting Atkins for the sake of the nations health really serves to benefit nobody financially.

From reading Dr. Atkin's description of ketosis (which I don't have now, once again, this was previously written by myself) and how it relates to the body, I think that he is trying to downplay the severity and abnormality of ketosis in the body.
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Old 07-08-2004, 11:56 AM   #19 (permalink)
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that's pretty interesting. i personally have never seen any studies showing atkins to be bad for you, i have seen indepent studies showing it improves your blood profile. i don't know if ketosis is bad for someone or not, i've heard it only is if you have bad kidneys to begin with. unfortunatly, there don't seem to be many unbiased sources on the subject as far as i've seen (not that i've looked too far!).

oh, i do think that atkins, or any diet, really isn't good long term. but i think that, in the long run, it's better to be on atkins for 6 months than 250+ lbs for life.
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Old 07-08-2004, 10:50 PM   #20 (permalink)
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There are reports surfacing showing that high protein diets ie. Atkins can cause osteoporosis later on in life. Has to do with the process your body use to break down protein.

A quote taken from the first googled result...

"The more protein in your diet, the more calcium you lose in your urine. Because your bones are your largest source of stored calcium, there are concerns that the amount of protein eaten by people following the Atkins Diet (or any low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet) will increase the risk of osteoporosis."

On a side note my friend who has his Post-Doctorate in Biology was also saying its funny how people consume dairy products to increase their calcium intake... there really is no net calcium in your body after b/c of the protein in the dairy products!

Later.
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Old 07-09-2004, 07:20 AM   #21 (permalink)
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Just keep in mind one thing... Your brain can only get energy from glucose, which you get from carbohydrates. You need about 30-40g of carbohydrates a day solely for this function. That is only 120-160 calories. Be sure you are getting at least that much - it's only 6-8% of a 2000 calorie diet.
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Old 07-09-2004, 12:39 PM   #22 (permalink)
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Hannukah Harry is a wise man..... Atkins sometimes gets a bad rap because people assume (without doing the research) that one just eats piles and piles of greasy bacon and fatty red meat. While some people do that, the wise move is to eat a combination of lean meats, fish, and poultry. I lost 50 pounds within three months when on Atkins and ate mostly lean chicken breast, salmon, the occasional steak or pork chop, and leafy green vegetables. I of course exercised as well. At my last physical my cholesterol was great, blood pressure perfect and I've kept the weight off for almost three years now. High protein low carb diets are nothing new, body builders have been eating that way for decades. Personally I think Atkins is safe and it definately worked for me.
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Old 07-09-2004, 01:21 PM   #23 (permalink)
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I have heard claims that the brain can consume the metabolic byproducts of keytosis. Maybe that is why you wanted to eat lots of protien, to provide the brain-fuel?

Keytosis seems to be a starvation reaction. Unable to get a particular resource (carbs), the body inefficiently consumes other resources (fat) and dumps the waste products from the blood (acidic urine). It is hacking human biology to make it a less efficient machine, so you lose weight without having to eat significantly less.

This scares me shitless, personally. I've hacked my metabolism before, and in the years since learned what I was doing was a recipie for suicide in the long term. Now, Atkins might not be as bad, but this "safe" keytosis-trick is a new idea: there hasn't been time to determine what the long term side effects are, not with any decent sample size.

I mean, being insulin resistant sounds like a great deal as well. Your body stops turning blood sugar into fat, and instead filters it out through your kidneys into your urine. (sound familiar?) The long term result is blindness, extremidies rotting, and heart desease. Type 2 diabetes isn't such a good deal after you factor that in. . .

Now, maybe keytosis hacking isn't as bad as insulin resistance. Maybe your body can handle high Ph blood with less long term side effects, and maybe going into keytosis doesn't change your metabolic system forever. But, like I said, I'm scared by Atkins.
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Old 03-30-2005, 02:21 PM   #24 (permalink)
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An interesting article....How the Atkins diet works!

Horizon
BBC Two, Thursday 12 August 2004, 9pm
The Atkins Diet


Programme summary
Questions and answers
Transcript
Weblinks

The Atkins Diet - transcript

NARRATOR (BARBARA FLYNN): The world's most beautiful and famous have swallowed his advice. He wrote one of the biggest selling diet books of all time, and it was based on his extraordinary belief that you could eat as much as you desire and still lose weight. His name was Dr Robert Atkins, author of the Atkins new diet revolution. To some Dr Atkins was a hero, to others his diet was scientific heresy and potentially deadly. Tonight in a series of ground breaking experiments Horizon investigates the truth behind the most controversial diet in history. Does the Atkins diet really work and is it dangerous?

NARRATOR: This is Brian, he'd like to look like this, but in reality he looks like this. His lifelong quest to be thinner has taken him through every diet in the book.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: I first started dieting about twenty five years ago and I must have done just about every diet there is. I've done the low fat diet. I've tried the Carol Vorderman Detox diet. I've done the various vegan and vegetarian. The Cabbage Soup diet. I've done Montignac. The Swedish Heart Attack Diet, Slim Fast, Boiled Egg diet. There's a grapefruit based one which is absolutely dreadful. It's probably better just to go on a fast frankly.

NARRATOR: But today Brian is tucking in to his favourite lunch of roast lamb, followed by two main courses, and he's not bothered about how many calories he eats. Believe it or not he's on a new diet. Welcome to the weird world of the Atkins Diet. A world where fat food apparently makes you thin. Where so much we've been forbidden to eat is allowed.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: The great thing about Atkins is everything tastes good, everything you can eat is what you want to eat.

NARRATOR: When Brian meets up with his chef it becomes apparent just how strange the diet seems to be.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: We don't want that, celery.

CHEF: What about nuts?

BRIAN CLIVAZ: Nuts are fine.

CHEF: Clotted cream?

BRIAN CLIVAZ: Clotted cream is excellent.

NARRATOR: Brian has already managed to lose five stone by cutting down on carbohydrates.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: Scones no, pasta out.

CHEF: Oh, pasta gone.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: Potatoes, no, get rid of them.

CHEF: Alright they're gone, they're gone.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: They're gone. Mushrooms are fine.

CHEF: What about bread?

BRIAN CLIVAZ: Bread, you can chuck all them away.

CHEF: Oh no, no.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: Butter, you can cook...

NARRATOR: Even the amount of healthy fruit is restricted.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: No bananas, we'll lose bananas. Shouldn't really have melon or pineapple.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: I started Atkins nine months ago, and when I started I put this piece of string around my waist, to, so I could keep a record of it. And it goes all the way round and so far you can see I've lost that oops, I've lost that much. Which is about ten inches.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: Sausages, yeah they're great and bacon will do, bacon is good. Lobster, fish, scallops, crab is great.

NARRATOR: By sticking to food high in protein and fat, Brian hopes to lose another stone in the next four weeks.

CHEF: There's a lovely bit of fillet for you.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: Yeah fillets for my dinner, you can chop me off a nice large chunk please.

CHEF: A big steak.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: A big steak with a lot of béarnaise sauce.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: And if I lose another eight inches I'll be at the maximum end of the Marks and Spencer range of trousers. NARRATOR: Without the faintest regard for calories Brian confidently sets about eating himself thinner. And he has one small orange book to thank. The Atkins new diet revolution is a phenomenon. Over seventeen million people worldwide have been captivated, making it one of the biggest selling diet books in history. Its author was hailed as the new messiah of thinness. But forty years ago he was just an overweight cardiologist. His name was Robert Atkins.

JAQUELINE EBERSTEIN: Bob loved food, he probably had at least more than one chin and at that age he shouldn't have had more than one chin. Bob is someone who has absolutely no discipline and never wanted to be hungry. So he was really hunting around on ways to try and deal with his weight.

NARRATOR: Worried about his weight problem Dr Atkins began searching through some medical magazines. He came across something that would change the course of his life.

JAQUELINE EBERSTEIN: He found an article about a diet that he had not heard of before. And it appealed to him because it was different and he'd already tried low calorie which he didn't like and so he thought he would try it and see if this worked.

NARRATOR: The diet almost eliminated carbohydrates, starchy foods like pasta and bread, and even some fruit and vegetables. Almost anything with sugar was forbidden. But the diet said yes to all protein, meat, fish, eggs, and to all the fats they contain. And yes to other fats like oils and lards.

JAQUELINE EBERSTEIN: He had wonderful success, he lost weight quickly, he felt good, his clothes got looser and he thought he'd really found something he could live with. So because it worked so well for him he decided he was going to start to try it on some patients that were also overweight.

NARRATOR: And it worked, the results were stunning. Dr Atkins patients lost weight quickly and easily. He began to realise there was something very special about this diet. It seemed you could eat as much as you want as often as you want and still lose weight. There appeared to be no need to worry about calories. This was the heart of the Atkins diet mystery. How could people eat lots of food without counting calories and become thin? But this extraordinary idea would leave Dr Atkins in to serious trouble. The Atkins diet challenged nothing less than the most fundamental law of the universe. There is a law in science that says energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It is so important it underpins the workings of everything in the cosmos. It is the first law of thermodynamics.

Prof JOE MILWARD: The first law of thermodynamics is the foundation stone of our understanding of chemistry and physics. In the universe there is a finite amount of, of energy. It, it can not disappear and it can not be created from nothing.

NARRATOR: and amongst all the forms of energy in the universe one is food. We measure this energy as calories. This fairy cake is pure energy. It's packed with a hundred and twenty calories. Add oxygen to speed up the process and this demonstration reveals just what a hundred calories really mean.

Prof JOE MILWARD: That's a lot of energy coming out. That's a lot of calories. And those calories are liberated in the body. They can't disappear, they either fuel metabolism or they finish up on your hips as fat.

NARRATOR: This was the central problem with the Atkins diet. Science said that nowhere in the universe can calories go missing. But Dr Atkins seemed to claim that on his diet they could. He said that by cutting carbohydrates you could eat as many calories as you wanted and lose weight.

Prof JOE MILWARD: The central tenet that calories can go missing is a scientific heresy because it does contravene the first law of thermodynamics.

NARRATOR: And if this scientific heresy wasn't bad enough the Atkins diet seemed to do something even worse. Many scientists were convinced it was deadly. And this was the killer, fat. Scientists believed fat could clog your arteries and was a major cause of heart disease. In the nineteen seventies the rate of deaths from heart attacks was serious and everyone thought that fat was to blame. So advice came from on high, governments all over the world said there was only one safe way to live, to go on a new diet, one that was low in fat and low in calories. This became the doctrine of healthy living. But the Atkins diet seemed to contradict the accepted wisdom of medical science. A diet that allowed you to eat all the fat and as many calories as you wanted just had to be a death sentence.

Dr THEODORE VANITALLIE: In science you're not supposed to get angry but why is someone recommending something that most of us know to be potentially harmful.

NARRATOR: Not only did the Atkins diet seem like a heart attack diet, there was little scientific evidence to back it up.

Dr THEODORE VANITALLIE: The problem with the Atkins diet is that it doesn't grow out of scientific research. Atkins was out of his speciality, he's a, he was a cardiologist and not an expert in nutrition.

NARRATOR: Dr Van Itoli and his colleagues at the American Medical Association wrote a damning report. They warned that the Atkins diet was biochemically incorrect and dangerous. The scientific community cast Dr Atkins and his diet out in to the wilderness. And there it might have ended, but over the next thirty years something odd happened. Despite the low fat, low calorie advice, the world got fatter and fatter. Meanwhile people on the Atkins diet seemed to be getting thinner and thinner. The mystery surrounding the diet was deepening. Could a diet that science claimed made no sense actually be working? The first hints to what was really going on had come from a new generation of doctors. Eric Westman from Duke University, Gary Foster from Pennsylvania University. Both used low calorie, low fat, to help people lose weight. Both were concerned by the growing popularity of the Atkins diet.

Dr GARY FOSTER: There was a course of questions about what is the safety and ethicacy of the Atkins diet, and we just didn't have any data to answer that question.

NARRATOR: Westman's patients had reported remarkable results on the Atkins diet.

Dr ERIC WESTMAN: Several of my patients did the diet against my wishes and clearly had a lot of weight loss. We know that you have to reduce calories to lose weight and yet it said nothing about calories in the book. How could this possibly work?

NARRATOR: Faced with this contradiction Foster and Westman decided science had to face Dr Atkins head on. It was time to put the diet to the test. Westman went back to basics. Surely a diet that professed you could eat limitless food would make you fat not thin? So he decided to look in to Dr Atkins's claim that you really did lose weight. A hundred and twenty dieters were recruited. Half were put on strict low calorie. The other half were put on the Atkins diet and told to eat as much as they wanted.

Dr ERIC WESTMAN: We didn't expect that the diet would do very well. We weren't really expecting to find much weight loss at all. It was also a very extreme diet so that we thought people would have difficulty staying on it.

NARRATOR: After six months of research the results were ready. They were not what Dr Westman was expecting. The Atkins dieters had indeed lost weight.

Dr ERIC WESTMAN: Even though you say nothing about calories, in fact you say you can eat as many calories as you want, people lost weight on the Atkins diet.

NARRATOR: And they hadn't just lost a few pounds, they'd lost twice as much as those on the low calorie diet. Not only did the Atkins diet actually work it was the hands down winner. It seemed you really could get thin without worrying about calories. But there remained the other unresolved issue. The scientists' biggest criticism of the diet was that the high fat would lead to high cholesterol which would clog the arteries and kill. Back in Pennsylvania Gary Foster embarked on a study to find out if the Atkins diet really did increase the risk of heart attack.

Dr GARY FOSTER: We fully expected that this would be a quick and dirty study. We would show that cholesterol would actually get much worse. It would be the first and last study of the Atkins diet.

NARRATOR: But when Foster sifted through the data he too couldn't believe his eyes.

Dr GARY FOSTER: My first reaction was could this be, this doesn't make a lot of sense. Not only were there no bad effects of the diet in terms of cholesterol, but actually there were quite positive ones.

NARRATOR: In other words despite the fears about eating lots of fat it looked as if the Atkins diet might not be bad for the heart after all.

Dr GARY FOSTER: You actually had about a tenfold improvement in cholesterol compared to a low fat, low calories diet.

NARRATOR: For some strange reason it appeared the Atkins diet might benefit your health. It seemed Dr Atkins could have been right all along. The medical establishments damning of the Atkins diet appeared unfounded. Studies have now shown that it definitely worked and that it might not be bad for the heart. After the years of doubt and criticism science now had to eat humble pie.

Dr ERIC WESTMAN: It makes you wonder why we hadn't considered this before. And there is probably some arrogance to think that nobody had listened to Dr Atkins.

NARRATOR: But for all this apparent triumph there was still one huge hurdle between Dr Atkins and mainstream acceptance. The Atkins diet still seemed like scientific heresy. Calories could not evaporate in to thin air. To be accepted Dr Atkins would have to explain how you could lose weight while eating as much as you liked. He needed a credible answer to where the excess calories were going. So he came up with an idea. He said it was all down to how our bodies used food as fuel. The food we eat gets broken down to energy through various chemical reactions. What Dr Atkins realised is that fats, proteins and carbohydrates are converted to energy in very different ways. Mary Vernon is a doctor who prescribes the Atkins diet to patients. She like Dr Atkins believes the answer to where the calories are going can be found in how foods are broken down by the body.

Dr MARY VERNON: Breaking down carbohydrates is one of the simpler set of reactions in your body.

NARRATOR: Carbohydrates are turned to energy in a few easy chemical reactions. It's as simple as riding a horse from A to B.

Dr MARY VERNON: It's straight, it's simple, not much energy has to be expended to get the job done.

NARRATOR: But turning fats and proteins to energy is a much more complicated chemical process.

Dr MARY VERNON: Glycerol changes to dyahydroxiacetone phosphate, changes to glyceraldehyde threephospate, either of those can change...

NARRATOR: At every single reacting energy is lost as heat.

Dr MARY VERNON: ...to glucosesixphosphate.

NARRATOR: Dr Atkins's theory was that by turning fats and proteins in to energy your body already has to work harder. So calories quickly get used up.

Dr MARY VERNON: You wouldn't have to increase your exercise at all because your body would be working harder so that you could literally sit in your armchair and lose weight.

NARRATOR: In other words you could get slim while doing next to nothing, provided you ate the right sorts of food. And Dr Atkins had another theory about where the calories might go. This one linked to the diet's most notorious side effect. Atkins dieter Brian has had little to no carbohydrates for twenty days. He's checking for what's known in some circles as Atkins breath. Many of the diets devotees complain of smelly breath. But the good news, according to Dr Atkins, is that it means the body has started the maximum fat burning phase of his diet. And a process called ketosis. Dr Atkins claimed ketosis was as delightful as sunshine and sex.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: I don't think you feel very much different when you're in ketosis. I don't think Dr Atkins had much sex if he thinks that ketosis is better than sex, it's certainly not.

NARRATOR: Ketosis is what happens when you've used up all your glucose stores. Your body has to turn to fat for fuel, hopefully drawing on your fat reserves. As your body burns fats it creates as a by-product molecules called ketones. A few of these ketones escape on the breath giving you that unfortunate side effect. Others escape in the urine. So to find out whether Brian really is in ketosis he's testing his urine for ketones.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: Mm it's changed colour, ooh very exciting, let's have a look. I've gone to trace, so there is a trace of ketones there, it's not very much, probably because I had those glasses of wine on Sunday, very good, so I am in ketosis.

NARRATOR: What Dr Atkins argued is that ketosis was another reason why his dieters could eat to their hearts content. Ketones are in fact calories, and you could literally flush them unused down the toilet.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: Certainly it feels good to be peeing out calories, even if it's only a small trace. But nevertheless it all helps doesn't it? Very good.

NARRATOR: It was all coming together. Dr Atkins now had two untested but possible theories to how you could eat more yet still lose weight. It seemed his diet didn't violate the first law of thermodynamics. Calories were heading down the U-bend and were being used up by breaking down the fats and proteins. The diet's popularity soared. The book knocked Harry Potter off the best seller list. Meat sales boomed. Bread sales slumped. Papers pleaded with Brits to save our spuds. It seemed Dr Atkins had found the answer.

LARRY KING: The world's most controversial diet guru Dr Robert Atkins is next on Larry King live.

LARRY KING: Do you have a feeling of I told you so?

DR ROBERT ATKINS: Sure, I've had that feeling all along.

NARRATOR: Dr Atkins appeared vindicated. But he was about to be challenged again. Medical science hit back, there was a series of worrying studies. Some researchers suggested eating lots of meat could harm the kidneys. Other scientists found that too much fat may result in breast cancer. Others pointed out high protein diets could be bad for the bones. And there was even a suggestion that one girl had died because of the Atkins diet.

Dr PAUL ROBINSON: What will happen if people stay on this diet for twenty years, will there be an increase in kidney stones? Will there be an increase in colon cancer because of the loss of fibre in the diet? These are questions no one knows the answer to. And so we've embarked on this huge societal experiment on this diet and sadly we may find out some because negative answers in the next twenty years.

NARRATOR: The Atkins camp disputes all these complications. With no long term studies focussed on the diet none can be proven. But beyond all that there was still one serious unanswered question. No one had yet systematically looked at how the Atkins diet actually worked. So late last year Horizon commissioned a scientific investigation in to whether Dr Atkins's theories of how calories are lost on his diet were real or just wishful thinking. The study took place at Kansas University. Somewhere on this sprawling campus a man was locked inside a tiny room. He was there for a whole day and night. His identical twin was subjected to the same treatment. They had both donated their bodies to one of the first attempts to find evidence that you really do lose more calories than normal on the Atkins diet. The team behind this unique study was headed by Joe Donnelly.

Prof JOSEPH DONNELLY: The concept is very interesting, it's very controversial, in science it's very nice to be there. It's nice to do something that isn't boring, there are millions of people interested in Atkins, really right, wrong or indifferent. So we're very interested and eager to see the results.

NARRATOR: For two weeks one of the twins was put on the high fat, high protein Atkins diet. While the other was put on the conventional low fat diet. They were then locked inside this sealed chamber. By measuring how much oxygen they breathed in and out the computers could calculate how quickly their bodies were burning fuel. The hope was that this would begin to answer whether more calories are worked off on the Atkins diet by breaking down fats and proteins. Donnelly also tested Dr Atkins's theory of calories lost as ketones down the toilet. The twins had to donate their bodily fluids for the duration of their internment.

Prof JOSEPH DONNELLY: We've collected a litre and a half of urine at each collection period. They'll be analysed for urinary ketones and then we will know how many calories are lost in the urine. NARRATOR: If Dr Atkins's theories were right the twin on the Atkins diet should be losing significantly more calories than the twin on low fat. In the morning the twins were released and the results were in. To prove you burn off significantly more calories breaking down the Atkins diet researchers expected the twin on Atkins to have lost at least a hundred calories more than the twin on low fat. And the Atkins dieter did lose some more calories this way, but a total of just twenty two.

Prof JOSEPH DONNELLY: Twenty two calories is too small to suggest that there really is anything going on.

NARRATOR: In other words burning fats and proteins appeared to take up hardly any more energy than burning carbohydrates. It seemed Dr Atkins's theory that you lose calories when breaking down his diet might be wrong. Next the researchers looked to see whether any calories were lost as ketones in the urine. The twin on the Atkins diet had lost less than a single calorie more than his brother on low fat.

Prof JOSEPH DONNELLY: This is not enough to suggest that this particular demonstration showed a difference.

NARRATOR: It seemed being in ketosis made barely any difference at all. Again Dr Atkins's theory appeared to be wrong. This came as little surprise to Donnelly.

Prof JOSEPH DONNELLY: I think the results are what we expected. There's no difference between the two diets.

NARRATOR: The research is at a very early stage, and not all studies agree. But in Donnelly's first examination of how the Atkins diet works proof of Dr Atkins's theories remains elusive. This leaves a mystery at the heart of the Atkins debate. People shed weight on this apparently limitless calorie diet. If calories aren't lost through ketosis or breaking down food what is happening to them? Clues to the likely answer came from the world's largest dieting study that took place in Britain last year.

JUDGE: Few have confessed to the charge of being overweight.

NARRATOR: Behind the scenes of a popular television series a groundbreaking study put four famous diets on trial. Only now are the full results of that study emerging. Horizon is the first to reveal this research. Three of the diets were conventional low fat, low calories diets. Weight Watchers, Slim-Fast and Rosemary Conley. The fourth was of course the Atkins diet. One of the most important parts of the study was that the dieters kept detailed diaries of what they ate. Only now have these diaries been examined. Joe Milward is an expert in nutrition and was in charge of analysing the data.

Prof JOE MILWARD: We had four groups with sixty in each, so that's two hundred and forty people. And we had planned to do three diaries. So that's more than six hundred diaries all together.

NARRATOR: All four diets performed similarly when it came to weight loss.

WOMAN BEING WEIGHED: Yes, yes,

WOMAN BEING WEIGHED: Wow.

NARRATOR: There was no mystery why the low fat, low calorie dieters were losing weight.

WOMAN BEING WEIGHED: Yes.

NARRATOR: They were eating fewer calories than normal. The puzzle was why was the Atkins diet just as effective? But when the researchers turned their attention to the Atkins diet diaries something intriguing began to emerge. The diaries showed that even though they could eat as much as they liked they were actually eating as few calories as the low calorie dieters.

Prof JOE MILWARD: They were losing weight because they were eating less calories. In exactly the same way as those going to the slimming clubs on their low fat diets were losing weight because they had reduced their calorie intakes. It was a simple matter of if you eat fewer calories you lose weight.

NARRATOR: So for all the talk of limitless calories the diaries actually showed the Atkins dieters were eating less than they would normally. For scientists this poses a whole new mystery. Why on earth should people who are allowed to eat all the calories they want choose not to? The suggestion is that the Atkins diet must influence one of our most fundamental instincts, appetite.

Dr SUSAN JEBB: Appetite's the sort of biological drive to eat. And it's tremendously important because you know without eating appropriate and sufficient food we clearly can't survive or function effectively.

NARRATOR: Appetite is now at the centre of modern obesity research.

Dr SUSAN JEBB: The hunger drive is incredibly powerful. You only need to feel slightly peckish and you go off in search of something to eat to fulfil that basic biological drive to eat.

NARRATOR: The problem scientists have discovered is that when we start eating we find it hard to stop.

Dr SUSAN JEBB: We're all very familiar with the sensation of thinking you feel full at the end of the main course, but then desert arrives or the cheese board and maybe you could just manage a little bit more.

NARRATOR: In other worlds scientists think that we are fatter because our appetite drives us to eat too much. So science is looking for a way to kill hunger. And what is intriguing is that the Atkins diet might do exactly that. Ten months ago when Brian began the Atkins diet he weighed twenty three stone.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: Moment of truth. That's seventeen stone exactly, that's fantastic. So I've lost a stone in a month, about three pounds a week, which is great.

NARRATOR: Dr Atkins had noticed that people on his diet seemed to regain control of their appetite, in other words they felt fuller. And Brian for one notices the effect.

BRIAN CLIVAZ: Strangely on Atkins I feel much less hungry than on any other diet. I think the foods that you're allowed to eat on it seems to satisfy me and I don't have any problems with hunger really at all.

NARRATOR: This may be the secret to the Atkins diet. It works by controlling appetite. But what is it about the diet that kills hunger? Dr Atkins believed that it was due to cutting carbohydrates, but as yet evidence for this theory is so far inconclusive. There may be another reason. The Atkins diet is famous for its fat. Dr Atkins said you could eat as much of it as you like. Is it possible that fat could be suppressing appetite? To find out Susan Jebb and her team decided to run an experiment. All the meals in the study looked exactly the same, but there was a big difference. Half the food had liberal quantities of fat secretly added to it.

Dr SUSAN JEBB: We used things like spaghetti bolognaise or mousses so that you could because easily disguise the fat content of the food.

NARRATOR: None of the volunteers knew which type of food they were getting. But half of them were eating low fat meals, and half were eating high fat meals.

Dr SUSAN JEBB: What we told them is they could eat as much or as little as they wanted and they simply just had to ask when they wanted more food.

NARRATOR: If fat was the magic ingredient that switches appetite off, then the men eating the high fat food would fewer calories than normal to feel full. After four hundred and eighty six meals the results were clear. The fat was having the exact opposite effect. The men on the high fat food needed more calories to satisfy their appetite. They were actually overeating.

Dr SUSAN JEBB: What we conclude from that is that fat doesn't make people feel full. It doesn't trigger the sense of fullness and satiety that we believe is fundamental to appetite control.

NARRATOR: So fat wasn't the reason for the Atkins diet success. This just added to the mystery. There had to be another to explain why the Atkins diet made people eat less. The answer may have come from Denmark. This supermarket in Copenhagen is like no other in the world. It was built by Arne Astrup, a professor in human nutrition.

Prof ARNE ASTRUP: All the food items have a bar code on it, not for, not for pricing but for all the nutrition information with the calories, protein and carbohydrate.

NARRATOR: In this supermarket the check out assistant's not all she seems. She's a scientist, and everything in the shop is free.

Prof ARNE ASTRUP: When we announced actually in the television our University here was bombarded and the switchboard broke totally down and there were almost a thousand people who wanted to participate.

NARRATOR: Professor Astrup was running a study to discover the secret of appetite control. To do this he chose sixty shoppers and split them in to two groups. One group shopped for high carbohydrate food, the other group shopped for food high in protein, similar to the Atkins diet but low in fat.

Prof ARNE ASTRUP: One group should eat a lot of, of lean meat from shell fish, fish, poultry and lean meat, and dairy products. And the other group should eat a lot of bread, pasta, rice, fruit and vegetables.

NARRATOR: Both groups were told they could eat as much as they wanted. They should eat to satisfy their appetite just as Dr Atkins advised on his diet. The study ran for a whole year and the results were spectacular.

Prof ARNE ASTRUP: One of the groups was losing much more than the other group. I say it was four or five kilo more.

NARRATOR: When they looked more closely it was clear which group had lost so much weight. it was the group eating a diet high in protein. And the shopping lists revealed why.

Prof ARNE ASTRUP: We could see from the data that the reason why the high protein group had lost more weight was because they had actually consumed fewer calories throughout the study, despite the fact that they had just as the same free access to all the foods they really want to, to eat.

NARRATOR: At last the mystery of how the Atkins diet works may have been solved. It might have nothing to do with calories being lost. Probably nothing to do with ketosis. And apparently nothing to do with burning more calories. Neither does it seem to be due to gorging on fats. The secret to the diets success may be down to something completely different. Protein makes you feel full. Increasing the amount of protein in the diet may control appetite and make people eat less than they would normally. If this research goes on to be confirmed it will be a major advance for science.

Dr ERIC WESTMAN: The idea that you can eat certain foods and that it suppresses your appetite is a breakthrough, this is, this is huge.

Dr SUSAN JEBB: What's absolutely true is that people who consume large amounts of protein seem to feel fuller quicker than people who consume similar amounts of calories as fat.

Dr ERIC WESTMAN: There's some chemical change that's going on there, we just don't understand, but it's going to be very important to learn this.

NARRATOR: Sadly it's not clear how much of this Dr Atkins himself was aware of. On the 8th April 2003 he tripped and fell on an icy New York pavement and hit his head. Nine days later he died. At the time of his death it was starting to become clear how the diet might work, but Dr Atkins may never have realised the extent to which protein controls appetite. However even though it is now clear that the diet can help you lose weight the jury is still out on how it affects your health.

Dr Paul Robinson: I would not go on the Atkins diet until further studies have been done. And I would also not go on it because of the, my concerns about the physiology of the diet.

Dr SUSAN JEBB: We simply don't have any evidence of the long term health impact of diets which are high in protein and low in carbohydrate.

NARRATOR: It will take science years to understand the full impact that the Atkins diet has on the human body, for better or for worse.>
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon...instrans.shtml

Have never been able to understand this facination with the Atkins diet myself....
I always thought most people knew that protein made you feel fuller quicker and for longer......amazes me that they have to do trials to work this out!....bet all our grandparents knew though!
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Old 03-30-2005, 02:34 PM   #25 (permalink)
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Low carb...low fat....low calorie...it's all the same in effect. If done correctly, you should lose some fat. If done correctly, each of them is safe. The problem is when the food industry jumps on a diet and a fad is born. Remember when fat free salad dressings suddenly popped up right and left? That was all well and good, no fat = healthier, right? Not really. The fat wasw replaced by processed sugars (carbohydrates), and the dressing was just as unhealthy, if not moreso, than before. If you want to do Atkins, or the Zone, or w3hat have you, go spend the $10 on the book and read the whole thing through. Go to your doctor and ask if it is healthy for you. Then go on the diet and don't cheat. That's how this works.

The best, healthiest, and most natural way to lose fat is still exercise with a diet program. The top trainers in the world (olympic, professioanl sports, etc.) are currently working with the 3 part diet. 33% carbs, 33% fats, and 33% protien. And 100% exercise. Protien makes and maintains muscle. Fat and carbs are energy.

The reason American's are still getting fatter has more to do with exercise and food proportions than soda and bread. Get off your butt and run, walk, play basketball, or whatever it takes to break a sweat every day. Eat until you're full, so only put a smnall amount of food on your plate, then go back if you want more.
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Old 03-30-2005, 02:37 PM   #26 (permalink)
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Mom's a doc...she's been doing Atkin's for a while for two years. Loves it, recommends it to all her overweight patients, particularly the diabetics. It's great for them, because, obviously, carbs cause a spike in blood sugar which is bad.
Two weeks is NOT a good trial period for the diet. You need to go at least three months. And you need to READ the book. There's a lot you can miss by just skimming it. Those first two weeks are the worst, because you really drop carbs. It's super boring, but if you can get past that, you can start adding a little bit of carbs to your diet.
And if you don't cook, you might not want to try it. From what I've seen, it's pretty work intensive.
It's not just meat, there are a lot of veggies you can eat, salads with bleu cheese dressing and such.
There's no studies that suggest it's bad for you. My mom looks regularly, and has a nutritionist that comes in weekly that also keeps track of any research on Atkin's. Between the two of them, I'm sure any relevant articles would have been found.
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Old 03-30-2005, 02:43 PM   #27 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lindseylatch
Two weeks is NOT a good trial period for the diet.
Very true! Most diets should take several months before you have enough results to base your decision, yes or no, on. Diets do not work in a week, unless you're on a starvation diet (which isn't a diet, it's just a slow death).
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Old 03-30-2005, 02:54 PM   #28 (permalink)
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I would recommend the South Beach if you are looking into a low-carb diet that gives you a little more leeway(sp?) with fruits and veggies after the first two weeks. I really don't support the Atkins that much. It's just not healthy to completely deprive your body of carbs. Your body needs them them to function. Just don't cheat on it, and yeah, you're gonna need longer than two weeks.
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Old 03-30-2005, 03:01 PM   #29 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by P-Naughty
I would recommend the South Beach if you are looking into a low-carb diet that gives you a little more leeway(sp?) with fruits and veggies after the first two weeks. I really don't support the Atkins that much. It's just not healthy to completely deprive your body of carbs. Your body needs them them to function. Just don't cheat on it, and yeah, you're gonna need longer than two weeks.
The Atkin's diet isn't about completely depriving your body of carbs! Jesus, I hate when people say that...You reduce your carb very low in the first couple weeks (to induce ketosis), then stay at a low level to lose the weight you want to lose, then you slowly increase until you reach a level where your weight is stable. This stage could actually include quite a few carbs.
The Atkin's diet is similar the the South Beach diet, but actually has LESS rules and restrictions. It's easier to follow.
However, I'm sure the South Beach diet is still a good one, if you're willing to do the work.

I think just low fat, lots of exercise is a good diet, and one I try to follow. That way I'm just staying slim, but stay in shape as well.
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Last edited by lindseylatch; 03-30-2005 at 03:05 PM.. Reason: typo
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Old 03-30-2005, 03:14 PM   #30 (permalink)
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Fad diets are designed for one reason only, to make money.

It isn't necessary to line others pockets when you can do it yourself for free, we all know how to do it! Eat less, exercise more, it doesn't mean going hungry or working out at the gym or paying for someone to tell us what when and how much to eat.
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Old 03-30-2005, 04:06 PM   #31 (permalink)
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I just don't get it. If you study our physiology, it just isn't good for you. We weren't even designed to eat meat. The old formula....burn what you eat. And exercise has all those side benefits.

But, if it works for you....
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Old 03-30-2005, 04:24 PM   #32 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thingstodo
We weren't even designed to eat meat.
Uh...how so? We have tearing teeth (canines), our eyes are in front of our head (like most predators), we can digest meat (which herbivores cannot do)...
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Old 03-30-2005, 05:01 PM   #33 (permalink)
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Yeah, I think humans are.......Omnivores? Whatever it is that eats meat and vegetation. I followed the Atkins diet faithfully for 2 years, after carefully reading all the literature. Lost 35 lbs, have kept it off and improved all my measureable health indicators. According to my Dr., my blood pressure, cholesteral, blood sugar and weight are leaps and bounds better than when I followed a low fat diet. So I would say it works for me.
You should discuss it with your Doctor and if he's Ok with it give it a try. I cannot stress enough though, that you go to the library and thoroughly read up on the principles before starting.
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Old 03-30-2005, 06:25 PM   #34 (permalink)
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Moderation is the key to any good nutrition program. Adkins is inherently immoderate by virtue of its extremely limited allowance of carbs. There are naturally many success stories out there, and Atkins deservs some credit for simply bringing awareness to eating, however there is no need to be extreme. As several posters have said, your body needs carbs to function properly and at optimal level. Why would you want to feel sluggish (probably the number one complaint of Atkins dieters) when you can feel energized and still lose weight. Part of Atkins' success, I think, has to do with people cutting back on junk food like chips and cookies etc. This kind of crap isn't part of any healthy nutrition program so i refuse to give Atkins any credit for it. I recommend a nice balance of low-glycemic index, low starch carbs (brown rice, yams, all the vegetables you want (seriously, ask yourself if you have ever even heard of anyone getting fat on fruits and vegetables alone, I mean use your head) etc. and lots of lean meats and fishes. Red meats only about once a week at most. Lots of unsaturated fats (pretty much anything from seeds and nuts--a good rule of thumb is that if it is solid at room temperature it is probably a saturated fat). Not too much dairy any benefits from the protein is offset by the saturated fat of naturally occuring sugar--lactose.
For the record, i maintained 10% body fat on about 3,000 calories a day with giant salads, oatmeal, yams etc. with moderate excercise and I felt great.
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Old 04-03-2005, 02:28 PM   #35 (permalink)
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One book I haven't seen anyone mention is the GI Diet. From what I've heard about South Beach it's very similar but easier to follow. After reading the GI Diet my SO and I each lost 20 lbs, and without feeling like we were dieting at all, and we've kept it off for a year. The main idea is to eat more fruits and vegetables, and for the carbs you eat to have fibre in them. He recommends one quarter protein, one quarter carbs, and half vegetables and fruit on your plate. It's all very common sense and easy to follow. I have to admit, we didn't follow it to the letter, we only really changed what we ate for breakfast and lunch, and it still worked great. Common sense.

Last edited by typette; 04-03-2005 at 02:29 PM.. Reason: typo
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Old 04-04-2005, 03:28 AM   #36 (permalink)
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My mother tried this diet a couple of months ago for two weeks. She lost half a stone but started to get terrible cramps in her legs and back pain. She stopped and the pains are now gone. In my opinion it is not a good idea but obviously it does work to some extent. I think as long as you are sensible with it and if you start getting problems cease the diet then it would be ok.

Although a good balance is always preferable to any diet really.
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Old 04-05-2005, 09:51 AM   #37 (permalink)
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Dump the fad diets and eat a balanced diet and dedicate at least thirty minutes of your day to excersise. What's the point of losing weight if you still have a weak heart and lungs? Being thin isn't an end all goal. Being thin or fat is only "skin deep", go for fitness and being thin will come with it, plus all of the other benefits that will not come with simply dieting.
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Old 04-05-2005, 11:40 PM   #38 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by john_713
My mother tried this diet a couple of months ago for two weeks. She lost half a stone but started to get terrible cramps in her legs and back pain. She stopped and the pains are now gone. In my opinion it is not a good idea but obviously it does work to some extent. I think as long as you are sensible with it and if you start getting problems cease the diet then it would be ok.

Although a good balance is always preferable to any diet really.
IMO - This is an example of people not doing Atkins, saying they are and blaming Atkins for their ills. Failure to take supplements is the reason behind this (if I could get my scanner working, I would post the page in the book).

Atkins WILL cause health problems and WILL NOT make you lose weight if you cannot read, understand and heed the program.
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Old 04-06-2005, 07:33 AM   #39 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Boo
IMO - This is an example of people not doing Atkins, saying they are and blaming Atkins for their ills. Failure to take supplements is the reason behind this (.
This is a perfect example of how silly Atkins is. You have to take suplements in order for your body not to break down! Surely everyone can see if this is the case then the diet is not healthy. With a little effort and attention you can all get the vitamins and minerals you need from a healthy nutrition program.
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Old 04-06-2005, 02:01 PM   #40 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ilow
This is a perfect example of how silly Atkins is. You have to take suplements in order for your body not to break down! Surely everyone can see if this is the case then the diet is not healthy. With a little effort and attention you can all get the vitamins and minerals you need from a healthy nutrition program.
And yet, not many people do, and end up with lots of health problems.

Vegitarians have to take supplements, usually, and yet that is a generally accepted diet. I don't see how Atkin's is any different.
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