The Atkins low carb diet plan is known to be one of the best low carbohydrate diet programs for many years. It was published by Dr. Robert Atkins on the year 1970. It is neither the first nor the newest low carb diet plan but it is popular since it has been proven to be very well established. It is also a low carb diet plan that motivated a lot of people to create wide range of recipe books which are based on this diet plan. Even today, there are still a lot of health professionals who accept this diet plan better than the newer ones.
If you are planning of following this particular low carb diet plan, then you should have a copy of the Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution because it is the revised version of this diet program that includes vegetables and it has been observed that it is a healthier program compared to the first one.
Low carb diet programs such as the Atkins’ program works through keeping an individual’s carb consumption low enough that he or she will enter a process called lipolysis or ketosis. This is a body’s natural condition which will be experienced when the body is very low in carbohydrates.
A lot of body functions will require glucose to be used for energy and this will be taken from carb foods that we intake. If the body is not getting enough glucose, it will simply switch to using the fats for energy and this is when you will start losing weight.
Unlike the other low carb dieting programs, the Atkins’ diet plan will not restrict fat consumption. This is because it will pose a health threat to the body when there is not enough glucose and not enough fats in the diet to be used for energy. Aside from that, fats will make a person full for a long period of time.
There are 3 stages for this diet program and the first one is called as the induction. In this stage, you will be restricted to taking more than 20 grams of carbohydrates. If you don’t know the carb contents of the foods that you are going to eat for the diet plan, then you can use sources such as the fitday.com to help you track the contents of that particular food.
If you think that the restriction is just too much for you, you don’t have to worry that much since you will just be following this phase for just 2 weeks. In the second stage, you will then be allowed to increase carbohydrate intake and you can now eat the foods which you were not allowed to eat on the first phase. This means you can now eat more vegetables such as starchy vegetables and some beans in just small quantities. You can also have more dairy products, whole grains, fruits and nuts.
The last part of the Atkins low carb diet plan is defined as the maintenance phase and this is when you will be achieving your desired weight loss.
