The Heart of the Atkins Diet System
James Beckett
In 1972 a doctor by the name of Robert Atkins published a famous, albeit controversial diet. The new approach to dieting Atkins taught mixed high proteins with low carb intake. The publication of this diet sparked a fad in dieting that lasts even now. So let's look at what the secrets we can learn about the Atkins diet.
Eliminate carbs - the main point of the Atkins diet is that you must cease eating carbohydrates, or at least greatly reduce the consumption of carbohydrates. According to the Atkins diet, sugars are burned before anything else in the body, including fat. So if you consume too many sugars you are not allowing your body the opportunity to burn fat; as a result there is no weight reduction.
The Atkins approach is also controversial because it goes against conventional thinking by encouraging dieters to eat a lot of protein in the form of meat, cheese and eggs. Add to that a tolerant attitude toward traditional fats like butter and many salad dressings which Atkins maintains will be burnt off rapidly once the carbs are out of the diet and you have a very unique approach to weight loss.
When you cease eating carbohydrates which are usually a staple of a typical human diet, your body goes into a state called ketosis where it starts looking for other ways to get fuel. The basis of the Atkins Diet is that the body will commence to burning fat to get the fuel it needs. That is where the weight decrease occurs.
In addition to eating changes, when we become "Atkins people" there is the behavioral change of no longer being timid about asking for what we need when we eat out. An Atkins dieter must learn to be strong at restaurants and make sure the server brings things that fit the diet plan. So if you are in a burger joint, you can have the meat and the fixings but the bun has to stay in the kitchen. Other sacrifices that must go from our restaurant choices are french fries as well as pasta, potatoes and any food group that is high in sugar that will reverse the changes we are looking for in the way our metabolisms work.
This change of attitude may be the most important thing we need to know about Atkins because the diet calls for you to develop a new courage and pride because you demand that those who serve you food do so in keeping with the Atkins rules. But in this way Atkins fits with what we know about achieving a great win in life so if we want the weight loss we want, we have to be bold in making sure it happens in every circumstance of life as well.
There is a lot to know about Atkins that we cannot cover here so be proactive and get a book or two so you can learn more details of how this plan really works day by day. A good Atkins book will show you some workable tips and insider tricks on how to be an Atkins success story and still enjoy the foods you love. And once you start networking with other Atkins disciplines, you will get lot of recipes from other dieters and from great web sites that spring up all the time with new ways to lose weight the low carb way.
Atkins has gone through some controversy but the fact is, it works and it works for all kinds of people and body types. You have to get past a short transition period when you first settle into the diet. But once you are in the swing of things and you see the weight melting off, you will be glad you stuck with it. Then when you hit your target weight, you can go on a maintenance diet that will keep you trim and looking good for the long term.
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