Do you think the Atkins Diet is safe and effective? Have you been on it? What success or failure have you had with it? Is it beneficial as a long-term weight reduction program? Have you personally experienced any ill effects from the Atkins Diet? If so, what were they, and how was the matter resolved? Thanks for your participation.
I think the Atkins Diet is unsafe and ineffective. While I’ve never had personal experience with it, I have known people who have, and after they go back to eating normally (which you have to eventually), you will gain back the weight. Eat what you normally do, but eat less, move more. Eat four to six small meals a day with breakfast being the largest and dinner being the smallest. Eat the majority of your calories early in the day. Avoid sodas and junk foods.
It certainly is effective. Anyone that stuck with and didn’t cheat and pretend they stuck with it has lost weight on it and fast. About six years ago I did it, not that I was severely over weight or anything, but I could have done with losing a few pounds and after just one week I lost 16 pounds. It’s not something I could stick with long term, though, I don’t think anyone can.
I don’t know if it’s “dangerous,” but short term, for about four weeks you should be fine and a whole lot thinner.
Oh it’s the quickest fix by far out of everything that I have tried.
I went on it for one week, ate TONS of meat, cheese, veggies and lost 10 lbs. It’s great because you can seriously eat as much as you want.
Unsafe? I am sure it’s not good to quit carbs sooo in that sense yes.. But for short term, I think this diet is wonderful. I know so many people tthat have lost a ton from this diet in particular
Good luck
Side effects if any — i was a little sluggish, but that was from not being able to eat sweets..
I have also been hearing some neg stuff on the Adkins diet. I have used the Cabbage Soup Diet, It works well and is even used in hospitals for helping people lose weight fast before heart surgery.
I found it for free online
I read the book and saw the diet and said you have got to be kidding. I don’t know any one that could stay on it but I took the diet and studied it all the was threw. It’s a low carb diet. And honestly if you eat eggs, green veggies, fish, and meat the first week not month but for a week then the next week add yellow veggies third week add melons and each week add some fruit. But stay away from starch, flour, sugar, and carbs you will lose weight. But if you try to go back to your old eating habits you will gain it back. I made this diet and stuck with it lost 50 lbs and felt great better than I have in 30 years. If you take the diet mark down from each month starting with the second month and eat what you like then the next week add something it says you can add from the 3rd month. It takes awhile especially if you eat alot of bread like I did. It was hard to give up my bread. but when I did I don’t get cravings don’t want anything except what is healthy. And feel like I’m 20 and I’m 56
all protein/low carb diets are not good for you! Your body needs all 3 macro-nutrients to survive — carbohydrates, protein and fat. If you cut out one of those macro-nutrients your body will not function properly and eventually break down.
Eat whole, naturally occuring foods. Nothing processed, packaged or anything with added sugar, salt, artificial sweetners or preservatives.
Live by this quote: “If you can’t hunt it, fish it, pick it from a tree, bush or the ground, DON’T eat it.”
I *thought* I had a healthy diet, low fat, high carb, adequate protein, lots of fresh vegetables & kept getting sicker and fatter. I started Atkins over 5 years ago just to get my appetite under control. I am disabled and can’t exercise & I didn’t think it was possible to LOSE weight without exercise (which was how I always controlled my weight before I was disabled, I never believed in low calorie diets) I started Atkins (didn’t weigh first) and my tight clothes got huge quick (or I shrunk) I have never tried to lose weight and I still lost weight without trying, just making different choices. I can’t worry about my weight until my health is better, but with low carb balancing my hormones, I am starting to heal. My cholesterol & triglycerides which were dangerously high doing a low fat diet are now perfect. Dr.Atkins was a cardiologist, low carb was a health plan easier sold as a “diet” Read any of his books for easily understandable science. Lutz “Life without Bread” & Taubes “Good calorie, Bad calorie” are excellent books that dispel all the nutrition myths.
I advocate a high fat diet, more commonly referred to as a low carb diet or a high protein diet which is actually a misnomer. Though the carbohydrates are low, the protein is only a little higher than adequate but the magic happens in this plan with the fat.
Glucose is the bodies preferred fuel (if you want to get technical, if actually burns alcohol most efficiently, but that doesn’t make it any healthier for the body than carbs), the body can convert 100% of carbs, 58% of protein & 10% of dietary fat into glucose. The body can also be fueled by fat (dietary fat & fat cells) but only in the absence of carbs. Your brain actually prefers to be fueled by ketones (part of the fat burning process), only the heart requires glucose, but glucose can be easily converted from fat stores or excess protein if needed or dietary fat.
Your body requires fats, you will die without them. Your body requires protein, you will die without them. You will die if you eat protein without fat. You do not require carbohydrates. The body can manufacture all it needs from the protein/fat combination.
High fat, adequate protein and very low carbs will after 3 days convert your body to burning fat as fuel (ketosis). While in ketosis you will burn dietary fat and if dietary fat is more than sufficient, body fat directly. High calories will keep the metabolism at maximum fat burning capabilities.
Eating carbohydrates while trying to lose body fat is terribly inefficient. When in glycolysis (burning glucose as fuel) you have to lower your calories (which slows your metabolism) and exercise heavily to deplete your glycogen stores before burning body fat.
A calorie is not a calorie. The body does not follow logical mathematical equations. Metabolism is controlled by nutrition. You can’t eat 600/1500/2000 calories of fruit (pick a number, it doesn’t matter – only the amount of fat stored changes) , your body will treat it as being starved (which it is, starved of nutrition) and will shut down your metabolism as if you’re eating nothing, but will store every possible ounce as fat. Inversely, you wont gain weight on 4000 or more calories of fat & protein (if fat is 65% of calories) because insulin (the fat storage hormone) is not activated.
Your body won’t release fat stores if you lower calories below what it needs. It will slow your metabolism to compensate & store every spare ounce as fat. If you continue lowering your calories, it will continue lowering that set point, til you can survive off nothing and store fat on anything. The body will only release it’s fat stores if it knows there is plenty of food. Read the diet boards about the young girls eating 600 calories a day for months (but fruit is so healthy!) & not losing weight and considering lowering their calories further. Sure they lose some weight at first but it’s water weight & lean tissue but their bodies become fat storage machines.
Although it is completely possible to live on a fat/protein only diet for long term (as proven by research done in a hospital setting) it becomes boring fairly quickly. Luckily many, many vegetables and some fruits, nuts and seeds are low in carbs and greatly expand the diet. Most long term low carbers eat as many, if not more non starchy vegetables than vegetarians.
Detractors of the high fat, high protein Atkins diet claim that Dr. Dean Ornish’s low-fat vegetarian diet as the optimal diet. I believe that Atkins & Ornish’s plans are not that incompatible, they both promote ultimate health as their goal. They both agree that the major problem occurs when you mix carbs with fat. They both agree that highly refined non nutritional carbs with man made fats (trans fats, hydrogenated fats) in mass quantities produces the current obesity/health degradation epidemic that is of global concern.
Ultimately, your diet needs to be what can you live with? I personally wouldn’t be happy living without meat, fat, cheese. I like not having calorie restrictions. It’s easier for me to do without than to do “in moderation”.