Are Atkins Diet And Low Carb Diets Safe?
October 22, 2009 by Fight that Flab
Filed under Dieting and Food
Are low carb diets safe? How safe is Atkins diet? Are low carb and Atkins diets dangerous to your health? These are burning questions for dieters all over the world.
I have personally tried low carb diets and Atkins diet and these diets made me lose weight very quickly. However not only did I lose body fat weight, I also lost muscle weight. I had very obvious muscle and fat loss because I can visually see my reduced muscle mass in the mirror.
This certainly isn’t healthy. Furthermore, the more muscle mass that you lose, the less toned your body shape is. The end result is that you will end up thin and yet looked flabby with lose skin.
The frustrating part will be that after you are off the low carb or Atkins diet, you will very probably gain back all the weight that you have loss and even more. This is because your muscles are active and they continuously burn calories. Since you have less fewer muscle mass now, your body’s metabolism or capacity to burn calories slows down tremendously.
In other words, when you put on weight again, you are putting on body fat instead of muscles if you do not exercise. You will be fatter and less healthy than before you went on the low carb or Atkins diet. To compound matters, because of lesser muscle tissues resulting in lower metabolism and thus lesser calories being burnt, you are going to get fatter.
Since then I have stayed off both low carb and Atkins diet. Both types of diets are almost similar as they require you to cut down drastically on your consumption of carbohydrates. Atkins diet went a step further by advocating almost no carbohydrate consumption for 2 weeks before adding some carbs to your meals gradually thereafter.
Besides losing muscles, how safe are low carb diets? This is what Dr Lyn Steffen and Dr Jennifer Nettleton from the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health commentated in a Lancet report, “Low carbohydrate diets for weight management are far from healthy, given their association with ketosis, constipation or diarrhea, halitosis, headache and general fatigue to name a few.”
The doctors warned that the diet increases protein load on the kidneys and alters the balance of acid in the body. This also results in loss of minerals from the bone stores and affect bone strength. The doctors went on to say that, “Our most important criterion should be indisputable safety and low carbohydrate diets currently fall short of this benchmark.”
Dr Atkins, the creator of the Atkins diet died in 2003 after he was alleged to have slipped on an icy road and hurt his head fatally. However his medical report stated that he had a history of heart attack, hypertension and congestive heart failure.
Were Dr Atkins medical conditions related to his low carbohydrates diet is anybody’s guess. Do you want to take the risk by going on a low carb diet? I don’t think I will. If I ever want to lose weight again, I will rather go on the proven method of healthy eating and regular exercises instead of jumping on any fad diets.
Fat Fighting Foods – are There Foods That Can Help You Lose Weight?
October 17, 2009 by Fight that Flab
Filed under Burning Calories
When we talk about foods, we instantly think that these will make you fat. Since most foods have calories and if left unburned in your body, they will be converted to fats and there’s how most people become overweight.
However, contrary to what you may think, there are actually some fat fighting foods that can help you lose weight.
As research and my personal experience shows, there are foods that do not make you fat. These fat fighting foods can be your daily dose of fruits or those beans. There are a number of fat fighting foods identified. These foods are normally high in fiber and improve a person’s digestive system.
It is then easier to digest these foods and it even speeds up the metabolism. With a proper amount of these fat fighting foods, enough energy for the whole day can be maintained.
Also, a proper diet can make a person leaner while still maintaining a healthy life style.
Some examples of these fat fighting foods are oatmeal, garlic, and onions. Oatmeal for breakfast helps a person reduce the cravings for fatty food while garlic and onions breaks down fatty deposits found inside our bodies.
Nuts may have fatty acids but they help in burning fat and not add up to a person’s flab.
Lean meat such as pork, chicken and beef contains a lot of proteins which are needed to build and maintain muscle mass. These muscles in turn are active calories burners so eating more proteins can help you lose weight. You should choose meat that contains at least 95% lean meat.
There are many other foods that do not make a person stout. However, in all cases, avoid foods that are high in carbohydrates such as cakes, pasta, pizza and rice.
Starvation diet may not always be the easiest way to lose pounds. There are still ways to make yourself fit but still manage to enjoy the pleasure of eating. Discipline in eating is the key to lose the blubber. Fight the fat, and enjoy munching!
Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Atkins Diet
July 31, 2009 by Fight that Flab
Filed under Dieting and Food
s diet is one of the lowest in carbohydrates on the market today. His popularity has led to dozens of search to a feeding center and the same principles of high protein, low carbohydrate eating. There are many fish in the sea when it comes to choosing a diet low in carbohydrates. Studies have shown that diet low in carbohydrates has many advantages. There have been scientific results that low-carb diets Atkins created as weight loss, without having to restrict calories. People who use the Atkins diet have also reported this. Studies show that diet low in carbohydrates triclycerides improvement, a decrease of blood glucose for diabetics and pre-diabetics and increases good cholesterol (HDL). Diet low in carbohydrates has been scientifically proven to improve insulin sensitivity, decreased blood pressure and reduce insulin levels in the blood. Compared with diets low in fat, diet low in carbohydrates have lost less muscle mass. Although not scientifically proven, there are many common benefits reported by Atkins diet and other low-carb diets. These include energy, reduce the desire for sweets, better concentration, improved mood and reduced symptoms of depression type. However, there are also benefits that are specific to the Atkins diet. If you have a low fat dieter in previous years, youll love to eat all foods once forbidden to pass. Meat, butter and cream are part of the Atkins diet foods. There is a certain pleasure that comes from eating foods that were previously inaccessible. Atkins diet encourages eating lots of rich meats, cheeses, oils and fats. Atkins is also simple to use, in comparison with other low-carb diets on the market. There are some basic food carbohydrate that youll need to learn, but after that, you are free to eat from the acceptable food lists. Dr. Atkins also emphasized finding your own level of carbohydrates. Different people have different tolerance levels of carbohydrates. While some weight gain in just 90 grams of carbohydrates per day, others can live comfortably at 120 carbohydrate grams. During this stage of weight loss and pre-maintenance phase of the diet, you can learn from their own carbohydrates that help determine your target carbohydrates for life. The popularity of Atkins is a double-edged sword for food. There is much information available on nutrition, making it easier to find resources and support. There have been many, many Atkins books written and there is unlimited amounts of websites that offer advice and support of a group. However, everyone has heard of Atkins and probably has an opinion on this subject. There are some great ideas out there about the nature of food, and youll no doubt have to defend your new way of eating from time to time. There are other disadvantages to use the minimum of Atkins. You do not need to count carbohydrates in everything you eat to ensure they are in their range of carbohydrates. There is also the problem of induction, the most heated debate of the plan. Induction can be difficult to get through if Youve had a plan that concentrates on carbohydrates and sugar. In addition, many people try Induction and mistakenly believe that is how the diet as a whole will be. Just before entering the exit Atkins plan. Sometimes, but not common, people with reduced carbohydrates in the 3rd to 5th day of food. This reaction is the result of their body finally experiencing ketosis, or running on fat instead of carbohydrates. The effects are transient, but many people were sworn in on the low-carb diets entirely because of this accident. In general, with the least inconvenience considered, Atkins is one of the most popular diets low in carbohydrates for a reason. Works. Thousands of people have had success with the Atkins approach to the low carb lifestyle.




