People used to believe that low fat, high carb diet is the way to go in achieving a healthy body. In the 70’s, there was a widespread craze of low fat/ fat free food but one would wonder why obesity was such a huge issue during that period.

Would it be safe to assume that probably the low fat food would contain as much calories as the full fat counterpart of that food?

Dr Robert C. Atkins, a cardiologist, developed the eating plan that is now widely known as Atkins Diet. This has been a controversial topic during that time because of the high saturated fat being promoted in this diet.

He wrote a popular book about this and had prompted other people to follow his footsteps.

During this time, further studies led to believe that carbohydrates, and not fat, is the main culprit for weight gain. Carbohydrates like processed and unrefined sugar, grains, flour, fructose are some of the bad carbs that have been identified to be bad for your body.

What is Atkins Diet?

Also known as ‘Low Carb Diet’, this form of diet limits your carbohydrate intake. It has gained popularity because there were many weight loss success stories that had been attributed to this type of diet.

It has been said that low carbohydrates can lower your insulin level, as well as your blood glucose. Lower insulin peaks during the day means the body is allowed to use the stored fat as an energy source that can, eventually, lead to weight loss and prevent insulin resistance that causes weight gain.

This eating plan does not require you to count your calorie intake but it emphasizes in eating the right balance of your macros, namely: Carbs, Proteins and Fats.

Benefits of Atkins Diet

Research suggests that Atkins Diet do improve the health condition of a person. Limiting the intake of processed and unrefined sugar can lower your blood cholesterol and sugar level and can have positive effects on diseases like Diabetes Mellitus, Metabolic Syndrome, Hyperlipidaemia and other Cardiovascular diseases.

Health Benefits of Atkins include:

• Weight Loss
• Increased level of good cholesterol or HDL
• Improved triglycerides
• Can improve health conditions like Diabetes and Cardiovascular diseases
• Won’t make you hungry
• Control blood sugar

Different Phases of Atkins

Atkins diet had been developed to make a marked difference in your lifestyle particularly in the way you eat. This is not about being a ‘diet fad’ but a lifelong and sustainable eating plan that will promote good health.

Here are the 4 Phases of Atkins:

Phase 1: Induction

In this phase, there is a strict restriction of carbohydrates to just 20g of net carbs a day within a 2 week period.

Net carb is defined as the fully digestible carb contained in a food, meaning, this is the total carbohydrate content minus the fibre content.

During Atkins Diet Induction stage, you cut your carb intake down to 10% of your total caloric intake. Your source of carb should be from cruciferous, pepper, cucumber, green beans – in short – good carbs!

This should be coupled by eating high fat and high protein to ensure fast weight loss.

Phase 2: Balancing

In this stage, you slowly add nutrient-enriched carbohydrates. This will allow you to incorporate nuts and small amount of fruits into your diet.

The total net carb allowed in this phase is 30g. You will still encounter weight loss but not as fast as you did in Phase 1.

Phase 3: Pre-Maintenance

You can incorporate more carbs into your diet at this stage. You are allowed to add 10g of carbs per week to your diet and at this period, you are at the point where you are near your desired weight.

You can continue on this phase until you have reached your weight goal.

Phase 4: Maintenance

This phase is when you sustain your way of eating to achieve a lifestyle change. You can eat carbs without regaining the weight that you have lost.

In this stage you are allowed to eat until 120 net carbs a day.

As mentioned above, Atkins is about changing the way that you look at food. This is not for everybody, and if with existing medical condition, it is always safe to consult your doctor first.

Bottom line is, when you restrict carbohydrates, you restrict calories. This is the basic concept of weight loss but we need to find an effective tool in which we can achieve this.

Atkins Diet is a very effective eating plan that can provide good results, all it entail is dedication and the change of mindset to have a sustainable change in lifestyle that can give you the results that you want.