How could I know the Atkins diet is not right for you if we have never met. I know this because you are human. Despite its enormous popularity and founder (Dr. Robert Atkins was 255lbs at his death) it has some terrible side effects on the human body.
The idea of the Atkins diet is simple, eat high protein foods and reduce or eliminate the intake of carbohydrates found in breads, pastas, cookies, rice, etc. What this will do is force your body to burn fat instead of carbohydrates as well as reducing your appetite. While in theory this sounds great there is a reason the food pyramid suggests you have six to eleven servings of carbohydrates per day. The Atkins diet claims you can lose ten pounds in two weeks a very aggressive claim considering physicians recommend safe weight loss should occur at two to three pounds per week. Interestingly after the first two weeks the Atkins diet only claims a loss of one pound per week.
Why is there such a sharp drop off in results? The reason is water weight. The average person is 65% water. Water is found in bones, muscles, and it is stored in carbohydrates. With some simple math we can deduce that a 175 pound man would be roughly 105 pounds of water. Since there is a lack of carbohydrates in your system water escapes at a very fast pace. You may notice this when you are working out an need to drink twice as much water than normal. The side effects of this can be devastating. People who stick with the Atkins diet for an extensive period of time will often have tooth decay, bad breath as a result of Ketosis, weak bones, insomnia, dizziness, and reduced muscle mass. There are some irreversible drawbacks that can be found in a high protein diet which has a lot more fat than a diet of carbohydrates, they include increased cholesterol, risk of heart disease, osteoporosis and kidney failure.
So what does your body do to cope? Actually as a result it creates more fat to keep the water in your system and because water is used to regulate your body temperature the fat acts as insulation in its absence. Is the get thin quick regiment starting to look less attractive. I hope so.
There is only one diet that works and that is burn more calories than you take in. Stick to about 2500 to 3000 calories a day with a balanced diet and exercise regularly, just like your parents told you. See they can be right.
Zack
Co-Owner
http://www.gimme20.com
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I learned from "The Bad Breath Bible" by Dr. Harold Katz that Atkins diet can indeed cause bad breath. The high amount of protein causes dry mouth and causes the development of anaerobic bacteria, the source of bad breath. This is another blog I go to for bad breath information - http://blog.therabreath.com.
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