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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 04:35 pm: | 
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There are a few things people should know when starting this diet or for those of you already on this atkins diet.
Mr. Atkins was a heart doctor. In his biography it states he has NO additional nutritional education outside his practice. Doctors only need to take 1 nutrition course for their entire practice. That means their nutritional knowledge is equal to that of a beginner in the exercise field. There is a reason there are nutritionists around and other health professionals. So doctors can refer patients to the appropriate professionals. Myself, im a clinical, as well as, holistic nutritionist and personal trainer. Any facts regarding how the body is effected by Nutrition/Diets and exercise, can ask ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine. The organization contains many exercise physiologists (elite professionals in the world on how nutrition/diet/exercise effect the body). I do some studies through ACSM. One note Mr. Atkins died very obese, im aware that he had a fall and that’s what caused his death. However he did die obese and would not follow his own diet he created! Something to think about
There are a few facts people should know regarding the body and this diet.
1)The human body is only capable of burning 0.5 to 2lbs of fat per week. Any more weight lost than that is probably going to be muscle, and some water. In order for the body to burn fat it must go through 5 phases. First it must eat up all the ATP (Adenosine Tryphosphate) stores. Second It must eat up all the creatine stores. Third, it must burn glucose without the presence of oxygen. Fourth, it must burn glucose with the presence of oxygen. Finally beta-oxidation phase or fat burning. One must do a minimum of 30 min of arobic activity to achieve this phase. However 45-60 min is more likely.
2)Consuming excess protein is known to cause diseases such as Cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis and many more. When excess protein is consumed, a small amount is lost in bowel movements and the rest is stored as fat. The amount someone can consume is equal to their lean body mass in kilograms. Anymore than that will cause fat storage, as well as, potential for degenerative diseases.
3)Depleting or lowering the body of its primary energy source (Carbs) (Less than 50% of daily caloric intake) causes the body throw itself into defensive mode. During this mode, the body grabs its energy from the next easiest source (protein). It cannot eat into the fat because the process is to long and your body needs the energy right away. So protein is stripped off the muscle causing dramatic muscle loss. Losing muscle causes your bones to weaken, this inturn has a great risk for osteoperosis. Depriving the brain of its main energy source as well can cause stress, fatigue, irritability, lathargicness
4)I’ve seen in his biography that meats and cheeses should replace almost all fruits and veggies. This is ridiculous coming from a doctor. Many of the essential vitamins only come from fruits and veggies and therefore need to be eaten in abundance. Taking multi-vitamins offset all the lost vitamins from the fruits and veggies has a huge risk of causing vitamin toxicity due to some of our vitamins already being manufactured in the body. Many of our vitamins that are responsible for fat assimilation are only found in fruits and veggies.
The Atkins diet promises tremendous weight loss. None of the studies or research behind this Atkins diet states anywhere that the weight is lost is Fat! There is a reason for this, the weight that is lost is muscle. Someone who tries to consume extra protein to offset the lack of carbs is being completely counterproductive to their goal. Due to the lengthy phase that it takes to burn fat from the body, intaking extra fat to offset this is a lost cause you’ll only get fat accumulation. So the excess protein consumption in this Atkins diet causes not only fat accumulation from protein and fat, it causes a severe loss in muscle and potential for many degenerative diseases.
The body is deceiving thing to look at when determining what is your lean mass versus fat mass versus water mass. Jumping on a scale is an extremely poor way to determine if you’ve lost fat because all it measures is body weight. You could have lost 40 pounds of muscle and someone may think “WOW I LOST 40 LBS OF FAT”
Looking at yourself in the mirror is another poor way to determine what one has lost is fat. The stomach can stretch out greatly or shrink greatly giving the impression you’ve either gained or lost a lot of weight. When you lose muscle your body shrinks as a whole giving the appearance that fat loss has taken place.
The only way to determine what one has lost is fat is to go get a proper body analysis done that measures everything from muscle mass, fat mass, bone mass, water mass, water % etc..
The reason people on this Atkins diet lose like 15-30lbs in the first month is because of the muscle mass. Muscle weighs about 5 times what fat does, hence the huge weight droppage. If one does not keep their daily caloric intake of carbs above 50%, muscle loss will take place! Preferably it should be 60% to be safe.
If someone finds something that works for fat loss and they like it, by all means keep doing it. But make sure what your losing IS fat.
Please people use common sense when starting diets. Remember that its only possible for 0.5 to 2lbs of fat per week. The average person will only burn about 1lb per week. Anymore than that, then you could be causing life-long problems for your body. There is no such thing as a “Lose Weight Quick” diet unless you plan on liposuction but that’s dangerous in itself
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