The Atkins Diet

 The world today loves the idea of slim looking people. We see these people in magazines, on the television, and on beauty contests. In short we see them everywhere following various diets to help them achieve this look. One such diet that promotes this way of living is the Atkins diet. With the Atkins diet the way many people dieted changed forever.

In the Atkins diet you are introduced to a new way of living. With this method you will be re-educated about the types of low carbohydrate foods that you can eat. You will have to follow certain strict rules in order for the Atkins diet to work for you.

There are 4 stages of the diet that are necessary for any one who is on the Atkins diet to follow. These stages arethe induction which is stage 1,ongoing weight loss is stage 2,pre-maintenance is the 3rd stagestage 4 is maintenance.

In addition to following the various dietary rules of these various stages the Atkins diet also recommends that regular exercise and nutritional supplements are used as part of this low carbohydrate diet.

During the induction stage of the Atkins diet it is possible to lose up to 15 pounds. This is achieved by restricting your carbohydrate intake to 20 grams a day. You can have low carbohydrate vegetables in your diet like lettuce, broccoli and tomatoes, However you can’t eat yoghurt, fruit and any starchy vegetables like potatoes on an Atkins diet. You are not allowed to have any drinks like alcohol or anything that might be caffeine based.

Supposedly during the induction stage of the Atkins diet you stabilize your blood sugar, and curb various health symptoms that originate from unstable blood sugar, like fatigue. In this stage you break various food addictions and you also curb your cravings for different foods. You will also find there to be a significant weight loss during this period.

When you enter the 3rd and 4th stages of the Atkins diet you will have reached your ideal weight. It will be at this time that you get to increase your carbohydrate intake up to 60 grams per day. From this point on if you wish to keep your weight at this level then you must stick to your Atkins diet for the rest of your life.

A word of caution should be given. There are many medical facts that state that following the Atkins diet will cause health problems for those on the diet. The reasons are many but the main ones are that our bodies need about 300 grams of carbohydrates for health and brain activity to function properly.

However, so far the diet seems to be working for many people on many different levels, so if you take things one step at a time, you should be able to find that with the Atkins diet you’ve found a sure-fire winning way to permanent weight loss. And what could be better than that?