The Atkins diet has been created since the last 1970s and became popular in the recent years due to the low-fat diet craze. Because other low at plans does not give a perfect solution to the people who search for weight loss, Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution book provides them a new hope for losing weight.

But the key is Atkins diet effective? What are the basic principles behind Atkins diet?

The underlying Atkins diet is fundamentally based on the reason why we are fat. Based on Dr. Atkins, our excessive consumption of carbohydrates and sugars lead to us gaining weight easily. It is highlighted in the book that our body processes the carbohydrates would affect our waistline more than the fats and calories we consume. This phenomenon is known as "insulin resistance".

After we consume excess carbohydrates and sugars in our body, insulin would be released from our pancreas to be able to store sugar as glycogen in the liver and muscle cells for extra boost of energy later on. However, there is a limited capacity in which our body can store the glycogen. Once our body reaches its limit for glycogen storage, other carbohydrates would be stored as fat. This applies to people who eats too much carbohydrates.

Individuals with higher insulin resistant levels would have a harder time of using and storing excess carbohydrates. The more insulin your body is exposed to, the more resistant it becomes. After some time, the pancreas would release more insulin and hence cells become insulin resistant. Because of the high insulin, the cells would be trying to protect against it. They would hence create more fat and less glycogen.

This causes insulin resistant individuals to put on more weight. Instead of converting into energy, the carbohydrates convert into fat. Other side effects would include fatigue, lose of concentration, poor memory, loss of creativity, low blood sugar, restless, increased blood sugar and many more. There are more health hazards than weight gain when one is insulin resistant.

The cure for people who have higher insulin resistance is to have a diet with restricted carbohydrates. The main aim of Atkins diet is to control the intake of carbohydrates from all possible ways. This includes foods like simple sugar such as cookies, sodas, sweets, plain sugar and complex carbohydrates which are bread, rice and grains. Even healthy carbohydrates such as oatmeal, brown rice, and whole wheat bread are also restricted in Atkins diet.

You can only take less than 40 grams of carbohydrates on a daily basis if you follow closely to the diet. It will make your body in a ketosis state. In this state, your body will burn fat as fuel. In Dr. Atkins' research, this state would reduce insulin production and will prevent more fat from forming. The body would then begin to use stored fat for energy and hence you would be able to lose weight.

Another benefit of this diet is that ketosis would end your craving fro carbohydrates. If you are one that always live on carbohydrates, you simply find yourself unable to not eat any carbohydrates. Limitation of carbohydrates would help you stop craving for so much carbohydrates.

After the initial phases of Atkins diet, you can restore your balance of your diet in the long run. When you started to get back to your daily life, you should slowly reintroduce minimal amounts of carbohydrate to maintain a comfortable balance.

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