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Atkins Diet

In 1972 Robert Atkins published Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution, following up 20 years later with Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution. In both books Dr. Atkins pushed anti-conventional diet thinking, with the basic ideas of eating a balanced diet across all food groups being tossed out the window and replaced with a revolutionary high protein, low carbohydrate regimen.

In a diet initially designed to help heart patients, participants will begin a 2-week induction period, keeping carb intake to 20 grams or less per day, achieving a state called ketosis, in which the body will lose weight. In the second phase participants gradually add carb grams to their daily food until they notice a stop in weight loss. At this point they have found their minimum carb level they can eat to achieve weight loss; this phase is continued until the goal amount of weight loss is achieved.

In the next stage more carbs are added until weight gain is noticed. Now the dieter knows the upper range of their safe level. They can now enjoy an amount of carbs today in between the two extremes and not gain or lose weight. In the final stage participants now go on about their lives keeping the carbs in the proper range to avoid weight gain. If they happen to slip and put on a few pounds, they already know the level of carbs they can drop to in order to begin loosing weight again.

Few diets have had the notoriety and popularity of Dr. Robert C. Atkins Diet Revolution. Dr. Atkins passed away April 17, 2003 from complications from head trauma by a fall, but his three decades long legacy lives on. The Atkins Diet's affects on the American consumer and the companies that market to the consumer are tremendous.

Calorie counting has taken a back seat to carbohydrate counting, a practice that has become embraced so heartily by the public that food manufactures have taken to listing the carb count of their products in bright colors and bold letters all over their packaging. When it became obvious that everyone was jumping on that bandwagon, some manufacturers took it a step further, listing net carbs, a nice trick that gives a smaller number to display; net impact carbs supposedly only count those carbohydrates that actually affect your blood sugar level, as per the Atkins Diet. Finally some manufactures and even some major restaurant chains began labeling their offerings with "Atkins Meals" and "Atkins Diet Approved" signs, taking all the guess work out of for diehard dieters and drawing them out of their homes and the butcher isle into territory they may have otherwise avoided.

All in all, the Atkins' Diet is highly controversial, with many health professionals speaking out about the dangers of voluntarily entering ketosis (a state that the body normally only enters when starving) and too few carbohydrates. It seems that for every evangelist there is a detractor; if you are considering the Atkins' Diet to lose weight, read the book and then seek the advice of your physician.