So What is a low carb diet then?

This diet mainly focuses on restricting the net amount of carbs consumed per day and it is divided into several phases. According to this diet the maximum allowable amount of carb is 20g at the initial stage. This sets the body of dieter’s in a perfect state of ketosis and under this condition fat is burned to produce energy rather than glucose. Some of us confused ketosis with ketoacidosis. Ketosis is perfectly a natural and healthy state of body. In contrary ketoacidosis is found in the body of type 1 diabetes patients.

Phases of Atkins

In the first phase of Atkins which is also known as ‘Induction’ it is tried to keep away the dieter from starchy and sugar rich foods by restricting them to consume only 20g carbohydrates. It also induces ketosis which is a very healthy and natural state of the body. During the ‘Induction’ phase mainly protein based foods and green vegetables are served and the minimum duration of this phase is 15 days. Basically this is the phase where most person experiences the maximum weight loss however, low carbohydrate consumption is really tedious.

In the subsequent phases amount of carbohydrate ingestion is increased. Moreover, some new carbohydrate rich food items are introduced in order to maintain the required amount of carbohydrate level. As carbohydrate level increases it would prevent a person from too much weight loss.

Lastly in “Ongoing maintenance” which is the final phase of Atkins almost all foods are back except excessive sugar and refined flour. In this final phase generally some basic guidelines and regulations are set so that you can maintain a balanced weight throughout the rest of your life.

Advantages

ü  Atkins diet considers the differences in carb requirement among different people. Accordingly it modifies the allowance of carbohydrate consumption.

ü  You will never feel hungry while following this diet because it allows you to take fat rich food.

ü  Its success history is 40 years old and with millions of followers across the world it has now become an established and scientifically proven method for long term weight loss.

Disadvantages

ü  In the first phase restrictions on the amount of food consumption is quite hard for some people to follow.

ü  According to some dieticians Atkins diet is unhealthy because it allows for unlimited taking of saturated fats.