Atkins Diet Plan

The Atkins Diet Plan gained popularity in 1972 with the publication of Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution. Dr. Atkins, the founder and former Executive Medical Director of The Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine, was one of the first vocal proponents of a low-carbohydrate diet. Long a voice for nutritional medicine, that first book has spawned newly revised versions as well as diet variations such as the South Beach Diet.

The diet’s popularity has waxed and waned over the last several decades and has come under fire from certain parts of the established medical and nutrition communities, due to its higher intake of cholesterol and calories from fat. But is has proven fairly effective for those that have followed the diet faithfully.

Basic Diet Tenets/Nutritional Philosophy

This Atkins Diet weight loss (and weight maintenance) program is based on the theory that your body needs more protein and less carbs. It is rooted in the science of eating fewer refined carbohydrates and refined sugars – what we refer to as ‘bad carbs.’”

The Atkins Diet Revolution gives you the tools to change your eating habits, adopting a permanent lifestyle change that helps you lose and maintain your weight without having to count calories (although you will have to learn to gauge carb counts). Dr. Atkins believed that you would feel better, look better, and be re-energized by following the basic tenets of the diet.

There are 4 stages of the Atkins Diet Plan:

• Induction: lasting for 2 or more weeks, very restrictive


• Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL): lasting until your weight loss goal is within 5-10 pounds


• Pre-Maintenance: occurs during the last 5-10 pounds of weight loss


• Lifetime Maintenance: once desired weight is achieved

While the program is somewhat restrictive in the initial stages, this allows your body to slowly ramp up and adjust to a new way of eating. The food you eat allows your body to target fat stores to be used for energy, rather than carbohydrates. Carbs turn to glucose to fuel your body. If you restrict your intake of carbs, the body will look elsewhere for that fuel, which means that energy will instead come from the fat stores in your body.

While you don’t count calories on Atkins, you also don’t eat unlimited amounts of calories either. There still needs to be some control, as the whole idea of taking in as many calories as you expend still holds true. You are just going to get those calories from different sources. The difficulty here is finding and adjusting to those foods. This includes the time it may take for shopping and preparation, as well as providing variety so you don’t get stuck eating eggs every morning for breakfast.

Unlike Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig, there is no storefront or office, no counselors, no meetings. There is a comprehensive website, which allows you to join for free and receive their newsletter, use their forums, and get support from the Atkins Community.

Exercise/Fitness Component

While there is no specific exercise regimen or fitness component, Dr. Atkins believed that exercise, as well as nutritional supplements, were vital to the success of the diet. Exercise is critical to your overall health and well being, and if you read any of the books on the diet, this will be reinforced. But it is up to you to find what works. The books and site do not tell you what to do or how to do it.

Food

The primary source of your food will be the grocery store. Atkins does have some snack foods (Atkins Day Break Bars, Atkins Advantage Bars,  Atkins Endulge Bars),  nutritional drinks (Atkins Advantage Shakes), and two low-carb cooking products (Atkins All-purpose Baking Mix, Penne Pasta), most of which are available at your local grocery and through the website.

The official Atkins book and website all have food guidance areas, as well as recipes. You can also easily find cookbooks at the library and bookstore and recipes online in various places. It is not difficult to follow or find products you can eat, and due to mandatory labeling of food, you can easily determine carb counts of food items.

All this means that your monthly grocery bill will not skyrocket due to expensive meal plans or frozen dinners, although it may increase somewhat due to the higher intake of higher valued protein items. Most of the dishes you prepare can be eaten by the whole family, so no additional or separate meal necessary. Eating out is not terribly difficult. Restaurants are happy to replace starches with veggies, and even fast food outlets like In ‘n’ Out make protein-style burgers, wrapped in lettuce.

Ease of Use

Once you read about the diet and understand the phase you are about to undertake, the diet is easy to follow. You rarely feel hungry. The downsides:

• You have to cook your own meals, rather than buy commercially prepared diet foods, but there are shortcuts which can be easily found. 


• Learning to count carbs

Cost (per month)

Membership: No cost
Food: slight increase
Other: book, cookbook

As with any diet program, do your research first. Go to the library, search the internet, and above all, consult your doctor about any diet regimen that you are contemplating.