The Atkins Diet

Steak with Bearnaise sauce, eggs, and bacon; cheddar cheese omelets -- don't hold the yolks; Roquefort dressing and silky smooth avocado cream soup made with real cream? These rich foods are allowed as part of the controversial diet described in Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, a phenomenal best seller, and several follow-up books.

How the Atkins Diet works:

Our bodies burn both fat and carbohydrates for energy, but carbs are used first. By restricting carbohydrates drastically to a mere fraction of that found in the typical American diet, the body goes into a state of ketosis, which means it burns its own fat for fuel. Exactly what you want to lose weight.

When the body is in ketosis, you tend to feel less hungry, and thus you're likely to eat less than you might otherwise When you start on the Adkins Diet your body changes from a carbohydrate-burning engine into a fat-burning engine. So instead of relying on the carbohydrate-rich items you might typically consume for energy, and leaving your fat stores just where they were before (alas, the hips, belly, and thunder thighs are popular fat-gathering spots), your fat stores become a primary energy source.

Overweight people, it is thought, eat too many carbohydrates. When you eat a high-carbohydrate meal, the sugar from the carbohydrates quickly enters the bloodstream. Then to keep the blood sugar from rising too high, the body secretes insulin. This insulin allows that extra sugar to be stored in the liver and muscle as glycogen, but these stores are small and are rapidly filled to capacity. The insulin will then convert any extra sugar to fat. Just what we are trying to get rid of.

What you can eat on the Atkins Diet:

Meat, eggs, fish (including shellfish), fowl, and regular cheese (not "diet" cheese, cheese spreads, or whey cheeses). You can cook with butter, have mayo with your tuna, and put olive oil on your salads.

Food not allowed:

No refined sugar, milk, white rice, or white flour.

Over time, the transition from weight loss to weight maintenance is made by gradually increasing carbs so long as gradual weight loss is maintained.

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