Popular Diet Comparison: The Atkins Diet

Popular Diet Comparison

Lose 30 pounds in 30 days! Lose 10 pounds a week and eat all you want! We’ve all seen these statements – miracle diets that claim to have you losing large amounts of weight with little to no effort, or on the flip side, diets that ask you to deprive or starve yourself in order to see results. And if you want to lose weight, these miraculous claims can certainly seem appealing. But many of these diets are not realistic in the long term (or even healthy in the short-term!) and if you are serious about achieving healthy weight loss/maintenance for life, then it requires a life-time commitment. 

Here we’ll go through some of the more popular diets out there – what they are, how they work, what to expect, some unbiased pros and cons and then our own evaluation and rating (good, bad or ugly) based on the safety and effectiveness of each. At the end, we hope that you’ll be able to make an educated decision regarding the healthiest and most effective diet for you!

Popular Diets:

• The Atkins Diet
• The Cabbage Soup Diet
• The Blood Type Diet (aka Eat Right 4 Your Type)
• The Zone Diet

The Atkins Diet

Official Site: http://www.atkins.com

Overview:

On the Atkins diet, you will be required to severely limit your intake of carbohydrates, while high consumption of both proteins and fats are encouraged. Seemingly the ‘miracle diet’, the Atkins craze took North America by storm, prompting numerous new product lines, books, clubs and even Atkins-friendly options in many restaurants. Although the initial hype has died down, there still remain more than enough resources out there for anyone wishing to begin this diet.

How it works:

According to Dr. Robert Atkins, the theory behind eating a diet high in fats and proteins, while almost eliminating carbs altogether, is to lower the blood sugar insulin levels, leading to decreased appetite and weight loss. As well, by restricting the body’s first choice of energy – carbohydrates - the body will then turn to its next form of energy – fat. So your body starts burning fat instead of carbohydrates to provide fuel for your body.

Length of program:

Indefinite

Expect to eat a whole lot of:

Protein and fats, such as meat, fish, poultry, oils, cream, creamy sauces and eggs.

Say Goodbye To:

Carbohydrates such as fruits and vegetables, grains, sugars and milk.

Pros:

• People who really love protein, but have previously been unsuccessful in low-fat, high-carb diets could see better weight-loss results from this program.
• Relatively easy to follow with no complicated meal plans – once you understand the basic principles, it’s easy to apply them to most foods.

Cons:

• It’s very difficult to severely restrict carbohydrates for long periods of time and weight gain is an immediate result of eating more carbohydrates than allowed.
• Lack of fruits and vegetables could lead to vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
• Low fiber intake could lead to numerous health-related issues.
• So much protein and fat for such a long period of time could lead to serious health problems.

Thoughts on Atkins:

Most likely, you or someone you know started the Atkins diet during all Atkins excitement…and chances are that you, or that person you know, are no longer on the Atkins diet. Your body needs a balance of the three macro nutrients (fats, protein and carbohydrates) and if you restrict any one of these for an extended period of time, you’re body will do everything it can to get that balance back – leading to cravings for carbohydrates that can’t be ignored indefinitely. Unfortunately, the principles of this program only work with the restricted carbohydrate intake, so once you give in to the cravings, the weight will come back.

Aside from the difficulty of sustaining this diet long-term, there are health consequences to consider – a healthy diet consists of 50-70% complex carbohydrates (fruits, veggies and whole grains), and the majority of your vitamins and minerals come from these foods. Although the Atkins diet suggests taking supplements to make up for these missing nutrients, supplements are not meant to replace nutrients found in whole foods. Taking supplements as your only source of these essential nutrients could harm your overall health and could lead to some serious deficiencies and health problems in the long run.

Another harmful effect of this diet is the lack of fiber. Getting enough fiber in your diet is essential to keeping your digestive system healthy, and lack of fiber can lead to a variety of problems ranging from constipation to high cholesterol to colon cancer. Complex carbohydrates are an excellent source of fiber and should not be omitted from a healthy diet.

And finally, there have been concerns over the excess intake of fats and proteins in this diet. We all need healthy fats in our diets, but they should still only comprise 20-30% of your daily intake and they must be the good kind of fats (poly- or mono-saturated). The Atkins diet does not take into account which fats you consume. Excess protein can be harmful in the long run. Your body doesn’t store unused protein, so any excess is broken down in the liver and a waste product called urea is created. Urea circulates in your blood and it’s the kidney’s job to filter the urea and excrete it. If you constantly consume more protein than your body can use, this will put pressure on your kidneys. After many years of over-consuming protein, this can potentially damage your kidneys. The average person eating a healthy diet will not have to be concerned about this, but someone thinking of going on Atkins for the long haul should seriously consider this risk.

It should be said that there haven’t yet been any long-term studies on the effects of Atkins – these observations are based on the nutrients that one consumes on this program and the known effects that this sort of diet can have on long-term health.