Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Low Carb and Atkins Diets, Basic Facts

By Ricardo d Argence

You feel the tears rising up--even though you have just attended a party. Perhaps being obese means you don't leave a good impression while someone with less to offer but who happens to be thin wins every time. When you slowly crawl from your bed each day, nothing seems to be quite right and you should take action.

Nine out of ten times, it is noticed that an improper diet is responsible for the excessive weight gained by an individual. What we forget to pay heed to is that our body metabolism follows a certain pattern and if we go on disrupting it with our shifting eating habits, it will gradually fail and most of the calories ingested will get stored as fat in the body.

For the need to address the matter, Dr. Robert Atkins created a dynamic low carbohydrate diet in the 1970's, and had a book that elaborated on the diet. It wasn't popular when it was first released, but thanks to it's reintroduction to the United States in the 1990's, it has become more popular and fueled numerous coffee table discussions. The Atkins diet has attested to be favorable in many instances while nutritionists and health experts dismiss it as being a popular fad.

The Atkins diet is broken up into several different stages based on the portion of carbohydrates included into your food chart. In the archetypal introductory phase, it allows for consumption of 20 gm of carbohydrates per day. In these first two weeks, one subsists on bacon, poultry products, meat, cheese, butter, sausage, seafood and oils and he is barred from consuming food with a high glycemic index like cereals, fruits, milk, grains or breads.

During the maintenance section of the proram it is recommended that the dieter increase his carbs by 5 grams each day until he is averages around 40 to 90 grams each day. Adipose tissue will be exposed through extensive carbohydrate consumption.

A few of the down falls of the low carb diet are as follows. Things initially take place in a healthy manner when carb intake is reduced and the body begins to release energy by breaking down fat. Lipolysis occurs during starvation causing proteins to break down and take the place of the absense of body fat ultimately causing ketosis.

The ketone bodies formed during ketosis, interfere with your blood cells' oxygen carrying capacity and may permanently damage brain tissues and lead to brain death or coma. So one should stay on the lookout for signs of ketosis. Bad breath is one of the chief indicators of ketosis since the ketone body formed in the digestive system and its interaction with the enzymes and bacteria leads to fermented products. Sluggish movement is also due to lesser energy being released on breakdown of fat. 1 gm of carbohydrate release 7 Kcal of energy while 1 gm of fat releases only 4.9 Kcal of biochemical energy.

The Atkins diet program is highly beneficial to you if when used in moderation with the combination of regular exercise. Regular exercise reduces stress levels and improves your mood apart from making you lose weight and look better. If you are physically well, you will feel more calm, relaxed and confident mentally. - 15252

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