Thereare so many diets out there these days and all of them seem socomplicated. Some require you to eat only one type of food for a longperiod of time (mono diets), other restrict your fat intake, somemake you eat a lot of fat (keto), and others restrict full foodgroups (paleo) or give you time restrictions (intermittent fasting).Low carb diets are a classic too, but they’re a classic for areason. The Atkins diet is a low carb diet that has stood the test oftime. It’s tried and true and it works great if weight loss is whatyou’re looking for. So here are some things you might want to knowabout it before you start it.
What Is The Atkins Diet?
TheAtkins diet was created by Dr Robert C. Atkins in the 1970s. It’s alow carb diet that comes in four phases. It suggests eating anoptimal amount of carbs and urges you to eat enough fats. Originallythis diet programme encountered a lot of criticism because of howrestricting it was in terms of carb consumption. But in the lateryears, after multiple studies, it was shown to actually work reallywell for weight loss.
Atkins Diet Pros And Cons
Likeany diet, Atkins has its pros and cons. On one hand, you do have towatch the amount of carbohydrates you can eat and it can be difficultfor those who are used on living off of carbs mostly. You can’treally have pasta, bread or baked goods when you’re on the Atkinsdiet. Even certain starchy vegetables aren’t allowed. Plus, there’salways the added element of having to cook for yourself and eatingout with friends becomes challenging. On the other hand, the prosmight be worth it cause you will see results, you don’t have tocount calories as long as you stay away from carbs and you get usedto not eating junk food.
Atkins Diet Food List
Hereare foods you should avoid:
Fastfood and pre-packaged processed snacks are obviously a big no-no.
Sugar,grains, trans fats usually found in processed foods, diet foods thatare usually high in sugar. During the induction phase, you shouldavoid high-carb veggies like carrots, potatoes, turnips, legumes ingeneral, high carb fruits like bananas, apples, grapes and pears.
Foodsthat you should eat:
Thereare some Atkins brand premade snacks and products that you can buybut it’s not necessary. The foods that will make up most of yourdiet are meats, fatty fish and other seafood, eggs, full-fat dairyproducts like cheese and milk and yoghurt, low carb veggies and leafygreens, healthy fats like avocado, olive oil and coconut oil, nutsand seeds.
AtkinsDiet Meal Plan
Ausual day of eating on the Atkins diet might look something likethis:
Breakfast:Eggs and bacon with a small side salad
Lunch:Chicken salad with avocado or olive oil and some nuts sprinkled in.
Dinner:Steak or meatless burgers or cooked salmon with a side of vegetables.
Goodsnacks include full-fat yoghurt, cottage cheese, a couple of slicesof cheddar, berries and whipped cream.
Atkins Diet Rules
Aswe’ve mentioned before the Atkins diet has 4 phases and they’repretty strict if you want to see results. The main difference is theamount of carbs you’re allowed on each phase.
Phase1 – Induction. To kick start thediet you go really low on carbs for 2 weeks. When we say low – it’s20g of carbs per day and 15 of those should come from leafy greensand non-starchy vegetables. You’re not really allowed fruits. Theprotein and fat intake should be high.
Phase2 – Balancing. At this stage, youcan have slightly more carbs. About 30-40g per day. You can add morenuts and seeds to your diet, more vegetables and low carb fruits.Protein and fats are still high.
Phase3 – Fine-tuning. In this phase,you’re allowed around 100g of carbs a day. You can have most fruitsand veggies, you can introduce moderate amounts of grains. Proteinintake still high. That’s the theme of this diet.
Phase4 – Maintenance. The weight lossat this stage stops. You can eat as many carbs as you want as long asyou don’t start gaining weight while keeping your proteins high.
Atkins Diet Results
Theresults of Atkins are pretty obvious. While you’ll definitely seethe numbers on the scale change, it’s the inches that will impressyou more. The whole idea of this diet is to cut down on carbs so thatyou can dip into your fat and use it as energy. So while you burn thefat you’ll see the inches reduce dramatically while your muscleswill remain intact thanks to the high protein intake.
