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Atkins Diets And What You Should Know

If you live in the western world then there's a better than good chance that you've at least heard about the Atkins diet. If you haven't, you've either been living on Mars or with your head buried under the sand. This isn't necessarily a bad thing either, since you might not really want to be following the trials and tribulations of all the latest fad diets to hit the market.

Surprisingly enough though, the Atkins diet isn't a new fad diet, but has instead been around for over 30 years. If you're always looking for ways to lose weight however, don't take the length of time the Atkins diet has been around to be proof that it works. Nuclear weapons have been around for far longer but that still doesn't mean they're good for us.

If you look hard enough, and listen long enough you'll always find someone who can give you the information that you want to hear. That doesn't necessarily make it right, or true. It's only been in recent years that the Atkins diet has really taken off.

Don't read this the wrong way though, the Atkins diet does work, and there are people for whom this diet has worked positive wonders. If you look at the Atkins diet carefully you'll also find sensible ideas and suggestions that will lead you to the path of a good dieting regime. Everything has its positive sides and the Atkins diet has many redeeming features about.

However, with so much negative support from most of the major governmental organizations, not to mention other medical and nutritional organizations you might wonder what can be so wrong with this diet. You could of course say that none of these organizations want the Atkins diet to succeed at their own cost, and you could be right. No one will ever know for sure.

If you look at the facts as they stand now, you can make an informed decision for yourself without having to resort to someone else's opinions. I won't go into any detail here, but briefly what the Atkins diet promotes is less carbohydrates in your diet, and more proteins and fats. Basically you can eat, within reason, any amounts of meat, butters, and fatty foods, whilst limiting your carbohydrate intake.

Ultimately though what matters is not any diet or exercise regime but how you perceive yourself. If you're overweight and forever trying to lose weight any diet will seem good, and the Atkins diet can help you to lose weight. If you lose the weight but are still unhappy then your weight wasn't the problem in the first place.

So whether you try a fad diet or a sensible doctor-recommended diet, you should only do it if you're going to feel better within yourself, not because someone recommended it to you. After all you're the one who's going to have to live with yourself, so only you can decide if you want to do the Atkins diet or not.

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On Atkins may I eat ham, sausages, pastrami ?

Now I understood the basics, but how can I know that the sausage or the ham doesn't have added sugar or sth ? Pls have patience with me, because I want to make this perfect , now that I'm determined to do it

And BTW, cooking the meat ( beef, chicken, fish ) in OIL is wrong ? Does it matter how much oil I use ? Answer to all my questions, thanx thanx thanx very much for helping 'n' guiding me !!!

A low carb diet is a high fat diet. Fat is used as your body's fuel source, do lots of dietary fat is required, the more the better. Since there is no carbs triggering insulin, there is no concern of fat being fixed in fat cells. You will get a faster weight loss if you have 80+% fat in your diet than only 65% but 65% of total calories is the minimum required.

I would suggest you not use any processed meats the first 2 weeks. It's important to do a clean induction to not have any variables that can mess up the plan. After you know it's working then you can experiment some. You look at the label to see what is in the product especially with processed foods. Many include fillers like starches & sugars, especially lunchmeats & sausages. This doesn't mean you can't have these foods but find a brand that is low carb. For example, I prefer Eckridge brand but it does include sugars. I'll use Eckridge brand in small portions in an omelet or as a seasoning, but if I wanted a big plate of sausage & fried cabbage, I would probably use another brand. Usually if a serving has less than one carb it is fine, but if you plan to eat 10x that amount as YOUR serving size, then you need to account for this amount.

You can lose more body fat eating protein & fat (don't eat protein alone) than not eating AT ALL. To lose weight fast, eat all you want, but nothing but meat, eggs, healthy oils, mayo, butter & half an avocado a day (for added potassium). Keep the calories high & the fat percentage high, at least 65% of calories. Green vegetables & some cheese will continue weight loss but at a slower pace.

The first 2 weeks eat several cups a day of (mostly) lettuce & celery, cucumbers, radishes, mushrooms, peppers & more variety of vegetables thereafter - add 5 grams per day additional every week (20 grams day first 2 weeks, 25grams 3rd week, 30grams 4th week etc) til you gain weight, then subtract 10grams. That will be your personal carb level (everyone is different & depends on how active you are.)

Start with meat, fats & salads for 2 weeks and then slowly add in more green veg, wk4 fresh cheeses, wk5 nuts & seeds, wk6 berries, wk7 legumes, wk8 other fruits, wk9 starchy veg, wk10 whole grains. You will learn how your body reacts to different foods.

The first week is just water weight but fat is lost thereafter if you keep your calories high enough. Otherwise the body will strip it's own lean tissue for nutrition. Although that may look great on a scale it will make it MUCH easier to accumulate fat in the future (since all that pesky lean tissue burning up calories will be gone). The body won't release fat stores if you lower calories below what it needs. It will slow metabolism to compensate & store every spare ounce as fat. If you continue lowering calories, it will continue lowering the set point, til it can survive off nothing & store fat on anything. The body will only release it's fat stores if it knows there is plenty of nutritious food.

Eating carbs while trying to lose body fat is terribly inefficient. When in glycolysis (burning glucose as fuel) you have to lower your calories (which slows your metabolism) & exercise heavily to deplete your glycogen stores before burning body fat.

The core of Atkins program is converting the body from glycolysis (burning glucose as fuel) to ketosis (burning fat as fuel). Dietary fat levels need to be at >65% of total calories, if not, the body will still remain in glycolysis by converting 58% of excess protein into glucose (via gluconeogenesis).

It takes minimum of 3 days to convert a body to ketosis, (but only one bite to convert back to glycolysis). People feel sluggish the first week but most feel better than ever thereafter.

Carbohydrates (sugar, flour, bread, cereal, pasta, potatoes, rice, beans) trigger insulin (the ONLY fat storage hormone). Protein triggers the fat burning hormone glucagon.

Simple carbs are addictive & can be disastrous to health. The best way to break the addiction is NO carbs for 3 days. Make a huge batch of deviled eggs, eat one every time you want "something" - have huge omelets with bacon, sausage, peppers, mushrooms & cheese. Pork chops smothered with peppers, mushrooms & cheese - pork rinds & dip or tuna/chicken/turkey/egg salad - steaks - a huge sugar free cheese cake. Eat so much you won't feel deprived of anything. By the 4th day, the addiction will be gone & you can start making healthy choices.

High insulin levels promote inflammation, weight gain, hunger & unbalance other hormones. Controlling insulin levels will balance out other hormones & allow human growth hormone (HGH) to be produced naturally so lean muscle will be gained even without exercise.

Ground flax seed (2 Tbsp) 1/4 cup water, artificial sweetener, mix in a raw egg - let sit 10 min. to absorb liquid, put some cream cheese in the middle & nuke 2 min for daily fiber needs.

As long as you have <9grams carbs per hour, you will mai