Did you know that that doctor Atkins himself didn’t fully understand his own creation! He thought that it wasn’t important to count calories and that by cutting down on starchy foods like potatoes, bread and pasta and eating mainly protein and fats like meat, eggs and cheese you can eat as much as you want and still lose weight.
Interestingly after scientific research by BBC two program Horizon, it was found that although the diet consists of a healthy quota of fat and protein, you actually end up eating as few calories as people on low fat diets.
According to recent research the reason behind this was simply that the quantity of protein the regime encourages, acts like an appetite suppressant.
The combination of the proteins used in the Atkins Diet such as, meat, fish and eggs actually control the hunger and prevented people from eating the usual amount of calories.
Dr Atkins original claim that you could eat as many calories as you wanted were based on two theories. Firstly, he believed your body burns more calories when it uses fats and proteins as fuel. If this was true it would make exercise less important because as a result of your body working harder you wouldn’t have to do any exercise to lose weight.
He also believed that on this type of diet plan you would lose unused calories through urination, as part of a process known as ketosis, which occurs when you stop eating starchy foods and sugar.
Horizon used two identical twins and put one on the Atkins diet and the other on a low fat diet, after two weeks of in depth testing the twin on the Atkins diet lost 22 calories less than the twin on the low fat diet.
The differences were too small the separate the two diets.
So is the Atkins diet just a glorified low fat diet? Has anybody tried it and what results did you get? What about any side effects?
Interestingly after scientific research by BBC two program Horizon, it was found that although the diet consists of a healthy quota of fat and protein, you actually end up eating as few calories as people on low fat diets.
According to recent research the reason behind this was simply that the quantity of protein the regime encourages, acts like an appetite suppressant.
The combination of the proteins used in the Atkins Diet such as, meat, fish and eggs actually control the hunger and prevented people from eating the usual amount of calories.
Dr Atkins original claim that you could eat as many calories as you wanted were based on two theories. Firstly, he believed your body burns more calories when it uses fats and proteins as fuel. If this was true it would make exercise less important because as a result of your body working harder you wouldn’t have to do any exercise to lose weight.
He also believed that on this type of diet plan you would lose unused calories through urination, as part of a process known as ketosis, which occurs when you stop eating starchy foods and sugar.
Horizon used two identical twins and put one on the Atkins diet and the other on a low fat diet, after two weeks of in depth testing the twin on the Atkins diet lost 22 calories less than the twin on the low fat diet.
The differences were too small the separate the two diets.
So is the Atkins diet just a glorified low fat diet? Has anybody tried it and what results did you get? What about any side effects?