What is the Atkins Diet Revolution?

The Atkins Diet Revolution has been a hot topic in the last few years, hasn’t it? I wasn’t sure I believed all the hype about the Atkins Diet revolution myself. Friends would tell me about how great the program was, but it sounded limiting and hard to stick with, so I avoided it until recently.

Now I’m a convert – this really is a revolutionary way to lose weight and keep it off! By following the guidelines in the book “Atkins Diet Revolution” I have kicked my metabolism into overdrive and it has helped give me more energy, too. With better foods in my body and more energy to do things like exercise, the weight has come off quickly and easily.

The reason so many people consider the Atkins Diet a revolutionary approach is because it goes against so many things people believed about diets for years. For instance, Atkins dieters can eat lots of meat and some fatty foods (something you were told for years to avoid). Carbs are cut down seriously, and this is different from the old pasta and fruit diets that were common a few years ago.

Get a copy of the Atkins diet here!

Dr. Atkins developed the Atkins Diet after years of research and discovered a few things that he realized were very surprising when it came to weight loss:

• Calories alone don’t make as much difference as the kind of calories you take in. Protein helps your body use energy more efficiently, and carbohydrates stop the loss of fat because they become a primary fuel source. If you limit carbohydrates, your body burns fat much more quickly as a fuel source.
• You can safely increase how quickly you lose weight if you are on a very restricted diet for up to fourteen days, but after that you should gradually add other foods that are either proteins or vegetables so that you slow down slightly for steadier weight loss.
• Once you lose the weight you want to, you can maintain your weight for years by following certain guidelines to stay on a low carb eating plan for the rest of your life.

When Dr. Atkins first introduced his revolutionary diet back in the 1970’s, a lot of doctors thought it was a bad idea because so much fat was allowed in the plan and not enough carbohydrates. But research over the years has proved that insulin levels actually improve on the Atkins Diet, since to produce insulin the body needs carbohydrates as a fuel source. Less insulin production and lower cholesterol are both positive side effects to the Atkins diet revolution in eating.

A Revolutionary “New Food Pyramid”

You probably remember the old “food pyramid” that you learned in school. It stressed plenty of carbohydrates as part of a healthy diet. The low carb diet first presented in the book “Atkins Diet Revolution” has proven that too many carbohydrates are more dangerous than too much fat. The carbs lead to obesity at a faster rate because most of us just don’t burn them off as fuel. By restricting these much more and sticking with protein, fats and nutritional supplements for more of your body’s needs we will lose weight. In fact, it may revolutionize the food pyramid altogether!

See a larger version of the Atkins Diet Food Guide Pyramid

The Atkins Low Carb Diet is Flexible

Dieting according to the Atkins Diet Revolution is also flexible. Once you’ve finished the Induction Phase, you can begin adding foods from the Atkins menu over time until you determine just how many carbs you can eat each day and still lose weight. Because there’s such a variety of foods, you can adjust up and down and either slow or speed up your weight loss temporarily by understanding your needs and adapting your diet guidelines to them.

What I Did

As suggested in the guidelines of the Dr. Atkins Diet revolution, I continued adding to the level of carbs I could eat during the Weight Loss Phase until I noticed two weeks in a row where I lost only one pound. Then I just cut back to a lower carb count and within three or four days the weight started dropping more quickly. To me, any diet that gives me that much control is definitely revolutionary!