Variations In Weight Loss Programs -The Atkins Diet
The Atkins Diet
The Atkins diet books have sold more than 45 million copies over 40 years, and in the obesity epidemic this diet and accompanying Atkins food products are popular. The diet claims to be effective at producing weight loss despite ad libitum consumption of fatty meat, butter, and other high-fat dairy products, restricting only the intake of carbohydrates to under 30 g a day. Low-carbohydrate diets have been regarded as fad diets, but recent research questions this view.
A systematic review of low-carbohydrate diets found that the weight loss achieved is associated with the duration of the diet and restriction of energy intake, but not with restriction of carbohydrates. Two groups have reported longer-term randomized studies that compared instruction in the low-carbohydrate diet with a low-fat calorie-reduced diet in obese patients. Both trials showed better weight loss on the low-carbohydrate diet after 6 months, but no difference after 12 months.
This is a low-carb diet which can possibly generate health benefits like preventing high blood pressure and heart disease. The Atkins diet was devised 4 decades ago, and it relies heavily on protein, healthy fat, and vegetables.
An Atkins Food Guide Pyramid accompanies this diet plan, which shows the choice of food you can consume as you successfully lose weight.
Furthermore, the Atkins diet is divided into some phases, as follows:
Phase 1
In the “induction” phase, you have to practice total abstinence from the following items:
Dairy with the exception of butter and cheese Fruit Bread Vegetables with high starch concentration Grains Alcoholic drinks You are allowed to eat 20 grams of Net Carbs (the total grams of carbohydrates minus grams of fiber) daily. In this phase, you will lose the most weight. Not only will you get the necessary motivation to continue dieting, but your body’s function of burning fat will also be augmented.
This is the Ongoing weight loss, or OWL, phase, where you will gradually incorporate a small quantity of carbohydrates into your diet. These can include items like nuts, yogurt, and berries.
This phase will continue until you are 10 pounds from your target weight. Meanwhile, you can consume 24-45 Net Carbs daily.
Phase 3
This is the pre-maintenance stage where you continue to add a little more carbs to your diet in the form of whole grains, starchy vegetables, and fruits. This phase will continue minimum for a month after you have reached your target weight, and you can consume 50-70 Net Carbs in this time.
Phase 4
This is the lifetime maintenance stage. After reaching the weight of your desire, you will continue to consume more than 75 Net Carbs daily for life. At this stage, your calculation of Net Carbs will become more accurate.
How Weight Loss is Achieved
The Atkins diet stimulates ketosis. This is a process where the body’s metabolism starts to burn fat for energy instead of glucose. When you consume carb-rich foods, the body converts it into glucose.
Discover The Joys of Vegan Diet
Vegan diet consists of purely foods derived from plants. The people who are vegetarians tend to also eat eggs and milk products. One should not confuse a vegetarian diet with the veganism, since these two vary considerably. The difference is that most vegetarians eat other than just vegetables, they also use dairy products and eggs from chickens. The vegetarian diet is supplemented with eggs and milk, even though meats of all animal flesh is totally avoided. The vegan diet also prohibits the use of dairy products and eggs.
Vegan Diet Guidelines
The tenet of the vegan diet is not to consume any foods produced from animals whether processed or otherwise. So eggs and dairy products, including milk that are unprocessed foods from animals are out. Therefore, dairy products, eggs and milk which are unprocessed products from animals are avoided.
The Many Myths About Vegan Diet
The restrictive and boring diet of only nuts, vegetables and fruits makes the vegan diet really hard for many would be vegans to adhere to. It is said that avoiding meat, milk and eggs from one’s diet diminishes any real interest in eating. There is some concern that the vegan diet could be short changing on the nutrition provided Many believe that vegans do not get the bodily requirement of calcium and protein for the maintenance of proper functions.
Improvising for Your vegan Diet
Animal derived foods are the only kinds that are excluded from the vegan diet plan, all other foods are eaten. All products such as cereals, breads, pasta and rice that do not contain eggs are part of the vegan diet plan They will also eat eggless pastries, pies and cakes. Animal milk is replaced with rice and or soya milk or any other that is not animal derived.The vegan diet replaces meat with tofu, an excellent choice. Vegans replace Gelatin, a thickening agent with seaweed, which does the same thing. Basically, you need to look for non animal replacements for the common food ingredients for effectively continuing your veganism. And this does add a sense of adventure to mealtimes.
Vegan Diet and Nutrition Adequacy
Grains, tufo, nuts and roots supply the bulk of the protein on the vegan diet plan. Some studies have claimed that a higher than normal protein level leeches calcium from bones fostering the risk of bone disease The protein supplied by vegan diet is quite adequate. The vegan diet, through the widespread us of plant foods like spinach, cabbage, broccoli and other greens which are rich in calcium, the body is adequately supplied with all the calcium it needs for optimum health.
Also the body absorbs calcium from these foods more effectively than traditional sources like milk. Cereals and fortified soya milk supply the bulk of vitamin B12 nutrients to the body through the vegan diet plan. The absorption of iron from all these plant food sources is helped along by vitamin C from the same sources. Conditions like anemia and others can be prevented by including lots of oranges and other citrus fruits to the vegan diet.
The vegan diet is not merely about what to eat. A lifestyle choice is what it is. Obviously, because it focuses more on fresh fruits and vegetables, this diet is very healthy and even helps you lose weight. The vegan diet keeps you away from synthetic additives that can lead to scores of health problems including cancer.
Many individuals of late have been trying to start and remain on the vegan diet principle. Getting animals ready for human food has been tainted with some of horrible tails of cruelty, drug induced growth etc for market readiness. Humans and animals feel pain just about the same way, even though we don’t understand their language. Two things are accomplished by way of the vegan diet, contributing in a small way to reduce production of animal meat and creating better human health.
[Top]