Atkins, Quack or Genius?
Written: Jun 21 '00 (Updated Jun 21 '00)
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Pros: None
Cons: Too many to detail here
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| Mattog's Full Review: Atkins Diet |
100 years ago Robert Atkins would have been selling snake oil from the back of a wagon; he is a quack of the worst kind and a menace to the public health of this country.
We are the most overweight as a people than at anytime in our history because our diets are higher in fat, and because we are more sedentary than at any time in our history. Not because we eat too many carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates are the calories that fuel your muscles...if you sit on your butt all day and do not use those muscles you will store your carbohydrate calories and you will get fat.
Cutting out carbs and replacing them with proteins is a shortcut around this law of nature and, although it can in certain people produce short term weight loss, it is a long term health hazard (to your heart, kidneys and liver) and it produces some unpleasant side effects.
Without getting too scientific; your body is not designed to burn protein as a fuel...it does so very inefficiently and produces toxins called ketones when it does. Some of the nastiest side effects of this toxin release are zits, body odor and bad breath...your body tries to expel these toxins anyway it can including in your sweat and in your breath. Ask any marathon runner, as they get to the end of a long run and their carbohydrate reserves are dwindling and their body switches to burning protein they notice the smell in their sweat.
Much of the weight loss that people experience on the Atkins diet is water loss...they become dehydrated which results in headaches and sluggishness. If you want to lose weight AND stay healthy at the same time, eat a balanced diet which includes GOOD carbohydrates ie not refined..brown bread, fresh veggies etc...stay away from the white bread, sugars, etc. This diet combined with an exercise plan will help you lose weight and stay healthy.
You cannot lose weight and stay healthy by eating steak and pork chops and
sitting in front of a computer/TV screen all day...you need to exercise and you cannot exercise without carbs in your diet. Try running a couple of miles, or playing soccer, or any other energetic sport that is good for your heart, on a protein diet...you will run out of steam very quickly and probably experience muscle cramps.
Atkins pads this pretty simple diet plan out into a book by combining it with a lot of "self help" mumbo jumbo, and Tony Robbinsesque motivation techniques and stories about people who have successfully lost weight, but none about the kidney failures or the heart attacks.
Check out Nancy Clark's nutrition book if you want to lose weight the healthy way. There are no miracle diets!
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Mattog
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Member: Matt R.
Location: San Francisco, CA
Reviews written: 72
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