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H**E
Compulsive Overeater/Food addict
Thank you Dr. Atkins. You have given me my life back. Why did it take me so long to try this diet? I certainly had tried every other diet at least three or four times. People think this is just a diet book but it is so much more than that. Only a portion of the book is about the actual diet itself. Dr. Atkins explains in detail why we can't succeed on diets and why we have these cravings. All my life I thought I had some sort of character defect. That I had no willpower. That I was weak or irresponsible. Why can't I stick to a diet?? The cravings are real and intense. I craved cake, donuts, and other items like this as if I was a drug addict. I couldn't fathom the idea of giving them up so I didn't care how many people told me atkins worked. I wasn't going to give up bread, pasta, cake etc. I was an addict. I finally got desperate enough and obese enough that I was ready to have a gastric bypass surgery and it was my doctor who told me that even for the gastric bypass patients, after the sugery the diet they are given is basically the atkins diet...low carb. He told me that I needed to try it first and see if it did not help relieve me of these horrible cravings that I couldn't beat. I had tried everything else. I really thought I had a mental disease that kept me overeating. Dr. Atkins explains very well that some of us are insulin resistant or have hyperinsulinemia. There is a biological reason for why we crave sweets and other foods like this. You will go through withdrawal for at least a week but when it's over with you will be free!!!!!! For the first time in my entire life I am free of these cravings, I am not hungry at all. I have to remind myself to eat. He taught me so much about how my body works. Now I know that if I suddenly find myself craving sweets again, that means something I ate triggered it. I can go back and find that there were hidden carbs in that food or maybe too much sugar but there is ALWAYS a reason if I start to have cravings again. Dr. Atkins taught me that intense cravings are NOT normal and that you do not have to live with them every day. You do not have to go through your life craving constantly and always being hungry. Not only that you will get your life back. Your energy level will improve. I never realized that I was walking around in a carb fog. I was depressed, tired, in pain, with mood swings and no energy at all. After only a few weeks I felt like I had been cured of a terminal disease. From someone who has been on diets for 15 years, this is not a diet. This is a way of life. People that say you gain the weight back don't understand that this is not a diet...it's a long term way of life. They gained the weight back because they started eating their addictive foods again which started the craving cycle back up again and took them back into that hell. Alcoholics don't get sober and then go have a beer, ok? You have to really read this book though. Dr. Atkins has the answer. He is the only person who knew what was wrong with me and cured it. Something Weight Watchers, Meridia, Overeaters Anonymous,in-patient treatment programs and therapists could not ever do for me. He tells you in intricate detail the do's and don'ts and if you accept what he offers you will be free of these cravings and get your life back. He has everything in this book from how to deal with your cravings if they come back, how to deal with things emotionally etc. This book saved my life, literally. Dr. Atkins is my angel in heaven. I hope that if you suffer from compulsive overeating or a binge eating disorder you take the time to read this book through, every word, twice and then give it a try. Get online too and find the "active low carb support forum" and find others on atkins. There is a way out of this hell. You are not mentally deficient or lacking in willpower. You have a biological disorder and there is a cure.
R**G
Pros and Cons of Atkins (quoted from my book Maimonides and Metabolism)
The Atkins diet consists of four phases:Phase 1: (2 weeks or longer)—Induction: This two week phase (can be longer) involves fast weight loss via minimal carbohydrate intake (no more than twenty grams, primarily from salad greens). Lack of fiber can be compensated for with a tablespoon of psyllium husks, ground flaxseed or wheat bran.Phase 2: Ongoing Weight Loss: This phase moves to a slower weight-loss plan, via a slightly normalized carbohydrate intake. Each week, daily carbohydrate intake is increased by five grams until the individual reaches the “critical carbohydrate level for losing.” This level is discovered when weight loss stops, at which point carbohydrate intake is reduced to a level where ongoing weight loss can continue.Phase 3: Premaintenance: Carbohydrate levels are increased again, however, at this stage, when the dieter is within five to ten pounds of his or her target weight, the objective is to lose these last pounds slowly, at a rate of only one pound per week. The reason for this phase is to “train” for the final Lifetime Maintenance phase. During this phase, dieters learn how to restrict themselves to maintain a healthy weight.Phase 4: Lifetime Maintenance: By the time they get to this phase, dieters have learned what their personal “critical carbohydrate level for maintenance” is. They are encouraged to restrict themselves to this level for life.The Atkins Diet Induces Fat Loss by KetosisKetosis is the metabolic state when most of the body's energy supply comes from ketone bodies, in contrast to a state of glycolysis where glucose provides most of the energy. Most cells in the body can use both glucose and ketone bodies for fuel, and during ketosis, free fatty acids and glucose synthesis (gluconeogenesis) fuel the remainder.During the usual overnight fast, the body's metabolism naturally switches into ketosis, and switches back to glycolysis after a carbohydrate-rich meal. Longer-term ketosis is attained by fasting or abstaining from carbohydrates. In glycolysis, higher levels of insulin promote storage of body fat and block release of fat from adipose tissues, while in ketosis, fat reserves are readily released and consumed. The Atkins diet, a very-low-carb diet aims for longer-term ketosis-the body's "fat burning" mode.Interesting Facts about KetosisDuring the process of lipolysis, lipids are broken down, yielding keytones—a form of usable stored energy that is different from glucose. Ketone bodies are three water-soluble molecules that are produced by the liver from fatty acids. The three endogenous ketone bodies are acetone, acetoacetic acid, and beta-hydroxybutyric acid. Two of the three are used as a source of energy in the heart and brain, while the third (acetone) is a degradation breakdown product of acetoacetic acid.Between 2 and 30 percent of the acetone is excreted from the body. If it is not used for energy, or converted to pyruvate, it is removed as waste. This “use it or lose it” factor may contribute to the weight loss found in ketogenic (low-carb) diets. Acetone cannot be converted back to acetyl-CoA, so it is excreted in the urine, or (as a consequence of its high vapor pressure), exhaled unless first converted to pyruvate. Acetone is responsible for the characteristic “sweet and fruity” odor of the breath of persons in ketosis.Pros:1. The Atkins diet is a fast way to lose weight for most people. Numerous studies show that the very-low-carb diet enables faster weight loss than does any other diet in which the same amount of calories are consumed.2. It helps lower and stabilize blood-sugar levels, and as a result, one’s liver produces less cholesterol, and eventually it helps reduce blood pressure levels for people who have that problem.3. Some find this diet easy because it only restricts carbohydrate intake, and doesn’t require counting calories (of proteins and fats).Cons:1. It is difficult to get sufficient fiber during the induction phase. This is not critical since the induction phase is not long term; however, even on the maintenance plan, carbs are limited to forty to sixty grams, which makes obtaining sufficient fiber challenging. Most people get less than half the fiber they need—even though their diets include over 50 percent of caloric intake from carbs (roughly 250 grams or more). As fiber is attained only in carbs, reducing them to less than 10 percent of caloric intake is likely to exacerbate the fiber deficiency.2. When dieters suddenly change to a severely restricted carb intake, remaining unrestricted in their protein and fat intake, they will see success in weight loss only if their nature doesn’t allow them to eat fats and proteins wildly. But people who love indulging in fats and proteins benefit little in terms of weight loss by only restricting their carb intake.3. Numerous studies conclude that the low-carb diet produces a greater weight loss than a conventional diet for the first six months, but the differences are not significant at one year. (Gary D. Foster, Holly R. Wyatt, James O. Hill, Brian G. McGuckin, Carrie Brill, B. Selma Mohammed, Philippe O. Szapary, Daniel J. Rader, Joel S. Edman, and Samuel Klein, “A Randomized Trial of a Low-Carbohydrate Diet for Obesity,” New England Journal of Medicine (2003), http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa022207#t=articleMethods) (Christopher D. Gardner, Alexandre Kiazand, Sofiya Alhassan, Soowon Kim, Randall S. Stafford, Raymond R. Balise, Helena C. Kraemer, and Abby C. King, “Comparison of the Atkins, Zone, Ornish, and Learn Diets for Change in Weight and Related Risk Factors among Overweight Premenopausal Women: The A to Z Weight Loss Study,” Journal of the American Medical Association (2007), http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=205916) (I. Shai et al., “Weight Loss with a Low-Carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or Low-Fat Diet,” New England Journal of Medicine (2008), http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0708681)4. Long-term use of the very-low-carb diet can also lead to raised LDL levels (N. B. Bueno, I. S. de Melo, S. L. de Oliveira, and Ataide T. da Rocha , “Very-Low-Carbohydrate Ketogenic Diet v. Low-Fat Diet for Long-Term Weight Loss: A Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials,” British Journal of Nutrition (2013), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23651522)—a risk for heart disease.5. Even the “Lifetime Maintenance” phase of the Atkins diet is low carb. Atkins recommends forty to sixty grams of carbohydrates per day for the average person (less than 10 percent of total caloric intake!), in contrast with the recommendations of the US Department of Health, in which carbohydrate intake is 45–65 percent of caloric intake (US Department of Agriculture US Department of Health and Human Services (www.dietaryguidelines.gov); based on the findings of the Institute of Medicine, Dietary Reference Intakes, (National Academies Press, (2005), 1325) (this would be approximately three hundred grams of carbohydrates per day for the average person). Many people find this limitation too restrictive and impossible to live with on a permanent basis. Additionally, the body cannot function optimally on such a low proportion of carbs. Atkins does allow ninety grams of carbs or more per day for someone who does vigorous exercise for forty minutes, five days per week, but even ninety grams is extremely low and inhibits athletes from performing their best. Virtually no professional athletes maintain their body weight and perform professionally while on such an extremely low-carb diet. Insulin speeds up absorption of nutrients, which is why a higher-carb diet is necessary for athletes to recover from intense workouts.6. For many people, the ongoing weight-loss phase doesn’t work. At some point (far before the target weight is reached), the metabolism slows drastically. When fat mass is reduced without a matching reduction in fat-cell numbers, fat cells release less leptin, which slows metabolism, increases efficiency in calorie absorption, and drives up hunger. Low leptin levels also weaken one’s immune system, making one susceptible to infection. Many people “hit a wall”—for which Atkins has no solutions. When the dieter gets fed up with such a restricted low-carb diet and begins increasing his or her carb intake, there is a likelihood of a weight rebound, often causing more weight to be gained back than was lost.Criticism:The Atkins book gives the impression that a person either burns fat as fuel or burns stored sugars as fuel. This is far from the truth.Dr. Atkins’s diet revolution suggests (pg. 59):“If you’re not in lipolysis, you’re in glucosis. The two fuel sources are your body’s alternative, completely parallel options for energy metabolism. This terminology has helped many of my patients convince their doctors or dieticians that Atkins was the right path.”Most readers interpret this and similar statements of Atkins as saying that the body is either being fueled by burning stored glucose or by burning stored fats, and they mistakenly assume that the body can’t be fueled by both sources at the same time.First of all, “glucosis” is a word that exists only in Atkins’s book. The word he is actually referring to is glycolysis. Both the words glycolysis and lipolysis are composed of two parts: glycol/lysis and lipo/lysis. Lysis means breakdown. Glyco refers to stored sugars—glucose stored as glycogen. And lipo refers to stored fats, or lipids.In truth, concerning the body’s sources of fuel, when the blood-sugar level drops, the body maintains energy levels by both lipolysis and glycolysis (breaking down both stored fats and sugars).The state of ketosis occurs when lipolysis is the dominant source of energy. While it is true that a person is either in a state of ketosis or a state of glycolysis, however, this only means that one process or the other is dominant. For example, if 70 percent of energy is coming from the process of lipolysis and 30 percent from glycolysis, the person is in a state of ketosis (lipolysis dominant). It doesn’t have to be 100 percent to zero, and it rarely is.The only way to effect lipolysis (burning stored fat) exclusively—without glycolysis (burning stored glucose)—is if all reserves of glycogen (stored glucose) are depleted. True, the body will employ lipolysis as a method for providing energy at a faster rate (in other words, it will burn stored fat faster) when the option of providing energy via glycolysis is not available; nevertheless, it is a mistake to think that lipolysis can’t occur at all as long as glycolysis is an option. In fact, in normal healthy people who are on diets that include normal amounts of carbs, lipolysis is the dominant provider of energy when we sleep, especially as the night continues and the glycogen reserves go down, and catabolic hormones such as cortisol rise. An additional method of speeding the lipolysis process (as recommended by Maimonides) is to do aerobic exercise in the morning before breakfast, when cortisol is at its daily peak.
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