Atkins Diet - Why it Works and Why it Doesn't

I’m sure by now that many people will know what the Atkins diet is about and would have at least known someone who has tried it. It basically is a diet that was made popular by Dr. Robert Atkins who was a firm believer that our modern diet consisted of far too much carbohydrates. The industrialized world that we live in has allowed us a diet that is rich in starch and sugars which is quite different to what nature might provide.

What the Atkins diet calls for is a marked reduction in the carbohydrate intake of a person while replaced with foods that are high in protein and even high in fat. Dr. Robert Atkins stated in his first published book that the increasing amount of obesity that is present in the industrialized work is mainly due to the over consumption of carbohydrates. He argues that our bodies can process carbohydrates however long term exposure to high quantities is “toxic” and “poisonous” to the human body.

The main problem is that there is so much controversy about the diet that people just don’t know if it is something that they should try or not. The general consensus amongst the medical procession is that the Atkins diet is bad for you and in itself can cause cardiovascular problems in the long run due to the higher than average fat allowed in the diet. The medical profession however is very slow to adapt to change and is also riddled with mistakes over history e.g. when they use to think that removing a part of a skull to reduce pressure on the brain was an acceptable.

This however is in contrast to the vast majority of health practitioners and dieticians who have found merit in the diet and have witnessed for themselves how useful it can be in reducing the body fat level of obese people. These dieticians and health practitioners have rubbished the idea that this diet is actually bad for you and actually prescribe these diets to their clients on a regular basis without any ill effect. The problem is that these professionals don’t have any evidence other than their own track record to justify the use and effective slimming diet effect. There has never been a scientific study into the long term effects of this diet or even any dependable study to confirm its usefulness.

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