The Atkins DietThe Atkins Diet was the forerunner to all of the no-carb and low-carb diets that have made a splash in the diet industry in recent years. The revival of the Atkins Diet and the arrival of many new low carbohydrate diets even had the big names in the food industry scrambling to out-do each other in production, labeling and marketing of low-carb foods and beverages. Dieting is big business in North America, and the big food giants wanted a piece of that pie, investing millions in their new low carb food lines. Many people will tell you that the Atkins Diet does work. It does help you shed the pounds, to get you down to the weight you're supposed to be according to all those charts. 
Ask them how long they have been on the diet, and the answer will likely be that they gave it up. But they felt and looked great while they were on it… Why would they give it up if it was working? We can help answer those questions, because we have tried the Atkins Diet, thinking it was finally going to be the one, after trying several fad diets. Boost Daily Vitamins' founder tried the Atkins Diet when his weight was a problem and his overhaul health needed an overhaul. Yes, he had suffered the yo-yo effect of countless fad diets because, like many people, he was hoping for that magical, instantaneous weight loss solution. When he decided to try the Atkins Diet, he was by then very well educated about food, nutrition and dieting, and he thought it was a good bet. He liked the idea of a low carbohydrate diet, because he figured that the restriction of calories in any form, especially the high glycemic foods, would start him on the much-needed path of losing some weight. And, yes, he did eventually lose weight and feel great. He also became a stranger at his own family dinner table, trying to adjust himself to what was on offer. Was he going to expect that his whole family go on a diet, when what they were eating was perfectly healthy and balanced? No. And he enjoyed what was on offer. It basically comes down to the problem with most diets: the Atkins Diet and others like it insist on restrictions and changes in eating habits that simply cannot be sustained over long periods of time. It is not simply about changing eating habits, or the lack of willpower to do so. Becoming healthy and losing weight will mean willpower and changes in habits for many of us. It is the simple fact that your body and your mind will revolt if you deny it an abundance of variety in food that meets all of your needs for vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. If you choose a diet that makes you choose between eating and enjoying food with others and eating alone or rejecting what is on offer, if you choose a diet that is based on restricting one particular newly-maligned food or nutrient source, you may very well lose a few pounds. But you will also lose in the game of weight control. Soon enough, you will be re-introducing the maligned food, perhaps in excess as your body makes up for lost time in satisfying its natural cravings. The only lifelong effective weight control plan is to eat the full variety of nature's abundant food and vitamins selection, ensuring that you balance calories in with calories out, either by reducing calorie intake if you don't need all of them, or by exercising to expend the extras. Next time you're considering a diet such as the Atkins Diet, ask yourself if you are willing and able to restrict or exclude the food and nutrients for the rest of your life. If the answer is no, next ask yourself what will happen when you give up the diet and reintroduce the food into your life. |
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