My thoughts: Atkins' New Diet Revolution

[coach hale]

The following is an excerpt from Knowledge and Nonsense and also appeared in Planet Muscle.

Atkins’ New Diet Revolution

Robert C. Atkins is the founder of Atkins’ New Diet Revolution. Atkins is also the founder and former director of the Atkins Complimentary Medicine in New York City.

The diet is a low carb high fat diet with no restrictions on fat intake. The diet begins with an induction phase (ranging from 2-36 weeks) limiting carb intake to only 20 g/d. The consumption of fruit, bread, pasta, grains, starchy vegetables, and dairy other than cheese, cream or butter are prohibited in this phase of the diet. There are two phases following the induction phase where daily carb intake is increased in weekly increments of 5gms & 10gms. Then, comes the maintenance phase.

Proponents of high-fat, low-CHO diets dismiss the notion that caloric intake is important to either weight gain or weight loss (this is a ridiculous statement). They claim that “most overweight individuals do not overeat” (if you believe this you need a brain transplant), even as they suggest that high-CHO meals leave individuals less satisfied than meals that contain adequate fat, resulting in increased hunger and increased food intake. With respect to weight loss, Atkins claims that on a low CHO diet there are “metabolic advantages that will allow overweight individuals to eat as many calories as they were eating before starting the diet yet still lose pounds and inches”. Furthermore, proponents contend overproduction of insulin, driven by high CHO intake, is the cause of the metabolic imbalance that underlies obesity (the over exaggeration of insulin’s role in obesity is commonly promoted by many of today’s most popular nutrition gurus, needless to say this issue has been blown out of proportion and is only one factor in weight gain).

My thoughts: Atkins’ New Diet Revolution

Studies cited by Atkins to support his contentions were of limited duration, conducted on a small number of people, lacked adequate controls, and used ill-defined diets. Some of these, as well as other studies, actually refute the contention that low-CHO diets, in the absence of energy restriction, provide a metabolic advantage. Early studies on a limited number of obese men and women indicate individuals consuming low-CHO diets reduce overall caloric intake and lose weight. High protein in combination with low calcium intake could be detrimental to bone health. Another important consideration is the water loss that occurs with the Atkins plan. In the early stages of the diet you can expect a substantial loss in water (due to glycogen depletion, for every gram of glycogen you store you also store 2.8 – 3.5 gms of water). Believing there are some magical metabolic advantages to this diet is a fallacy and not supported by Primary Scientific data. Numerous studies have indicated a big reduction of calories (below maintenance requirements) when following low carb diets.

The newest version of the diet promotes the intake of high-fiber foods; which is a good thing. The diet also made many people realize dietary fat is not the sole reason people are fat.

In conclusion, if you can stick to the food recommendations and function well while following a ketogenic diet the Atkins diet may be for you. Athletes using the Atkins’ diet should be highly cautious as performance may suffer (primarily this occurs in glycolytic athletes, yet not always). Any diet that results in weight loss generally enhances health markers. If you are following the Atkins plan and are not dropping weight pay close attention to lipid levels. Numerous studies have shown that in absence of weight loss ketogenic diets may be detrimental to blood lipids levels, while ketogenic diets that result in weight loss are good for blood lipid levels. If you are gaining weight (yes it is possible) reduce calories further or try something different.

In my new article Popular Diets: Hale’s Review http://www.maxcondition.com/pa ge.php?109
Other diets are reviewed.

Thanks,
Coach hale
www.maxcondition.com

[drs]

Coach Hale,
On 11/30/07, Ogedei posted (in the training forum) the link to NSCA Training Journal Vol6 No6

Page 5 is the synopsis of research by Churchley et al. regarding the importance of carbs/glycogen in the diet for strength athletes.

Any thoughts on this research?

[EricLikesLifting]

Shouldn't athletes stay away from a low CHO diet? It might not hinder their performance too much, but they certainly wouldn't be improving. Lose weight? Sure. I'm just skeptical about the metabolic advantage.

[Cynic]

I did the Atkins diet back in 2003 as part of an New Year Resolution office "weight" loss competition. I lost 30 some odd pounds during the three months I spent on phase I , lost another 10lbs on phase 2. We measure the loss by percent of weight change. I lost by 1/10th of a percent.

You'll start off feeling like crap, seriously. You'll have headaches, be sluggish, etc. But it works, initially.

I wouldn't recommend it for a non-bodybuilding athlete, though.

You can eat quite a few veggies (except carrots and corn), because the fiber keeps the carbs low, zero fruit initially, unfortunately, all the meat and cheese you could imagine.

[coach hale]

"Shouldn't athletes stay away from a low CHO diet?"

Depends on the sport and the athlete. It also depends on how you define low CHO. Low CHO does not necessarily mean Keto

"I'm just skeptical about the metabolic advantage."

The magic metabolic advantage does not exist. This is something that promoters of low carb diets like to use as a selling point for their book, products or diets. The metabolic advantage is thoroughly disproved in Feedman et. al. Popular Diets: A Scientific Review (cover this in depth in Knowledge and Nonsense). Anthony Colpo also destroys this magic advantage in They Are All Mad.

thanks
Coach Hale
www.maxcondition.com