Ketosis
If your diet is low in carbohydrates the body burns fat or protein for its energy source. When it burns fat for energy it does not complete the process and causes a condition called Ketosis which is characterized by the byproducts of fat breakdown. Ketones accumulating in the blood in excessive levels can cause the blood to become to acidic, which effects transportation of oxygen in the blood. If not monitored carefully through the use of ketonin sticks, which measure ketones in urine, dehydration is possible, and in a worst case scenario, a fatal coma. (Drummond 81-83)
Insulin
?Understanding your insulin is the key to understanding your overweight?(Atkins and Westherwood 144). It plays a large role in your metabolism. Insulin, a hormone, is produced in the pancreas in small clusters or cells called Langerhans. It is sugar (glucose) that is used in our body to produce energy, if it is not used it will turn into fat and be stored. After eating something sweet or something that will trigger its senses your pancreas will release insulin. Your body will also release insulin when it gets low in the blood. Each food that makes your blood sugar fluctuate a lot (and the insulin floods your system) aggravates your permanent sensitivity to carbohydrates. So the more sugar you eat in your lifetime, the more abnormal your response to sugar becomes. (Atkins and Westherwood 157-171) If you are allergic to carbohydrates ?carbohydrates taken into your body release a flood of surplus insulin in your blood stream?(Atkins 201). This means your body will overreact and produce more fat. (Atkins and Westherwood 157-171)
Other problems- low blood sugar can also exaggerate or even falsely mimic symptoms of:
Migraine
Schizophrenia
Heart Disease
Manic-Depression
Hysteria
Epilepsy
Brain deterioration in old age
Ulcers
It may also contribute to a child?s learning disability or hyperactivity. (Atkins 62-65)
Appendix A Commonly Asked Questions
1. Is it true that the Atkins Diet works because it’s a low-calorie diet?
Ask anyone on The Atkins Diet and they will tell you this is completely false. While some Atkins Dieters eat fewer calories than before, it’s not because The Atkins Diet is restrictive or unduly limiting of food intake (as is true for every low-fat nutritional philosophy), it’s because people are generally less hungry and are less obsessed with food on The Atkins Diet. This occurs for two reasons: 1. Stable blood sugar throughout the day ensures that you will have fewer food cravings or false hunger pains. 2. The food you eat on The Atkins Diet (meat, fish, cheese, nuts, eggs, low sugar/starch vegetables and fruit…etc.) is less processed and more nutritious then the typical pre-Atkins diet. Give your body fewer empty calories, providing it with more nutrient-dense alternatives, and your body will logically be satisfied sooner and require less food. For those that need further convincing, try this 500 calorie test: Day 1 breakfast: 500 low-fat calories, including cereal (maybe one of the high-sugar versions endorsed by the American Heart Association), skim milk, orange juice and a bagel. Day 2 breakfast: 500 “Atkins” calories, including a Cheese/broccoli omelet, bacon and/or sausage (make sure each breakfast measures out to 500 calories). If you’re like most of the population, the low-fat breakfast will cause your body to be screaming for more food well before lunch, while the “Atkins” breakfast will keep your mind off food so long you’ll be shocked when lunch time comes around.
2. Why isn’t sugar or caffeine allowed on the diet?
Sugar: It’s the worst food of all. If you don’t understand why, we suggest you re-read the book until you master all of the myriad reasons.
Caffeine: Caffeine stimulates an over stimulation of insulin, which ultimately promotes weight gain. The biggest need is to stop a caffeine addiction. Once you go 2 weeks without caffeine, you may have it again as long as you don’t become dependent on it for energy.
3. Saturated fat lowers insulin sensitivity and is not recommended in high amounts by leading health organizations. Why do you allow so much?
I have not found any benefit from cutting down on saturates and replacing them with monounsaturates. However, medium chain fats (MCT’s) may be helpful. The reason for including meat, chicken, egg and cheese fats is to maintain the maximum enjoyability of the diet, especially since no harmful effects have been shown.
4. What medications interfere with or need adjustment during the diet?
Virtually all medications will inhibit weight loss. The most incompatible medications are:
1) Diuretics (water pills)
2) Psychotropic drugs, including Prozac, Zoloft, Lithium, etc.
3) Hormones and steroids, including estrogen (Premarin), birth control pills and Prednisone
4) Arthritic drugs, especially NSAIDS (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs)
5) Cholesterol lowering drugs
6) All anti-diabetic medications, including insulin with the exception of glucophage
7) Tranquilizers
8) Seizure medications
Fortunately, doctors who work with the diet can usually use it and certain supplements to help you get off each and every one of the above or taper you to minimal doses. Please DO NOT COME OFF MEDICATIONS BY YOURSELF without medical supervision.
5. If some of my medications can affect the diet, what can I do?
There are certain medical conditions that require tapering off medications ONLY under the supervision of a physician familiar with the diet and the use of nutritional supplements. However, there are some options open to you especially if your health care practitioner is willing to monitor you during the tapering process.
Blood Pressure Medications: In my practice, I can always discontinue the use of diuretics and other medications for blood pressure management by using nutrients such as the AH#3, Taurine, Asparaplus, Magnesium, L-Carnitine, and CoEnzyme Q10.
Allergy Medications: During the allergy season I usually can keep patients comfortable using my Allergy Formula and Pantethine without side effects such as drowsiness. People who can?t use anti-histamines due to potential complications of other medical problems can also safely use these nutrients.
Antibiotics: Since the use of antibiotics can stimulate candida (yeast) overgrowth that can interfere with weight management, I rely on my special formulation, “Cold & Flu”. Taken at the onset of symptoms, this formulation of special vita-nutrients supports the immune system during the crucial first days of infection. Often this can prevent the need for antibiotic treatment.
Arthritis Medications: Due to the chronic nature of arthritis, relying on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for arthritis can affect weight loss.
6. What medical conditions should be monitored by a M.D. during the
diet?
All medical conditions requiring prescriptions, and even some that don?t, like diet controlled diabetes mellitus, need to be monitored by a physician. This is necessary because the diet and nutritional supplements improve so many conditions that the prescriptions often become an overdose or unnecessarily strong.
7. While on the diet, my cholesterol went up. Why?
You didn’t necessarily do anything wrong, but I’d need more information to know. Let’s look at a couple of explanations. The increase might not be as bad as you’ve been led to believe. Cholesterol rises even during a complete fast, because the body must break down stored fat for energy. The same thing happens at the beginning of a low-carbohydrate diet like mine, but it’s usually temporary. Total cholesterol should drop within two weeks. Because you obviously have been on the diet longer, something else is involved. Knowing your total cholesterol level doesn’t help very much; the ratio of “good” HDL to “bad” LDL is a better measure of heart-disease risk. A cholesterol elevation could be a healthy finding if most of it is attributable to HDL. Then there are the all-important triglycerides. Cholesterol does rise in some people when triglycerides drop significantly. If the triglyceride drop exceeds the LDL increase, your lipid profile may be much better than before. If your lipid profile is now worse, you might have low thyroid function, which commonly occurs with significant weight loss. Take your temperature (under your tongue) several times during the day. Add the numbers and divide by the number of times you measured it. If this average is below 98F, you probably aren’t metabolizing thyroid hormones adequately. In that event, you should see a doctor. You may need to take prescription thyroid supplements.
8. Can a serious athlete be on this diet?
A person who performs a lot of aerobic exercise and who doesn’t have a weight problem has no reason to be on a carbohydrate-restricted diet. True, carbohydrates cause a long list of health problems for many people, but not everyone is susceptible. Remember no one diet fits all, and I’m not about to push one diet on everyone, a deplorable crime that’s perpetrated by the low-fat proselytizers. The low-carbohydrate diet has several specific purposes, the primary one being to correct an insulin disturbance causing overweight. Also, an exciting recent study from South Africa shows that trained cyclists can pedal longer at moderate intensity on a low-carbohydrate diet. Cyclists eating a diet of just 7 percent carbs could last for nearly 80 minutes; those loading up on a diet of 74 percent carbs petered out after 42 minutes. Don’t expect instant extra energy, though. The trick is to wait two weeks for the adaptation to the high fat diet to occur.
9. Can a vegetarian be on the Atkins Diet?
Animal proteins are a vital component of the Atkins Diet and the diet cannot be done as successfully without them. They contain many essential fatty acids that cannot be found in any other sources. There are patients, however, for whom we derive a modified ovo-lacto vegetarian diet; they can eat eggs, cheese and tofu for their protein (although it is usually necessary for a person to be able to eat fish, in addition, for the diet to be enjoyable). My food products, such as Advantage Bars, bake and shake mixes can also be used as meal replacements.
A vegan cannot be on the Atkins Diet. A pure vegan diet could never be low enough in carbohydrates, because there are no plants that are carbohydrate free.
I seriously urge vegetarians with a serious weight problem to rethink their position.
10. Nuts have carbohydrates, but you include them in your diet. Why?
Different nuts and seeds have different percentages of fats, protein, and carbohydrates. I don’t recommend eating any of them during the induction phase of the diet, the initial period of greatest carbohydrate restriction and, as a result, greatest weight loss. But you can certainly eat them during the maintenance phase, when you won’t have to count carbs so closely because you’ll have reached your desired weight.
Don’t interpret this as carte blanche for a pasta and bread binge, however. Eating a lot of carbohydrates made you overweight in the first place, and it’ll bring you back to that point if you’re not cautious. Nuts and seeds are acceptable because they are relatively low in carbohydrates as compared with their fat and protein content. Along with tofu and certain cheeses, nuts also are good foods for vegetarians who need protein but must curb their carbohydrate intake.
Macadamia nuts are your best choice. Their balance of fat, protein, and carbohydrates is as close to my ideal ratio as you’ll ever get from a food. Walnuts, pecans, Brazil nuts and hazelnuts come net. They’re lower in carbohydrates than peanuts, cashew, or chestnuts.
11. At what age can a child be put on the diet?
Babies, if showing signs of obesity, should be moved in the direction of this diet as soon as the tendency is noted (no sugar, less fruit and juice, and more protein). If this fails, the carbohydrates should be increasingly restricted. Please do not do this without the guidance of a knowledgeable pediatrician.
12. Is there any medical reason to be on this diet?
Yes, some children are put on this diet. These children have a tendency to have seizures, so we want their body?s to produce ketones.
Appendix B What Do People Eat?
While engaging in our research for this report, we conducted a survey to gain insight to what people like to eat.
67% of the people would pick a high carbohydrate breakfast over a high protein diet
50% of the people would pick a spaghetti lunch and 44% would pick a salad lunch
61% of the people would pick a steak dinner over a pasta dinner
44% of the people like diet soda and 39% like a regular soda
44% of the people consume alcohol 3-10 times a month 38% consume less and they consume more
67% of the people chose to stay with the foods they like best the rest chose a well-balanced variety
50% of the people cook for families 39% cook for themselves the rest do not cook
61% of the people consider their weight to be healthy
56% of the people eat three meals a day
56% of the people consider their eating habits to be healthy
This survey was a good indication of the trends of normal eating habits. It helped to determine the changes people would have to make in order to be on the Atkins Diet.