preview

Atkins Diet Research Paper

Decent Essays

The Atkins diet and it’s never ending debate on whether it’s healthy or not has been around for over forty years. The diet excludes absolute consumption of carbohydrates and encourages unlimited amounts of protein and fat. “In 2003, about three million people in the UK had tried the diet” ("Atkins and the never-ending battle over carbs, BBC News," n.d.) because according to People magazine, “weight loss [was] extremely fast.” ("Atkins Diet, People.com," n.d.) Studies show that Atkins diet may “induce weight loss in the short term” (Bryngelsson & Asp, 2005, p. 17) because starving the body of carbohydrates forces the body to burn fat in order to create energy, but “according to heath expert’s individuals on the Atkins diet are at risk for heart …show more content…

The diet is based upon Robert Atkins theory “that carbohydrates cause increases in insulin levels and metabolic changes that lead to weight gain” ("Is the Atkins diet on to something?," 2003). Dr. Atkins’ dietary program was not dominate in society until publication of his second book, Dr Atkins’ New Diet Revolution, in 2002 ("Atkins and the never-ending battle over carbs, BBC News," 2013). Once becoming a best seller, many tried the Atkins diet and were satisfied with their fast result, yet dieters completely dismiss that fact that Atkins himself suffered a heart attack in 2002 while following the diet ("Atkins and the never-ending battle over carbs, BBC News," 2013). Regardless of it’s popularity, many restricted the diet because they found “permitting to eat no more that 20 grams of carbohydrates each day” ("Celebrities on the Atkins Diet," 2008) was too confining. Furthermore, the Atkins diet has now be revised and is called the modified Atkins diet (MAD); “MAD is a more liberal, less restrictive, and more palatable type of diet, which yields high compliance and similar effectiveness” (El-Rashidy et al., 2013) as the Atkins

Get Access