The Atkins Diet Essay

3. What is “metabolism”? What does human metabolism have to do with energy balance and body weight? Answer: metabolism- the chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life. Food is measured in calories which the body processes as energy. Additional calories must be burned through exercise or physical activity or it will be stored as fat.

The Zone and Atkins diets aim to achieve lower levels of insulin in the bloodstream. The Zone diet reduces carbohydrates by structuring calorie intake to a 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein, 30% fat ratio. The ratio decreases the amount of carbohydrates consumed, inturn lowering overall insulin levels. The Atkins diet also lowers insulin levels by lowering the quantity of carbohydrates ingested. This four phase diet begins with extreme limitation and gradually allows small amounts of carbohydrates. Though these diets implement different approaches they both reduce the insulin levels in the bloodstream.

by Dr. Robert C. Atkins. Dr. Atkins believed that diets high in sugar cause the pancreas to

The Ketogenic Diet was originally used to treat epilepsy but is currently a very popular low-carb and high-fat diet. The goal of the diet is to make the body produce molecules called ketones. This is an alternative fuel supply when carbohydrates and glycogen stores are low. These ketones are produced from fat in the liver. They are used to fuel the body and the brain. The brain is unable to run on fat directly but can run on ketones. The overall goal of this is to make your body rely on fat for energy. With a low-carb intake, insulin levels become very low, and thus fat burning increases

Two friends of yours, Janine and Mitchell, join you at lunch. During your conversation, Janine comments on Mitchell’s choice of food: a small bowl of cottage cheese, a chicken salad with vinegar and oil dressing, and a glass of ice water.

Ketosis is a metabolic state where the liver produces organic molecules known as ketone bodies. Technically, the term ketone denotes an organic molecule where a carbon atom, sandwiched between two other carbon atoms, is double-bonded to an oxygen atom (Peter Attia, 2014). To reach this state the body must deplete all glucose stores including those in the liver. This can be accomplished through periods of fasting or through intake of high fat and minimal carbohydrates and sugars. Both sugars and carbohydrates are converted to glucose for the body to burn as energy or ATP. When the body is starved of glucose it must switch gears in order to continue its existence. This switch of gears is what followers of the ketogenic diet call fat assimilation. The human body under the realization that there are no stores of glucose for energy asks the liver to create ketone bodies. Those ketone bodies use lipids or fat for energy. This is the greatest benefit for dieters since the goal for most is to lose weight through fat loss.

When talking about obesity in a country like America, where the problem and issue is more critical we need to consider the most probable causes and the factors of obesity. According to statistics from the Center of Disease and Control in 2013 over 35.7% of Americans are obese. America is the most obese country in the world because we rely too much on technology and on other things. We also lack of physical activity and the main problem is that we have very bad eating habits. You may be asking yourself, what causes people to be obese? Well that's obvious because it's the huge amount of fast food places in America. There's literally a fast food place in every corner. As americans, we all have very bad eating habits since we would rather buy a 25 cent soup then some organic nutritious food. Also lacking on physical activity due to how busy we are at work and with family and yet still being lazy to cook something healthy or to eat anything healthy we would rather go buy something since it’s so much easier. All of this is because of what the American culture is becoming with technology and

How is it that a nation so obsessed with counting calories, cutting back carbs, and going on diets is so incredibly overweight? The United States is by far the heaviest country in the world. Almost two thirds of Americans are overweight and one third are obese (“Statistics…”). That’s a lot of fatties in a land of 281,421,906 people (“Question…”). On the surface, it’s simply bewildering as to why America is in such a state because this country is made of people from the rest of the world. However, eastern and western Europeans, Asians, Africans, South Americans, and Australians aren’t faced with even half the number of weight-related health issues that Americans encounter every day.

They are then to follow the glycemic index called “The Atkins Glycemic Ranking“. This index ranks new foods to be introduced into the diet that will not significantly raise insulin levels.

After much research on the Atkins diet, I have come to the conclusion that, although the Atkins diet has its positive aspects, there are far more negative aspects to this diet. The Atkins diet stresses that people reduce their carbohydrate consumption and increase protein and fat consumption, which in turn can potentially lead to many physical problems for people following this diet. Some people are not fully aware of all the potential risks that come a long with following a diet such as the Atkins diet, such as problems stemming from the production of ketones. As with every diet, there are side effects, but at the same time there are several benefits to this diet as well. Before people go on the Atkins

Ketosis is a state in which your body goes on fat burning autopilot. How's that! The fat that is stored in your body begins to get used as energy which will allow for weight reduction of fat, not water or muscle.

unneeded insulin due to spikes in glucose. Supporters of both the Atkins and South Beach diets claim that highly refined carbohydrates are the foods to blame, which means dieters on either plan specifically avoid starches, cereals, and most baked goods. Both diet plans instruct the user to replace the void left by the refined carbohydrates with fewer, healthier carbohydrates, such as vegetables. By keeping the body’s glucose level moderately stable, the body does not need to produce unnecessary insulin, which eventually results in weight loss. During the first two weeks of each brand of diet, the restrictions for each method are relatively identical. Although users of either diet plan are not allowed to consume any type of breads, rice, pasta, alcohol, or sugar, they

In the Atkins diet, it involves eating foods which are high in protein and fat, while limiting

It is important to manage the carbohydrate intake week-to-week (Atkins par. 7). The third and fourth phases of the Atkins diet are for maintenance phases. Dieters should avoid any foods that could possibly cause weight gain, and continue to watch the intake of carbohydrates. The intake of carbohydrates may be increased during this phase but still must be managed (Atkins par. 8). The Atkins diet has had some controversies and some successes as well. This diet is a high-fat diet and the government health agencies only recommend thirty percent of fat in our diets. The Atkins diet requires the dieter to consume much more fat than that, easily (Atkins par. 9). A success that the Atkins dieters have experienced is not only weight loss, but an improvement in health as well (Atkins par. 10). Although this diet has been very time consuming for dieters, it has had wondrous outcomes.

The majority of low-carb diets are based on the assumption that "obesity and most of its related problems are often (maybe even usually) caused by an insulin problem, not chronic overeating, fat consumption, or refined sugars per se" (http://www.syndicomm.com/lowcarb.html). Therefore, a low-carb diet seeks to curb carbohydrate cravings by lowering overall carbohydrate intake. The philosophy of low-carb diets is that when the cravings have subsided, not only will carbohydrate intake be substantially lower, but food intake in general will decline, resulting in weight loss. There are many low-carb diet plans that are available. Some of the most popular include: