Does The Atkins Approach 'Meat' Your Needs?
by JohnMc
by John McGran
Diet.com Chief Editor
Like some sort of creature from a horror flick, the Atkins Nutritional Approach refuses to die. Not even a STEAK to the heart (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun) can lay it low for long. The search term "Atkins" continues to register impressive clicks.
I hopped on the Atkins bandwagon a decade or so ago and I must say it was one of the most fulfilling diets I have ever undertaken. While pigging out and filling up on steak, pork chops, chicken – even bacon! – I dropped a cool 26 pounds.
Until my lust for bread, rolls and pizza kicked in, I was lovin’ life. I rarely felt hungry... and my extra pounds melted off me like a pat of butter in a hot frying pan.
By the way, the principles behind the Atkins plan DO NOT call for cutting all carbs from your diet. What happens is that you start with no more than 20 grams of carbs a day (two slices of bread can do you in quick) and then you add more into your diet until you discover your “tipping point” – the point where any more carbs will lead to weight gain.
There are Four Phases but I never got past the initial Induction phase of 20 grams of carbs or less per day. After my initial success (I lost 10 pounds in the first week), I developed a fear that any extra carbs would do me in. This isn’t good for your mind or your body.
More on the plan
According to Wikipedia.com, “The Atkins Nutritional Approach, popularly known as the Atkins Diet or just Atkins, is the most marketed and well-known low-carbohydrate diet. It was adapted by Dr. Robert Atkins in the 1960s from a diet he read about in the Journal of the American Medical Association and utilized to resolve his own overweight condition following medical school and graduate medical training.
“After successfully treating over 10,000 patients, he popularized the Atkins diet in a series of books, starting with Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution in 1972. In his revised book, Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, Atkins updated some of his ideas, but remained faithful to the original concepts.”
If you do the plan right, you leave Induction and head into Ongoing Weight Loss. That is followed by the Pre-Maintenance and Maintenance phases. I know a lot of people who lost weight with Atkins; I don’t know anybody who stuck with it as a long-term lifestyle.
A common misconception
It is a common misconception that meat with high fat is a typical meal in the Atkins diet. The actual goal of Atkins dieters is to avoid high-glycemic index foods such as soft drinks, fruit juice and potatoes. Atkins dieters supposedly can still eat a variety of food such as salads, cheese, and lean meats.
There’s no denying the plan will take off weight. Whether it’s healthy weight loss has long been debated.
According to WebMD.com, “By restricting carbohydrates drastically to a mere fraction of that found in the typical American diet, the body goes into a state of ketosis, which means it burns its own fat for fuel. A person in ketosis is getting energy from ketones, little carbon fragments that are the fuel created by the breakdown of fat stores.
"When the body is in ketosis, you tend to feel less hungry, and thus you're likely to eat less than you might otherwise. However, ketosis can also cause a variety of unpleasant effects (such as unusual breath odor and constipation) in a small number of people.
“As a result, your body changes from a carbohydrate-burning engine into a fat-burning engine. So instead of relying on the carbohydrate-rich items you might typically consume for energy, and leaving your fat stores just where they were before (alas, the hips, belly, and thunder thighs are popular fat-gathering spots), your fat stores become a primary energy source. The purported result: weight loss.”
The American Dietetic Association notes, “Arguably one of the most famous fad diets, the Atkins Diet program restricts carbohydrates and focuses on eating mostly protein with the use of vitamin and mineral supplements. According to the program, this will alter a body’s metabolism so it will burn stored fat while building muscle mass.
“The ‘new’ Atkins Diet is the same diet with a more liberal maintenance plan. With the new Atkins diet, some of the sensationalism is gone, and there is heavy promoting of low-carb bars and food products. But, the bottom line is still the same. Carbs are demonized and there are major restrictions on fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and low-fat dairy foods that contradict everything we know about health promotion and disease prevention.”
If you’re hungering for more info, try www.Atkins.com. |
March 5, 2008
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The Cabbage Soup Diet
by JohnMc
Diet.com chief editor John McGran has finally cut the cord with our Diet Bites blog and will now churn out his news and views here at his very own The Write Man For The Job blog. Please leave comments... and please be gentle!
by John McGran
Diet.com Chief Editor
We all know someone who has tried the Cabbage Soup Diet. I admit it... for one misguided week back in the ‘90s, I was a cabbage soup slurper. Before tiring of the soup’s taste – and the pungent aroma that wafted from my opened fridge where the soup cauldron lurked– I did manage to lose a few pounds quickly.
But just like with other fad or trendy diets, my lost pounds found their way back not long after a return to my “normal diet.”
According to research I found on WebMD.com, “The Cabbage Soup Diet is essentially a modified fast, containing so few calories that dieters will lose weight rapidly during the weeklong regimen. There is nothing magical about cabbage or cabbage soup that fosters weight loss. It's the low-calorie nature of the diet plan that does the trick.
“The diet makes no scientific claims on how it works. While several versions exist, common to all is the premise that if you eat lots of cabbage soup when you're hungry, it will keep you satisfied enough to sustain this very low-calorie diet for a week.
“Dieters may very well lose the promised 10-15 pounds, but the problem is that most of the weight lost will be primarily from fluids, not fat, and will return once the dieter resumes eating normally.”
More bad news
The yo-yo dieting effect is the least of your worries. If you’re filling up on a soup that consists mainly of cabbage and veggies, you’ll most likely fail to take in a healthy amount of calories and nutrients.
Eating fewer than 1,200 calories per day is just not safe. The only time you should subsist on that few calories is when you’re a) under a doctor’s care or b) trapped miles from civilization with Survivorman.
The Cabbage Soup Diet is arguably the first short-term diet to become extremely popular in the 1980s. According to a write-up on Wikipedia.com, “the cabbage soup diet has had many names, usually linking the diet to a mainstream institution, including the Sacred Heart Diet, Military Cabbage Soup, TJ Miracle Soup Diet, and Russian Peasant Diet. All of the institutions named have denied a link with the diet.”
Critics, like fans, are many.
But if you choose to give it a whirl (and we’re offering the recipe for one version below), be aware that you could feel weak and lightheaded during the “diet.” You very well may also experience flatulence (Beano anyone?) and nausea (have you ever inhaled the scent of cooked cabbage for 7 days straight?).
On the positive side: The soup makes a good low-calorie filler meal. Newer versions of the Cabbage Soup Diet even add protein to the diet plan while decreasing sodium.
Ready to get cookin’?
Cabbage Soup Recipe
6 large green onions
2 green peppers
1 or 2 cans of tomatoes (diced or whole)
3 carrots
1 container (10 oz. or so) mushrooms
1 bunch of celery
Half a head of cabbage
1 package Lipton soup mix
1 or 2 cubes of bouillon (optional)
1 48oz. can V8 juice (optional)
Season to taste with salt, pepper, parsley, curry, garlic powder, etc.
Directions: Slice green onions, put in a pot and start to saute with cooking spray. Cut green pepper stem end off and cut in half, take the seeds and membrane out. Cut the green pepper into bite size pieces and add to pot. Take the outer leaf layers off the cabbage, cut into bite size pieces, add to pot. Clean carrots, cut into bite-size pieces, and add to pot. Slice mushrooms into thick slices, add to pot. If you would like a spicy soup, add a small amount of curry or cayenne pepper now.
NOTE: You can use beef or chicken bouillon cubes for seasonings. These have all the salt and flavors you will need (and more sodium than a healthy eater should ingest).
Use about 12 cups of water (or 8 cups and the V8 juice), cover and put heat on low. Let soup cook for a minimum of two hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
If you’ve used the Cabbage Soup Diet, please let us know about your experience. |
March 4, 2008
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