Allaine Mark

The New Atkins Made Simple Allaine Mark

The Atkins diet is a low-carb diet, usually recommended for weight loss. Proponents of this diet claim that you can lose weight while eating as much protein and fat as you want, as long as you avoid foods high in carbs. In the past 12 or so years, over 20 studies have shown that low-carb diets without the need for calorie counting are effective for weight loss and can lead to various health improvements. The Atkins diet was originally promoted by the physician Dr. Robert C. Atkins, who wrote a best-selling book about it in 1972. Since then, the Atkins diet has been popular all over the world with many more books having been written. The diet was originally considered unhealthy and demonized by the mainstream health authorities, mostly due to its high saturated fat content. However, new studies suggest that saturated fat is harmless. Since then, the diet has been studied thoroughly and shown to lead to more weight loss and greater improvements in blood sugar, "good" HDL cholesterol, triglycerides and other health markers than low-fat diets. Despite being high in fat, it does not raise "bad" LDL cholesterol on average, though this does happen in a subset of individuals. The main reason why low-carb diets are so effective for weight loss is that a reduction in carbs and increased protein intake lead to reduced appetite, making you eat fewer calories without having to think about it.