clinical parameters. We will explore many of the studies referenced here throughout the later chapters of this book.
===================================================================== A Typical Success Story
Is it hard to keep the pounds off doing Atkins? Tim Wallerdeine doesn ' t think so.
Blessed with three young children and a happy marriage, Tim started Atkins because he wanted to live to see those kids grow up. At 35 years old, Tim weighed 335 pounds-far too much even for a strongly built six-footer. His blood pressure was borderline high; his triglycerides( a risk factor for heart disease) were through the roof.
The day after his wife ' s birthday-they went for a final carbohydrate blowout-Tim started Atkins. Within two weeks, he lost 21 pounds. After four weeks, 34 pounds. " By July 27, 1999, after nine months on the program, I had shed 122 pounds and weighed 213." Without difficulty, enjoying the food and adhering faithfully to the Atkins Lifetime Maintenance phase, Tim has stayed right around that weight for two and a half years.
Tim ' s blood pressure normalized. His cholesterol, glucose and triglyceride levels went downand they ' ve stayed down. The back and neck pain he used to suffer is gone. He exercises regularly today. And, as he emphatically believes, " I ' m a better dad and husband. My old phrase used to be, ' No, I ' m not up for that.' Now I love to play with my children."
Final comments? How about this: " Just the other night, we went out for ice cream to celebrate Ethan ' s fifth birthday. No, I didn ' t indulge, and I didn ' t feel deprived. I felt alive!" =====================================================================
Why Is the Atkins Nutritional Approach So Revolutionary and So Right?
The U. S. is the fattest nation in the world. More than sixty percent of Americans are overweight or obese. Yet thirty years ago, it was less than forty percent. Are Americans exceptionally weakwilled? Or could it be that we ' ve developed an extraordinary collective compulsion to become thicker from front to back and wider from side to side than the rest of humanity?
Please don ' t laugh. You know that isn ' t the answer. Why are we in the midst of an obesity epidemic?
The obvious answer is that Americans don ' t eat the types of foods that are consistent with maintaining a normal healthy metabolism. Mankind is not geared to handle an abundance of refined carbohydrates. Losing weight is not a matter of counting calories; it is a matter of eating food your body is able to handle.
Let me place a few facts on the table, all of which we will explore throughout the remainder of this book:
• Most obesity exists when the body ' s metabolism-the process by which it turns food into fuel-isn ' t functioning correctly. The more overweight a person is, the more certain is the presence of metabolic disturbance.
• The basis of the metabolic disturbance in obesity doesn ' t have to do with the fat you eat. It has to do with eating too many carbohydrates, which leads to metabolic problems such as insulin resistance and hyperinsulinism. And these metabolic problems are directly related to your general health picture and your likelihood of being victimized by killers
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