your digestion, bad for your blood chemistry, bad for your heart. What I ' m saying is that they ' re bad.
I believe that most of the overweight people in the world are carbohydrate sensitive. Often they ' re true carbohydrate addicts. They need a metabolic, controlled carbohydrate solution, not a low-fat one.
When I wrote the first edition of this book in 1992, I was hotly indignant over the dietary guidelines that I felt were ruining people ' s lives. I was very critical of some of the individuals who proposed low-fat weight loss programs, and I apologize, because many of them were sincere in their efforts to help people.
But that doesn ' t mean there isn ' t a more effective, healthy alternative to the low-fat diet. Today there is an ever-increasing number of medical practitioners who recognize the health benefits of controlled carbohydrate nutrition. But I am not satisfied, and neither should you be, with those practitioners who fail to see that the truly deadly component of American eating is the junk food culture in which we ' re all brought up.
All this discussion about insulin levels, blood sugar and metabolism may seem complicated to you right now. In the, next few chapters I ' ll tell you everything you need to know. Then you ' ll begin to understand why the Atkins Nutritional Approach produces healthy weight loss. Before we go there, though, let me review what you will gain by reading this book from cover to cover:
• On most diets you ' ll be hungry a fair percentage of the time. This program includes foods that leave you feeling much more full and satisfied.
• On most diets you ' ll be counting calories. When you do Atkins there ' s no need for that.
• On most diets you ' ll never stop eating addictive high carbohydrate foods. When you do Atkins, you ' ll quickly learn how to overcome your addictions.
• On most diets you won ' t learn how to make a gradual transition to a lifetime maintenance plan. After reading this book, you ' ll learn how to develop a healthy way to eat that will feel comfortable and natural enough to adopt for good.
You know what I ' m going to remind you of next. The Atkins Nutritional Approach is not a " diet." In the limiting sense of a weight loss program that you go on and off, it doesn ' t deserve to be called a diet at all. It ' s a way of eating for the rest of your( healthy) life.
KEY POINTS!
• The typical American style of eating is grossly mismatched to the normal human metabolism.
• Most obesity is the result of metabolic disturbances, not over consumption of fat.
• Studies consistently show that sugar, refined white flour and junk foods are bad for your health, your energy level, your mental state and your figure.
• Low-fat diets are in effect high-carbohydrate diets and bring on the very problems that they were intended to protect us from.
• By doing Atkins you will control your weight, achieve good health and help prevent disease.
• The Atkins Nutritional Approach is composed of protein and fat, both essential to the human body, plus controlled quantities of the most nutrient-dense carbohydrates, primarily in the form of vegetables.
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