1. Stable blood sugar throughout the day ensures that you will have fewer food cravings and false hunger pains.
2. The food eaten by a person doing Atkins( meat, fish, cheese, nuts, eggs, and lowsugar / low-starch vegetables and fruit) is less processed and more nutritious than that on the typical pre-Atkins menu. Give a body fewer empty calories, provide it with more nutrient-dense alternatives and it will logically be satisfied sooner and require less food.
Let ' s look at the results of the study mentioned in Chapter 7 that supports these conclusions. Researchers at New York ' s Schneider Children ' s Hospital studied forty obese patients, ages 12 to 18, who were split into two groups. We already mentioned that the low-fat group lost half as much weight on 1,100 calories per day as did the controlled carbohydrate group, which was allowed unlimited calories and, on average, ate 1,830 calories per day.
What ' s even more exciting is that the controlled carbohydrate group enjoyed further health benefits-far from suffering the dangers some warn of with the controlled carbohydrate nutritional approach. Lipid profiles( cholesterol and triglycerides) improved more than those on the low-fat program.
Also, those on the controlled carbohydrate diet showed better long-term compliance than those on the low-fat diet. A year later, seven out of eight of those following the controlled carbohydrate approach were still involved with the program as opposed to none on the low-fat diet.
Fallacy # 3: The weight lost on the Atkins Nutritional Approach is mostly water, not fat.
Fact: It is typical of any weight loss plan, including the Induction phase of Atkins, that during the first few days, or even the first week, some of the weight loss will be water loss. However, when you follow a controlled carbohydrate eating plan, your body switches from burning carbohydrate to burning stored fat for energy, resulting in the loss of stored fat. In fact, research shows that even when water is lost during the first few days on a controlled carbohydrate nutritional approach, the water balance soon returns to normal, and the weight loss comes from burning body fat for energy. The most dramatic sign of this loss is seeing the inches drop off your measurements.
Fallacy # 4: The Atkins Nutritional Approach is unbalanced and deficient in basic nutrition.
Fact: The Atkins Nutritional Approach actually provides more nutrients than the typical American diet. It deliberately rebalances your way of eating. It is probable that the eating pattern that led to your weight gain was improperly balanced in the first place. The evidence showing that overproduction of insulin is responsible for most weight gain is quite impressive, and the best way to correct an insulin disorder is to avoid foods that stimulate insulin activity-that is, foods high in carbohydrates.
However, the Atkins Nutritional Approach does not exclude these foods( fruits, vegetables and grains). The Induction phase of Atkins, which people often mistake for the entire program, is the most strict, permitting only 20 grams of carbohydrates each day. Those 20 grams come in the form of green, leafy vegetables and also can include nutrientdense, highfiber, low-carbohydrate vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus, eggplant and spinach. Hardly foods lacking in nutrients!
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