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Written by Jessica A. Andersen
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Wednesday, 17 September 2008 |
How Long Should You Stay On the Atkins Diet?
The Atkins Diet was
designed by Dr. Robert Atkins in the 1970s. He designed the diet to
followed forever. That is, the diet is more of a lifestyle than a fad
diet. The Dr. was a proponent of ketogenic fat burning. This is
accomplished by consuming few than 40 grams of carbohydrate daily. He
also suggested using dietary supplements to maintain nutrition within
the body's systems.
The Atkins Diet has 4 stages: the Induction Diet, the Ongoing Weight
Loss (OWL) Diet, the Pre-Maintenance Diet, and lastly the Lifetime
Maintenance Diet.
The Induction Diet strictly limits carb intake. Only 20 grams of carbs
are allowed daily, but to offset this there is a generous allowance of
fat & protein. The suggested source of carbs during this stage is
low starch vegetables. This stage lasts 14 days and is followed by the
OWL diet.
The OWL Diet Phase is more forgiving. At this point, participants can
consume 40 grams of carbs per day. This phase lasts until dieters reach
their ideal weight. Once this goal is accomplished, dieters move to the
pre-maintenance diet phase. Now the participant must establish how many
carbs they can consume without gaining weight. This is known as finding
their carb tolerance level.
When dieters understand how much carb they can consume and they
maintain their ideal weight, they will enter Lifetime Maintenance. Here
they will continue to avoid sugar, processed foods, white flour and
hydrogenated fat/oils.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 21 September 2008 )
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