With the recent warm weather, many students may be looking for a quick way to lose weight for the traditional spring fashion trend of less clothing and more skin. One of the most popular weight-loss crazes right now is the Atkins diet, and even many large grocery chains have joined the bandwagon, offering a wide variety of low-carb food to cater to the Atkins crowd.
Atkins is a nutritional approach that changes traditional American eating habits and limits carbohydrate intake, according to http://www.atkins.com.
The first phase of the diet restricts carbohydrate intake to 20 grams per day, with most of that coming from salad and “non-starchy” vegetables, according to the Atkins Web site. The site claims the average American diet includes 200 to 300 carbohydrate grams per day. The remainder of the food eaten should be unprocessed meats, cheeses and fats such as olive oil and mayonnaise.
The next three phases allow dieters to incrementally increase the amount of carbohydrates they eat while still losing pounds until they reach their desired weight.
The site states that a human body primarily burns carbohydrates and fat for energy needs, but carbohydrates are the primary fuel to be metabolized. When an Atkins dieter cuts down on carbohydrate intake, his or her body switches primarily to burning fat.
Beth Naylor, a nutrition instructor at Lane Community College, said the Atkins diet is a good temporary way to learn how to eat less white flour and refined sugar, but she would not recommend it as a long-term diet. She said a diet so restrictive gets frustrating after a while.
“We need a connection with food,” she said. “Atkins food doesn’t do much to please your connection with the earth.”
She also said relying on the Atkins brand for carb-friendly foods isn’t necessarily healthy, either.
“I really object to the Atkins lifestyle,” Naylor said. “It’s a corporation. They’re not an objective provider.”
Senior political science major Barbara Penney has witnessed her dad and many others follow the Atkins diet. Penney’s father has been doing Atkins for about two years, she said, adding that her father’s weight has fluctuated over time but stabilized recently.
She said the diet seems to work well for him, but she doesn’t like the restrictive eating plan. However, she said it encourages people to lose weight and improve their eating habits, but she doesn’t think it is a good long-term lifestyle.
The Atkins Web site states the diet promotes good health and disease prevention by encouraging people to eat natural, sometimes organic, nutrient-dense foods. The diet also encourages the use of vitamin and mineral supplements and regular exercise.
Also, the site claims the Atkins diet prevents diseases in high-risk dieters, such as diabetes, by lowering carbohydrate intake and insulin production.
However, Atkins is not the diet for everyone.
Naylor said the kidneys get overworked processing all of the protein the diet proscribes, and she added that people with kidney problems should not try Atkins.
Naylor also said a diet like Atkins can be very harmful to the environment. She said it isn’t environmentally sound to mass produce farm animals and fish to be consumed for protein-based diets, and it is a burden on natural resources.
According to the Atkins site, one common concern people have about the diet is whether eating high levels of protein and fat will affect the body.
Penney cited this as one of her concerns with Atkins as well. She finds it hard to believe that a diet promoting the consumption of meats and foods heavy in fat such as mayonnaise and butter will help someone lose weight and maintain the weight loss.
“Anything in excess is a bad thing,” Penney said. “It’s a matter of moderation and balancing foods.”