Low carb diet

[roy_miami]

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the whole atkins thing is BS. people are stupid and believe it for some reason.

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There is absolutely no question in my mind that the Akins diet works. Both my dad and my brother in law have been doing it on and off for the past 3 years. My dad lost close to 20 pounds the first 2 weeks and my brother in law loses weight fast every time he does it.

I watched an hour long special on the Atkins diet (aired on the National Geographic channel I believe) where they tried to prove (or disprove) all the scientific reasons for why the Atkins seems to work so well. The ketone theory was debunked as was the theory that the body works harder to burn protein, a few other theories were tested and debunked as well.

Towards the end of the special they had a challenge between the Atkins and a low calorie diet. They both pretty much had the same results. The guys eating as much bacon, hamburgers, nuts, eggs as they wanted lost as much or more weight as the guys following a strict low calorie diet. When they looked deeper into the study they found that even though the Atkin dieters could eat as much as they wanted, calorie wise they weren't eating any more than the low-calorie dieters. The conclusion of the study was eating only protein reduces your appetite and this is why the diet works.


They also studied cholesterol levels, which they figured would be through the roof, but were surprised to find it was actually reduced. Dad had his tested and his bad cholesterol was lower after a year on the diet.

At the end of the episode a Doctor said even though the diet seems to work and the short term benefits are good, he wouldn't recommend it because there are no long term studies to prove its safe. He was especially worried about colon types of problems due to the lack of fiber.