Atkins Nutrition: Introduction

Atkins Nutrition: Introduction

While the Atkins program has been around for many years it is one of the more controversial and often misunderstood diets currently in use. One of the key points to understand is while you are on the Atkins diet you are only concerned with counting carbohydrates not calories or points like some other diet programs. To understand this we need to go into some details about what foods you eat and their nutritional components.

Three of the main components in the foods you eat are carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Some food groups also have additional components such as minerals, vitamins, fiber, anti-oxidants, water and other nutrients.

Carbohydrates
Two of the major components of carbohydrates are starches and sugars. Carbohydrates are also known for their ability to give the body a boost of energy. Carbohydrates do fall into two major categories, refined and unrefined. Fruits vegetables and whole grains are foods that contain natural or unrefined carbohydrates. Foods that contain refined carbohydrates do not naturally occur in nature. Examples include white rice pasta and white or bleached flour. While these do occur in nature during the refining or manufacturing process the good portions are removed leaving only the bad carbohydrates.

Fats
Fats can be found in many different types of foods - fish, meats poultry and dairy to name a few. Fats are not altogether a bad thing. Like carbohydrates most of the manufactured oils like vegetable, palm, corn coconut or soy are not healthy for you, olive oils however are.

Proteins
Many different types of foods like eggs, cheese, fish, meat and poultry are excellent sources for protein. They contain amino acids used by your body to build bone, muscle and organ tissue.

When you consume carbohydrates your body can't directly absorb the carbohydrates it first has to be converted into glucose (sugar) first. As the glucose enters your bloodstream you experience a natural rush of energy. You body senses the increase and releases insulin to carry away the excess sugars. This is where the problems start. Your body, which just experienced an energy/sugar high, is now depleted of the sugar the insulin carried away. As a natural response your body now starts to crave the energy from the carbohydrates/sugars. You are now caught in a dependably cycle of craving, feeling and depleting carbohydrates/sugars.

As we mentioned earlier the Atkins Diet is about counting carbohydrates not calories, so you'll be able to eat normal sized portions of food. With Atkins you'll be able to eat great tasting foods instead of small portions or bland tasting foods offered on other diets. With Atkins you'll be able to eat fish, poultry, beef, eggs, cheese and butter. For example if you wanted to you could eat a cheese omelet with bacon for breakfast, grilled salmon with hollandaise sauce for lunch and a steak for dinner.

Once you have stopped eating the carbohydrates your body will start to change. Your body will shift from burning carbohydrates to burning fat. This means you'll start seeing results right away. In addition to weight loss you will also be starting a healthier lifestyle you will be doing things like lowering your cholesterol, lowering your tryglycerides, lowering your blood pressure and stabilizing your blood sugar. In short by following the Atkins diet plan you will be making a fundamental shift in your overall health.