What are the pros and cons to the Atkins diet, and is it a legitimate option for long term weight control?

The Atkins diet, also known as the low carb diet consist of eating mainly meat and cutting way back carbohydrates.  That may sound like a great thing to many, but the question remains is this a healthy way to lose weight, I mean after all your diet should consist of roughly 50% carbohydrates.  Several pros to the Atkins diet are getting to eat the forbidden foods, like bacon and steak as well as butter and cream.  The Atkins diet also does not put a limit on the amount of these items that one is allowed to eat so there is not that feeling of constant hunger that accompanies many diets that are popular today.  The Atkins diet also results in weight loss very quickly and in most cases it is a quite substantial weight loss, however the majority of this weight is water.  A con is that once the diet ends the majority of people that have used this diet gain the weight back and are left unsatisfied with themselves.  There are also the problems that are associated with ketosis that accompanies a high protein-low carb diet.  Ketosis is when glycogen is not available for energy and the body breaks down fat to ketone bodies for energy and an accumulation of those ketone bodies occurs.  Ketosis can lead to an increased heart rate and palpations, impaired kidney function and headaches, none of which anyone wants to experience while trying to shed those pounds.

Overall, the Atkins Diet is an excellent way to see immediate results in terms of weight loss but those losses are not long lived once the diet in over.  The diet is not a life long change because the host of adverse effects that go along with ketosis and the bodies need for carbohydrates to produce energy from glycogen.  For better results in terms of weight loss and overall health its best to follow a more natural diet; that includes things like cutting the fat, sugar, sodium and limiting dairy and liquid calories.  Focus on water, healthy carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables for a healthier diet and lifestyle.

Tyler Hieneman

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/pros-cons-of-high-protein-diets?page=2

http://sph.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/PH/NutritionModules/Popular_Diets/Popular_Diets3.html