One thing all weight loss and weight management experts have to agree on is that the Atkins Nutritional Approach has proven itself a survivor, even though may not have emerged from all of its battles unscathed. Even its detractors grudgingly agree that the diet actually works, but they are quick to point out the so-called dangers to your health. It can be argued that the Atkins diet is one of the most successful diets to date. It is also probably the most widely researched and well tested diet on the market, largely thanks to detractors trying to disprove the diet. The sheer number of trials the Atkins diet was involved in offers it a big advantage against all of the unproven fad diets available nowadays.
It is frightening to realize how easily we are all convinced of the "unquestionable truth" of an inherently unsupported argument. Of course, there are many parties participating in shaping public perception including government agencies, the media, and then of course; large corporations with a huge vested interest in promoting particular products. This continuous conditioning process is so effective that it affects all the decisions we make. In the case of the low fat diet and the role of fat in managing your weight, the health campaigns were so effective that few dared to question the wisdom of this approach. Many people today are still stuck in the belief that fat makes you fat and have not yet caught on to the fact that carbohydrates are the real enemies, but who can blame them when health authorities themselves are still debating these issues?
Today there are a growing number of scientists arguing that is the low fat dietary approach, and the accompanying Food Guide Pyramid (as developed by the US department of Agriculture), that actually caused the obesity epidemic in America. The low fat dietary approach only really gained momentum from the mid 1970's onwards. Before that, believe it or not, conventional wisdom held that too much bread, pasta and potato makes you fat! Now that is interesting. Is it a coincidence that obesity was much less of a problem in the seventies than it is today? The steep upwards trend in the number of obese people in the United States from the seventies onward provides further evidence of the potential negative impact of the low fat diet on obesity levels of the American public.
You can just imagine the fireworks when Dr Robert Atkins published his revolutionary Atkins Diet in 1972. His developed this diet after finding that the recommended diet of the time (low fat, restricted calorie) diet did not work for his clients or himself. He stumbled upon a scientific article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), which suggested that carbohydrates may be the cause of the problem. He tried a modified diet on himself and some of his clients, and it actually worked! So the Atkins Nutritional Approach was born. It quickly gained a loyal support base, but only gained widespread popularity by 2003 and 2004 after many of the myths about the diet and the supposed dangers involved have been disproved.
Many trials were conducted testing the effectiveness of the Atkins Nutritional Approach (regarded as very low in carbohydrates) against a number of other diets including Zone (low in carbohydrate), LEARN (Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitudes, Relationships, and Nutrition; low in fat, high in carbohydrate, based on USA national guidelines), Ornish (very high in carbohydrate, very low in fat) and even the Mediterranean Diet. Atkins followers on these trials typically lost more weight than on any other diet, and they experienced great improvement in their general health; including improvement in bad cholesterol and blood sugar levels!
Through the years many supportive clubs and internet forums have been formed. Atkins products are freely available in your local supermarket and on the internet, and Atkins friendly recipes abound on the Internet.
When choosing your next diet, after you have realized that low-fat simply does not work, try Atkins. You may be pleasantly surprised...
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