PRESENTER (British): Welcome everyone to our weekly lecture about alternative diets. My name is Peter Dobbins and I’m a Health Food and Nutrition Expert from the University of Oxford. Tonight, I’d like to focus on the revolutionary diet many of you have probably already heard of: The Atkins Diet. I’m going to give a brief background about Atkins and then launch into an explanation about the four different phases of the diet.
Now, officially, The Atkins Diet is referred to as the Atkins Nutritional Approach. It was invented by Dr. Robert Atkins, who wrote several books about this low-carb diet during the 1970s. Dr. Atkins’ motivation in developing this alternative diet was to lose weight himself by altering his metabolism to focus on burning fat. The basic premise of the diet is to avoid carbohydrates when eating so that your body does not experience a sudden spike in blood sugar. By avoiding excessive amounts of sugar, your body is able to burn fat rather than store it while it’s busy burning all of the sugar in your bloodstream from the carbs. Technically, this is called ketosis, which is when your body metabolizes stored body fat rather than glucose. Make sense? The point here is that while Dr. Atkins’ diet isn’t for everyone, it is a safe and healthy alternative to dieting that can be sustained for long periods of time without too much difficulty.
The diet is broken up quite simply into distinct phases. The first phase of the Atkins Diet is called Induction. The purpose of phase one is to jumpstart weight loss. According to Dr. Atkins, it is possible to lose 15 pounds during the first two weeks, which is incredible, right? So how is that possible? During this phase, a person’s body will shift from primarily burning carbs to primarily burning fat. The standard is to drop the daily intake of carbohydrates to only 20 grams. About 2/3rds of these carbs should come from vegetables, and dieters should be careful to eat plenty of protein and fiber-rich foods at every meal during this phase. Also, don’t forget that eating fats is actually essential to losing weight on the Atkins Diet.
Phase two is called Balancing. The purpose of this phase of the diet is to gradually start adding different foods that are higher in carbohydrates back into daily consumption while continuing to lose weight. Phase two involves adding nuts, seeds, some berries, cottage cheese and yogurt to daily meals. The daily total of grams of carbohydrates allowed for phase two is 25, but it can gradually be increased by 5 grams a day. Depending on a person’s weight, age, gender, the total number of grams of carbs allowed per day can be 80, however most people find a happy balance around 30 – 60 grams per day.
Phase three is normally called Fine-Tuning. Most dieters wait to transition into phase three until they’re within 10 pounds of their ideal weight. The purpose of this phase is to continue to gradually increase the daily intake of carbohydrates with foods such as whole grains, starchy vegetables and fruits. The goal is to continue to burn off excess weight and find a balance of the amount of carbs you can eat every day while maintaining your ideal weight. Weight loss will slow down in this phase, but that’s normal.
Phase four, the final phase, is known as Lifetime Maintenance. This phase should be considered a long-term lifestyle of eating habits rather than a temporary solution. The purpose of this phase is to find the ideal types of foods and carb intake so that different types of meals can be eaten but there is still a limitation on the amount of carbohydrates that are being consumed. No foods are off-limits, but each person needs to be careful not to fall back into old habits of filling-up on breads and sugar.