What is the Atkins Diet

The Atkins Diet is a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet. Contrary to other known diets, this diet is restricted to those food groups which are high in protein and other kinds of foods are not allowed.

The foods you can eat while on the Atkins Diet are cheese, meat, eggs, chicken, butter and other foods which would be taboo in any other diet -  but you are not allowed to eat any fruit, bread, rice, sugar, milk, potatoes pasta etc since those foods are high in carbs.

The Atkins Diet plan consists of 4 phases:

The Induction phase

For two weeks when you start the regimen you are only allowed less than 20 grams carb intake per day.

On-Going Weight Loss Phase

Up to 25 grams of carbs per day are permitted.

Pre-Maintenance

This is where your body starts to level off.

Lifetime Maintenance

When you finally lost the weight you wanted.

For each of those four phases of the atkins diet you will exactly know what and how much you can eat.
You will have your lists of allowed foods and you will have an exact meal plan to follow. There is also Atkins products which can help you in your diet if you are just starting out.

The Atkins Diet has not been without controversy, although the overall view of this diet is that it is a good way to shed the pounds. The advantages of this way to lose weight are a real and good amount of weight loss while you can eat when you want. Furthermore it burns your fat (not only water as in so called "crash diets") and it usually improves your general health and well being.

Statistics also showed that the Atkins Diet fares very well compared to other weight loss methods. It has been shown that people usually lose more weight after a year as compared to other diet plans which are often simply not showing such results.

As always, before you plan to go on a diet it is advised you consult your doctor or physician. Only your doctor can give you proper advise whether the Atkins diet is right for you.