How the Atkins Diet Enables Weight Loss

In 1963, at a weight of 224 pounds, Robert Atkins was sick and overweight. Years of stress, work load, and poor eating habits had taken their toll. As an American physician and cardiologist, he knew that he needed to lose weight to become healthier. And success was not far off. In less than two years, Dr. Atkins not only lost weight himself, he helped over 65 patients reach their ideal weight. Fueled by a determination to correct his own overweight condition, Atkins could not imagine that the low-carb diet he popularized would soon take the world by storm.


Atkins was inspired by the research of Dr. Alfred Pennington, who recommended removing sugar and starch from all meals. The concept of eliminating sugar and increasing fat consumption to treat obesity was new to American science, although the idea had been explored in great depth by German and Austrian researchers before World War II. Atkins discovered immediate and long-lasting success with this plan. Impressed with his own weight loss, Dr. Atkins began promoting his dietary regimen through books and television show appearances. Before too long, his success prompted the release of a number of cookbooks, health guides, and diet products.

The Atkins diet limits the consumption of carbohydrates, forcing the diet to metabolize body fat rather than glucose. The low blood sugar of low-carb dieters limits the release of the hormone insulin. Insulin serves a protective role in the body by decreasing blood glucose levels. The hormone triggers the uptake of glucose from the blood into fat and muscle cells. Should this regulation become disrupted, as with diabetics, then glucose in the blood can rise to toxic levels, oxidize, and destroy your blood vessels. Improper hormone functioning can result from an inability to produce insulin (type 1 diabetes) or from a cellular resistance to insulin (type 2 diabetes). While the former is usually genetic, type 2 diabetes results from the body's chronic exposure to high insulin levels, which stems from high blood sugar levels. Therefore, maintaining low insulin levels by limiting carbohydrate consumption will not only decrease fat storage but will also keep your body healthy.

Since low-carb dieters eat few carbohydrates, glucose cannot trigger the insulin response. In the absence of insulin, the adipose cells release fatty acids into the blood stream where the liver and muscle tissues break down the fatty acids via the Krebs cycle. Without a supply of glucose or glycogen derived from carbohydrates, the body relies on fats as the primary fuel source. By establishing a fat-burning hormonal balance, the Atkins diet enables people to eat a satiating meal and still lose weight.

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