Atkins & Low-Carb – Part 1

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last few months,
you’ve probably noticed that low-carb mania is sweeping the
nation. Food manufacturers are in a heated race to see who can
get the most low-carb fare into the grocery stores, and every
advertiser worth their salt is emphasizing the low-carb message.
Popularized by the late Dr. Atkins, the low-carb diet has taken
the nation by storm and was by far the biggest trend of 2004.

So, does the low-carb diet work? Anecdotal evidence and recent
studies both conclude that following a strict low-carb diet will
in fact help you lose weight. Serious questions remain, however,
and must be addressed before fully embracing the low-carb
lifestyle. Some of these questions include:

* What are the long-term effects (10-20 years) of low-carb
eating?

* Can you stick with the low-carb diet, or will your love for
carbohydrates keep you cheating and frustrated?

* How does a low-carb diet mix with exercise? In particular,
what impact does it have on your muscle?

* Have you read the materials on the low-carb diet, or are you
just following the second-hand information you heard from a
co-worker?

In this series of articles we will attempt to address these
issues.

Real fitness experts emphasize that you should make changes to
your diet that you can stick with for the long term. All too
often, people start on a new “diet” and willpower their way to
weight loss. They don’t enjoy it, mainly because their “diet” is
telling them they can’t eat the foods they love. BOOM They’re
off the diet. Perhaps a few months later they try another diet,
just to find that it is also too restrictive and BOOM they’re
off again. This yo-yo dieting takes a toll on the body, often
leading to lost muscle mass and even worse a feeling of failure.

For any “diet” to work, it has to be created in such a way that
you can live with it. Life is simply too short to be absolutely
miserable, and trying to willpower yourself into a “diet” that
you can’t stick with is a sure path to misery.

So, should you start a low-carb diet? That’s the million-pound
question! And the answer is…..drum roll please…..maybe! If
you think you can stick with it, and if you take the time to
read about it and get the facts, and if you discuss it with your
doctor, and if you know what you are getting into, and if you
have the support of your family, then maybe the low-carb diet is
right for you.

Why not just a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’? Because everybody is
different and no single plan is going to work for everyone.
Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Slim-Fast, the Atkins Diet, the
South Beach Diet, and hundreds of other plans have all helped
people, but not one of them has helped everyone.

What’s important to realize is that you must discover your own
nutritional plan: one that works for you.

And finally, a reminder to exercise must be shouted from the gym
floor! No matter what nutritional approach you take, all of the
experts recommend that you exercise on a regular basis. Think
about it: there are hundreds of diet plans out there in the
world today, and many of them offer conflicting information, but
the one thing that they all have in common is that they strongly
encourage you to exercise. So although the experts may disagree
on what you should eat, they do agree on what you should do:
exercise!

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