Dr. Atkins Diet was crazy for claiming faster weight and fat loss from eating bacon and steak.

But the Atkins Diet is RIGHT !! because SOME KINDS of carbohydrates(high Glycemic Index or G.I. carbs)and higher carbohydrate diets slow weight loss.

Back in 2005 this diet was quite popular and getting a lot of positive attention from the media and scientific community. People lost weight faster on the Atkin's diet than on other diets with equal calories!

It was pretty exciting stuff, so my room mate Sean decided to give it a try.

Here's an overview of the diet.

Phase 1)

Induction - Reduce your carbohydrates to 20 grams per day ( the total “net carbs” in two small apples ).

In this phase people can lose up to 15 lbs (6.8 Kg) in just two weeks!

Phase 2)

Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL) add five grams per week (half a small apple) of carbohydrates until your weight loss slows to a pound or two (0.45 to 0.90 Kg) per week.

Phase 3)

Pre-maintenance starts when you are 10 pounds (4.5 Kg) away from your target weight.

You can add 10 g of daily carbohydrates (one small apple) each week. Until you stop losing weight.

Stay there until your weight is stable for one month.

Phase 4)

Lifetime maintenance. Stay at the carbohydrate level that allows you to maintain your weight.

Now back to Sean's experience.

One day during phase one of the Atkins diet he told me:

“Today at work my feet came out from under me.”

After some discussion I understood, he felt very faint and almost passed out from his low blood sugar.

Suddenly the perfect diet that lets you lose weight faster than any other while you eat cheese, meat and eggs seemed less than perfect:-?

Before writing this page I did some checking to make sure I had the details straight.

I found this link about it on Wikipedia.

This one from Atkins-Exposed.Org claiming the diet is unsafe and unhealthy.

One on WebMD citing some expert opinions.

Plus the Atkins Diet Homepage ,

and one citing studies that supported the Atkins Diet approach titled “Notable Research” .

The Notable Research page has a summary of the research and and it's findings. Each section is one or two sentences, noting the university the research was conducted at, and the conclusions.

There is no mention of WHEN or WHO conducted the research, and no citation for further reference which is standard when using scientific studies to support claims.

The lack of details and proper citations concerns me:-(

After looking at the information I found, Sean's experience and the unusual lack of citations to research, I can't in good conscience recommend this diet as safe or healthy.

It takes low carb to an unnatural and potentially dangerous extreme while disallowing nutrition rich, low carbohydrate foods which supply fiber, enzymes, phytonutrients, vitamins and antioxidants that would be missing on such a restrictive diet.

Robert Atkins research was very valuable because it showed that the less carbohydrates we eat the faster we lose weight. And that calories matter LESS when you eat a low carb diet.

It paved the way to a healthier and more complete understanding of nutritional science and diets based on the Glycemic Index which I will cover in detail on the Glycemic Index Page . Including my own Carb Number rating for glycemic foods which considers G.I. AND calories using a single number based on scientifically measured values.

The Carb Number allows you to compare any two foods using a single number:-)