The Basics of the Atkins Diet

Few diets have quite achieved the notoriety that the atkins diet has achieved. It is a relatively straightforward diet although it recommends eating habits that are quite shocking to most people. It is safe to say that like it or hate it, most people have heard about the atkins diet. It is based on the consumption of protein. The stereotyped thinking would be that proteins would just make people put on weight. That may be true but in this case the proteins are excluding carbohydrates such that you are not really having a balanced diet. One of the most controversial aspects of the diet is that it actually worked. People were losing weight but at the same time being allowed to indulge in eating meat all the time.

The idea diet, right? Well, as expected the negative stories started trickling in. The diet was accused of making people ill. Health experts started joining the long queue to condemn it and the writer was rounded on by the popular press. Meanwhile people continued using the diet and losing the weight. Some simply dropped off the scheme when they realized that there were side effects to be felt if you were able to continue with this diet.

The diet is deceptively luxurious allowing for the indulgence of seemingly luxury goods as long as you do not have basic carbohydrates in your diet. Most people enjoy protein foods but if they are eaten to excess they start becoming boring. You can even end up hating the whole experience altogether. Meat no longer looked quite as appetizing after you have been stuffing yourself with meat for the past five days.
The body also started craving for carbohydrates. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and this is exactly what happened with the atkins diet. The people on the diet transferred their cravings from sugary foods onto carbohydrates. This led many of them to fail in their quest to achieve dieting perfection. The most worrying aspect of this is that no one did an assessment to see how they could support people who were struggling in this way.

The cost of proteins was also relatively high which meant that people of modest means would struggle to meet the requirements of the diet. However there was a cloud in the silver lining because the people who went on the diet were so fed up of fatty foods that many of them removed them from their normal diets even after they had left the scheme.

Introducing you to the Diet Spot

Hi guys. This is now the diet spot. This is a place for all of you to come and share your thoughts about what is happening in your diet world. This is a forum for you to describe the challenges that you face and if possible describe how you have been able to overcome those challenges. In otherwards this is your blog section. I welcome contributions from anyone and would be absolutely delighted if you can add ideas as to what you thing works in the blogs. There is a great article at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0801/is_6_68/ai_n19187622/ which describes the difference between dieting and muscle growth. They also talk about the importance of good nutrition. They are argue that it is not a very good idea to prioritize training over good diet.
I have to say that personally I tend to let things go hoping for the best. There is very little structure to my diet and I tend to eat whatever is placed before me as long as it is in reasonable quantities. I also sometimes feel that weight training ends up giving you more muscle and you might actually end up much heavier than you were before you started. Clearly this is not an ideal situation. However I think if you get good advice and people around you who understand your predicament, chances are that you will be able to overcome any challenges with the diet.
The other thing I really hate is when people put you on the spot and ask you how much weight you have lost or how you intend to stick to the diet plan. I know some people might think that this is motivation but to me it causes lots of embarrassment and a feeling that I need to overcompensate by trying to do too much. The choice of a training regime can also be problematic. I am one of those people who generally do not like weightlifting but on my day I will quite happily play tennis or swim. Unfortunately those facilities are not always available apart from the very best sports clubs. Time can also be a problem but I definitely do like the idea of mixing up the diet and exercise to get to your optimum weight.
I am interested to hear from people who have struggled with a diet or even those who have finally managed to overcome any problems with overweight through undergoing an exercise and diet regime. Please tell us about your experiences. They might help someone somewhere.