Posts tagged health and fitness

Part-4 Ketosis can lead to health problems like kidney failure. Atkins followers identify ketosis as the fat-burning process, and is the main factors in making the diet different from other approaches. Practically, carbohydrate supply or provides energy, however when the body uses up all its stored carbohydrate, it needs to find another fuel source.

Glucose is a carbohydrate which our brain operates on. When we have shortage of carbohydrates, we start to change protein to carbohydrates. Glucose then influences cells in the pancreas to secrete insulin to eliminate that glucose and take it into tissues to be consume as fuel or stored. Protein and fat intake do not have the same impact on insulin production because the whole point of insulin is to continue with the stability of the sugar level.

Ketosis arises from the incomplete metabolism of fatty acids. It comes on when the body is withhold or deprive of carbohydrates, its preferred fuel source, and turns to its own fat and the fat in food for fuel. Ketosis (another name for ketones, the byproducts of burning fat) is an abnormal metabolic state seen in starvation and uncontrolled diabetes. Ketones can kill, however the healthy body remove them immediately --through the kidneys and the lungs (an unpleasant effect of the Atkins diet is called acetone breath).

Dieters involving or following the low-fat regimen had a 22% reduction in blood fats known as triglycerides and no increase in HDL, or "good" cholesterol. The Atkins followers experienced a 49% reduction in triglycerides and an 11% rise in HDL. Dieters are informed to exclude all carbohydrate for the first two weeks prior to moving on to the next section, where a few carbohydrates are reintroduced as part of the diet. After achieving their target weight loss, the dieters are then advised to keep-up with the diet. Dieters are encouraged to maintain carbohydrate intake level until their weight loss goals are met. During the Pre-maintenance and Maintenance phases, dieters determine or decide the carbohydrate level of consumption that is allowable to maintain their target weight.

Carbohydrate, in the form of glucose, is the first fuel used to provide energy to our body. Dr Atkins suggests that when we reduce our intake of carbohydrates significantly, our body convert from burning carbohydrates to burning fat as fuel.

Robert Atkins, who promises you can eat the delicious meals you like, never count calories, enjoy a good cheeseburger when you're hungry, even top things off with dessert and still lose weight. Sounds really great! Robert Atkins, who developed it from a new nutritional approach he studied in the 1960's. Atkins used his diet on himself with significant success before he began advocating it. Robert Atkins, an American cardiologist, the Atkins diet has been experiencing renewed popularity as the low-carbohydrate craze once again hits American men and women. The Atkins diet is designed to help people reduce and maintain their weight at optimal levels by increasing protein and fat intake while decreasing carbohydrate intake.