British Had Largely Adopted the Atkins Diet
It is said that about two fifths of the British population are currently dieting in some form or another. 58% have tried dieting in the past five years.
An estimated three million people in the UK have tried the controversial Atkins Diet, suggests a poll. 7% of men and 10% of women had given it a try.
Despite all the warnings coming from dieticians, the Atkins diet is extremely popular, as it is in the United States.
The Last Truth About the Atkins Diet
Why on earth is this diet so largely voted? Nutritionists are puzzled and are trying to explain this.
The public already knows that Atkins is more effective than other diets in losing weight. Up-to-the-minute research point out that lowering appetite is the one responsible for losing pounds, not ketosis.
A very recent BBC show disclosed a completely new point of view regarding Atkins diet's success. On 12 August 2004, a few specialists were invited by narrator Barbara Flynn to debate Atkins advantages and drawbacks. The Atkins diet was “chopped” by Prof. Joe Milward, Dr. Theodore Vanitallie, Dr. Gary Foster, Dr. Eric Westman, Dr. Mary Vernon, Dr. Paul Robinson, Prof. Joseph Donelly, Dr. Susan Jebb, prof. Arm Astrup.
Ketosis? No Way!
Participants shared a shocking finding. Ketosis has nothing to do with pounds' dissapearance. Actually, by lowering appetite, Atkins dieters are losing weight! Nutrition experts have always been terrified by the fact that Atkins encouraged so many fats and had no limits to calories. The Atkins theory overturned all that dieticians had been trying to induce for years. People “wrongly” believed that, if you want to get thinner, all you have to do is eat less or reduce calories. This theory was swept away by the Atkins dietary approach.
Atkins Kills the Appetite
The spectacular results created confusion in the nutrition care community.
After reading the diaries of a group of Atkins dieters were, it was clear that Atkins followers have a higher command of their appetite. Because they eat protein-rich foods regularly, they do not need to eat large amounts. Appetite is somehow normalized by the food the dieters are actually eating. It is so simple, so unexpected. Actually, Dr. Atkins talked about this before, but only after this study was conducted, it was clear that appetite is the cause for losing weight.
The recent BBC show guests said that this finding is extremely interesting because appetite is one of the most fundamental human instincts. Without eating appropriate and sufficient food a human being cannot survive, act, think, work.
The bottom line is that the Atkins way of eating acts like an “appetite killer” and this is tremendously important to understand the diet's mechanism.