The Adkins Diet Burns Fat, But Is It Bad For You?

Except for perhaps Weight Watchers, the Adkins Diet may be the most popular diet of our time. Even if you haven’t personally tried it yet, you undoubtedly know someone who has used it. Of course, popular doesn’t always mean good.

Is the Adkins Diet the revolutionary way of life that will slash your risk of high cholesterol and have you fitting back into those jeans from high school or is it the dangerous, unbalanced way of eating that some claim it is?

One of the undisputed benefits of the Adkins Diets is simply that it works. It works quite quickly and effectively for pretty much anyone who employs the diet in its entirety. Even while eating enjoyable foods that might have previously been considered “off limits” by dieters, this diet produces results.

The secret is in the science of low carb dieting. The body has two types of fuel. The primary type of fuel the body uses is glucose, which is obtained from carbohydrates. The other type, considered the “back up plan” of the body, is ketones, which are obtained from the body’s own fat store.

When carbs are strictly limited, the body must resort to pulling fuel for energy from the body’s fat store. This built-in self-preservation system works beautifully, but is it healthy to put the body into such an altered state of functioning?

One negative to consider is the possibility of inducing what is known as “toxic overload”. This occurs when the body burns through fat too quickly. Toxins in the body are frequently stored in the fat cells, and as the fat cells are used up to fuel the body, these toxins may be released into the bloodstream.

Despite this concern, the Adkins Diet is often touted as a sound and healthy dietary regimen. While it is true that the body requires nutrients from various sources, particularly the plant sources that may be restricted by the diet, the Adkins Diet is proven to reduce both blood pressure and cholesterol. Diabetes may even be positively impacted by adherence to the Adkins Diet.

Many diets set dieters up for failure with their overly restrictive nature. Diets based on calorie reduction, in particular, cause dieters to suffer through periods of intense and uncomfortable hunger. A benefit of the Adkins Diet is its generous allowance of larger amounts of food as well as foods high in satiation, like meats.

While satisfaction with the foods a dieter is allowed to eat certainly contributes the dieter’s ability to stick with a dietary program, it is certainly not the only aspect of a diet that may impact the dieter’s quality of life. Many adherents to the Adkins Diet complain of extreme fatigue and lethargy due to the dramatic change in metabolic function.

Like most diets, the Adkins Diet provides excellent weight loss results. The real question is whether the dieter finds the results to be worth the lifestyle changes.

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