The Atkins Diet
What Is the Atkins Diet?
Steak with Bearnaise sauce, eggs and bacon, cheddar cheese omelets -- don't hold the yolks, Roquefort dressing, and silky smooth avocado cream soup made with real cream? These rich foods are allowed as part of the controversial diet described in Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, a phenomenal best seller, and several follow-up books, including the 2010 New Atkins for a New You.The Atkins diet promises that not only will you lose weight -- and not be hungry -- with a low-carbohydrate diet, but you'll also be on the road to better heart health and memory function, as well as other wellness benefits.
Although it's undoubtedly the weight-loss claims -- and noted success stories -- that are selling the books, the Center for Complementary Medicine in New York (which Atkins founded) claims that most people follow the Atkins diet for weight maintenance, good health, and disease prevention.
How the Atkins Diet Works
Drastically restricting carbohydrates to a mere fraction of that found in the typical American diet causes the body to go into a state of ketosis, which means it burns its own fat for fuel. A person in ketosis is getting energy from ketones, little carbon fragments that are the fuel created by the breakdown of fat stores. When the body is in ketosis, you tend to feel less hungry, and thus you're likely to eat less than you might otherwise. However, ketosis can also cause a variety of unpleasant effects (such as unusual breath odor and constipation) in a small number of people.As a result, your body changes from a carbohydrate-burning engine into a fat-burning engine. So instead of relying on the carbohydrate-rich items you might typically consume for energy, and leaving your fat stores just where they were before (alas, the hips, belly, and thunder thighs are popular fat-gathering spots), your fat stores become a primary energy source. The purported result: weight loss.
In slightly more detail, consider what happens when you eat a high-carbohydrate meal. Sugar from the carbohydrate quickly enters the bloodstream. To keep the blood sugar from rising too high, the body secretes insulin. Insulin allows the extra sugar to be stored in the liver and muscle as glycogen, but these stores are rapidly filled to capacity. The insulin then converts any extra sugar to fat -- the stuff we're trying so hard to get rid of.
According to the Atkins theory, if the body keeps on making "too much" insulin -- as it tries to deal with the "excess" sugar -- it may become less responsive to insulin and eventually may develop the metabolic disorder diabetes. The Atkins theory states that this should properly be called "unstable blood sugar" since the blood sugar level rises and then drops quickly.
How the Atkins Diet Works
This "first step in an unhealthy metabolic path" leads to "the early stages of diabetes." However, a body in ketosis burns up excess fat, and in time -- according to the Atkins theory -- returns to normal metabolic function. Though all the fat in this diet may temporarily spike someone's cholesterol level, this is usually short lived and soon rights itself with a lower cholesterol and triglyceride level as weight loss occurs -- at least, that's the theory.For most people, the carb consumption must be no more than 40 grams a day for this biochemical mechanism to occur. Although exercise isn't stressed, the Atkins theory holds that some people will need to add physical activity for ketosis to kick in. People are urged to supplement with vitamins, since they won't be getting them from sources such as vegetables and fruits.
The plan allows you to eat foods that many dieters have only dreamed about. The diet is said to work even if other diets have left you feeling depressed and deprived. The Atkins diet at a glance:
- Sets few limits on the amount of food you eat but instead severely restricts the kinds of food allowed on your plate: no refined sugar, milk, white rice, or white flour
- Allows you to eat foods traditionally regarded as "rich": meat, eggs, cheese, and more
- Claims to reduce your appetite in the process
On the other hand, carbs are restricted (about 20 grams of net carbs per day, meaning total carbs minus fiber) in the first two weeks, which translates to three cups of loosely packed salad or two cups of salad with two-thirds cup of certain cooked vegetables each day.
There are no exceptions to these rules during the first two weeks because low-carb consumption (no fruits and only a few leafy green vegetables) is supposed to jump-start the weight-loss biochemical activity of the diet. You're not counting calories (in fact, you may be eating more calories than you were before).
Later, the carb allowance is increased in the form of fiber-rich foods, but you do not return to eating refined sugar (by the teaspoonful or in desserts), milk, white rice, white bread, white potatoes or pasta made with the dreaded white flour. Those remain on a lifelong list of forbidden pleasures.
The diet does allow for adding fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain foods after the two-week induction period.
Then, over time, the transition from weight loss to weight maintenance is made by gradually increasing carbs so long as gradual weight loss is maintained.
Exercise in all phases as part of a healthy lifestyle is now emphasized more than when the diet was first introduced.
Food for Thought
The Atkins diet has changed and improved over the years to promote a variety of foods including lean protein, vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, and in some cases, whole grains and healthy fats.The Dr. Oz Ultimate Diet
The Dr. Oz Ultimate Diet: Kitchen Purge
First, you must purge your kitchen according to Oz’s rule of 5.Here's the rule of 5: Throw out food that has any of the following ingredients within the first five ingredients listed on the package:
- Simple sugars - includes all kinds of sugars and sweeteners
- Syrups - corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, and maple syrup
- Enriched flours - any flour other than 100% whole grain
- Saturated fats - animal fat, milk fat, butter, lard, and tropical oils
- Trans fats - partially hydrogenated fats, hydrogenated vegetable oil blends, many margarines, and cooking blends
Once you get rid of those foods, stock up on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, eggs, nuts, beans, yogurt, fish, and healthy fats. The Dr. Oz Ultimate Diet includes a shopping list for that.
Does it work? “It is a very helpful approach to clean out your kitchen of low-nutrition foods and restock it with healthy and wholesome ones that are conveniently organized in the detailed grocery list,” says Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, author of The Flexitarian Diet.
Still, overhauling your kitchen could be expensive, time-consuming, and some good foods may get tossed. For instance, it's confusing when Oz allows some sugar for recipes but not natural sugars in yogurt.
“Not all sugars are bad, especially natural sugars like lactose in dairy and fructose in fruit -- both are good for you and belong in your kitchen, not in the trash,” says Andrea Giancoli, MS, RD, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly called the American Dietetic Association).
Good nutrition is not as simple as dumping all foods that contain the specified five ingredients at the top of the plan's list. To make the best decision about which packaged foods to keep and toss, check the ingredients and the nutrition facts panel.
Rules of the Dr. Oz Ultimate Diet
After your kitchen makeover, Oz wants you to follow these rules for a week:- Cut 100 calories. Skip a soda, a 100-calorie snack, or two cookies.
- Make it automatic. Eat the same meals to cut guesswork and curb temptations.
- Control portion sizes. Use smaller plates.
- Don’t eat after 8:30 p.m.
- Find a weight loss buddy to whom you can turn for support.
- Learn to cheat responsibly. Make foods flavorful with spices. Or distract yourself until the craving passes.
- Check in with your doctor.
- Walk 10,000 steps per day.
- Monitor your waistline and weight.
- Keep it up during the second week. And make the basics of healthy eating and activity part of your lifestyle for good.
But eating the same foods over and over could become monotonous, Giancoli says.
Sample Meal Plan
The Dr. Oz Ultimate Diet features high-fiber foods to help you stay full longer (and keep you regular). The plan also allows a glass of wine and a little bit of chocolate.Here is a sample meal plan from the diet:
- Breakfast : Egg-white omelet, juice, and coffee or tea.
- Morning Snack: Veggies with dip.
- Lunch: Healthy veggie burger with the works.
- Afternoon Snack: Yogurt with fruit.
- Dinner: Asian salmon with brown rice pilaf, and one glass of wine.
- Dessert: 1-ounce dark chocolate with a sliced orange (every other night).
- Drinks: Water, coffee, tea, etc.
- Evening Snack Choices: Popcorn
The Dr. Oz Ultimate Diet: Experts' Views
Nutrition experts like that this is a plan without any magic bullets, with emphasis on establishing good habits, getting regular exercise, getting support, and consulting your doctor."This is a smart, basic-startup guide to getting healthy," Blatner says.
But many people may need individualized advice and more details on how to handle "tricky situations and temptations," Blatner says.
Giancoli agrees. "The advice is easy, sensible, doable, and for the most part, based on research," but is short on details, she says. Also, "It is somewhat convoluted and difficult to understand how to put it all together from the information on the web site."
"To be on the safe side, I would suggest [taking] a once-daily multivitamin with minerals that contains adequate amounts of calcium and vitamin D, which may be lacking in the diet plan," Giancoli says.
She also recommends mixing the basic rules and tips from the Dr. Oz Ultimate Diet with help from www.myplate.gov, where you can check on calories and servings, and calculate your BMI.
The Dr. Oz Ultimate Diet: My Bottom Line
The Dr. Oz Ultimate Diet is a clean-sweep starting point if you want to learn about a healthier lifestyle or need useful advice or motivation to lose weight.But to be successful at weight loss, most people need additional information that you can get by consulting a registered dietitian.
The Belly Fat Cure
Cruise writes that you can eat all the foods you love -- including chips, ice cream, pizza, and cheeseburgers -- as long as you minimize your intake of sugar and processed carbohydrates through his "carb swap" system, and thus control your insulin levels.
This may sound contradictory to those who remember Cruise’s last diet book, The 3-Hour Diet: How Low-Carb Diets Make You Fat and Timing Makes You Thin. That book subscribed to the well-accepted portion control, calories in-calories out approach to weight loss.
But Cruise now says he was wrong. The latest science, he says, shows that "losing weight has nothing to do with calorie counting, eating less, or exercising more."
This theory, of course, is not embraced by most nutrition and diet experts.
"If you want to lose weight and keep it off, calories need to be controlled and regular physical activity is a prescription for a healthy heart, maintaining bones, muscle tissue, and more," says Elisa Zied, MS, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
The Belly Fat Cure: What You Can Eat
The Belly Fat Cure eating plan consists of protein, fats, and vegetables with small amounts of sugar and complex carbs. Processed foods with sweeteners (even artificial sweeteners) are out. Wine, beer, champagne, and dark chocolate are OK -- but not cocktails or candy bars.Much of the book consists of colorful displays of more than 100 "belly bad" meals (mostly from fast food and casual restaurant chains) made over into "belly good" recipes that are featured in the meal plans. (However, the recipes contain no nutrition information other than the grams of sugar and servings of carbs they contain – not even a calorie count.)
Five different weeklong meal plans designed for various eating styles, from carb lovers to meat-eaters, provide a framework for the eating plan.
When in doubt, dieters can follow the "no-excuses day" plan:
- Breakfast: 3 eggs, 2 slices buttered toast
- Snack: Handful of walnuts
- Lunch: Tuna salad on one piece pita bread
- Snack: 1 cup cottage cheese with honey
- Dinner: Grilled chicken or steak, sautéed veggies and 1/2 cup brown rice
Because of their low sugar content, blackberries and blueberries are theonly fruits allowed on The Belly Cure plan. Although fruits aregenerally considered healthy because of all the nutrients and fiber they contain, Cruise says you can get the same nutrients from vegetables without the (natural) sugar found in fruit. Once you reach your goal weight, you can add up to two pieces of fruit per day.
The Belly Fat Cure: How It Works
The Belly Fat Cure is similar to the Atkins or South Beach diet with the addition of a carb-swap system.Each day, dieters take in no more than 15 grams of sugar from six servings of "smart," fiber-rich carbs (one serving of carbs equals 5-20 grams of carbohydrate). You calculate the sugar/carb value by comparing the grams of sugar to the number of servings of carbs in the foods you're eating – information that's easily found on food labels.
Cruise's theory is that by using the "carb swap" system, you get your insulin levels under control. He says that diets high in sugar increase insulin levels – which, in turn pushes fat into fat cells -- and cause a host of other side effects like wrinkles, low energy levels, and cellular inflammation.
Because fat and protein don’t increase insulin levels, there's no need to limit or track these nutrients, Cruise says. "They are the most satisfying nutrients so it is unlikely you will overeat them," he says.
The book contends that exercise isn't necessary for weight loss, but has a few pages on toning your abs after you lose the belly fat. Cruise encourages doing an 8-minute daily abdominal strength workout and a 20-minute power walk as often as possible for toning and strength – but this is optional.
The Belly Fat Cure also recommends finding a support buddy or network. Studies show that you're more likely to succeed at weight loss when you've got support.
The Belly Fat Cure: What the Experts Say
This diet "is just another gimmick, not the cure," says Zied, author of Nutrition at Your Fingertips.The book makes several references to scientific studies, yet the author’s interpretation of the research is inaccurate, she says.
Indeed, Cruise’s recommendations are not supported by the wealth of scientific evidence or national recommendations such as the U.S. government's 2005 Dietary Guidelines.
Experts say any diet that allows unlimited portions of meats, fats, and sodium isn't heart-healthy – and heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. And, they say, limiting fresh fruit and low-fat dairy isn't a good idea because these foods provide essential nutrients, especially fiber, calcium, and vitamin D.
Further, insulin’s role in the body is not quite as simple as portrayed in The Belly Fat Cure, says Yale University researcher David Katz, MD, MPH.
Zied and Katz agree that most people eat too many processed foods and too much sugar, and that everyone could benefit by reading food labels to learn where sugar lurks. But they also recommend checking labels for other nutrients, like fat, saturated fat, trans fats, sodium, calories, and fiber.
Katz says he supports the diet's basic approach, with limits.
"Focusing on sugar is an attempt to help people identify how they can improve their diets," he says. "But in general, we need to get Americans to focus on eating more whole foods, mostly plants and not too much."
Losing 4-9 pounds per week and achieving a flatter stomach in just one week is an unrealistic goal, Zied says.
"Depending on how much you have to lose, you may experience a one-time loss of several pounds -- but not every week," she says.
The Belly Fat Cure: Food for Thought
When a diet plan sounds too good to be true, it usually is.Becoming aware of where sugar lurks and eating more whole, less processed foods would improve most people’s diet. And reading food labels is an excellent way to learn what is in your favorite foods.
But any plan that green-lights foods like burgers, steak, bacon, and sausage, eliminates healthy foods like fruits and low-fat dairy, and gives you a pass on exercise and calorie control is cause for concern. Not only will it be hard to sustain long-term, but it could result in nutritional excesses and deficiencies.
Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD, is director of nutrition for WebMD. Her opinions and conclusions are her own.
The Protein Power Diet
What Is the Protein Power Diet?
The popularity of low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets is not as high as it was years ago when Protein Power graced the New York Times best-seller list for over a year. However, low-carb, high-protein diets continue to offer weight loss options.Written by a married couple of MDs, Michael R. and Mary Dan Eades, the book promises that you will "feel fit and boost your health -- in just weeks!" The cover includes praise from one of their diet-expert-author competitors, Barry Sears, author of The Zone, who calls their book nothing less than "The Nutritional Primer of the Nineties."
What sets Protein Power apart is the wealth of historical information about low-carbohydrate diets and how these have influenced dieters galore, ever since William Banting wrote his Letter on Corpulence in the mid 1800s. The Eades also provide scientific explanations for the functions of insulin and glucagons, the major hormones involved in the food-to-fuel process, along with plenty of encouragement and practical suggestions, such as what to order in a French restaurant or fast food joint.
What You Can Eat on the Protein Power Diet
Those of you who crave steak, eggs, and cheese will have a great time on the Protein Power diet. Vegetarians will not, because tofu is the main source of protein allowed non-meat eaters. And as even the most dedicated know, tofu three times a day can get tiresome.To determine your daily protein quotient, the authors take you through a series of steps and measurements to determine your body fat and lean body mass, as well as ask you to assess your physical activity level.
You may choose your protein from fish, poultry, red meat, low-fat cheese (cottage cheese, feta, mozzarella, Muenster), eggs, and tofu. If you want to lose a lot of fat (the authors don't say you lose weight, but fat instead) or correct a health problem, you can add only 30 grams of carbohydrate, or less, divided throughout the day. If your need to lose is not so great, you can up that quota to 55 grams per day. Favorite low-carb foods? Lists of low-carb fruits and vegetables are given to make your life easier. These include leafy green vegetables, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, eggplant, zucchini, green beans, asparagus, celery, cucumber, mushrooms, and a surprise fruit that rarely makes the diet sweepstakes: avocado, high in fat, but low in carbs.
Add in 25 grams of fiber (you can subtract the fiber grams from the carbohydrate grams in commercially processed foods, which gives you more carbs to play with), and healthy fats: olive and nut oils, avocado, and butter. Drink at least eight glasses of water per day. And a glass of wine or a light beer is OK, but their carbs count, too.
What You Can Eat on the Protein Power Diet
The book's sample menus don't sound too temperate: Breakfast might be smoked salmon and a cream cheese omelet, one-half cup of fresh strawberries, a slice of light toast with butter, and coffee; for lunch, one-half avocado stuffed with chicken salad made with mayonnaise, served on a bed of fresh greens. Dinner might be a lean cut of meat, ten steamed asparagus spears, salad, one-half tomato, and a small glass of red wine if desired. Diet sodas and artificial sweeteners are permitted in moderation.To round out nutritional needs, the authors recommend taking a high-quality vitamin-and-mineral supplement, along with at least 90 milligrams of potassium.
The book contains sample menus, more than 100 recipes, and suggestions on how to order in every kind of restaurant.
How Protein Power Works
Like the other low-carbohydrate diets, the Protein Power regimen is based on the idea that controlling the level of insulin, "the master hormone of human metabolism," helps regulate blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and fat storage. Researchers have long known that carbohydrates cause the body to produce insulin and that high levels of insulin inhibit the breakdown of fatty deposits in the body. In contrast, low intake of carbohydrates keeps insulin levels low, forcing the production of a counterbalancing hormone, glucagon, which seeks energy from the body's supply of stored fat. Therefore, one loses weight. Do this long enough and the fat seems to melt away, the authors claim, and they add that the usual "low-fat, high-carbohydrate approach won't do it; it has just the opposite effect."If you are very overweight, the initial phase of the diet (when carbohydrates are severely restricted) will almost certainly put you in a state of ketosis, which happens when fat breaks down to the point where ketone bodies are produced and excreted in the urine. Ketones are incompletely burned fat, say the Eades, so that any ketones "you get rid of without actually using them for energy means you are ditching unwanted fat without having to actually burn it off."
Is ketosis dangerous, as some nutritional authorities would have you believe? Not at all, attest the authors. Ketones are the natural by-product of fat breakdown, normal and important sources of energy. To facilitate getting rid of these ketones, they urge you to increase your fluid intake by as much as 50%, to at least two quarts of water-based fluids a day.
As for exercise, the authors favor resistance-training, such as weight-lifting, because it stimulates the release of growth hormone more quickly than aerobic exercise. Why is this important? Because growth hormone shifts the metabolism to the preferential use of stored fat for energy.
What the Experts Say About the Protein Power Diet
Low-carbohydrate diets, which always mean high protein, usually draw a red flag from conventional nutritionists and medical experts. But since they do jump-start weight loss that you can see quickly, some say they have their place. "Fad diets are OK for a quick start," notes Bonnie Brehm, PhD, assistant professor of nutrition at the University of Cincinnati's College of Allied Health Sciences in Cincinnati, Ohio. "Some people need to see that five-pound weight loss rather than just a single pound after a week of dieting." Brehm is conducting a study comparing a high protein diet with the low-fat diet recommended by the American Heart Association.What the Experts Say About the Protein Power Diet
"In the short term, the low-carb diets are effective -- we see weight loss, improvement in some metabolic functions such as blood pressure, loss of body fat, but their real hazard is that they are nutritionally poor," she says. "They are low in calcium, low in vitamins C and A, low in fiber. We don't know if taking a vitamin-mineral supplement is adequate. There are a lot of micro nutrients in foods that are not in supplements, including some we don't even know about yet. We do not have any long-term studies on these alternative diets with the extreme modifications of a nutritionally balanced diet."Susan B. Roberts, PhD, a professor of nutrition and psychiatry at Tufts University in Boston, Ma., and co-author of Feeding Your Child for Lifelong Health, does not recommend the diet because there is no good evidence that low-carbohydrate diets work any more effectively than conventional ones. Furthermore, she says, "Because they cut back on foods that have multiple health benefits, they may reduce health in the long term."
Roberts notes that the Protein Power regimen may work for many, but the reason is different from the theory put forth in the book. It simply may be the lack of variety that works to reduce overall calorie intake. "Protein Power and most other popular diet books substantially reduce the variety of foods you are allowed to eat -- and variety itself is a major promoter of overeating," she says.
Food For Thought
As with any of the currently popular low-carbohydrate and high-protein diets, the Protein Power plan yields weight loss on the short term. However, the established nutritional community warns that these eating plans can be seriously deficient in important nutrients. While this plan does offer a range of sample diets and menus, it requires a reduction in the variety of foods that one can eat, which may be difficult to sustain over the long term.The 3 Day Diet
It's a strict plan that must be followed exactly for three days. If you still want to lose more weight, you're supposed to eat normally for at least four or five days before starting over.
What You Can Eat
The 3 Day Diet is very specific about portion size and the foods it includes.The combination of the suggested foods supposedly creates a unique metabolic reaction that boosts fat burning. But there is no explanation of how that happens or proof that backs up those claims.
The plan also calls for dieters to drink 4 cups of water or no-calorie drinks daily.
Experts' Views
You're likely to lose weight on this plan, but it's not likely to last.The calories are very low, notes Cindy Moore, former director of nutrition therapy at The Cleveland Clinic (which is not associated with the diet).
"The plan yields about 1,000 calories a day, which has the ability to lower metabolism so when you revert back to normal eating, you regain weight even quicker," Moore says.
The diet is also monotonous and doesn't help you build better eating habits for the long run. "What good is it to go back to the old habits that caused the weight gain, without resolving weight issues?" Moore says. "Hands down, the 3 Day Diet is not conducive to changing habits or encouraging a healthier lifestyle, which are fundamental to weight control."
Bottom line: Choose a well-balanced weight loss plan that controls calories every day, includes exercise, and lets you enjoy a wide variety of healthy foods. To lose weight and keep it off, it is simply not enough to eat a prescribed diet for three days without addressing eating habits that cause weight gain.
Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD, LD, is director of nutrition for WebMD. Her opinions and conclusions are her own.
The Lemonade Diet (Master Cleanse Diet)
The Lemonade Diet: What it is
The Lemonade Diet has been around for more than 50 years. Its popularity soared several years ago after Beyonce announced she'd lost 20 pounds on the diet for the movie Dreamgirls .The late Stanley Burroughs developed the Lemonade Diet, which is also known as the Master Cleanse or Maple Syrup Diet, as a detoxification and fasting program. It's now also touted as a quick weight loss plan.
Of course, weight loss is inevitable when you stop eating and drink very few calories. But this kind of diet can also be dangerous to your health. Nutritionists point out that the Master Cleanse Diet plan is lacking in all the essential nutrients: calories, vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, fiber, and fat.
Lemonade Diet: What You Can Eat
No solid foods are allowed, nor are any supplements. You consume only the Master Cleanse elixir to keep you hydrated.The plan calls for you to drink 6 or more servings daily of the lemonade drink. The only other options are a "salt water flush" of 2 teaspoons salt mixed in a quart of water in the morning, and an herbal laxative tea at night, if needed.
A single serving of the Master Cleanse drink consists of:
- 2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons grade-B organic maple syrup
- 1/10 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 10 ounces filtered water
Lemonade Diet: How It Works
You will lose weight on the Lemonade Diet because the fast creates a serious calorie deficit. But chances are, what you'll lose is water weight and muscle, not fat.During the fast, you can expect to feel hungry and may get headaches, fatigue, dizziness, sluggishness, diarrhea, nausea, or constipation.
As for detoxification, your liver already does that. There is no medical evidence that fasting or "cleansing" diets actually rid the body of any toxins not otherwise discarded in bodily waste.
Experts' Views
Dietitian Melinda Johnson, RD, doesn’t see anything positive about this diet plan."There is no scientific evidence that you need anything like this or any other detox program to cleanse your body or help you lose weight," she says.
She suggests staying away from smoking if you want to avoid toxins. Otherwise, trust your liver to do its job.
Experts agree that such unbalanced plans are not only ineffective, but are also potentially dangerous, depending on how long you stay on them. Fasting can rob your intestines of healthy bacteria that aid digestion and boost immunity.