Lesson 5

Now I want to explain thoroughly my dislike of the Adkins Diet.
As I mentioned before a doctor felt that the Adkins diet had caused my hypoglycemia. Now doctors are coming out and criticizing the diet and telling us that this diet can have serious consequences down the road.
For years the diet has been criticized for the process called ketotis;  a process by which excess, stored body fat can be burned (as well as protein), resulting in weight loss.The Atkins Diet, and others like it, trigger short-term weight loss through a process called ketosis. Ketosis occurs whenever the body lacks a sufficient supply of carbohydrates, a prime source of energy. During ketosis, carbohydrate-depleted metabolisms turn to other sources, including ketones from stored fat or protein, to satisfy daily energy needs. So you do lose weight, the first bit of weight loss is water weight, the carbohydrate that's in your muscles, and then later on the diet you will lose some fat, but you will also lose some muscle mass. This is not good. You lose energy and you look old.
Ketosis is one of the body's last-ditch emergency responses; deliberately inducing ketosis can lead to muscle breakdown, nausea, dehydration, headaches, light-headedness, irritability, bad breath, and kidney problems. In pregnancy, ketosis may cause fetal abnormality or death. It can also be fatal in individuals with diabetes! While supporters of the Atkins diet concentrate so much on the fat burning capability of ketosis they neglect to mention that over the long term protein, and thus muscle, is also burned!
Over an extended period of time, the Atkins diet can give rise to other health risks, as well. By restricting carbohydrates, all four diets inevitably lead to a lack of fiber, which can cause constipation and other gastrointestinal difficulties. In addition, the high amounts of cholesterol and saturated fat they prescribe increase the risk of heart disease and, possibly, some cancers. There is recent evidence that a diet featuring excessive protein may leach calcium from the bones (giving rise to osteoporosis).
  Of course it is so high in cholesterol and fat and total fat -- the opposite of what all the health organizations, from the American Heart Association to the American Dietetic Association, recommend. This is what I found disturbing. I was eating foods I would never eat ordinarily. The most disturbing part of the diet was this,  the diet is also low in fruits and vegetables and whole grains, foods with proven health benefits. It is also very low in fiber. I found constipation to be my daily friend.
And this my friends is why I really dislike the concentration camp diet; the Adkins Diet, I've lived it and suffered it's effects.