Diet Low Carbs

Quick Start Weight Loss

This approach is mainly used by bodybuilders 2 weeks before a competition for the purpose of removing body fat.

Breakfast

• Half a grapefruit ( or half a glass of unsweetened grapefruit juice)
• 2 eggs any style
• 2 – 12 slices of fried or grilled bacon
• 1 cup decaf coffee or Tea No Sugar with cream if desired

Lunch

• Half a grapefruit ( or half a glass of unsweetened grapefruit juice)
• Meat, any style any amount
• Salad dressed without sugar- as much as you can eat.
• 1 cup decaf coffee or Tea No Sugar with cream if desired

Dinner

• Half a grapefruit ( or half a glass of unsweetened grapefruit juice)
• Meat or fish any style, with gravy as long as the gravy is made without flour
• Any amount of green, yellow or red vegetables (except Beets )
• Salad dressed without sugar- as much as you can eat.
• 1 cup decaf coffee or Tea No Sugar with cream if desired

Late Night Snack

• Half a glass of tomato juice or a chicken drumstick.

Water

• At least 2 liters of water a day.

Points to Note

• Drinking the water is very important. Cold water speeds up your metabolism, this in turn will burn fat quicker.
• No fruit except the grapefruit, you must begin each meal with the grapefruit. It acts as a catalyst to start fat burning.
• Do not omit anything – it is the food combination that keeps you feeling full and burns the fat.
• No eating between meals
• No puddings, rice, potatoes, bread, pasta
• You can fry your eggs and have your vegetables swimming in butter, for fat does not form fat in the body, fat actually burns fat.
• If you consume alcohol drink dry wine or have spirits straight up or with soda water.

This diet is comparatively painless and it works. If your doubtful consult your doctor before embarking on this regime. Remember: for the first four days your scales will show no change, then on the fifth day you should find that you have lost 5 pounds. After that you will loose a pound per day until your 14th day. Determined dieters who perservere beyond that will loose approximately 1 pound every second day.

Note: This is basically the induction phase of the Atkins diet. The addition of the grapefruit that works as a catalyst was added by the Dave Prowse Fitness Centre of London SE1.

The latest modification of Atkins original diet plan is called the ‘ECO-Atkins’ Diet. It substitutes plant based proteins for animal based proteins and helps people lose weight and lower their cholesterol level. Dr. David J A Jenkins, lead author of the study states, "In just 2 weeks on the "Eco-Atkins diet, everything starts to look much better metabolically."

This study of the new diet modification of the Atkins low carbohydrate diet appeared in the June 8th issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Dr. Atkins original diet went against all conventional wisdom at the time he introduced it. His diet was evidence based. He treated his many cardiac patients with his high-fat, high-protein, low carbohydrate diet and saw incredible results. Not only did their blood metabolism improve but they shed excess weight easily without hunger. 

Although most cardiac health indicators improved; the cholesterol level did not drop. Dr. Jenkins, who is research chair in nutrition and metabolism at the University of Toronto and St. Michael’s Hospital and his team sought to maintain the high protein low carb ratio of the Atkins diet, but in a way that might promote lowering the cholesterol level.

Half of the study participants 22 men or women who were overweight and had high cholesterol levels were placed on a low-fat, low-carb, high-vegetable, plant-based protein diet. The other 22 men or women were given a high-carb, lacto-ovo (dairy and eggs only) vegetarian diet. The 2 groups lost the same amount of weight, 8.8 pounds, but the group who consumed the plant-based proteins also saw an improvement in their LDL (bad) cholesterol levels.

This study was a very short term study and leaves many questions unanswered. Will this way of eating translate into less disease in the long run. Will this diet approach satisfy peoples hunger so that they can stay on it while not participating in a study where the meals were prepared for them. The more scientific studies performed on weight loss diets and health issues the better for our generation.

We currently suffer from a global pandemic of diabetes and in the US alone there are estimated to be 57 million pre-diabetics. It is time the worlds dietetic associations provide us with a very clear picture of what exactly consitutes a healthy diet.