Among reduction diets that have gained special popularity, we can indicate the Atkins and Kwasniewski diet. If we look closely at these two ways of eating, we will notice that they have lots in common.
Atkins diet
The author of the first of these diets is an American cardiologist Dr. Robert Atkins, who has developed a way of eating and presented it in 1973. This is a high-protein, high-fat, and low-carbohydrate diet. The basis of the menu are meat, cheese and eggs, and therefore the products of animal origin. Restrictions refer mainly to products that are sources of carbohydrates, so cereals, fruits, potatoes, peas, corn, candy, sugar, and honey. The diet does not introduce quantitative restrictions, so you can afford to eat to your heart’s content. Dr. Atkins started with the idea that eating carbohydrates stimulates insulin secretion, what results in a rapid onset of anorexia, and accumulation of triglycerides.
The diet consists of four stages. The first is so called introductory phase, the duration of which is about 2 weeks. This is the most stringent step , because it is necessary to limit the carbohydrates to 20 grams per day. What’s more, they can only come from specific products. At this stage, you can eat mainly various types of meat, including fish, seafood, blue cheeses, eggs, and a variety of vegetable fats. It is recommended to avoid bread, most cereals, starchy vegetables, fruits (except avocado), lean dairy products, and caffeine.
The loss of weight is approximately 7 kg, but the loss is primarily water. The second step involves a gradual increase in the amount of carbohydrates, but eventually they may not exceed 30-50 grams per day. The dose of carbohydrates should be increased weekly by 5 grams. You can eat more vegetables, and berries and nuts, but still the basis of the diet must be the fats and proteins. In the third stage, you weekly increase the dosage of 10 grams of carbohydrates, up to the time when it comes to a halt weight loss. Then begins the last, fourth phase diet that lasts for the rest of life.
Throughout the period of the diet you eat three main meals, and one or two snacks. The loss of weight is up to 2 kilograms per week. This is one of the most important benefits of the diet of Dr. Atkins. An important role is also played by reducing appetite, rfluctuations in a blood glucose level, and a decrease in a cholesterol level, which can be seen in the first months of the diet.
Unfortunately, the diet also has some major defects. Due to the shortage of carbohydrates, fats are not completely burned. What’s more, the menu is very less varied, so when you add to the diet previously banned products it is not difficult to re-gain weight. The diet provides a lot of saturated fatty acids, and low amounts of essential fatty acids. There is also the problem of the shortage of fiber and vitamin C, and the excess iron, vitamins A and B12. For this reason, few people are able to persevere on this diet, and feel the side effects of its application.
There have been reported so far, inter alia, complications such as liver and kidney burden due to the high content of protein in the diet. Also muscle problems are not uncommon, due to the mobilization of the muscle glycogen. The disintegration of purines contained in the animal protein to uric acid leads to urinary gout, and promotes hypertension.
Other possible complications include frequent constipations, dehydration, and kidney stones. Sometimes, people using the Atkins diet are diagnosed with a deficiency of certain vitamins and minerals, so it is recommended to take dietary supplements. However, you should choose preparations not containing these vitamins, which the body receives a lot, because this could lead to hypervitaminosis. There is a suspicion that the Atkins diet is conducive to cancer of the colon. This is not the right way of eating for people who suffer from kidney or liver, or hypertension.
Kwasniewski diet
Kwasniewski diet is also called the optimal diet. The author is a Polish physician Jan Kwasniewski. The main principle of the diet is to eat fatty foods. Dr. Atkins recommended that for each gram of protein there should be between 2,5 to 3,5 grams of fat, and 0,5 to 0,8 grams of carbohydrates. Dr. Kwasniewski suggested, however, that between 70% and 80% came from fats. The basis of the diet should be animal fats such as lard, bacon or butter, eggs, cream and fatty cheeses, poultry, and fatty meat broths.
On the list of forbidden products are mainly sugar, sweets, fruits and vegetables containing a lot of carbohydrates, grains, and dry legumes. As in the case of Dr. Atkins diet, the most important advantage of it is considered a rapid weight loss, combined with a reduction of appetite, and decrease in the concentration of glucose. At the beginning you can be observed improvement in the lipid profile. Not without significance is the fact that the meals are easy to prepare, and they provide a feeling of satiety.
As in the case of the previously discussed diet, the diet proposed by Dr. Kwasniewski has serious degects. Because of them, in 1997. The Therapy Committee of IV Department of Medical Sciences of Polish Academy of Sciences, found the Kwasniewski dietto be very harmful. The use of such a diet is associated with a high risk of a shortage of certain vitamins and minerals, as well as providing the organism with high doses of saturated fatty acids, vitamin A, phosphorus, and salt. The result of such a diet can be, inter alia, arteriosclerosis, acidification, osteoporosis, worsening kidney and liver, constipations, and dehydration.
Although both the Atkins, and Kwasniewski die won many supporters, before starting one of them, it is worth to eliminate medical contraindications, and while dieting perform regular medical tests. Without a doubt, such a diet should not be used by a person suffering from kidney or liver disease, or hypertension, because the risk of deterioration of health is very high. Any doubts should be discussed with your doctor or a nutritionist, who will present alternative methods to combat obesity, tailored to your individual needs.
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