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No doubt most people have heard of the Atkins diet by now.
The basic principle behind this diet is that if you limit the
intake of carbohydrates, the body starts burning fat. In this
diet people can eat as much meat, cheese, eggs, fats (including
butter and oils) as they like.
There is no calory counting and no need to go hungry to keep a
strict regime. This is propably one of the reasons why this diet has
become so popular. Another reason is, of course, that it does appear
to work. Individuals do lose a considerable amount of weight when
they go on this diet.
However, it is also important to keep in mind that this diet also
restricts the intake of several foods and food groups like fruits,
cereals, breads, grains and starchy vegetables so that getting
the Recommended Daily Allowance of the nutrients the body needs on
these plans can be a difficult task.
Although nutritional supplements can be taken to compensate from
this loss, supplements fall short of phytochemicals. These are
extremely important substances present in fruits and vegetables that
cannot yet be incapsulated in a pill. And of course, no need to
mention the word 'cholesterol', which is one of the main fears
associated with this diet expressed by many health professionals.
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