One Down, Three to Go : Atkins Wrap-Up

Fall has finally arrived here in earnest, leaves are blooming colors, air is crisper, days are growing shorter, and I have reached my last day of Atkins. Its amazing how quickly the last three weeks have flown by. Despite many of my issues on Atkins, I am stunned at how quickly it has become habit. I know the carbohydrate counts of almost all of my favored foods and its easy to keep track and make the right choices in terms of my hunger, nutritional needs and cravings.

While I may have complained a bit about Atkins and its restrictive limitations, its not the demon I have, in fits of anger, made it out to be. But neither is it all sunshine and rainbows; like many things, there are both upsides and downsides to Atkins.

Here are, in my experience, the benefits and drawbacks :

Benefits :                                                                     Drawbacks :

- Rapid weight loss                                                       - Restrictive 

- Easy to follow                                                            - Not athlete friendly 

- Filling                                                                         - Requires carbohydrate counting 

If I'm being honest, Atkins was much easier than I thought it would be. While I knew there were plenty of foods I had to say no to, including freshly baked chocolate chip cookies in my chemistry class, the fact that I could go home and eat plenty of allowed foods made it much easier to resist. I didn't feel like I had to hungry all the time, a rarity on many diets. The rules of allowed and forbidden foods are simple, and require no guesswork. 

On the other hand, I very much dislike the weakness I feel when it comes to working out. I feel fine on a normal, walking around basis, but most activities that substantially raise my heart rate seem much more difficult. Ketosis is not athlete friendly. (Not that I'm a full blown athlete, but I'm extrapolating here) I also have found I've gotten kind of bored with the foods I am allowed to eat. While I have pushed myself to eat more of the items on the Atkins list that I would normally avoid, there are only so many items on that list. 

Atkins certainly has a place in the modern lifestyle diet field, as its weight loss, during induction, may well be unparalleled. For a person with a lot of weight to loose, Atkins might be a good way to kickstart that loss. Especially in a culture that places so much emphasis on processed sugar, it would certainly be educational to be forced to avoid almost all forms of refined carbohydrate, replacing the carbs with more nutritionally sound food. 

However, from a nutritional standpoint, I shudder to think of how many saturated fats and processed foods I have consumed on Atkins. Though I understand most people (myself included) would go stir-crazy without some form of sugar in their lives, I simply cannot endorse sugar substitutes as being in any way healthy. Likewise, Atkins allows foods like diet sodas, mayonnaise, gelatin desserts and cream, many of which, in my opinion, shouldn't really be a part of a truly healthy diet. 

Perhaps this is why, during my research I have come to admire some of the theory behind Paleo, which I begin tomorrow. Paleo emphasizes natural, unprocessed foods. Type of macromolecule aside, (carbohydrate, fat or protein) it is apparent to me that the best foods are the most natural ones. We'll see how Paleo fares under my very intense scrutiny. Until tomorrow!