The Atkins Diet
There are numerous ways to lose weight. However effective they may be, some are just not safe. A meat-based, low fiber diet like Atkins advocates with no fruit, or starchy vegetables, will almost double your risk of certain cancers, especially of meat-sensitive cancers, such as colon cancer. The Atkins' plan recommends weight loss with significantly more animal protein than is usually consumed by the average American. Americans already eat almost 50% of calories from animal products, and as a result of such nutritional extravagance we have seen a tragic skyrocketing in cancer rates and heart disease rates in the last 50 years.
The lay public has always been easily taken in by quick, painless ways to achieve weight loss results, especially ones that let them continue their love affair with rich foods. The Atkins' Diet actually recommends such foods as fried pork rinds and bacon cheeseburgers, and most often it does result in temporary weight loss. But don't let this fool you! The negative health affects far outweigh the benefits of the weight one may lose, and you are bound to gain it back unless you continue it for the rest of your life (which would certainly shorten your life). Nausea, fatigue, and fluid loss can all aslo increase. The Atkins Diet calls for the serious restriction of most types of carbohydrates while allowing for large amounts of fat and protein to be consumed. When the human body cannot get the energy it requires from carbohydrates, it breaks down fat and muscle, causing substances called ketones to form in the bloodstream, resulting in ketosis.
One pays a substantial price from such a diet which causes chronic ketosis. Besides the increased cancer risk, the kidneys are placed under increased stress and will age more rapidly. It can take many, many years for such damage to be detected by blood tests, and by the time it is detected, irreversible damage might have already occurred. The blood tests that monitor kidney function do not begin to raise red flags until more than 80% of the kidneys have become non-functional.
The link between animal protein and various cancers is as solid now as the link between smoking and lung cancer. We certainly would not advocate smoking cigarettes as a means of weight loss, even though it may be "effective". This is not to say that animal foods are the sole cause of cancer, but clearly it is the increased consumption of animal product and the decreased consumption of fresh produce that has one of the most powerful effect on cancer risks. It is indeed difficult to believe so many people can't see through this insanity, and actually take everything we know about cancer prevention and longevity, and do the exact opposite. The diet is completely opposed to our primate heritage, with almost no fiber, utilizing the precise foods known to be the primary causes of cancer and heart attacks. The foods that have been shown to prevent cancer such as fruit, and green leafy vegetables have been specifically excluded from the diet. Then they are told to take hundreds of dollars of nutritional supplements each month to make up for the deficiencies. Does this make sense to you?
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