The Atkins Diet and Diabetes

Since the sixties, the Atkins Diet has gained worldwide attention as a way to eat a lot of food, not be hungry, and still lose weight. The Atkins Diet works on the theory that carbohydrates cause you to gain weight, and by eliminating or strictly limiting carbohydrates, it is possible to eat a lot of protein and fat while your weight decreases. How does this work? Scientifically speaking, your body must have carbohydrates to survive. When you do not consume carbohydrates, your body is forced to convert fat stores into carbohydrates, which is an inefficient process. Thus, your body uses its fat stores at a faster rate and you lose weight. This theory seems beneficial to dieters, especially for overweight diabetics who need a special diabetes diet because they have trouble metabolizing carbohydrates due to insulin problems.

Sure enough, the Atkins company did release a book called “Atkins Diabetes Revolution” which outlines an Atkins diet specifically for diabetes patients. In the book, diabetes and pre-diabetes patients are encouraged to eat as few as 20 grams of carbohydrate a day for successful diabetes weight loss. There is no limitation on protein and fat consumption.

Using the Atkins diet for diabetes has generated its share of criticism. First, the Atkins diet recommends eating a lot of animal protein and fat, and these foods cause people to lose a lot of water from their bodies. This can put extra strain on the kidneys which are usually weakened in people with diabetes. Due to the heavy consumption of meat, the Atkins diet is also thought to increase the chance for heart disease, another major bodily organ that is damaged by diabetes. Finally, the Atkins diet can lead to dangerously low blood sugar levels, or hypoglycemia. For a person with diabetes, extremely low blood sugar can lead to a coma. Most health experts agree that using the Atkins diet for diabetes can be risky and should not be attempted without medical permission and supervision.