Going on a diet can be a great way to lose some weight and improve your general health, but sometimes there are more specific reasons why someone chooses a diet. It could be to lower cholesterol or blood pressure, decrease chances of heart disease or to improve energy levels.
While most diets can help to address a wide array of health factors, the Atkins diet is the best for targeting a specific and widespread medical issue in our world today: diabetes.
According to the American Diabetes Association, 25.8 million people in the United States (8.3% of the population) have diabetes and 79 million people have pre-diabetes. With so many people currently at risk for diabetes and with the rate at which diagnosed cases is rising, this is an issue that needs to be taken seriously.
One of the most important factors in treating diabetes or improving health for a diabetic person is weight loss, and the Atkins diet is a great way to accomplish this. Even if you don’t have diabetes, the Atkins Diet is an excellent way to prevent it from developing. What challenges many people with type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance, or that their glucose levels don’t want to go down. The issue with insulin resistance is that the body is reluctant to respond to the drug that can help it the most. This resistance leads to diabetics being prescribed high levels of insulin and because insulin accelerates fat storage and synthesis, weight gain is a side effect of a high level insulin regimen. In short, the harder someone works to control their blood sugar using insulin, the more likely it is for them to gain weight.
What makes the Atkins diet the best diet for diabetes is that it reduces the amount of carbs consumed. While cutting calories will generally lead to weight loss, diabetic drugs still produce side effects and appetite stimulation, making losing weight on a standard diet difficult.
Studies have shown that for a person with type 2 diabetes, a low-carb diet can dramatically improve blood glucose control and blood lipids. These findings are important because they give diabetics a way to decrease their weight as well as treat their diabetes.
When on the Atkins diet, if you remove added sugar and cut your carb intake to primarily ‘foundation vegetables,’ insulin resistance improves along with blood glucose control. Many people consuming primarily foundation vegetables will find, under supervision of a physician, that they can stop or reduce their reliance on blood sugar lowering medication. In fact you should work closely with your doctor to adjust your dose when you begin Atkins. The need for blood sugar lowering medication will diminish rapidly.
Be proactive with your health and diet. There are plenty of diabetes diets, but the Atkins diet is the best diabetes diet. Whether you have diabetes, are at risk of diabetes or want to improve your general health and lose weight, switching to the low carb Atkins diet is a great way to improve your well-being.
