Quote: (12-16-2011 11:39 PM)WesternCancer Wrote:
The one thing that leaves me iffy on this kind of diet is the fact that your energy is mainly coming from ketone bodies which are formed in the liver using acetyl-coa (from beta-oxidation of fatty acids). my biochem class/prof had mentioned that high levels of ketone bodies = ketoacidosis in extreme cases and just straight up not so good effects in the long run. I'm going to do more research and find more studies before I make an opinion about this though.
Atkins style diets aren't meant for the long run. I've read studies (dont have links sorry) that compared Atkins to other traditional diets and after the 6 month mark the other diets begin to catch up, and at the 12 month mark Atkins style diets and other traditional diets are almost neck and neck for total fat loss.
I use Atkins ONLY for short term blitzing off of fat, which it seems to do very well. I eat a paleo style diet normally, consisting still of lots of meats and fats, but also fruits and veggies in much higher quantities then on Atkins.
After about 5-6 weeks of that I'll go back on Atkins, dropping my carb intake to about 20g a day, and shave off a few more pounds of fat.
I have a very fickle body type that gains weight easily so I must do this to maintain a good physique. If I stayed on a paleo diet indefinitely I WOULD eventually gain weight, but from what I've seen I'm the oddball because most paleo advocates maintain or lose weight.
Regardless, as big of an Atkins advocate as I am, I would never tell anyone to do it for more then three months.