Beginning exercisers tend to ask one of two main questions. They either want to know the easiest and fastest way to lose fat or the best method to pack on quality muscle mass. While both of these tasks may prove difficult, losing fat seems to be the particular area that people have the most problems with. With all of the diets floating around the exercise world, making a decision about which to use often seems overwhelming. One of the categories of these fad diets is the low-carb food diet. Two of the most well-known low-carb diets are the Atkins Diet and the South Beach Diet.
Ketogenic Dieting
Ketogenic dieting revolves around an extremely low-carb intake. The point of dropping the carbs to near zero is to force the body into a state known as ketosis. In this state, the body burns fat molecules called ketones rather than carbohydrates. Ketogenic dieting is the most basic form of low-carb food diets. Both the Atkins Diet and the South Beach Diet are modeled around this method.
The Atkins Diet
The Atkins Diet is a ketogenic diet invented by Dr. Robert Atkins. The diet operates off of one simple statement: "When you eat too many carbohydrates, your body burns some of those carbs for energy and stores the excess carbs as fat." In the Atkins Diet, the goal is too consume as few carbohydrates as possible to push your body into the state of ketosis, as we discussed earlier. Unlike many other fad diets, the Atkins Diet is strongly reinforced by several studies. In 2003, a study out of Harvard University compared low-fat dieting with low-carb dieting. The study featured two low-carb groups and one low-fat group. Although each member of the groups lost weight, those following the low-carb diets lost a considerable amount more weight than those following the low-fat diet.
The South Beach Diet
The South Beach Diet was created by Dr. Arthur Agatston, a cardiologist out of Miami, Florida. While this diet certainly follows the low-carb approach, it is distinctively different than the Atkins Diet. The South Beach Diet features three separate phases. The first phase is entirely low-carb, focusing on lean protein, high fiber and healthy fat. The second phase, however, recruits more calories from carbohydrates than is normal of a low-carb diet. The third phase is simply a maintenance of your new and healthy lifestyle. Although the South Beach Diet is not ketogenic as a whole, it does utilize the method throughout phase one. Agatston's book details the entire program and provides research to back it up. Various clinical trials have shown the South Beach Diet to have a number of positive effects on the body, including the reduction of LDL, or bad, cholesterol.
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