Saturday, July 25, 2009

Is The Atkins Grapefruit Diet Real?

By Joy Mitchell

The Atkins Grapefruit diet is a diet plan, not supported by the firm of Dr. Atkins, that plays on the popularity of the grapefruit diet and the Atkins diet name. A closer look into this diet shows that it may not be all it claims to be.

First of all, it's very difficult to find information on the Atkins grapefruit diet plan. Clever people realize that when anyone is perpetrating a deception, or a con, they will usually gloss over facts. This is exactly what the Atkins grapefruit diet appears to do: it tries to get people to associate it with two purportedly effective diets.

Is the Atkins Grapefruit Diet part of the Atkins Diet or endorsed by the firm of the late Dr. Atkins? The answer is no, not only is there no mention of the Atkins Grapefruit Diet on the Atkins web site, but there is no fruit of any kind mentioned in the list of permitted foods in the Atkins diet Induction phase.

The induction stage includes the following foodstuffs:

Fish of all types. All fowl such as turkey and chicken. All shellfish. All meat such as beef or pork. Eggs cooked in all styles, including fried. Cheese. Vegetables. Herbs and Spices. Fats and Oils. Low carbohydrate beverages, including diet soft drinks.

Notice something? No fruit is on that list. Later phases of the Atkins diet do include limited amounts of fruits such as cantaloupe and even lemon juice, and the pre-maintenance and maintenance phases even specifically permit limited amounts of grapefruit. But when compared to the amount of Grapefruit recommended on the Atkins Grapefruit Diet, once more there is a disagreement.

The Atkins Grapefruit Diet advocates a cup of grapefruit juice or a cup of grapefruit sections, with 8 and 18 carbs respectively. Even the most generous phases of the Atkins diet recommends limiting grapefruit consumption to below 8 carbs per day. That's a direct contradiction of one diet with the other.

Most reasonable people would inspect the Atkins website itself the moment they heard about the Atkins Grapefruit Diet. When they saw no mention of that diet on the site, a red light would go off and an alarm bell would ring.

Generally speaking, you should remember this: any diet that recommend very much on one food, such as grapefruit on a grapefruit diet, is unhealthy for any but extremely short periods. The Atkins Grapefruit Diet is not associated with the Atkins diet, and may interfere with the results of the Atkins diet in its early stages.

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