Why We Don't Do Atkins

FormulaZone Staff, February 2, 2004

What is Atkins?

The Atkins Diet is a diet developed by Dr. Atkins. It has some strong appeal to many people for many reasons.

How Does it Work?
The basic idea is that you get to eat as much as you want, as long as you eliminate carbohydrates. It sounds appealing to people who love steak, eggs, and other heavy foods.

Does it Work?
Sure, Atkins works for many people. It's a short-term diet geared for short-term success. What's interesting is that a recent 3rd party study found that every single person who lost weight with Atkins was eating reduced calories. This seems to be a common thread with diets, doesn't it?

What About Atkins For Life?
Atkins for life is the Maintenance, or long-term plan for keeping weight off. What may surprise you is that the maintenance plan looks a lot like the Zone. It is a plan that revolves around "net" carbohydrates. Net carbs is very much like the good carbs of The Zone- high fiber carbohydrates are good, low fiber ones are not as good. Atkins for life is the response to the criticisms the diet received over being unhealthy.

Is it Healthy?
Not really. Atkins accomplishes weight loss by forcing your body into a state of Ketosis. Ketosis is what happens when you deprive your body of carbohydrates- Your body can use stored fat and partially breaks it down into ketones, which is used as a fuel source for muscles and organs. To completely break down body fat, you need glucose and oxygen. With Atkins, glucose is not available for fuel (through limiting carbohydrates), so your body learns to run on ketones- however, your brain does not. Your brain slows because it only runs on glucose. Eventually, the body breaks down muscle and organ tissue to provide glucose for your brain. Ketones are hard on your kidneys, which try to get rid of the ketones through the urine.

Why Do Atkins?

Atkins is all about weight loss. The Zone gives you similar results, and is all about health. If you want weight loss, then do something healthy. The Zone was not designed as a weight loss tool. In fact, it was developed by Dr. Sears to prevent heart disease! If you are going to go through all the stages of Atkins, only to end up with a maintenance phase that is similar to The Zone, then just start your plan off right. Don't deprive yourself (people complain that they get tired of all of the fat quickly on Atkins)- instead, start learning the good habits of eating in the Zone from the beginning. The Zone is a nutritional lifestyle- a program to keep you healthy for life.

Why We Do The Zone

The founders of FormulaZone discovered the Zone several years ago. With a few pounds to lose, and tired of years of different yo-yo diets, they gave it a try. It only took a short time to realize that you feel great in The Zone! Besides weight management being a breeze, your moods will stabilize, you will not be hungry between meals, and you will have more energy. This was clearly the way to go. FormulaZone was conceived to make designing balanced meals easier, and to offer more recipe choices to people interested in The Zone.

Why we Don't Do Atkins

Hey listen, in a world where it seems as though businesses only care about growth and making more money, it's easy to imagine that FormulaZone would expand or diversify to include Atkins. But we subscribe to a different principle: We do something that we believe in. We don't believe in Atkins- we don't believe it's healthy, or that it leads to long-term success. We know from first-hand experience that The Zone works. We've hear the suggestion that we start supporting Atkins. We've got the infrastructure, the nutritional information, and the tools already in place. It would take very little work to modify them to support Atkins. But we just won't do it. It just isn't something that we believe in.

The Quick List

	The Zone is Healthy. Atkins is not healthy. Ketosis is hard on your kidneys.
	You feel great in The Zone. Your mind is sluggish on Atkins. You have bad breath with Atkins.
	Weight loss is permanent in The Zone. Weight loss is short-term on Atkins.
	Getting back in The Zone is easy. If you fall out of Atkins, you lose the state of Ketosis and start over.
	You don't sacrifice carbs in The Zone. With Atkins, you give up all carbs.
	The Zone is a program for life. Atkins for Life (the maintenance program) looks a lot like a copy of The Zone.
	FormulaZone is not affiliated with The Zone. Our loyalty is because we believe in it. Plain, pure, and simple.