About the Atkins Diet & Sleepiness

A lot of diets have come and gone over the years, with differing ideas about what will really work to shed unwanted pounds. The Atkins diet became very popular in the '90s and, though it has come under scrutiny and criticized for some of its recommendations, people are still using it all these years later, and many claim it really works.

What is the Atkins Diet?

• The Atkins diet is a special diet that singles out carbohydrates as bad for you, good for nothing but adding weight on to your body. The Atkins diet requires that you significantly reduce your carbohydrate intake to only 20 grams a day. Instead of carbohydrates, the diet recommends more protein and gives you the choice of several meats, poultry, fish, and cheeses to eat.

Benefits of the Atkins Diet

• The benefit of the Atkins diet is that you can significantly drop pounds by cutting out carbohydrates. You can also boost your muscle mass by eating more proteins. Along with the many meats to choose from, the Atkins diet includes a long list of vegetables. The main goal is to reduce your consumption of starchy, sugary, and high-fat foods.

Concerns About the Atkins Diet

• The Atkins diet, although it has received praise over the years, has also had negative feedback about its healthiness. Some doctors and nutritionists claim that the Atkins diet is not a good diet for healthy weight loss. They feel that the body needs a certain number of carbohydrates every day, and when the body is deprived of them for too long, there can be adverse effects.

Can the Atkins Diet Cause Excess Sleepiness?

• Some researchers discovered that the Atkins diet can cause sleepiness. This is because our bodies rely on carbohydrates, which are essentially sugars, to give us boosts of energy. Low sugar and carbohydrates can make you feel tired and run down. Not only can the low carbohydrates in your diet create this feeling of over-tiredness, but heavier diets rich in proteins can also add to this effect.

Expert Insight to the Atkins Diet

• Experts who have studied different diet plans and the effects they have on the body agree that a well-rounded, balanced plan is the best way to lose weight. Cutting out one particular kind of food may make it more difficult not only to lose weight, but to keep it off. Every food category should be included in a diet--perhaps in smaller amounts, but none of the food groups should be avoided altogether.