In the Summer of 2011, I started the Atkins diet. At the very end of the Summer, I decided it was time for me to quit the diet. Looking back now, I cannot help but wonder. Was the Atkins diet worth doing?
Or, was it a waste of time and effort?
There are many ways to assess the value of a particular diet. I think the most common way to determine if a diet was “worth it” would be if the diet helped a person to lose weight. Or, one could say that a diet was “worth it” if the person lost at least one clothing size since he or she started the diet. Unfortunately, this is much easier to assess after someone has quit a diet than while the person is still on the diet in question.
If I use only that criteria in my assessment of the Atkins diet, I would have to say that yes, it was “worth it” for me to do this diet. When I started the diet, I weighed 186 pounds. When I decided to quit the diet, I weighed 169 pounds. Since then, I seem to be “stuck” at 169 pounds, but this could easily change. I haven’t gained any weight back, thankfully. As a result, I am now one clothing size smaller than I was before the Atkins diet.
Another way to determine if a diet was “worth it” would be if the diet improved your health. Exactly how the diet improved your health will vary from one person to the next. People can be motivated to lose weight in order to lower their cholesterol, to prevent diabetes, to have more energy, or for a variety of other health related reasons.
As for me, I can say that the Atkins diet did improve my health, because it made it very obvious that I had food allergies that I was unaware of before starting this diet. I had a rather frightening allergic reaction to lettuce. Yes, really! It sounds impossible, but it’s true.
It turns out that lettuce is in the same family as ragweed and dandelion, two things I am completely allergic to. I experienced a cross-reactive allergic reaction. Thanks to the Atkins diet, I now know that I need to avoid lettuce.
The Atkins diet also helped me to determine that I have a gluten-allergy. After a few days of eating absolutely no carbs, it became clear that I felt much better as a result. Doing the Atkins diet helped me to realize that I needed to stop eating foods that have gluten in them.
Perhaps I would have figured that out, eventually, without the help of the Atkins diet. However, I think that the Atkins diet, with its lack of carb filled foods, made it abundantly clear that I have a gluten allergy. As a result, I am learning what foods I need to avoid if I want to stay healthy and feel good. Overall, when you put all this together, I would have to say that the Atkins diet was “worth it” for me. Your experience on the Atkins diet may vary.
Image by D. Sharon Pruitt on Flickr