Two of the most knowledge lecturers on diet who have looked widely at the issues, Gary Taubes science writer and Dr. Jason Fung, both have endorsed the NEW ATKINS DIET; they are the best current writers and lecturers I have found in my 2-year fulltime examination of the literature.  I too accept their finding on this diet, and add several modifications.  Taubes writes in Why We Get Fat (2011) on the importance of estradiol for its role in lipodystrophy, and with low estradiol women put on weight around the abdomen.  Men also have an issue with low testosterone.  My research strongly supports the use of HRT for men and women, not just for weight but also for health.  At /rc are articles going over their benefits, benefits your doctor and our press don't know of.  What was true before 1995, has been proven false in the subsequent years.

Below is the science behind the diet and the modifications I have attached.  If the technical parts are trying, then click on this link to a library of YouTube videos with my brief descriptions.    

Part 10 New Atkins Diet for obesity -- http://healthfully.org/rh/id14.html    10/23/15       

“At the height of its popularity [2004], one in eleven North American adults was on the [Atkins] diet” Wiki; now it is under 2%.  There has been a major assault on the Atkins diet by Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs, scientists for hire).  The misinformation is carried by corporate media, by patient groups such as the American Heart Association, and by our government’s health agencies.  I just listened to a lecture by the Teaching Company “Nutrition Made Clear” by Prof. Roberta Anding, Baylor University. Her lecture on the Atkins diet misrepresents and then criticized her version.  It is classic example of a KOL (key opinion leader) repeating what she learnt from other KOLs.  Big-bucks lurk in the background.  Think what would happen to food manufacturers if the Americans lowered their refined carb intake by 50%; and to pharma if obesity and type-2 diabetes with their comorbidities went back to the 1970 level.  Food companies have been funding diet education since the 50s.  Dr. Fung’s article on the food manufacturers’ is on point, at.  What Prof Marcia Angell lectures about pharma and Prof. Ben Goldacre writes in Bad Pharma is the norm; what I call “tobacco science”.  The assault on Atkins diet and its scientific foundation is illustrative of corporate “tobacco ethics”. They have overturned 150 years of diet science through their KOLs to justify the high carb-sugar Western diet. 

So why does Atkins extremely low carb diet without energy restriction, work better than a low-fat, energy restricted diet?  There are 2 metabolic systems:  that of fat burning, and of glucose (carb) burning.  The Atkins diet, with its very low carbs forces fat burning.  Weight loss requires fat burning.  Another reason is that with carbs and energy restricting the body’s weight control system responds to maintain the pre-diet level of fat, and thus increases appetite and lowers metabolism. 

Let us go back to basics.  Starches are long chains of glucose.  Table sucrose (table sugar) is two sugars, glucose and fructose—so too is HFCS.  Refined starches are like table sugar, they are quickly absorbed by the digestive system in the form of glucose.  Both sugar and refined carbs cause an insulin spike (a bad thing).  Second insulin is excreted by the pancreas to lower blood glucose.  Insulin causes cells to store fat and burn glucose.  The Atkins induction phase is very low carbs thus causing both low insulin and fat burning.    

The next part explains why the Atkins diet works for people who are obese or long-term have been overweight; while the other diets over the long-haul fail.   Even when simplified to the main elements, the answer is complex (there are over 20 hormones involved in the regulation of appetite, fat storage, and metabolism).  The essentials on the Western (high refined carbs) diet disaster:  1) The path to obesity starts with a high sugar diet; the fructose is only metabolized in the liver where it is converted to fat or glucose.  2) High sugar and refined car diet causes higher than normal level of serum glucose and its regulatory hormone insulin.  3) Insulin tells the cells to burn glucose and store fat.  4) In excess over the years insulin causes the fat formed from fructose conversion to accumulation in the liver cells (fatty liver disease NAFLD), which mucks up metabolic processes regulated by the liver. 5) Over the years the liver, muscle and fat cells become resistant to insulin.  6) Insulin resistance means that a higher amount of insulin (a bad thing) is required to lower the blood glucose to a safe level.  7) Higher insulin increases the rate of fat storage—weight gain.  8)  The insulin causes the hormone leptin to be secreted.  9) Leptin when secreted by fat tissues reduces appetite and maintains current metabolism.  10) With insulin resistance, leptin resistance will also develop, and thus leptin is less effective at suppressing appetite—more weight gain.  11) On an energy restricted diet with normal carbs, leptin functions to maintain current weight and will gradually increase appetite and lower metabolism 20 to 25%.  12) Insulin and leptin resistance are the 2 main hormonal causes for obesity—there are other hormones of less importance.   13)  This excess leptin and insulin from resistance also causes the gradual rebound after significant weight has been lost. 

This brings us to the fix:  The surest way to lose weight is to go on a very low carb diet.  The old belief in fattening carbs is correct.  Carbs are fed to livestock to fatten them up; they do the same to people.  Very low carbs allows the fat in the liver to be burnt to fix the metabolic regulatory system.  On the Atkins diet, the first 2 weeks are for liver cleansing, and then the amount of carbs is gradually increased.  Once the weight goal has been reached simply limiting refined carbs and sugars will keep those pounds off.  The New Atkins Diet (2010) is designed to accomplish this, and by adding the JK short fast, the process of burning liver fat is hastened.  The comorbidities of insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes will be cured in over 90% of the cases.  If this fails to occur, than I recommend adding Dr. Fung’s alternate day full fast—see http://healthfully.org/rh/id15.html.  

The Atkins diet isn’t the last word.  For the sake of health, there are several other improvements, all of which have strong science foundations.  Scientists have for the last century been asking why among primitive peoples on a Paleolithic diets, heart disease, cancer, and age related degenerative diseases are nearly unknown.  Some of them eat a high carb diet, some eat in their seasons lots of fruits and vegetables both starchy and green; some eat grains such as rice and maze, and some in the far north and the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania rely upon animal products which are high in saturated fats and proteins.  All groups lack the Western-diet associated diseases; why? 

One reason is they don’t develop fatty liver (NAFLD) which is the starting point for high insulin that over the decades is the causal foundation for the conditions associated with the Western diet.   Paleo-societies don’t have prolonged frequent periods of elevated insulin year round.  Their pattern of eating is different.  They don’t have 3 big meals a day, but eat frequent snacks when hungry; this keeps the insulin low.  Fruits and starchy vegetables, because of their fiber content, don’t produce an insulin spike (a bad thing).  They are absorbed slowly from the digestive system because of the fiber.  An 8-ounce glass of apple juice is equivalent to eating 5 medium apples.  A can of soda has even more sugar.   Because fiber is filling the amount of whole fruits consumed is less.  In general they don’t have refined carbs.  The refined carb rich foods (and some not refined such as potatoes and rice) also produce a similar insulin spike to soda.  In a large meal with its slow stomach clearance, high blood insulin often lasts for 4 hours or longer.   Remember, the fructose and insulin spike work together to muck up the metabolic system by causing NAFLD.  There is also seasonal variation in diet—most fruits are seasonal.[2]  Most people on a Western diet eat year round sodas, fruit juices, and eat fruits daily.  This daily consumption counters the body’s process of clearing the accumulated fat in the liver.  Also causal the consumption of trans and polyunsaturated fats, its main source for most people is processed foods (which I call “manufactured foods”.)  The four main causal factors for NAFLD are fructose, elevated insulin for longer periods and more days per year, and trans and polyunsaturated fats.  Those on a Paleo diet don’t develop NAFLD; those on a Western diet do--an estimated 30% and many more are insulin resistant. 

The second difference is forced fasting, because food supplies are uncertain, and in bad years starvation occurs.  Fasting switches to fat burning, and this lower insulin promotes healing not just of the liver but other tissues. For this reasons I recommend the JK short fast; it is a tonic.  

A third advantage results from a lower level of insulin.  Insulin causes the secretion of insulin like growth factor[3], and this promotes the conversion of tumors to cancer, and stimulates their growth.  (A very low carb diet slows the growth of cancer.)  

A fourth difference with paleo diet that they don’t have our daily high consumption of fructose.  The US average is 151 pounds yearly of sweeteners.  The fructose (one-half of table sugar) is far more reactive than glucose (net about 15 fold).  It attaches to and thus damages proteins in a process called glycation.  A low-sugar diet allows the body to very gradually replace the proteins modified by fructose—and to a lesser extent by other reactive chemical. 

A fifth difference--often missed problem--comes from polyunsaturated and transfats.  While transfats have been demonstrated to cause cardiovascular disease (CVD), unfortunately the US regulations are in reality a pseudo-fix (see fats).  A main cause for CVD is the cheap trans and polyunsaturated fats.  The problem polyunsaturated fats arise from the fact that they are subject to oxidation in the body.  The double bonds on the carbon change are electron donners; that is, subject of oxidation by electrophilic agents,  especially fructose in a process called glycation, oxidation  also by carbon monoxide (its main source is tobacco smoke), and from other free radicals.  This change in structure entails that the body doesn’t have a system for their metabolism.    Given their unique shape upon oxidation, they accumulate in artery walls like transfats.  A search of Googlescholar.com for “rancidification + polyunsaturated fats” will produce dozens of journal articles, as too will other similar tags.  Transfats are not natural—but man made. They too lack a system for their metabolism. Both are artery clogging.  One last issue is that the polyunsaturated fats are high in omega-6 fatty acids.  The omega-6 partially blocks the utilization of two type of essential omega 3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, which are cardiovascular protective.  In so doing the omega 6 are pro-inflammatory and thus a causal factor for CVD.  The main sources of the unhealthful omega 6 are the cheap vegetable oil made by the food manufactures and used in their products.  Paleolithic societies consume very little vegetable oils in their diet, while the Western diet is rich in them.  The evidence of all of these claims concerning polyunsaturated fats is found in fats.  These are the main causal factors for the health disaster of the Western diet. 

So why blame saturated fats.  One answer is “follow the money”.  In poorly designed studies, which assume saturated fats are unhealthy and polyunsaturated fats are healthy, the saturated fats were blamed for CVD and the cheap vegetable fats praised as heart health.  The currently journal literature has reversed this picture, but official pronouncement by industry funded organizations has not change--more tobacco science and marketing.   For more on these issues, go to fats & watch the documentary Fat Head 103 & Dr. Miller.    

 There are many different fasts; I have upon reviewing the literature came upon a simple fast with easy adherence.  JK short fast:  go on a 16 hour fast (7 PM until 11:00 AM) or longer, thus extending the beneficial nighttime fat burning production of ATP (the energy molecule) to midday.  At night because of not eating there is low glucose and thus insulin is not secreted by the pancreas.   The body then metabolizes fats for energy (ATP).  If hunger becomes an issue, than eat a small handful of nuts, green vegetables, or have a cup of tea or coffee.  The effect of a small portion on insulin production is minimal.

In summary the healthful summary of the Atkins diet reliance upon ketone bodies produced in the fat burning mode for the production of ATP through beta oxidation, rather than from glucose through the Krebs (citric acid) cycle.  Atkins diet is high in protein, the New Atkins diet is significantly lower to between 45 and 65 grams per day (depending on thin body weight. Lower protein because of its moderate insulin index table at bottom of page.[4]  Avoid unhealthful polyunsaturated fats, thus switch to saturated fats and monounsaturated fats.  Make your own salad dressing using olive oil or palm-kernel oil.  Of the proteins eggs and peanuts have the lowest insulin response.  Add as convenient the JK short fast to promote healthy liver and maximize fat burning.  And to increase your performance watch the videos listed at http://healthfully.org/rg/id4.html

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Net Carbs while on Atkins ketogenic diet—easy table by JK

Net Carbs = total carbohydrates minus fiber content.

To calculate from the food label simply subtract fiber from total carbohydrates

On the Atkins website (http://files.atkins.com/1501_CarbCounter_Online.pdf) is an extensive table of net carbs.  For simplicity the food label on products can be used, simply subtract fiber from carbohydrates to get an approximate value.  Remember that food manufacturers add sugar to nearly every product plus many of them have various forms of starch as filler and thickening agent (starch is pure glucose). 

The four phases

Atkins plan is "not a license to gorge," but rather promotes eating protein until satiated. The rules for the induction phase have changed since the first printing of Atkin's Diet Revolution, in which all carbohydrates were counted the same. Today's version [New Atkins diet] of the diet differentiates between carbohydrates, and counts only "net carbs" toward the daily total. The first two weeks of the Atkins Diet are strict, with only 20g of 'net' carbohydrates permitted per day. The Net Carbs number reflects the grams of carbohydrate that are said to significantly impact blood sugar level.  Atkins states that a dieter can safely stay at the Induction Phase for several months if the person has a lot of weight to lose. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketone_bodies

Ketosis /kɨˈtoʊsɨs/ is a metabolic state where most of the body's energy supply comes from ketone bodies in the blood, in contrast to a state of glycolysis where blood glucose provides most of the energy. It is characterised by serum concentrations of ketone bodies over 0.5 millimolar with low and stable levels of insulin and blood glucose. Ketone bodies are formed by ketogenesis when liver glycogen stores are depleted (or from metabolising medium-chain triglycerides^[3]).

During the usual overnight fast the body's metabolism naturally switches into ketosis, and will switch back to glycolysis after a carbohydrate-rich meal. Longer-term ketosis may result from fasting or staying on a low-carbohydrate diet, and deliberately induced ketosis serves as a medical intervention for intractable epilepsy.[1]^[6] In glycolysis higher levels of insulin promote storage of body fat and block release of fat from adipose tissues, while in ketosis fat reserves are readily released and consumed.^[5][7] For this reason ketosis is sometimes referred to as the body's "fat burning" mode.^[8][9]   Ketosis can be induced when a ketogenic diet is followed for more than 3 days. This induced ketosis is sometimes called nutritional ketosis.^[10]   [This is the best way to manage epilepsy, and it has been known since the 1930s, but is not in pharma’s financial interest.   [Warning  (JK):  With major head trauma the doctors following guidelines and KOLs will put the patent on an anti-seizure, even though they haven’t had one.  Seizure can be brought on by drugs including alcohol and those to treat ALS and MS, meningitis and other cerebral infections, pork tapeworm.  The doctor is likely to prescribe an anticonvulsant medication, even without a seizure or just a minor seizure.  People who sleep more will have fewer seizures. All the drugs given by pharma are major tranquilizers, which haven’t been shown in clinical trial to significantly prevent seizures for the typical patient.  They lower quality of life.  Four of my friends of mine have fallen victim this treatment, all of whom have gained weight and were in a mental cloud.  Of the three who discontinued the medication years later, none have had a subsequent seizure.]   

Ketone bodies are weakly acidic, but acid-base homeostasis in the blood is normally maintained. Most commonly, ketoacidosis is diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), resulting from increased fat metabolism due to a shortage of insulin. It is associated primarily with type I diabetes, and may result in a diabetic coma if left untreated. [The ketone bodies during DKA is six fold greater than under an Atkins Diet.]

Ketone bodies are three water-soluble molecules that are produced by the liver from fatty acids during periods of low food intake (fasting) or carbohydrate restriction for cells of the body to use as energy instead of glucose. Though termed bodies, they are not bodies but molecules.  Two of the three are used as a source of energy in the heart and brain while the third (acetone) is a degradation breakdown product of acetoacetic acid.   Ketone bodies are picked up by cells and converted back into acetyl-CoA which then enters the citric acid cycle and is oxidized in the mitochondria for energy. In the brain, ketone bodies are also used to make acetyl-CoA into long chain fatty acids, which cannot pass through the blood-brain barrier.  Ketone bodies are produced  from acetylCoQ (see ketogenesis) mainly in the mitochondrial matrix of hepatocytes (liver tissue) when carbohydrates are so scarce that energy must be obtained from breaking down fatty acids. 

After the diet has been changed to lower blood glucose for 3 days, the brain gets 25% of its energy from ketone bodies.^[5] After about 4 days, this goes up to 70%^{[citation needed]} (during the initial stages the brain does not burn ketones, since they are an important substrate for lipid synthesis in the brain). Furthermore, ketones produced from omega-3 fatty acids may reduce cognitive deterioration in old age.

Acetone is produced by spontaneous decarboxylation of acetoacetate,^[8] meaning this ketone body will break down if it is not used for energy and be removed as waste or converted to pyruvate.^[3] This "use it or lose it" factor may contribute to the weight loss found in ketogenic diets. Acetone cannot be converted back to acetyl-CoA, so it is excreted in the urine, or (as a consequence of its high vapor pressure) exhaled unless first converted to Pyruvate. Acetone is responsible for the characteristic "Sweet & fruity" odor of the breath of persons in ketoacidosis.^[9]