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The biggest problem with any "diet" is the simple fact that most people do view it as a "diet", a quick fix, a temporary price to pay to acheive a goal. Any change in activity or food intake makes a difference temporarily, especially if you have been eating and behaving the smae way for an extended amount of time.
I am sure most people have heard the term "lifestyle" by this stage of the game. I means that you need to "choose" to make a permanent change in your current eating habits and activity level.

I have been a personal trainer and fitness instructor for many years now. I do not do it to get paid. I am qualified to, and have done it in the past, but I am so tired of forcing people to do something good for themselves that they should "enjoy"! I love taking good care of my health, and I love exercise, it is not a burden in my life, it is a priviledge that I appreciate. For years I have influenced my close friends to become addicted to the feeling you get from a good work out or a healthy meal. I tell them that the time they spend exercising is their time, they should feel like they are doing it for themselves. It takes a while to sink in, but it eventually makes sense to them,....I sometimes equate it to going to a spa or having a pedicure.
As far as Atkins goes, it is an excellent nutritional plan. You will notice that I avoided the word "diet" here, as I am implying that it is meant for people wanting to make that lifestyle change I spoke of earlier. The main issue with any nutritional plan is knowledge. Alot of people do not want to be bothered understanding nutrients and energy sources. Well,...I am sorry to say that you MUST take some responsibility for your own well-being, and part of that is knowing what your body needs and how to get it. Atkins attempts to eliminate alot of the bad, processed carbs that our impatient society has come to rely on. It allows carbs that are nutritious and valuable to our bodies.
I worked in the grocery industry for 20+ years. I saw morbidly obese people desperately shopping for food items that said "low fat", "diet", "reduced in calories". I could spend hours writing about nutritional labels here, but the fact is, these people were not reading them. All they cared about was that magic word (come on, you know it): DIET. It was all a lie. Anything that processed has only empty calories and is of no value to your body. As well, these items often have the fat removed in favour of another flavour enhancing ingredient: SUGAR! We should all be aware by now that sugar in any form messes with your insulin levels and makes your body store fat. Again, this could be a really long article here, but suffice it to say that your body needs a balance of fat, protein, and carbohydrates (good, complex and fibrous carbs, not "Snackwells").
If you choose Atkins,..be sure you can accept it as a lifestyle choice and you will be happy you did.
Also, please do me a big favour. Next time you are in a grocery store, pick up a jar of natural peanut butter and a jar of low fat or reduced calorie peanut butter. Read the nutritional information. You will notice that the "good fat", the monounsaturated peanut oil was replaced with margarine (bad fat) and icing sugar! And, if it is the same brand, you will also notice they changed the serving size on the low fat version to "half" of the serving size of the natural one. Geez, if I only ate half the amount of food I normally eat, of course I would lose weight!
We are being taken for idiots and we need to learn more on our own and to stop being led by mass marketing.

Good luck and good health to you!

Learn more about this author, Shawna Mason.
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