By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern
The beginning of the New Year motivates us to download diet apps or pull out a diet Book we found at the discount bookstore during the rush of our Christmas shopping. Well, it’s the New Year and time to do some diet considerations if that’s on your list for 2024. Many people find this to be the perfect time to make their resolutions to better their health in one way or another. Often, people begin different diets in an attempt to lose a few extra pounds. But there are so many different diets to choose from! In this article, and the two that will follow, I’ll break down some of the most popular diets so that you can more easily choose the one that will fit you and your needs the best!
So, let’s jump into this series by looking at low-carb diets and the Atkins diet.
Low-carb Diets
When it comes to low-carb diets, there are various forms of these diets that all have small variations from each other. But they all have the same goal, which is to limit your daily carbohydrate intake to about 20-150 grams per day. By limiting your carbohydrate intake each day, you’re forcing your body to use fat as its main source of fuel rather than carbohydrates, which is its first choice of fuel. Low-carb diets are extremely helpful for weight loss, especially in those who are either obese or overweight and can lead to more than twice the amount of weight loss of other diets. These diets also tend to reduce your appetite, which in turn reduces your caloric intake. One possible downside is that a lack of carbohydrates can cause certain individuals to feel miserable physically. 
Atkins Diet –
The Atkins diet is a low-carb diet, but what sets this diet apart from other low-carb diets is that it encourages eating as much fat and protein as you want and eating less than 20 grams of carbohydrates per day. This diet is done in 4 phases in which you slowly reduce the amount of carbs in your diet. After the completion of the 4 phases, you slowly begin to reintroduce carbs. Following this diet reduces your appetite and increases fullness, due to how satiating fat and proteins are. The Atkins diet has been found to lead to faster weight loss when compared to low-fat diets and is great for reducing belly fat and lowering disease risk.
These are just two of the many diets that we’ll be looking into! Stay tuned for part 2, in which we’ll take a look at the paleo diet, the Dukan diet, and the HCG diet! In the meantime, check out some of the many other articles about dieting on the Fill Your Plate blog!