The Atkins Diet was created by Dr. Robert C. Atkins, founder and medical director of the Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine in New York. What follows are answers to some FAQs provided by the Atkins Center and is not a recommendation for or against the plan. Remember, you should always check with your doctor before changing your dietary habits.

What is it?
Focusing on the consumption of nutrient-dense, unprocessed foods and vita-nutrient supplementation, the Atkins diet restricts processed/refined carbohydrates, such as high-sugar foods, breads, pasta, cereal and starchy vegetables.

Why it works?
While some Atkins dieters eat fewer calories than before, Atkins says it's not because the diet is unduly limiting of food intake, but rather because people are generally less hungry and are less obsessed with food. The reason:1. Stable blood sugar throughout the day ensures that you will have fewer food cravings or false hunger pains.2. The food you eat (meat, fish, cheese, nuts, eggs, low sugar/starch vegetables and fruit, etc.) is less processed and more nutritious.

Purported Benefits
You'll start to burn fat for energy. Since carbohydrates are the body's primary energy source, you'll start to use your secondary energy source, you own body fat, for energy.You won't feel hungry in between meals: By cutting the carbs, you'll maintain a more even blood sugar level throughout the day. Your overall health will improve and you'll feel better: Many of the toxins you take into your body are stored in your fat cells. By getting your body to burn stored fat, you allow it to clean itself out.

Individualized Diets?
While intake of carbs is limited and the diet tends to be high in protein, Atkins cannot provide the exact percentages of each food group for the general population as it is individualized depending on a person’s sensitivity to carbohydrates, among other factors.

Not for everyone?
A person who performs a lot of aerobic exercise and who doesn't have a weight problem has no reason to be on a carbohydrate-restricted diet, Atkins says.

Vitamin supplements?
The diet calls for core vita-nutrient supplementation with a full-spectrum multi-vitamin and an essential oils/fatty acid formula.

Low carbs?
The Atkins Diet is not a no-carbohydrate diet. The diet focuses on very limited consumption of the types of carbohydrates that tend to spike blood sugar levels the most, including non-whole grain bread, pastas, refined sugar products, juices and high sugar/starchy fruits and vegetables.

Are sugars to blame?
While many lament the consumption of fat as the root of America's weight problem, Atkins says that fat consumption has actually declined the past few decades. It’s carbohydrate consumption (mostly refined) that has increased, he says. During this time:• Obesity increased from 25 percent of the population to 33 percent Heart disease now accounts for 50 percent of all deaths, up from 40 percent in the 1970s • Cases of diabetes are growing• Hypertension, chronic fatigue and attention deficit disorder are now well recognized conditions.

Source: The Atkins Center

Additionally:

The Atkins Nutritional Plan is designed to catapult your body into a state of fat meltdown. It targets insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar levels. The bodies of most overeaters are continually in a state of hyperinsulinism; their bodies are so adept at releasing insulin to help convert excess carbohydrates to fat that there's always too much of the hormone circulating through the body.

This puts the body into a bind; it always wants to store fat. Even when people with hyperinsulinism try to lose weight (especially when they cut fat but increase carbohydrate consumption) their efforts will fail. This is why Dr. Atkins refers to insulin as "the fat-producing hormone."