Medical Conditions Eased by the Atkins Diet

The main problem with treating chronic headaches with pills is that you're treating the symptoms, not the cause, of the pain. Headaches are caused either by muscle contraction or vascular irregularity (alternate constriction and/or expansion of the arteries). Headaches caused by muscle contraction include tension headaches, which can be caused by poor posture, spinal misalignment, physical and emotional stress, nerve irritation (caused by poor diet), constipation, or pelvic irritation (in women). Headaches related to vascular irregularity include migraines, cluster headaches, and caffeine withdrawal headaches.

Changing your eating habits (especially per the Atkins diet) can relieve some of the conditions that result in chronic headaches. Adopting a low carb diet, as prescribed by the Atkins diet, can ease your headaches (and enable weight loss!) by reducing your caffeine intake, identifying foods you're allergic to (but didn't know it), and controlling carbohydrate intake (and thereby treating hypoglycemia). The headaches often experienced by women in particular may be caused by the menstruation cycle.

Foods that can trigger a headache include: aged, smoked or cured cheese, meat or fish; fermented foods like sour cream, yogurt and red wine; chocolate; foods high in copper, such as nuts, shellfish and wheat germ; nitrites or nitrates, preservatives commonly found in processed meat products; citrus foods, lactose and the preservative MSG (monosodium glutamate).

High Blood-Sugar and the Atkins Diet

High blood-sugar goes hand in hand with increased production of insulin. The body uses insulin to transport blood sugar (glucose) to your cells, where it is used for energy or stored as fat (affecting weight loss). The more insulin circulating in your system, the more sugar is stored as fat instead of used, since the body needs only so much to function. The contemporary American diet, inundated with refined carbohydrates, introduces high levels of glucose into the bloodstream, and your pancreas promptly reacts by pumping excessive insulin. The result is unstable blood sugar, weight gain, hyperinsulinism, and eventually diabetes.

If you control your carbohydrate intake (as reccommended by the Atkins diet), you can also control your blood-sugar and insulin levels, which also allows you to control your weight (or promote weight loss). By adhering to the Atkins diet, you can avoid the symptoms and serious health complications caused by high blood-sugar and excessive amounts of insulin circulating in your system (not to mention achieve weight loss!).

Mood Irregularity and the Atkins Diet

Scientific research has connected mood fluctuation (especially depression, anxiety, and fatigue) with food intake. Usually, your first instinct when experiencing a mood swing is a high carb snack (not conducive to weight loss). These snacks temporarily put you in a better mood because the carbohydrates increase your level of seratonin (a neurotransmitter linked to depression). After this lift, however, your energy level will crash along with your blood-sugar level, which will leave you feeling depressed and irritable all over again. Maintaining a stable blood-sugar is key to stabilizing your mood (and your weight). Correctly following the Atkins diet will result in a carb-controlled lifestyle that will eliminate mood swings (and enable weight loss) caused by fluctuating blood-sugar levels.