In the 1960s, Dr. Robert Atkins adapted the Atkins Nutritional Approach from a diet he read in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The diet is based on lower carbohydrate intake and is considered the driving force behind the “low-carb craze” of the early 2000s. At the height of its popularity, one in eleven North-American adults were on the diet. The Atkins diet has four phases: induction, ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance. As dieters proceed through the phases, they add more carbs and avoid refined grains and sugars. Once they reach the Maintenance phase, they are eating at a carb level which allows them to maintain their weight. Low-carbohydrate diets are still controversial and have been the subject of heated debate in medical circles for three decades.
