Atkins Diet: Supplements and Vitamins
Are you on Atkins diet? Do you worry about getting enough vitamins and nutrients from your food?
Vitamin-rich foods, like fruit and grains, are high in carbs. You would cut them out completely during Atkins Induction (Phase 1 of the diet).
Although you gradually add them back, you would still eat less of these foods than people on the so-called “standard” diet. Some doctors and dieticians (not to mention the media) claim this is unhealthy.
Short-term vitamin deficiencies won’t harm your health. Millions of people lost weight on Atkins Diet without any health consequences. Multiple scientific studies proved Atkins to be a perfectly safe way to lose weight.
So do you need supplements? According to Dr Atkins, you do.
Dr Atkins recommendations
Dr Atkins himself strongly recommended supplements. In his original book, he used the subtitle “Don’t even think of getting along without them!” for the Nutritional Supplements chapter.
Dr Atkins wrote a separate book on the potential benefits of vitamins (“Dr Atkins’ Vita-Nutrient Solution”). He created his own multivitamin/multivitamin formula, called Atkins Basic #3 Formula, especially to support Atkins Diet.
See the list of ingredients in Atkins Basic #3 in the original book (Robert C Atkins (27 May 2009). Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution . Ebury Publishing. p. 301-307. ISBN 978-1-4070-2768-5.)
According to Dr Atkins, intelligent supplementation makes your diet easier and healthier. Most common problems - like tiredness, sugar cravings, and slow transition to ketosis – can be solved with the right supplements.
Supplements recommended by Dr Atkins
Dr Atkins recommended the following products:
- Atkins Basic #3 (or a similar multivitamin/multimineral formula with high levels of B and C vitamins) – for balanced nutrition, reduced fatigue and cravings, improved energy metabolism.
- Omega oils 3, 6 and 9 as fish oil, flaxseed oil and borage oil - for heart health and normal cholesterol levels.
- Chromium – to regulate blood glucose and reduce cravings.
- L-Carnitine and Co-Enzyme Q-10 – for better fat-burning metabolism and faster switch to ketosis, especially for people with high metabolic resistance
- Fibre – flaxseeds (also known as linseed) or psyllium husks - for trouble-free digestion.
Where to buy Atkins Diet supplements
Unfortunately, Atkins Nutritionals no longer produce branded Atkins supplements.
You can purchase similar supplements from High Street health shops or pharmacies. Watch out for hidden carbs - many supplements are coated with sugar, or use sugary fillers as base.
When buying multivitamins, read the label carefully and refer to the original Atkins recommendations to ensure suitability. Most brands won’t provide you with the full list of nutrients as recommended by Dr Atkins. Ideally, you need an extra-strong formula without any iron - simply getting a standard multivitamin with dosages at 100% of NRV is not sufficient.
Nutri-Align Low-Carb Diet Supplements
If you are looking for specialist low-carb products, check out Nutri-Align range. Nutri-Align is a British company focused on supplements for low-carb dieters.
All Nutri-Align supplements are suitable for Atkins diet. The following products meet Dr Atkins recommendations for nutritional supplements:
Nutri-Align Multivit
Sugar-free, iron-free multivitamin/multimineral with extra-strong B, C and E vitamins, chromium, L-Carnitine and green tea extract
Nutri-Align Triple Omega
Omega 3, 6 and 9 essential fatty acids providing alpha linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, linoleic acid, oleic acid and vitamin E.
Nutri-Align Co-Enzyme Q10
Co-Enzyme Q10 and vitamin E, oil-based for better absorption
Nutri-Align Psyllium Husk
All-natural, pure fibre supplement, made from the seed husks of Plantago ovata plant