I am Dr Patrick Flanagan, and this is the latest edition of my Dr Health Secrets newsletter.

Lately I have written about toxins in our water and food supply. This installment is about a diet that has gotten a lot of attention all over the world. This newsletter about the Atkins Diet and its effects on your body.

Beef, Its Whats For Dinner

And breakfast, and lunch, and snacks. That, and all other things of the protein persuasion, such as chicken, eggs, cheese, fish, and lard. Yes, Atkins was the diet that enabled its followers to ingest as much fat and protein as their little hearts desired while still shedding those extra, unwanted pounds. Many even seemed to get results from the Atkins diet without even having to step foot in a gym. Even more remarkable were those revolutionary new desserts that were both Atkins friendly and approved. Sure they tasted like they were manufactured in a nuclear weapons facility, but they were still synthetically sweet, and would help in the elimination of those darned sweet cravings. What the perfect diet Atkins was.

Eat as much fat as you wanted, consume all of the steak and bacon you could, and wash it all down with an aspartame-infested soda and non-exercising exercise regiment. The life of a lazy king.

The Fat Makes The Calorie, Not The Man

It seemed perfect, but seemed would have to become the operative word. Many of you have lived on this earth long enough to know that perfection really doesnt exist. There is no perfect child, no prefect insurance plan, no perfect way to say, "We should see other people," and no perfect diet. Dr. Atkins himself would have argued that cholesterol levels didn't increase with the added intake of high fat foods, but many researchers and scientists have proven otherwise. Heart disease, as well as other heart conditions, has been attributed to followers of high protein and high fat diets. Some studies are starting to show the correlation between these diets and heart problems, and to me, even the potential risk of losing my ticker is enough to make me eat a piece of bread.

One particular side effect that is hazardous when eating excess amounts of fat and protein are the increased levels of acidity within the body, which are mostly caused by the ketone acids that are produced during ketosis. High levels of acidity can lead to a loss of much needed calcium from within bones. Calcium, which is an alkaline material, is depleted when acid levels get to be too high. This is your bodys way of attempting to neutralize its ph balance and bring everything back to a normal level of functioning. Lack of calcium, over time, can lead to an increase in fractures, the erosion of teeth (teeth are made of calcium), and the depression of the central nervous system. High acidity also forces the kidneys and the liver to work a lot harder than they typically would, so people who have preexisting problems with these organs are at risk of developing even more severe problems when on Atkins.

Aside from leading to dehydration, acidity can also cause high toxic levels within the body, and over time, these toxic levels can lead to permanent and caustic side effects. One way to help with the removal of these chemicals would be to drink water, but it has to be the right type of water. Many waters have surface tensions that are so high, that the cells in the body cant absorb the water that they need. One way to help eliminate this problem would be to add the right colloidal minerals to the water that you are already drinking to allow for more nutrients to enter the cell and toxins to come out.

There's no "I" in Vegetable

Carbohydrates are considered food for the brain, and even more importantly, many simple carbohydrates, such as fruits and vegetables, contain important antioxidants that are needed to provide a healthy immune system. If you are a follower of Atkins or any other low carb, high fat, and high protein diets, then I don't stay on these particular eating plans for too long a period of time. If you absolutely cant bring yourself to eat a noodle or an apple, you should at least attempt to take some kind of antioxidant supplement.