Comparison of Ketogenic, Atkins, Intermittent Fasting, and Vegan Diets

Introduction
The diets which have been chosen for this assignment are Ketogenic diet, Atkins diet,
Intermittent fasting diet, and vegan diet. In this modern era, these diets are currently quite
popular as many have decided to practice these diets to gain various health benefits. Firstly,
among the 4 diets chosen for this assignment, ketogenic diet is the most popular diet.
Ketogenic diet is a diet which requires high fat consumption alongside with restriction of
carbohydrate intake. Hence, an individual does not burn glucose for energy. Secondly, Atkins
diet is a diet which is similar to Ketogenic diet. This can be defined as low carbohydrates and
high fat and protein intake. The only difference which distinguishes these 2 diets is the
amount of protein and carbohydrate intake. Both ketogenic diet and Atkins diet carries the
same primary importance, which is to encourage weight loss (Mawer, 2017). Thirdly, the
intermittent fasting diet is a diet which allows one to eat anything in a specific time frame and
fast in a specific time frame. The main importance of practicing this diet is to encourage
weight loss and to reduce blood sugar (Fletcher, 2019). The restriction of food consumption
will reduce glycemic response which would then reduce blood sugar. Lastly, vegan diet is a
diet which does not allow consumption of any animal based food. This diet is dominated by
plant based food. The main importance of this diet is to encourage good heart health. Since
there is no consumption of animal based food, it shows that there is no consumption of
animal fats which is high in high density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL). The reduction of
HDL does benefit the heart (Nordqvist, 2017). The objective of conducting a research on
these 4 diets is to study their characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, this
research enables us to study the impacts of these diets towards a human body and as well as
to discover as to who is able and unable to follow these respective diets.
Literature review

The first chosen diet for this assignment is Atkins diet. This diet is founded and created by
Robert Coleman Atkins, who is a cardiologist by profession (Lenzer, 2003). According to
Bryngelsson, S. and Asp, N.-G. (2005), Atkins diet is a protein rich diet which constitutes of
meat, seafood and legumes. Fatty foods such as cheeses are allowed as well. Furthermore,
vegetables which are low in carbohydrates and a minimal intake of rice and fruits are
allowed. Sugar is however strictly prohibited. The concept of reducing carbohydrates and
increasing protein intake is to encourage initial weight reduction and fat burning. Initial
weight reduction and fat burning happens because the body is deprived from carbohydrates,
thus fats will be converted into a compound called ketones which becomes the source for
energy (Entering Ketosis, 2018). However, the ketosis process is only temporary as the
amount of carbohydrates will be increased on a gradual basis at a later stage. The second diet
chosen for this assignment is Ketogenic diet. This diet was first introduced in the 1920’s to
treat epileptic patients and in 1924, Dr Russell Wilder named this diet as ‘Ketogenic Diet’.
Apparently, this diet proved to be effective as it managed to cure epilepsy and the public
decided to opt for this diet as it is a more natural cure, rather than turning to drugs (Gildea,
2017). According to Fenasse and McEwen (2019), this diet is a high fat, low protein and low
carbohydrate diet in which fats will be burned and converted into energy, rather than
carbohydrates being the prime source for energy. To be more precise, the proportion of
nutrients in this diet is estimated to be 75% fats, 20% protein and a maximum of 5%
carbohydrates. As part of an elaboration, the liver converts fat into fatty acids to produce
ketone bodies, which the becomes the primary source of energy, rather than glucose. Atkins
diet and Ketogenic diet both share similarities, however the difference is that there is a
gradual increase in carbohydrates intake when practicing Atkins diet, whereas there is a
constant restriction in carbohydrates intake for Ketogenic diet. Besides, the food intake for
both diets share differences as Ketogenic diet constitutes more fats as compared to Atkins

diet which has lower amount of fat intake. Moreover, in the context of protein intake, Atkins
does not restrict the amount of protein intake as compared to Ketogenic diet which only
allows an individual to consume 20 percent of protein. These 2 diets are factual and not
mythical because when one reduces carbohydrates, the body does turn stored fats into energy
(Depree, 2004). However, there are sources claiming that both Atkins and Ketogenic diet is
harmful because the body may produce excessive amount of ketones, which results the body
to be poisoned with ketoacidosis. High levels of blood acids results in issues such as diabetes
complications, heart attack, physical and emotional trauma. The third diet is vegan diet.
Unlike vegetarian diet which still allows consumption of dairy products and eggs, vegan diet
is a diet which largely constitutes of plant based food supported with consumption of dietary
vitamin supplements (Winter, 2019). Vegans need to consume dietary vitamin supplements
because they cannot consume certain food, such as dairy products which supplies vitamin D.
Moreover, the supplements should supply Vitamin B12 because only animal based food can
supply this nutrient. The name of this diet was created by a group of members from a
Vegetarian society in Britain for those who refuse in partaking animal based products. This
movement led to the formation of a Vegan society (Leneman, 1999). According to Wolfe
(2017), veganism can prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease because this diet
prohibits consumption of animal products. Therefore, there will be a reduction in saturated fat
intake and as well as a drop in cholesterol level. Other benefits such as weight loss, lowering
the chance of cancer diagnosis and healthier complexion are included as well. Finally,
intermittent diet, a diet popularized by Martin Berkhan is a diet which requires fasting for a
short period of time followed by a period of free eating (Varady, 2018). This diet has 3
different regimens, namely 5:2 diet, alternate days diet and 16:8 diet. 5:2 diet is a regimen
which requires one to consume 500 calories per day for 2 days a week. Alternate days fasting
shares a slight similarity with 5:2 diet regimen. This particular approach requires one to fast