Has the Kardashian effect reignited the low-carb lifestyle? Glossip Girl Emma Gunavardhana investigates...
It’s impossible not to have a reaction to Kanye West’s new music video Bound 2. For one thing there’s lyrics like, ‘I want to f*** you in the sink then give you something to drink’, and the concept of Kim being topless and spread-eagle on a motorbike that Kanye is riding. But maybe the most striking element is Kim’s post-baby body.
Regardless of what has been said in the press about airbrushing or rumours of Kim’s weight loss surgery, the fact is that five months after giving birth to her daughter, North, Kim is looking hot like fire. She’s not looking okay, she’s not looking good for someone ‘who has just had a baby’, she’s looking smoking hot.
Her secret? In a recent tweet the reality star revealed that rather than some new-fangled diet or fitness regime that none of us have ever heard of, she has actually resorted to an old-faithful since baby North was born on June 15th this year; ‘I’ve actually been doing the Atkins diet & luv it’, she admitted.
It’s something of a resurgence for the diet and lifestyle that hit its peak in 2003/4 and saw bread baskets everywhere ignored and breakfast choices of eggs and meat favoured over a fruit salad. At the time apparently, one in eleven Americans were actually on the diet. For no real reason, the diet’s popularity has waned ever since (rumours were rife that Robert Atkins its creator died of a fat and carbohydrate induced heart attack. This isn’t true: he fell on some ice in 2003 and died from a fatal bang to his head), but Kim Kardashian’s weight loss is a good reminder of a system that undeniably works. We may have had Dukan and the 5:2 diet since then but some would argue that when it comes to fast, effective weight loss the Atkins yields the fastest results.
Kim’s admission of following the system, which promotes the exclusion of carbohydrates and sugars to force your body into using up fat stores to produce glucose for energy, and the visible results she’s had may tempt to you back into an Atkin’s world of protein and fat.
It isn’t just about passing on carbs though, and if you are tempted to go back to Atkin’s it’s worth remembering that the goal, other than weight loss, of the system is to completely eliminate any cravings, specifically sugar cravings. So by all means, pile on the lean protein, up your intake of eggs and cheese, but don’t be lured into the trap of no-calorie fizzy drinks or artificial supplements that claim to be Atkins friendly.
Kim has been eating lean protein and fats; the likes of cheese omelettes for breakfast and turkey meat for lunch with nought but a wilted spinach on the side and it’s that principle that has led to her motorbike-loving, topless antics in Kanye’s new video.
Glossip Girl doesn’t know about you but we’re suddenly craving a lean steak.