The Atkins diet, a low-carb, high-fat plan named after the doctor who created it, received high marks in one of the largest comparative studies of popular weight-loss plans.
It did better than the low-carb Zone diet, the low-fat, high-carb Ornish diet. and U.S. federal guidelines.
The study involved over 300 women; they attended weekly diet classes for eight weeks, and then were left to their own devices for the following 10 months.
Overweight women on Atkins lost more weight (10 pounds on average) over the course of the year than those on the other diet plans (between 3.5 and 6 pounds). Women on Atkins also had somewhat better blood pressure and cholesterol readings than those on other plans. This could mean that Atkins is healthier than its critics allege.
I have enormous respect for Dr. Atkins' pioneering work with nutrition, but the simple fact is that although many improved with his approach it did not benefit the majority of people who adopted it. This is also true for diets that take the polar opposite approach like Ornish and Pritikin.
The simple reality is that we all have different genetics and there is no single nutrition plan that works for everyone.
Biochemist Russ Bianchi, who submitted this article, also pointed out that while eating a high-protein diet (and eliminating refined carbs) will trigger ketosis to burn stored fat for the first 63 days of the diet, after that a yo-yo effect occurs. In order to maintain any weight loss experienced in the beginning months of the Atkins diet, you'd have to go on a high-refined-carb diet, as the body adjusts to kilating protein to stored fat, according to Bianchi. Clearly not a healthy choice.
There are numerous reasons why the Atkins diet ultimately fails for most people, with the primary one being that it attempts to prescribe a "one-size-fits-all" diet to the entire population. What is needed instead is a much more personalized approach, which you can get by finding out your nutritional type, and then eating the foods that are right for yours.
While there are some dietary principles that would benefit the majority of people, such as eliminating grains and sugar, the truth is that no one diet is right for every person. You can eat the best organic foods, drink plenty of purified water, and get sufficient rest, but if you don't eat right for your nutritional type, you're likely wasting your time and money.
On Vital Votes, Cathy from Auckland, New Zealand says:
"Atkins was right in some senses, but misguided in others. Remember that health is not just about weight loss. "Recovering health is the first priority and weight loss should be regarded as a secondary benefit. I didn't like his inclusion of processed food and soy products or his lack of recognition on what constitutes healthy fats -- many of his recipes included toxic refined polyunsaturated vegetable oils."
"Atkins was right in some senses, but misguided in others. Remember that health is not just about weight loss.
"Recovering health is the first priority and weight loss should be regarded as a secondary benefit. I didn't like his inclusion of processed food and soy products or his lack of recognition on what constitutes healthy fats -- many of his recipes included toxic refined polyunsaturated vegetable oils."
Other responses to this article can be viewed at Vital Votes, and you can add your own thoughts or vote on comments by first registering at Vital Votes.