Lie #2: There's a ton of new research proving the Atkins
diet is effective
If you surf around the Internet for a while searching for
"Atkins Diet," you are likely to see a lot of
advertisements and news briefs pointing to the new research
"proving" that Atkins is effective.
"New England Journal of Medicine Vindicates Atkins
diet."
"Studies suggest Atkins diet is safe."
"New research challenges 30 years of Nutritional Dogma."
Truth is, these headlines are not giving you the full picture.
Until and unless you have closely examined these studies
and the researcher's interpretation of the results, don't
be so quick to believe the hearsay.
The general conclusion of nearly all these studies is that
Atkins IS equally if not more effective for short term weight
loss than conventional diets. However, nearly all the researchers
also conclude with remarks such as:
"The results are very preliminary,"
"The take-home message is that this diet deserves
further study." "More research is needed."
Furthermore, consider what the Atkin's diet was being compared
to in these studies: The traditional "food pyramid"
diet with 60-65% carbs including plenty of pasta, cereals
and bread, right?
What if the traditional high carb diet is wrong too?
Don't write off carb restriction completely, but don't
ditch all your carbs yet either.
>>
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Lie #3: The new studies prove that the Atkins diet is
healthy and doesn't raise cholesterol as previously believed
In a May of 2003, the results of a 12-month study on the
Atkins diet were reported in the New England Journal of
Medicine (NEJM). One group followed the traditional food
pyramid with 60% of the calories from carbohydrates while
the second group followed the Atkins diet.
After one year, Atkins participants had a greater increase
in the good HDL cholesterol and a larger drop in triglyceride
than the high carb group. Gary Foster, the leader of the
study said, "Our initial findings suggest that low
carb diets may not have the adverse effects we anticipated."
Conventional wisdom has dictated for years that saturated
fat and cholesterol were dangerous and unhealthy, contributing
to coronary heart disease. This led most health professionals
to condemn low carb diets that allowed large amounts of
saturated fat.
This belief is now being questioned. Many authors such
as Mary Enig and Uffe Rashnkov have presented compelling
cases that dietary cholesterol and saturated fat do not
cause heart disease. The latest research seems to confirm
this. However, many factors affected the results of these
new studies.
In some studies, the subjects did not follow the Atkins
Diet to exact specifications and never entered ketosis,
so conclusions about The Atkin's Diet, ketosis and coronary
health cannot be drawn yet. In other studies, cholesterol-lowering
drugs were used. And in still others, some subjects actually
showed increases in total cholesterol. Those who did show
improvements may have previously been on a high refined
sugar, high saturated fat diet and dropping the sugar was
one step in the right direction. Furthermore, some of the
drop in blood cholesterol could be attributed to the decrease
in body weight.
Clearly, you can't lump all dietary fats into the same
category. Processed and chemically altered trans fats have
been condemned by virtually every health and nutrition expert
on the planet. Other fats, like salmon and fatty fish, are
among the healthiest and cardio-protective foods you can
eat. Much evidence is showing that reasonable amounts of
naturally occurring saturated fats such as those found in
whole eggs and red meat also need not be feared (especially
in the absence of sugars).
Truth is, all the information we have available at this
time indicates the "fat phobia" and "fat
makes you fat" scare has been unfounded because not
all fat is the same. However, claims that diets very high
in overall and saturated fat are healthy and safe for long
term use are still premature.
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Lie #4: The Atkins diet will help you keep fat off for
good
Dr. Atkins writes that his diet "Is so perfectly adapted
to use as a lifetime diet that, unlike most diets, the weight
won't come back."
It's a weight loss axiom that the more extreme a diet and
the faster the weight loss, the more difficult it is to
maintain the results. Slow, steady and balanced seems to
win the race when it comes to weight control.
Unfortunately this isn't what most people want to hear.
The four pounds per week and up to 15 pounds in the first
two weeks that Atkins promises sounds much more impressive.
There are two things you really need to know about rapid
weight loss:
(1) What kind of weight was lost? How much of it was body
fat and how much was water, glycogen and lean tissue?
(2) Are you going to you keep the weight off for good?
Most low carbers won't keep the weight off for more than
a year, and many will fall off the wagon long before that.
Keith Ayoob, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association
(ADA), said in an official ADA statement about the 2003
NEJM studies: "Twelve months is an equalizer; you hit
a wall. Your lifestyle starts to be affected and you get
bored. A high dropout rate is a sign that extreme diets
can be difficult to maintain.
Truth is, despite Dr. Atkin's claims and the new research
apparently supporting them, we still don't know what will
happen in the long run. Based on the results of the recent
three, six, and twelve month studies, researchers have begun
to organize longer trials. One of them will be five years
in length.
What you will probably see in long term studies is that
Atkins and other very low carb diets, while effective for
weight loss in the short term, will be found no more effective
for long term fat loss than any other restrictive diet (and
that's NOT very effective).
>>
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>> Click here for a free 2 week workout plan with 27 essential exercises for strength training e-book from Global Fitness
>>
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>> Continue to Part 2 | 
