Friday Tri: Atkins and Low Carb Diets

I read the Atkins book about ten years ago, when my father-in-law was on the Atkins diet. He had lost weight on it, and many, MANY people have, which seems to lend respectability to a diet that seems to go against everything that the government has been telling people about healthy eating for years. I thought the book was filled with anecdotal evidence, and not much science, but I actually tried it for a few days. For me, personally, I felt ill on the diet and went off it a few days later. I like to be healthy and I'm willing to make some sacrifices, but a diet has to avoid making me ever feel hungry. This one didn't do that for me.

Since then, I have been pretty militantly vegan for a couple of years, and then vegetarian, and am probably now closer to something like a pescatarian, mostly because I find myself too often in situations where eating fish means I get to eat something at least, and I'm an athlete, and not on a low calories diet where just a salad works for me. But I recently spent an evening with several people I like and respect who swear by a low carb diet. It made me reconsider a little what seems to go against everything I know about healthy eating. So why are they happy with it?

Some thoughts:

1. People who are on low carb diets are suddenly eating a lot more vegetables and fiber. They have to to fill their stomachs. And this is a GOOD thing. Getting serious about eating more actual fresh vegetables is an improvement in some important ways. You're getting fiber and lots of nutrients that Americans seem to think we can just sprinkle over our cereal. People DO feel more full if they eat a lot of vegetables. They DO get by on fewer calories. They DO see health improvements.

2. For years, low-fat meant buying low-fat ice cream, low-fat cookies, low-fat bread. And yeah, low-fat processed foods are pretty empty carbs. I don't much care for the way that people talk about bread and potatoes as "bad carbs." As an endurance athlete, I need carbs. Lots and lots of carbs. There are plenty of times when I purposely eat low fiber carbs like white bread. I think potatoes are great for you. I also think you can't eat too much fruit, despite the fact that fruit is filled with "sugar." And when I am racing and training, I drink Gatorade and down gu's--straight sugar. On the other hand, I never drink soda and rarely even have sugared tea. I do have a sweet tooth, which I indulge on a regular basis.

3. A lot of Americans think that potato chips, donuts, and candy are bad for you because they are "bad carbs." Nonsense. They are bad for you because they are loaded with fat and calories and have no nutritive value. They are made for when you NEED extra calories. But most Americans don't NEED extra calories these days. We're not spending twenty hours a day out in the fields and losing pounds week after week. It's not that these kinds of food are so bad for you as that they aren't what you need right now.

4. In American, we've done a great of of making sure that calories are cheap. Many of the poorest Americans are overweight, and in some ways, that is great news. It means we've conquered the hunger battle. Unfortunately, the way we've done it is to make lots of easily stored, easily transported foods cheap. The problem? Well, for all the added vitamin sprays we put on white bread, people need to eat fresh fruits and vegetables, which haven't really gotten cheaper. So we have people who get plenty of calories, but aren't really satisfied because they're not getting the nutrients they need which we can't add as well as we think.

5. I suspect that most people on an Atkins diet would find that a vegetarian diet would leave them as satisfied, as full and with even more of the health benefits (Since as far as I can tell, a high plant, low animal products diet lowers your risk factors for disease in a way that losing weight with high animal products does not). But vegetarianism tends to have a bad image as being radical, annoying, and snooty. You don't have to be a vegetarian all the time, actually, to get many of the benefits. You don't even have to tell people you are, if you choose to be only vegetarian at home.

6. There are some people who probably need animal products on a regular basis for nutritive needs that are not clear to me. When I was pregnant, I found I craved meat. I ate steak and eggs for breakfast every morning in the last trimester. If you need it, I'm not going to say you're a bad person. But I'd like to believe that you tried something else. For me, the cost to the planet of being a big meat eater is something to be considered pretty strongly.