Thoughts on Atkins

I was up in Seattle this last weekend for the Emerald City Blues Festival, and I stayed in a house with a woman on the Atkins diet. We had a lot of common ground, because we both keep carbohydrates at levels way below a standard American diet, but Atkins is scared to come out in favor of saturated fat, so she was buying these ridiculous soy protein monstrosities at $9 a six-pack. I think most people would be better off (regardless of whether they're trying to lose weight) on Atkins than a conventional diet, but there's way too much soy, vegetable oil, and lean meat in there. It is impossible to be both low-carb and low-fat; an all-protein diet is neither healthy nor satisfying.

Also, I hate the word "diet." Diet implies:

• A time limit. You're on it...until you're off.

• Weight loss. While there are plenty of people in America that could stand to shed a few pounds, weight is not the only thing your food determines. People eat low-carb to regulate their energy and mood, prevent heart disease later in life, run longer, lift stronger, feel connected to our food, and never get hungry.

• Commercialism. Whether it's Atkins Nutritionals or South Beach Living, foods engineered or sanctioned by a corporation for a particular way of eating are exploitative, misleading, and just plain silly. The beautiful thing about paleo eating is that no one can monopolize it. With paleo there are no ingredients to read, no nutrient ratios to calculate, no room for markup. We buy real food at commodity prices, and we eat it.

• Cheating built into the plan. Whether it's low-carb bread, diet soda, or protein shakes, these diets promote the idea that modified versions of bad food are no longer bad. Low-carb bread still has gluten. Diet soda indulges your sugar cravings without calories, it doesn't eliminate them.

Atkins is a better lifestyle than most peoples', but it's too complicated, too commercial, and too tainted by the fad-diet label to take real hold in mainstream nutrition. On the other hand, I can sum up paleo in one sentence: "Eat real food, minimize carbs, and make sure you get plenty of fat." No loopholes, no fuss, no room to twist it into something ugly.

Comments

[Nicole]

I am annoyed by the whole idea that people who don't eat grains and legumes and sugar are somehow "missing out" and need desserts full of agave nectar and almond flour to compensate.

It's like with dieters generally -- why do you need zero-calorie sweeteners AT ALL? I've seen (on diet blogs) people putting stevia on apples and strawberries. Why not just retune your taste buds to enjoy the natural sweetness of them?

[David]

Hear, hear! Ive never found anything sweetened, artificial or otherwise, thats tastier than raw fruit.

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