Dr. Atkins: What He Got Right, What He Got Wrong

By Dr. Al Sears via Early to Rise

What did Dr. Robert Atkins say that was so different? He made two very contrarian claims:

1. Americans are fat not because they eat too much fat but because they eat too many carbohydrates.

2. The best way to lose weight is not with a low-fat diet but with a low-carb diet.

This contradicted what doctors and nutritionists had been telling their patients for decades. But not only do I agree with Dr. Atkins’ diagnosis of the cause of American obesity, the best science also agrees. Unfortunately, it has only been in the past couple of years that the low-carb theory has been vindicated. But with mounting scientific evidence, the public view of nutrition is shifting.

New research has prompted even the staunchest critics to take notice. In February of this year, even the mainstream media reported on a landmark study that compared the American Heart Association’s low-fat diet to the Atkins diet — and the Atkins diet caused greater weight loss and lowered cholesterol and triglycerides much more effectively. Other major studies continue to confirm the benefits of a low-carb diet.

Now (unfortunately after Dr. Atkins’ death) comes the strongest proof to date. In May, the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine published a study that found the Atkins approach beats out the American Heart Association’s low-fat approach for both weight loss and blood-lipid improvement.

Clearly, Atkins was right about the problem: Starches and sugars make Americans fat. But here’s where we part: I do not agree with his dietary solution.

I do not recommend you eat sausage, hot dogs, cheesecake, and chocolate truffles for weight loss or for any other health change. It is true that fat is relatively inert at affecting the hormonal control of your metabolism. But there are other reasons why you do not want to dine on modern Western-derived fat.

Fat from the animal-husbandry industry is adulterated because of the unnatural living conditions of the animals. Additionally, all the herbicides, pesticides, toxins, and hormones that the animal has been exposed to collect in the fat. When you eat this animal fat, you are eating from the cesspool of these animal warehouses.

The vegetable fat that you get in the modern Western diet is also an abomination. It is not the same as the fat in our natural environment. Vegetable fats are highly processed to extend their shelf lives. The processing creates unhealthy hydrogenation and cancer-causing “trans” fatty acids. The No. 1 fat used in food processing is corn oil, perhaps the unhealthiest fat of all.

The adulteration of our dietary fat is the main reason you should not follow the Atkins diet.

So