Untruth No2: 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.