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Eco-Atkins, a Healthier Environment Friendly Version of Atkins

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Written by Peter Whittington

Sunday, 13 April 2008

Medical research may suggest that the Atkins diet, one of the most popular diets is also one of the most effective.

by PeterWhittington

Medical research may suggest that the Atkins diet, one of the most popular diets is also one of the most effective.

Medical Investigations

Stanford University Christopher Gardner, Ph.D., and colleagues at Stanford University conducted an NCCAM-funded study of 311 pre-menopausal women, all of whom were overweight or obese. Each woman was randomly assigned to one of four diets. The Atkins diet group reported the most weight loss at 12 months with an average loss of 4.7 kilograms, or just over 10 pounds. They also had more favourable overall metabolic effects.

Duke University Medical School

A study conducted at Duke University Medical School of 120 overweight volunteers, had patients following either an American Heart Association low-fat plan or the Atkins diet. Atkins dieters also took multivitamins and fish oil capsules. The study rusults after six months, the Atkins dieters had lost 31 pounds and the low-fat dieters had lost 20 pounds. For the low-fat group,Total cholesterol went down 6% vs. 4% for the Atkins group. Low fat dieters had a 22% drop in triglycerides and no increase in HDL, or "good" cholesterol. The Atkins dieters had a 49% drop in triglycerides and an 11% increase in HDL.

Health Impact

Many health professionals are concerned about the long term health impact of eating red meat Atkins critics - among them the Washington D.C. based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) charges the protein heavy diet places those who follow it at risk. "High protein diets may cause permanent loss of kidney function;" the group notes, adding that "meat-heavy diets significantly increase one's risk of colon cancer and osteoporosis."

Additionally many people like to burn their meat and eat it well done. This can cause carcinogens.

How do we Solve the Problem?

Many people believe that Atkins is bacon and red meat. Red meat is on the diet but there are many other other lean protein sources available.

The University of Toronto has developed a version of the Atkins diet called the Low Carbohydrate Portfolio or "Eco-Atkins" Diet. It is a high vegetable protein and vegetable fat version of Atkins.

The intention of the diet was to exchange of the butter, eggs, cheese and meat in the Atkins diet for soy protein foods. The belief was that other vegetable proteins including gluten and vegetable fats, nuts, avocado, olive and canola oil will result in dramatic rather than modest reductions in blood lipids with weight loss. An exchange of saturated fat and animal protein for healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and vegetable proteins with significantly effect blood lipids while still encouraging weight loss.

Other Benefits

Environmental Affect

By consuming two serves of red meat per day will cause theproduction of almost 6 tonnes of methane emissions annually.

Fast foods, snacks and processed meals are usually processed using large amounts of energy. For the average Western diet, it takes 10 calories of fossil-fuel energy to create just one calorie of food energy. That's a whopping 3000 calories worth of fossil-fuel energy for a packet or crisps.

By adding an additional 50kgs of weight to your car causes a 2% decrease in its fuel economy.

Save the world whilst you save yourself by an eco-diet especially the Eco-Atkins

About the Author:

You can combine environmental awareness with weight loss. Diet food can be enviromentally sound. Lose weight and help The Earth. Refer to Environmentally Friendly Atkins

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