Greening the Grease: the Eco-Atkins Diet

Here's an oxymoron if I ever heard one: The Eco-Atkins diet, a healthier, more environmentally and animal-friendly version of the controversial high-meat Atkins diet.

Here's an oxymoron if I ever heard one: The Eco-Atkins diet, a healthier, more environmentally and animal-friendly version of the controversial high-meat Atkins diet.

But how can you possibly call a diet regimen that consists of plant-based foods "Atkins"? It's a stretch. One of the problems with the traditional Atkins diet is that it increases LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. The Eco-Atkins diet, in contrast, can decrease cholesterol by up to 20%, and do it very rapidly. Pretty impressive, huh?

The greening of Atkins began as a Canadian research study headed by Dr. David Jenkins. The Eco-Atkins diet plan calls for low-carb, high-protein foods, just like the traditional Atkins, except that they're all plant-based. The scientists decided to use as their study group 25 people following a vegan diet because it is recognized as environmentally and animal friendly. They also included a control group of 25 people on a lacto/ ovo-vegetarian regimen.

The results? Both groups, with a total of 44 completing the study, were only allowed 1,500 calories a day but reported feeling satisfied, and both lost an average of eight pounds in a month. But the kicker is that the Eco-Atkins vegans, in contrast to the vegetarians, experienced an 8% greater drop in cholesterol in just four weeks and a greater reduction in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings. The control group of vegetarians ended up "without the additional cardiovascular benefits", as reported at www.sciencedaily.com.

The Eco-Atkins diet eliminated starches such as baked goods, rice and potatoes, and substituted flour-less high-protein bread made from ground nuts and wheat gluten. It also added soluble fiber found in foods like oats, barley, eggplant and okra, and some fruits. And lastly, it included seitan (wheat protein) and a variety of soy-based foods and drinks. In the heart-healthy department were nuts, avocados and vegetable oils, with a few nutritional supplements thrown in to be safe.

The control group was allowed low-fat dairy products and egg whites as well as plant-based foods, averaging twice as many carbs as those on the Eco-Atkins diet.

The results of this study are a no-brainer. If you cut down or eliminate animal products from your diet, it's a given that your health, the environment, and all the animal species that are exploited for food will be better off. What's strange about it is using the word "Atkins" at all, as if the Atkins diet has ever had anything in common with low-fat, low-calorie foods, or with personal ethics and concern for the environment. And, in fact, the official Atkins website contains no information about an "Eco-Atkins" diet. I'm sure Dr. Atkins is turning over in his grave over this! This is a name dreamed up by the researchers to draw more attention to their study and their inarguable conclusion that eating green is the right thing to do on several levels.

So whether you call it "Eco-Atkins" or just plain ethical vegan, this is a nutritional regimen whose time has arrived. Respect for the environment, for one's own health, and for animals is in; self-indulgent, high-fat eating is out.

Read more about the study here:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090608162426.htm