I recently attended the Food & Nutrition Conference and Expo in Washington, D.C. In addition to meeting a lot of great people, sharing some of our new products and educating folks on the “Hidden Sugar Effect”, I also met with journalists to discuss the Atkins low carb lifestyle, and answered some important questions for our Atkins Instagram community.
Here’s a sneak peek:
What is Today’s Atkins?
Atkins is a lifestyle eating approach that focuses on controlling carbs to the point that allows the body to burn fat. Today’s Atkins focuses on living a healthy lifestyle focused on reducing carbs and sugar as a lifestyle —not a temporary diet.
How is Atkins different from Keto?
Atkins 20 and Atkins 40 are comparable to the keto diet, but overall Atkins allows for more flexibility as it encourages people to incorporate foods back into their meals and find their individual carb tolerance level. You can learn more about why Atkins may be the better keto diet here.
What is the Hidden Sugar Effect?
Certain carbohydrates have the same effect on your body as sugar when digested—we call this the “hidden sugar effect”, which I introduced in my book, Eat Right, Not Less. These are not added sugars, but rather foods that have the same effect as sugar when your body absorbs them, like orange juice and bananas. Chronic exposure to excess sugar may eventually lead to metabolic syndrome (obesity, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance), diabetes, heart disease, and more.
Next up, I attended a meeting of the minds during the Industry Nutrition Advisory Panel sponsored by the American Heart Association, where the focus was on sustainable diets, and the social and environmental impact of the food we eat.
This goes hand-in-hand with our suggested approach at Atkins, where our goal is to encourage people to embrace healthy and sustainable eating habits for the long term, incorporating a variety of whole foods, including plenty of colorful vegetables; avocadoes; healthy fats and dairy; eggs; nuts and seeds; protein including poultry, beef, pork and fish; plus, unprocessed whole grains in moderation.
Speaking of sustainability, I also learned that skipping meat one day (or even just one meal) a week has the power to improve the health of the planet by saving water and cutting down on greenhouse emissions. Fortunately, we have plenty of low carb, plant-based options with Atkins, starting with this day of five low carb vegetarian recipes.
Give it a try, and let me know what you think!
