Do you think sugar is as dangerous as alcohol and tobacco? According to a just-released report in the research journal Nature, added sugars in processed foods and drinks are responsible for so many cases of chronic disease and premature deaths that they recommend their use should be regulated, just like alcohol and tobacco. This finding matches what Atkins has proclaimed for 30 years. Americans consume 156 pounds of added sugar each year on a per capita basis, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Imagine it: 31 five-pound bags for each of us. Just to be clear, added sugar is, as the name implies, a caloric sweetener added to a process or prepared food. The classic added sugar, of course, is the table sugar most people add to their tea, coffee, cereal--you name it. Natural sugars in fruit, vegetables, dairy products and other whole foods are integral--meaning not added. The easiest way to banish added sugars is to follow the Atkins Diet. At its heart, Atkins is a low-sugar diet and a no-added sugar diet.
The Atkins Diet, which is backed by more than 80 peer-reviewed and independent studies, is the only program of its kind that empowers you to avoid sugar. With Atkins, you are encouraged to consume whole foods; many of you report that you stop craving foods with added sugar. Instead, vegetables, berries and other fruits, nuts/ seeds , Greek Yogurt, as well as a variety of protein sources and olive oil and other healthy, natural fats leave us satisfied and in control of our appetites. And because the sugar intake is low, we will be more likely to burn body fat for energy.
Further, a 1999 article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (vol. 69, p. 445) found that the rate of growth of Body Mass Index (roughly speaking, how fat we all are) since 1968 more or less paralleled, year by year, the increasing number of new condiments, candies, snacks and bakery foods introduced in the United States? So our rising level of obesity equals not fat consumption, but junk food carbohydrate consumption. And most of those foods—including supposedly healthy low-fat breakfast cereals—are now sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup just as soda is. Big doses of corn syrup are just what the human metabolism doesn’t need. And all this new press that vilifies added sugar (plus new research to support it) backs up what we’ve known all along. Atkins is not just effective for weight loss; it’s also a prescription for good health.
Share and Share AlikeTell me how your world (and body) has changed since starting Atkins and eliminating most added sugars from your diet. I’d love to hear! Please share your thoughts with the Atkins Community and also let me know what you’d like to hear about in the future.