To live longer …Paleo diet, Atkins or Ketogenic diet?
You are what you eat ” True.. It is like a bank deposit.The little portions that we eat
everyday accumulates into a lump some health deposit, that nourishes and sustains us
into longer healthy life. Diet does influences our cholesterol level, sugar level and
the overall state of internal health.
Diet influences our external appearance too. Fat or thin..Diet has the power to change
how we look. Potential to change the external appearance, is a powerful motivator for
common people to endure any kind of hardship. To tap into this human tendency,
inquisitive minds always looked out for solutions. And of course the people in the
businesses have always lured the people with their new but often weird dietary
concepts.
Atkins dietary concept was born in 1989 and became very popular in early 2000. Atkins
diet has been marketed with dodgy claims that carbohydrate restriction is the key to
weight losing weight.There is only poor evidence of the Atkins diet’s effectiveness in
achieving sustainable weight loss. On the contrary and it may actually increase the risk
of heart disease. Following the death of Robert Atkins, the popularity of his dietary
concept plummeted and his company became bankrupt.
Failure of one kind of diet concept, invariably has given way to another kind. Ketogenic
diet, Dukan diet, Kimkin diet, Stillman diet, Fruit diet, Vegan diet, detox diet are
some of the diets you often get to hear about. Latest addition to these weird and
wonderful list of diet concepts is “Paleo” diet. Though the concept is well known for
some years, it became the most popular keyword for weight loss in the google search, in
the year 2013.
The primary aim of these dietary concepts, is to entice the public to believe that they
could reduce their weight and they could live a healthy long life through their false
claims.
Most of these diet ideas latch onto blaming the carbohydrate as the culprit and promote
taking them off from our diet. They also encourage people to take high amounts fat in
their meal.
Some of the differences between these diet concepts
Atkins diet : Low carbohydrate High fat High protein
Paleo diet : Low carbohydrate High fat Moderate protein …Grain free…Dairy free
Ketogenic diet : Low carbohydrate High fat Moderate protein
People have always claimed the benefits of these paranormal dietary concepts. Ironically
proof of pudding is not in eating, but Testing.
Best evidence of what to eat for the healthy and longer life comes from the very latest
study published in the world renowned Journal ” The Lancet” (in august 2018). The new
study revealed that, if we consume diet that has either low or high amount of
carbohydrate, increases the risk of early death. This study also found proteins and fats
from plants are far better in ensuring longer life for humans. A big thumbs down for
Paleo diet, which encourages the opposite.
Our diet should be wholesome with decent amount of plant based protein from Legumes and
Dhal, Daily portion of fruits and vegetables. Reasonable amount of animal protein would
ensure not only good health but gives joy to our life through our taste buds
Of course we should remove the taboo that comes with carbohydrate and take reasonable
amounts of whole grain rice,wheat, ragi for our essential portions of our carbohydrate
needs of every day
Healthy eating plate
healthy portions for everyday recommendation
Dr M Saravanan D.C.H., MRCP UK (Paediatrics)
Paediatrician
Rio Children and Maternity Hospital
Madurai
