Is Eco-Atkins a good idea for vegans?

June 12, 10:38 AMSeattle Vegan ExaminerVirginia Messina, MPH, RD

Previous Next

3 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Seattle Vegan Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Plant sources of protein and fat are always healthiest

Everyone is talking about the Eco-Atkins diet these days. It’s a new healthier twist on a really bad diet. Dr Atkins promised weight loss to those who chowed down on meat, eggs and cheese. For whatever reason, the diet delivered—at least as far as weight loss was concerned. In other respects—related to risk for cancer and heart attack, damage to the environment and animal cruelty—its score card was worse than bad.

The Eco-Atkins diet is a huge improvement because it’s 100% vegan, making it an ethical choice, an environmentally-sound one and a whole lot healthier. But Eco-Atkins is kind of a misnomer, since it’s not exactly the same as the original diet. This vegan version is higher in carbohydrates and unlikely to produce ketosis, a hunger-reducing condition that is one of the hallmarks of Atkins. Ketosis occurs with dangerously low intakes of carbohydrate and is among the body’s last ditch efforts to avoid starvation. It works for people who don’t mind losing weight in a completely unhealthy way.

Many vegans have dismissed Eco-Atkins out of hand, but I think it’s worthwhile to consider the research behind it. The recent study using this diet was short—just a month long—and used a small group of subjects. Therefore, the results are interesting but not reason enough to promote this way of eating. However, some of the findings are supported by other research. It does add to our ever-evolving understanding of what constitutes the best vegan diet.

For example, there is good evidence that boosting protein intake improves satiety on low-calorie diets. An effort to add a little bit of higher-protein plant foods might be especially useful for vegan women on weight-reduction diets. And, replacing some carbs with unsaturated fat is probably good for reducing heart disease risk. (That’s because higher fat diets reduce bad cholesterol without lowering good HDL cholesterol.)

The authors concluded that a diet high in vegetable proteins and oils might be an effective option for those who need to lose weight and reduce LDL-cholesterol. They noted the potential advantages of this approach compared to other extreme versions of vegetarian diets like the Ornish Plan. But they definitely did not say that everyone should be on the Eco-Atkins diet or that this was the best way to eat.

I worked up a 1600 calorie diet that met the guidelines of Eco-Atkins and it looked okay. It had a few servings of soy, seitan (gluten), and nuts, small amounts of beans, and lots and lots of vegetables. But the carb restriction didn’t leave enough room for some of my favorite healthy foods like sweet potatoes, oatmeal, and more beans. And I admit it—all that protein and fat made me a little nervous.

The following sample menu is my severely tweaked version of Eco-Atkins. It’s a more realistic plan that boosts protein a bit for vegans who struggle with weight loss and it includes only healthful sources of plant fat.

Breakfast

½ cup firm tofu sautéed in 2 tsp olive oil
1 slice whole grain bread with 1 tbsp almond butter
½ cup strawberries

Snack

¼ cup roasted soy nuts
1 apple

Lunch

½ cup hummus
2 cups raw vegetables
2 brown rice cakes

Snack

1 cup lentil soup with tomatoes

Dinner

4 oz seitan
1 baked sweet potato
2 cups cooked kale
Salad with oil and vinegar dressing made with 2 tsp olive oil