The Atkins Diet has its own food pyramid--and it is nearly the opposite of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Guide Pyramid because the late Robert Atkins and the USDA had different perspectives about what foods help people lose weight and reduce their risk of obesity-related diseases. Atkins believed that foods with a lot of carbohydrates are unhealthy and cause fat. The USDA believes that fatty foods are unhealthy and cause fat.
Theories
The Atkins Diet is based on the glycemic index, which measures how fast foods raise your body's blood-sugar level. Atkins believed that foods with high glycemic-index scores cause you to gain fat and weight. Many carbohydrate-laden foods have high glycemic-index scores, while fat- and protein-laden foods often don't raise blood sugar at all. The USDA--and most health-related organizations, such as the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association--believe foods with a lot of fat, particularly saturated fat, raise your weight, total cholesterol and heart-disease risk.
Atkins' Recommendations
Atkins' pyramid, unlike USDA's pyramid, doesn't recommend how many servings of each food group you should eat daily. It has five horizontal segments. Atkins dieters should "eat foods from the base of the pyramid" to lose weight and fewer of the foods in the segments that are closer to the pyramid's tip, according to the Atkins Food Guide Pyramid. Five foods are listed in the pyramid's base. Four are often high-fat, high-protein foods--beef, fish, pork and poultry. Soy products are also recommended.
USDA's Recommendations
The USDA Food Guide Pyramid was the U.S. government's official food guide from 1992 to 2005. It was replaced by MyPyramid, which personalized recommendations based on age, exercise level, gender, height and weight. However, the personalized pyramids are based on the USDA's Food Guide Pyramid. The Food Guide Pyramid has six segments. It recommends that you eat more than twice as much food in the lower segment than any other individual segment--six to 11 servings of bread, cereal, pasta and rice per day.
Atkins' Warnings
The Atkins Diet warns people to avoid eating foods with a lot of sugar. As you climb the Atkins pyramid, the segments have "such as" recommendations. The second-largest pyramid segment includes vegetables "such as" broccoli, salad greens and spinach, but opposes carrots and potatoes because they raise blood sugar. The third-largest segment includes fruits "such as" berries and pears but opposes sugar-raising bananas and pineapples. The second-smallest segment consists of cheese, nuts and beans. The smallest consists of whole-grain products that are in the USDA's largest segment.
USDA's Warnings
The USDA Food Guide Pyramid says people should eat foods in its tip--fats, oils and sweets--"sparingly." Beef, fish and poultry are in the tied-for-second-smallest segment with the dairy segment, although they're at the Atkins pyramid's base. Eating two to three servings of meats and dairy products daily is recommended. Vegetables and fruits are the USDA pyramid's second- and third-largest segments. The pyramid recommends three to five servings of vegetables and two to four of fruits daily. Unlike the Atkins pyramid, it puts all vegetables and fruits in its segments.
References
- Atkins International: The Atkins Food Guide Pyramid
- "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution;" Dr. Robert Atkins; 2002
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Food Guide Pyramid
- Atkins International: Home Page
- "Essentials for Health and Wellness"; Gordon Edlin, Eric Golanty and Kelli McCormack Brown; 2000
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