EmpowHer: Does the Atkins diet contribute to clogging arteries?
Dr. Richard Fogoros: Well, that’s still a question of some controversy. However, it’s beginning to look like the low-carb diets are at least not nearly as dangerous as cardiologists have always thought and in fact they may be beneficial in some people.
Dr. Richard Fogoros: Well, that’s still a question of some controversy. However, it’s beginning to look like the low-carb diets are at least not nearly as dangerous as cardiologists have always thought and in fact they may be beneficial in some people.
But I think what you need to do is to look at the places where the low-carb proponents and low-fat proponents agree and there are some areas where both of those opposite camps agree. One is that people need to stay away from the bad carbohydrates and the bad carbohydrates are the ones that are processed, processed foods, cookies, that sort of thing where the carbohydrates are rapidly absorbed into the blood stream, are probably not particularly good for you.
It’s much better to eat carbohydrates in the form of whole grains, fruits and vegetables and I think most low-carb people would agree with that and certainly the low-fat people would agree with that.
The other thing is that there are probably also good fats and bad fats. My personal feeling is that even if you’re on a low-carb diet, you ought to stay away from lard, you know... If you follow the original Atkins diet taking a table spoon and just eating out a bucket of lard would be perfectly fine. I really don’t think that sounds good to me.
You ought to stay away from saturated fats as much as possible and take your fats in healthier forms with olive oil and canola oil and nuts and things like that -- the fats that provide you essential fats, the non-saturated forms of fats. If you do that I think you’re on pretty solid ground and you have a hard time, the low-carb people will have a hard time criticizing too much and so with the low-fat people.
Richard N. Fogoros, M.D. (DrRich) is a former professor of medicine, and a longtime practitioner, researcher and author in the fields of cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology. He currently makes as a consultant in research and development with biomedical companies, and as a writer.
Experience:
Dr. Rich practiced and taught clinical cardiology for 20 years, directing cardiac electrophysiology at the University of Pittsburgh, and then at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. He was listed in Best Doctors in America from its inception until he retired from practice. He has authored numerous scientific articles, book chapters, and books.
