Dr. Atkins: A Common Thread Amongst Very Insightful People (Part I)

Not sure if you all know but a few years back I helped educate the public on the real Atkins diet. The original safe and effective low carb diet plan that has helped many people recapture their lives. While working with Dr. Atkins I gained invaluable experience (which actually may be a good topic to discuss in the future) as a clinician because I am now able to provide advice based on my conventional training (low-fat diets) and have broadened my practice to include various nutritional approaches (low carb and various medical/nutritional types of diets). I can do so with confidence and expertise which not many clinicians can do.
My experience with Dr. Atkins allowed me the opportunity to meet and befriend researchers, nutritionists and business people with whom I have the utmost respect. Professional growth is a struggle for many but the lessons I learned and continue to learn from this base of knowledge has become an all encompassing personal journey (just ask my friends and family).
While I believe lower fat diets can be healthy diets, I do not believe most people are educated to follow these diets the right way. The same can be said for low carb diets. Quite frankly, I’m in a similar place as my colleague Jonny Bowden (board certified nutritionist and PhD in nutrition and master’s degree in psychology) a nationally known expert on weight loss and nutrition, http://www.jonnybowden.com/. We met years ago while doing speaking events for The Atkins diet.
What is this “similar” place? It’s a place where you are not emphasizing carbs or fat so much as you understand that the main goal should be eating to nourish your body. Low fat, high fat and low and higher types of carbohydrate foods nourish your body. When eat nutrient dense foods you take care of your body, weight loss and health slide into place without many of the struggles people experience as they strive to lose weight.
There are so many people struggling to eat right and so many confusing messages about nutrition. I’ll try to help simplify in Part II of this topic.