Mediterranean Diet vs. Atkins Diet: Which is Healthier Long-Term?

Question
Hi!

My husband and I are so confused as to what is the healthiest eating lifestyle for us in the long run. For a while, everyone - even some of our doctors - were saying it is safe to live an Atkins lifestyle (low carb).  However, recently, the media is saying the Mediterranean diet is the way to go and from looking at its food pyramid, it appears to be the opposite of an Atkins diet. My husband lost a significant amount of weight on Atkins and is not enthusiastic about trying something that might add the pounds back.  I only lost a small amount of weight on Atkins but am reluctant to try something that will cause me to balloon out.

Questions:
Can you please tell us which diet - the Atkins or the Mediterranean - is healthier for a person long term and why?

Also, can you please explain how if one diet which stresses low carbs (Atkins) helps one lose weight, how another diet which stresses high carbs (Mediterranean) can also help one to lose weight?

Thanks so much!


Answer
Hello,

Thank you for the interesting question! This is an area of research I am involved with right now – because there’s no simple answer. Let me just outline what I thing.

1. These two diets are not THAT opposite. Mediterranean diet is high in good fats and Atkins diet doesn’t require bad fats, they also can be good ones.

2. Mediterranean diet doesn’t INSIST on high carbs especially on bad carbs.

3. There’s nothing controversial in losing weight on both so different diets. One can do this. One only can’t do it simultaneously. It’s an or-or situation.

I’ll develop it further into an article and let you know.