What I do is more like "paleo" than Atkins, but they are similar. Apparently both diets avoid grains and sugar. Check out the comment about by jpb that refers

What I do is more like "paleo" than Atkins, but they are similar. Apparently both diets avoid grains and sugar. Check out the comment about by jpb that refers to Robert Lustig's talk. It is very interesting. It refers to your point that low-fat high-carb diets could also be healthy, but not all carbs are recommended. Apparently eating fat together with carbs in conducive to fat accumulation, and sugar by itself has the same result because half of it, the fructose, is metabolized into triglycerides.