Dr. Atkins Is Getting Fat

[wovenwonder]

Dr. Atkins Is Getting Fat

It's not his waistline that's growing -- it's his wallet. Here's how Atkins Nutritionals turned the diet world's flavor of the month into a $100 million-plus empire.

By Susan Orenstein, April 2003 Issue

Robert Atkins doesn't want dessert. "I've got to lose 3 pounds," says the famed diet doctor, sitting in a French restaurant near his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He passes on the creme brulée, the fig tart, and the chocolate mousse cake, but he does order a cappuccino made with cream, a request that stumps the waitress. "It won't foam," she tells him, but he insists. After all, Atkins has made his name instructing millions that the way to peel off pounds is to steer clear of sugar and other carbohydrates but pour on the creamy fat. Now, at 72, white-haired and a little stocky, he's following his own advice, trying to trim down before the arrival of a film crew from Dateline, one of the many media outlets tracking him down these days.

Atkins's waistline may be shrinking, but his business empire is expanding -- wildly. He is, in particularly American style, having a moment. Though he first hit the best-seller list in the early 1970s with Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution, he is enjoying a dizzying turnaround in public perception. He has been dismissed by mainstream medicine as a quack for much of his career, but now, for the first time, some scientists are willing to entertain the possibility that there may be something to his low-carb, bring-on-the-cheeseburgers diet. Between the American media machine and good marketing, that subtle shift has had a seismic impact: Hordes of people now think Atkins has been vindicated. Though no statistics exist, untouched bread baskets at restaurants across the country are evidence enough of the diet's surging popularity. Whatever that means for the nation's arteries, it has served up a unique business opportunity for Atkins's company, Atkins Nutritionals. And the doctor and his executives are chowing down.


Interesting Read (entire article here)

 

[Lynn CC]

Interesting, to say the least!
You can do Atkins on a "healthier version" diet as well. I am on it and just eat fish, tofu and eggs....No Red Meat, Chicken or Turkey, Bacon etc..
So you can still lose weight on Atkins and control what you put into your body.
I eat losts of fresh spinich to keep up my iron intake and still lose weight!
Dr. Atkins is finally getting his due for this fine way of eating that works

 

[nativetxn]

A very long time ago, when I was a young woman....think 1970...I was an office nurse for a prominent surgeon in Houston. He told me to "Never follow that Atkins diet, it will kill you." I trusted this man and I believed him. As a result I always avoided Atkins way of eating and even passed on the advice I had been given, "it will kill you."

Well, I started researching Atkins on my own, right after Christmas, 2002. My sister was visiting from Houston and she wanted to start Atkins and wanted me to do it too. I told her, of course, that "Atkins will kill you." She told <i>me</i>, just do it for three months. It can't kill you in three months.

But I was suspicious of this plan and I started researching on my own. I looked up the studies on the web, I double checked the foot notes in his book. I really studied this plan. You know what I learned?

I learned that I was an idiot. I should never have listened to that Surgeon I so admired. He must have been confusing ketoacidosis with ketosis! If I had just done my research back in 1970 my husband would have been able to avoid type II diabetes, probably have been able to avoid his heart attack and I would never have gotten so fat.

Since 1/9/03, when we began eating Atkins way, both my husband and I not only <i>feel</i> better but we are <b>healthier</b>. My husband in particular has had incredible health improvements from eating this way. The numbers don't lie, you can't fool lipid screens and glycolated hemoglobin tests. His face now has color in it, he is no longer "gray" with dark circles under his eyes.

So, we plan to continue this way of eating, it's working for us. I just wish that I had not been so closed minded for over 30 years. I could have had the benefits a long, long time ago. It's my own stupid fault, too.

 

[DiznEeyore]

Thanks for sharing your story, Katholyn. I've always heard, too, that Atkins is horrible for your health, and the only people I know who've done it haven't been able to sustain any kind of weight loss. But so many of you here are having success with it that it intrigues me. I was skimming through one of Dr. Atkins books at Sam's Club this afternoon and think I may try to get it from the library. I'm trying to bring my weight in check to avoid Diabetes, and it's so interesting that your dh has had such great test results since doing it.

I don't know that I could ever do Atkins, though -- I love my carbs too much and can't get with the idea of artificial sweeteners. I think that pretty much would make me an Atkins failure before I even started.

 

[nativetxn]

DiznEeyore, Atkins isn't the plan for everyone. It works for us, though. My husbands blood sugars are finally under control and that is a blessing.

Do your own research and see what you think. It's an interesting book to read, even if you don't decide to follow the plan. The studies that have been done to disprove his theory, recently, seem to have only proven him right, so far. It's really interesting to read.

I haven't had bread, sugar, white flour or any caloric sweetener since 1/9/03 and neither my husband nor I miss them at all. It's been a blessing for his health too.