25 Sep 2003 | L4d13s_M4n! said...

You may be losing weight, but it can't be healthy. I can't give up beer and I love to exert myself and get all sweaty (ladies, you listening??).

I now give Don the floor. Don?

25 Sep 2003 | Darrel said...

I think latest studies have shown that it is good for short-terim weight loss, but it's no more effective than any other diet in terms of long-term weight loss.

Bottom line, eat less meat and processed starches and more fruits and veggies. Problem solved.

25 Sep 2003 | Derek said...

Most people gain it right back if they start eating like they used to after they lose their desired amount of weight. You have to change your diet permanently. (not as extreme as that diet, but a less strict form of it perhaps, combined with some good old fashioned exercise)

25 Sep 2003 | Ben Langhinrichs said...

As the others have said, it is not a particularly good diet, nor is it a good long term diet. Eat whole grains and less meat and more veggies and get exercies and you will be much more healthy and lose the weight more surely and for a longer term.

25 Sep 2003 | f5 said...

Can anyone say Yo-Yo?

The atkins diet is bad. You can lose weight on the atkins diet fast just like you can lose weight fast by sawing off your left leg below the knee. Both are about equal as far as losing weight intelligently goes...

Yes, most on the atkins diet are losing fat, but they're also losing muscle and lean body mass, and don't know it. The scale doesn't tell you that. Looking at a single number on a scale isn't a good way to judge your body's health -- paying attetion to your muscle mass, lean body mass, water weight, and fat weight is. You can exert a lot of control over all these through fairly minor diet adjustments and exercise.

25 Sep 2003 | brian said...

well after taking a nutrition course that directly addressed this, one of the main problems, aside from lots of people getting sick from it (including mr. atkins himself), is that it causes your kidneys and liver to work extra hard to find suitable levels of glucose. It is also known to dehydrate your kidney cells, thus making it appear as if you are losing more weight than you think. Finally all that extra fat and laziness is horrible for your arteries, no matter what angle you spin on it. By ingesting gratuitous amounts of fat and cholesterol you are only advancing your inherent predisposition towards heart disease (that is assuming you live in an americanized country).

I personally think high protein is good, but not high fat, and you can't cut out your carbs; you need to limit sugars (sodas, beers, pizza, etc.) and exercise.

Also don't forget to eat breakfast, it gets your metabolism going and you can burn off your lunch and dinner easier that way. just my 2cents, sorry for rambling so much.

25 Sep 2003 | Brad Lauster said...

Anyone who claims that Atkins is unequivocally bad (f5, I'm looking at you), simply hasn't read the literature - and I'm not talking about Atkins' books. As I understand it, none of the studies published in peer-reviewed journals were able present data suggesting long-term health issues resulting from the Atkins diet.

I can understand how a lot of people simply can't believe that a high protein, high fat, low carb diet might actually be ok for our bodies - it goes against all the nutrition dogma that we've been taught for our entire lives! But, at least for now, the data against Atkins just isn't there.

26 Sep 2003 | monkeyinabox said...

I'm still waiting for the ALL BEER and KRISPY KREME diet. :)

26 Sep 2003 | nathan said...

I recently lost 40 lbs (post college sedentary working stiff weight), and here's how:

Exercise:
- Start walking, work up to jogging/running. Within 2 months I was able to jog 4 continuous miles, 2x a week, and I was never a runner before.
-Strength training 3x a week.

Diet:
- Lots of water.
-Eliminate fried foods, desserts, and candy.
-Lots of fibrous veggies like broccoli
-Lean protein: chicken, turkey, fish, shellfish, and lean cuts of beef
-Brown carbs: Brown rice, whole grain breads and pastas instead of white.
-High protein and high fiber foods keep you feeling full.
-Set a time at night after which you will not eat no matter what.
-Form sustainable diet habits. The problem with fad diets like Atkins is that you can't go on eating like that forever, so you eventually revert to old behaviors.

26 Sep 2003 | David said...

All I know is it can't be good for your body for an extended period of time. Your body needs balance. I know that it works, but that doesn't mean it is good. Making a proper transition from the diet (once you lose the weight) to a good and healthy diet with regular exercise makes (to stay healthy) sense.

26 Sep 2003 | ed said...

did Dr. Atkins just have triple by-pass surgery?

the diet can't be all that good for you, now can it?

26 Sep 2003 | brian said...

dr. atkins just DIED (within the last 6 months), he had complications related to vitamin supplements he had to take, or thats what i had heard.

26 Sep 2003 | John Dowdell said...

"... hasn't read the literature...."

So far, Michael Fumento seems to have the authoritative debunking... many researchers who were quoted pro-Atkins are livid that they were so misinterpreted:
http://reason.com/0303/fe.mf.big.shtml

jd

26 Sep 2003 | ~bc said...

The answer, as with most things in life is moderation.

My parents sort-of adopted the Atkins diet, and they dropped weight. The problem is they still aren't exercising. It's something I'm seeing as I live a life now outside of school, like the one they live (they work ~70/wk retail), is that after working hard all day, most of it on your feet, you just don't have the will power nor energy to exercise, or much of anything else, when they get home. Our work-centric culture is physically taking years off our lives. Hopefully my consulting/ web business will take off so I can have more control of my schedule. But that doesn't help the rest of America, and most western, capitalistic countries (nothing against the system, just the working conditions that've sprung up around it).

26 Sep 2003 | pb said...

Dr Atkins slipped on the sidewalk and hit his head.

26 Sep 2003 | Brad Hurley said...

I remember reading somewhere that ketosis, a metabolic state that the Atkins diet is designed to produce, makes you smell bad.

26 Sep 2003 | luke said...

Nathan that's outrageous. Losing weight by adopting a healthy lifestyle!? Absurd. Exercise??? SENSIBLE EATING???????? Good grief.

Someone please lock this man up. And pass the fries. Thanks.

26 Sep 2003 | Don Schenck said...

It's not that hard: Exercise, balanced diet *in moderation*, a little red wine.

If you're that morbidly obese, start by walking to the mailbox or the edge of your property. Seriously. If it took you 20 years to get 100 pounds (about 50 kilos) overweight, then don't expect to shed it in six months. You should never lose more than one pound a week, max.

My wife works at a health food store. It's amazing the number of low-carb dieters who come in and purchase many, many low-carb candy bars.

Uh ... hello?

You want extreme? Check out the Warrior Diet.

26 Sep 2003 | Bill Brown said...

Don: that diet is very intriguing. It definitely comports with my experience since I generally skip lunches. I wonder what the long-term effects are and whether children could live like that.

It goes counter to everything I know about dieting and yet it's oddly compelling.

26 Sep 2003 | Volition said...

I started the Atkins diet in April and lost 25 pounds. All the Atkins literature I read insisted that exercise was key in losing weight. The diet centers around removing foods with a large amount of carbohydrates or high glycemic index to control your insulin levels. A person on Atkins eats a controlled amount of vegetables with meats/fish/eggs and stops eating once they are full, no gorging. The fat content takes longer to digest thus keeping them satisfied longer. After they finishes the weight loss stage they gradually add more and more higher carbohydrate foods; mainly vegetables, fruit, nuts. Once they reaches a level of carbohydrates where one starts to put on weight they know their tolerance for carbohydrates in their diets, knowing to stay under that amount to maintain their weight.

26 Sep 2003 | Don Schenck said...

No fat ... no carbs ... no fat ... no carbs ...

Meanwhile, the Mediterrean diet/lifestyle is kicking butt.

Then again ... living by the sea, in the sun, with four weeks vacation a year ... perhaps it's *not* the food!

*smile*

(I'm going home and making homemade pasta tonight; eat your no-carb heart out!)

26 Sep 2003 | One of several Steves said...

As usual, there's a ton of misconception around this subject being expressed here.

One, Atkins did not get sick; he died after falling on an icy sidewalk and hitting his head.

Two, the medical literature has consistently shown the short-term effectiveness of the diet, and not just in terms of losing weight. While people did lose more weight than the control group, their cholesterol and blood pressure were also better than the control group's. The long-term efficacy and effectiveness of the diet is inconclusive, meaning no one knows if it's good or bad beyond two years. The reason? Not enough research has been done.

Three, the diet is not eat all the fat you want, and never exercise. If you read his book, he beats people about the head with the importance of exercise. And while you don't have to watch your fat intake, you are not supposed to gorge yourself. In fact, a huge portion of the diet is supposed to consist of green vegetables.

Four, the minimal-carb aspect of the diet is not a long-term portion of the diet. People think Atkins=virtually no carbs. That's just the early stages of the diet. As you get close to your target weight, you introduce carbs back in until you end up with what looks surprisingly like the "recommended" diet that's part of conventional wisdom right now: balance, variety, eschewing simple carbs and sugars in favor of whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

Five, people yo-yo and gain back their weight on *all* diets. The long-term success rate on diets is abysmal, regardless of whether it's low-fat or low-carb or something else.

Six, the medical literature also indicates pretty clearly that different approaches are going to work for different people, due to huge variances in metabolisms, food tolerances, etc. There is no magic bullet. Atkins won't work for everyone. Eating nothing but rice and beans won't work for others. People have to find what works for them, as well as what they can stick to.

How do I know all this? I researched the hell out of Atkins about six months ago when I was considering going on it. I read like crazy, talked to people about their experiences with it, pro and con, consulted regularly with my doctor.

I've been on it since May, down 50 pounds. I'm also cycling about 40-50 miles a week, hitting weights when I can, eating a lot more vegetables than I used to. I don't eat steak every night. I don't eat bacon every morning. My diet consists of a lot of fish and poultry. Blood pressure's better, cholesterol is better. It works for me. It's not necessarily going to work for everyone else.

26 Sep 2003 | Al said...

Yeah, I've been doing Atkins for just over a year and I actually didn't do it for the weight loss so much as I did for the cholesterol and blood pressure, which my doctor said this diet would be excellent for. She was totally right, all the skyhigh stuff is normal and checks out now. The extra 35 lbs I lost in the first 5 months was cool too; I've kept that off for the last 10 months without having to eat like a nutty person the way I did in the first two weeks.

I think what most people don't realize is that you dial up your carb intake as you go along on the diet and get closer to a healthy weight. Now I don't even consider myself to be on a diet, it's just eating healthy, which does not mean plying myself full of bread and low-fat sugar bomb so-called "healthy" foods.

26 Sep 2003 | Don Schenck said...

So, I *DID* nail it: Exercise, balanced diet in moderation, a little red wine!

Thanks! I'm going to celebrate with a cigar!

:-)

26 Sep 2003 | Brad Hurley said...

A waist is a terrible thing to mind.

26 Sep 2003 | p said...

i always find it amusing how on blog comments everyone is an expert in everything :)

26 Sep 2003 | Don Schenck said...

You're right, "p". I've studied blog responses and done a lot of research into this phenomena, and ...

:-)

26 Sep 2003 | MrBlank said...

Has anyone seen this guy's site?

He seems to have found a diet that works and everything he's done is documented on his site.

28 Sep 2003 | luke said...

What a dude! Thanks for posting that MrBlank, its very impressive.

28 Sep 2003 | jim said...

I dunno, any diet that requires you take supplemental vitamins doesn't sound like much of a diet to me.

Also, having known a couple of people who've tried the Atkin's diet, the thing I noticed was the way they smelt. Mmm, meat induced flatulence, now that's sexy.

29 Sep 2003 | Dane Carlson said...

Some hospitals in United Kingdom say that they will refuse to serve Atkins-style meals.

29 Sep 2003 | Rik Abel said...

I tried Atkins for a few weeks and it sucked. Hard. I just couldn't eat that much meat. And I missed pasta and bread greatly. And farted quite a lot. So I stopped. I find that simply cycling 25 miles a day and cutting down on bacon butties seems to do the trick.

02 Oct 2003 | garrick van buren said...

There's a million low-carb / high-protein diets out there. They're all different severities. Atkins is super severe and strick because we want results immediately. Not a bad thing for dieters.

Frankly, the deal is we eat waaaaaay too much sugar and carbs. Go to McDonalds order a "Value Meal". How much of that is carbs? More than 80%. Bun, fries, and soda. And we're a fat nation? Hell yeah. Do we crash at 10am and 4pm. Hell yeah. Is sugar the culprit? Hell yeah.

People knew that carbs were bad for you back in the 30s. The Walker Art Institute here in Mpls had a summer movie series on boxing. One of the 80 yr old films had the line "stay off the starches, kid" in it.

Thing #2 - it was the early 80s that the FDA gave us the food pyramid w/ carbs @ the bottom. The number of obeses people and those with diabetes has exploded since then. I'm sure the grain industry would rather not talk about this.

09 Oct 2003 | David said...

I ate the eggs,bacon, cheese, mayonaisse variety of the low-carb diet. In two months my cholesterol dropped 30 points. Seriously, I ate a half-pound of bacon every day with 4-5 eggs fried in the grease. Yummy. And my triglycerides dropped dramatically from 450 to 180. Blood pressure? 108/65. Had been? 135/89.

The reason why the diet is hard to maintain is because high glycemic foods like french fries make you feel good. They do this through a chain of biochemical events that ultimately causes the brain to produce more serotonin. French fries are like paxil on steroids. Combined with a burger, coke, and apple pie, you've got almost pure Xstacy.

Unfortunately many people have found that when they stop taking baths, they just get dirty and stinky again.

15 Oct 2003 | Rich said...

I used to get heartburn all the time. Now I can run and exercise without worrying about it.

I was one of those criticizing Atkins' as bad for you until I listened to a friends CD rom on the topic as a captive audience. Like most of those commenting here, I was uninformed. For the third of you with GERD (weakened esophogeal valve), or high cholesterol, pre-diabetes or full-blown diabetes, or thyroid problems, DON'T start eating red meat. Instead STOP eating bags of chips and do a little light reading to figure out what the real deal is.

I used to have BP of 120/80, now it is 102/56 (on average).

My pulse is 38 when I wake up in the morning. :-)

I still drink wine moderation. I still eat carbs no empty starches. I don't walk around with a pad watching what I eat, but just shop a little smarter now. I'm never eat just to pad the acid stomach any more... 1 in 3 of us relate to that nasty reality.

f5's comments are not to her credit. You don't lose muscle on atkins, you build it. You lose inches, certainly, but around your waist, not your biceps. Unlike our spaghetti loving Mediterranean friend, your blood sugar won't go crazy, preventing tiredness and promoting a general sense of well being.

Nathan had an ironic post. Everything you list is in the Atkins recommendations yet you unknowingly decry your own diet as a fad and unsustainable. Do keep up the great diet and lifestyle Nathan. I'm sure you are feeling wonderful and I'm happy for you. But it *is* the Atkins' diet.

I've never paid a dime to anyone regarding diets. I guess I was lucky enough to hear my friends book. You can probably find all the same material for free on the web, but it really makes a ton of sense once you:

+ get past the notion that fat makes you fat
+ understand the difference between hydrogenated fats (the worst kind; which are unfortunately ubiquitous in pre-packaged foods) and peanut oil
as an example
+ understand the role of carbohydrates in insulin production

By the way, Nathan's diet, along with _really_ eliminating high-glycemic foods is also pretty much a solution to any ADHD problems your kids may be facing. It isn't television so much as the fries and chips that screws up our little ones.

And Jim, you don't get flatulence on Atkins'. Gas goes away with the carbs. Yet another dividend, or is it perhaps that are bodies are just more in tune to digesting a low-carb high protein diet? Maybe your friends are just exercising a bit more now? ;-)

In the end you don't have to call it Atkins'. But whatever you call it, a diet low in starch and sugars still works wonders on the human body. The improved sex part will remain our little secret tho... oops.

Well, nothing beats education except experience. Figure things out in your own ways, but hopefully before you croak from a heart attack!!

31 Oct 2003 | The Skinny on Atkins said...

As a health care professional, I was skeptical that my friends were losing weight in a healthy way by doing Atkins. I waited until a landmark study was released that showed that Atkins dieters actually had improved their lipid profiles, before I started the program. I had been dieting (in a traditionally healthy way) and exercising for years without results. After trying the Atkins diet, I had not just lost weight overall, but lost many fat pounds while gaining muscle pounds. (I don't just rely on the scale-- I have my BMI figured by my trainer. Everyone needs a pair of calipers before thay can know how well their diet is working) I credit my lean muscle mass gain to the high amount of protein in my diet. In the past (before the obesity epidemic) people consumed much less refined carbohydrate calories. (i.e. junk food) So, compared to bags of low fat cookies and potato chips-- meat, nuts and other natural fats are actually more healthy.
So, for someone who was at an unhealthy weight but feared dangerous fad diets, I truly feel that I have found a healthy method of weight control. It sounds unorthodox, I know. But I do believe this diet has some merit.

04 Nov 2003 | Chuck said...

Everyone is stating that high levels of fat intake is deleterious to your health. My belief, which some studies are starting to support, is that this is true when fat intake is high in proportion to carbohydrate intake. When the body doesn't need the fat in the diet with 'plenty' of carbohydrates available (average 300 g per day in the US), it just stores it away in fat cells. With all of this fat mobilization and storage going on, it is more likely that this fat will accumulate in the arterial walls (higher LDL levels indicate cholesterol/ lipid storage is going on).

When carbohydrates are limited, ketosis sets in which causes the body to mobilize fat for energy. HDL levels increase. Fat doesn't have a change to linger around and cause problems in your system since it's the primary fuel source.

Its amazing how people will just state that "fat intake is bad" when the important variable of carbohydrate consumption is ignored. This is a paradyme shift which needs to occur before people in general will begin to accept this diet as a reasonable short -term alternative for weight loss.

It is also a falacy that people on the Atkins diet are eating extreme amounts of meat, cheese, etc. The fact is that once ketosis sets in, your appetite is supressed to the point that you'll probably be consuming less fat then when you were on a carbohydrate binge. You'll also eat absolutely no trans fatty acids since you'll be eliminating all hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils such as in chips, cakes, etc. The types of fats you'll eat are more mono and poly unsaturated fats such as fish oil (Omega 3's) and , yes, a fair amount of saturated fat (which the liver will promptly chop up into ketones for fuel ).

The diet is not that bad, except for the bad breath and occassional muscle tiredness from lack of glycogen. Gout and kidney stones are also at an increased risk. Your gall bladder will actually be healthier on this diet since the bile stored there will be used more frequently with the higher fat intake. This will clear out any minerals which may lead to gallstones (90% of all gall bladder disease is caused by stones). Calcium loss is a problem due to the lower serum pH caused by build up of ketones (acetoacetic acid, especially), however, the loss of bone density is probobly very low since the diet is usually followed only until your target weight is achieved (

11 Nov 2003 | kim said...

Um... just skimmed this today. I can't believe all the misinformation being spewed by people who haven't obviously read the literature.
And Dr. Atkins die die, tragically, last April after the freak ice storm the East Coast had. He fell and HIT HIS HEAD. Had nothing to do with his heart.
And his heart "problem" was a virus that attacked his heart muscle. Very healthy, "low fat" eating people get that too.

Remember Jim Fixx folks? Ate low fat. Dropped dead running.

26 Nov 2003 | Karen said...

I got bored of the being on the Atkins Diet and everybody I know talking about it so I went to Bored of the Atkins Diet and bought the T-shirt. BTW - the red shirt with the carton of fries on the front is super cool.

09 Jan 2004 | bob said...

I don't believe in the atkins diet or that is has any long term health benefits. The lowest rate of heart disease in in Japan, the next best is in the medditerranean. Both these areas thrive on carb laden foods, wine and beer. The staples promoting a healthy long life are carbohydrate rich with pastas, rice vegetables and so on. I say drink more beer, eat more rice and pasta!

13 Jan 2004 | Lawrence Newman said...

Atkins is bad - end of subject!

I had the willpower to stay on this diet for 4-5 months. I have never felt so ill as I did in that time. I lost serious muscle mass and felt tired continuously. In fact, at times, it felt like I was slipping into a coma!

Don't even think about it! Please!

31 Jan 2005 | compatelius said...

bocigalingus must be something funny.