atkins

[nibot]

Around town, I've noticed signs popping up "We have low-carb meals!" That's right, the same fast-food eateries that jumped on the low-fat bandwagon are now on the low-carb bandwagon. Don't you think it would be more appropriate for Burger King to have a sign that said "Our meals have always been low-carb!"? It's just like those sugar candies that cheerily advertise "100% Fat Free!" or "Low in Sodium!"

In any case, the news today sort of un-vindicates Mr. Atkins, and states what anybody reasonable had always assumed:

Dr Robert Atkins, creator of the famous low-carbohydrate diet, was clinically obese at the time of his death, according to medical reports made public today. The New York medical examiner's records, which have been published by the Wall Street Journal, state that Dr Atkins weighed 18 and a half stone when he died last April after being injured in a fall on an icy New York City street. At 6ft tall, Dr Atkins, 72, would have qualified as obese, according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention's body mass index calculator. - The [London] Times

Comments

[squarkz.livejournal.com]

i hate the atkins diet, because these new menu changes don't really make my life as a vegetarian more convenient.

i am still surprised at how many restaurants are not very vegetarian-friendly, too -- there are more of us and we've been around a lot longer than atkins people.

and the atkins diet has been around for years! what prompted such a sudden change in menus everywhere?

Re:

[nibot.livejournal.com]

Good question.. the whole thing is absurd.

You should visit Berkeley.. the whole city is practically vegetarian. (-:

[roxymartini.livejournal.com]

yes but yes but, was he actually ON his own diet?
people can do plenty of good research and never have the willpower to use the results in their own lives. its true. how many of those sleep study people do you think REALLY deprive themselves of sleeping in because they found that sleeping more than 7.5 hours a night increases mortality rates?

not that i think the Atkins diet works.

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[nibot.livejournal.com]

good point.

my personal theory is that he's like, "hey, millions of americans would love to just eat meat meat meat — I'll legitimize that diet!" Even if that's not what what he was thinking, I think it's the reasons for the diet's success (as measured by popularity, not results). It gave all these people an excuse to eat the way they want to eat, and because it had a name, [some] people stopped bothering them about it. Like when I decided to announce "I don't like games" as a general principle, it was so much easier than saying "No, I don't want to play Settlers of Catan for the next three hours" every day. (-:

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[roxymartini.livejournal.com]

good theory. but the diet eliminates sugar. which americans love. so, it only seems hedonistic and american-suitable in one dimension. if you look at all of it... well, bad things happen.

when i first heard about it, i thought "i can eat all the fatty fatty fat fat i want? GREAT! hand me the ICE CREAM!" then i read the bit about no sugar and no carbohydrates. now that, my friend, is harder than excercising.

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[kaolinfire.livejournal.com]

I really don't think it takes much willpower to be on the atkins diet. Hence its popularity. Though it is kinda nifty.

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[roxymartini.livejournal.com]

i think it might be hard to keep. just because it cuts out nearly all carbohydrates, and carbs seem to be a staple in most diets. like mine. my co-op didn't have bread for 2 weeks and i nearly died.

i've talked to people who were on it and they tell me that it's really disgusting to be constantly eating fatty meats...

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[nibot.livejournal.com]

well, it certainly sounds gross to me.

[blackrock.livejournal.com]

I'm rather dubious of all diet trends, and as such, continue my normal cheap college diet of pasta and rice and maybe something else. It was probably the recommended diet at one point or another, and I figure that people wh switch from one trendy diet to the next as years pass will eventually stay about the same weight and live about as long as everyone else.

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[nibot.livejournal.com]

yeah. I think the key is that most Americans simply eat too much, no matter what it is they're eating.

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[tjernobyl.livejournal.com]

I've heard it said that any arbitrary restriction that restricts the availability of food, whether it be cant-eat-fat, cant-eat-carbs, or cant-eat-brown-things has a similar effect on one's weight.

Re:

[nibot.livejournal.com]

tricky. very tricky.