Atkins Diet

The Atkins Diet, introduced by Dr. Robert Atkins in 1972, isn't a new idea, it's roughly based on the Paleolithic Diet but with a special emphasis on reducing carbohydrates specifically for weight loss. In the later stages it allows some increase in carb consumption but still holds it very low. Photo © i0044.

Overview

This weight loss diet was wildly popular during 2003 and 2004 - so much so it caused a profitability crisis for some pasta manufacturers and killed a few just-introduced food products. It spurred development of "low carb" potatoes and rice, but those didn't take hold because this diet was passé before they got to the market.

Aside from claims it helped many people lose weight the Atkins Diet severely dented the American Heart Association's "Heart Healthy Diet". People eating a diet high in saturated animal fats and proteins did not die! In fact their cholesterol counts often improved significantly and their arteries remained unclogged. The one fat Atkins forbids is the deadly trans fats the AHA spent 50 years trying to get us to use instead. The AHA has since amended their diet, but I'm personally a bit leery of the rancidity prone polyunsaturated fats they still promote.

The Atkins diet has four phases, the first (Induction) cuts out carbohydrates almost entirely to shift the body into a fat burning economy. The succeeding phases, (Ongoing Weight Loss, Pre-Maintenance and Lifetime Maintenance) become progressively more liberal, but the Atkins food pyramid remains quite upside-down from the USDA's food pyramid.

Dr Atkins died in 2003 at 72 from a severe blow to the head from slipping on ice. The circumstances of his death and a heart condition caused by viral infection were severely distorted and unethically exploited by animal rights advocates, promoters of less successful diets, and other enemies, causing a loss in popularity for the diet (A3).

Disclaimer: I neither recommend this diet nor warn against it. I have provided general information found in public circulation and recommend starting with the Links list if you wish to investigate further. Though I know a number of people who were quite satisfied using the Atkins diet, that's called "hearsay" and low carbohydrate diets are still highly controversial in medical circles (2007 - but see Low Fat Diet for modern thinking (2018)).