Atkins Diet 'Outdated' With 'Little Long-Term Benefit,' British Journalist Says

Stores are already gearing up for the after-Christmas rush of shoppers looking for a book to help them finally shed some pounds in 2006. Every diet known to man will be vying for the attention of these desperate people seeking to lose weight -- AGAIN! It's gonna be weird seeing my book "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" among that group of books this year. :)

This Observer column asks the question, "So which is the right diet for you?" and features commentary from staff journalist Amelia Hill about the different diet plans out there for people to choose from. With 17 of the top 20 health book titles being diet books and 25 new diet book coming in the next few months, this is a hot and fast-growing genre right now.

"Dieting has become part of our spiritual life, and trying to find the right one is akin to the hunt for the holy grail," remarked Deanne Jade from the National Centre for Eating Disorders in the story. "Diets give us values that make us feel better about ourselves and a purpose in life."

I don't know about all of that, but I am sure many are obsessed with dieting more than they need to be. That's why so many of them fail people. The key is to find something that works for your and stick with it. That's why I started livin' la vida low-carb and have stuck with it long after losing the vast majority of my 180+ pound weight loss. It's the best-tasting, most satisfying, and incredibly easy "diet" you will ever do in your entire life.

Unfortunately, not everyone thinks this is true.

Hill reviews several of the weight loss programs out there for people to choose from, including what she describes as "the grand-daddy of the 'eat-fat-get-thin' brigade" known as the Atkins diet.

In reviewing Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution by the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins, Hill apparently didn't do her homework before showing her ignorance about this way of eating to the whole world.

Check out how she describes the Atkins diet and note that she never gets past the initial two-week Induction phase:

"Eat lots of meat, fish, shellfish, eggs, cheese, cream. Eat some salad vegetables - but no more than 230-340g or 'watery' vegetables. Eat no carbs: bread, pasta, rice, parsnips, breakfast cereals, biscuits, cakes, sweets or chocolates, milk, yogurt, most vegetables, virtually all fruits."

Can one person really be THIS misinformed about a diet program that has been out for over three decades?! Guess what, Ms. Hill. You couldn't be more wrong about what the Atkins diet is if you tried. While you do keep your carbohydrate level at 20 net carbs during the first 14 days of the Atkins diet, you don't stay there and you DEFINITELY don't "eat no carbs." What you do is you eat the right kinds of carbs your body needs while avoiding the sugar, white flour and starchy carbs your body does not need.

You get to eat lots of delicious and healthy fruits and vegetables, nuts, protein-rich meats, real butter and cream, sugar-free/low-carb chocolates, and so much more. This way of eating is so incredible because it not only lets you enjoy a wide variety of wonderful foods that taste so good (can you say that about your low-fat diets?!), but it keeps you satisfied so you are never hungry and the weight comes off very fast (I lost 30 pounds my first month on it and another 40 pounds in the second month!).

It really works and frankly I am appalled that someone like Hill could so purposefully mislead people into thinking the low-carb lifestyle can be bad for you. But, that's exactly what she is saying in her review and in quoting so-called health "experts" in the UK.

"Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution provides neither a 'diet revolution' nor a 'metabolic advantage' over conventional [translated: low-fat/low-calorie/portion control] weight-loss regimens."

Uh, yes it does. Australian scientists concluded in this study that low-carb living gives people a clear metabolic advantage over those who choose a low-fat diet. Why is this truth so hard for journalists especially to understand? The evidence is right there staring them in the face, but they choose to ignore it and respond, "It doesn't exist." Do these media types think we're all morons?

Give me a break, Ms. Hill! This information is readily available to you just as it is for me. Stop showing your blatant bias against something you obviously don't know enough about to write an intelligent story to inform your readers. That reflects poorly on your journalistic integrity and you should be ashamed of yourself for allowing such drivel to go to print. The same goes to your editors for not fact checking your columns before the public reads them.

Describing the Induction phase as the "fanatical exorcism of dietary carbs" (cute word illustration, but again so incredibly offbase), Hill proclaims that the Atkins diet is nothing more than "creating the lifelong ambivalence to carbs."

I don't hate carbs. In fact, I LOVE them very much. At least the good ones, that is. I shun sugar, white flour and starch, but I eat a lot of excellent carbohydrates as part of my healthy low-carb lifestyle. While I was losing weight, I was able to eat between 30-40 carbs most days and now that I am maintaining I have about 100 carbs per day. To people who eat 1,000 carbs in a day (and I used to be one of them!), that may not seem like a lot. But people could stand to cut down on the number of carbs they allow themselves to eat so the obesity problem can be brought under control.

Finally, Hill said the Atkins diet is an "outdated diet" that research has found to has "little long-term benefit."

Um, again, what planet is Hill living on because it sure ain't the planet Earth?! Has she not seen this research study that just came out last week declaring the low-carb lifestyle as remedy for that pesky metabolic syndrome problem that one in four suffer from? Or how about this research study that also came out last week showing livin' la vida low-carb is good for heart health? Or perhaps we could look at what French researchers have discovered about the healthy benefits of the Atkins diet? Shall I go on because there's a whole lot more I could get to?

Hill defiantly rated the Atkins diet a 3 out of 10 and would not recommend it for people desiring to lose weight and get healthy. That is a sad commentary on modern journalism that one reporter could be so misguided that she would ignore the good news about livin' la vida low-carb and focus only on what she has heard about the Atkins diet from her low-fat supporting colleagues in the media.

When are the serious journalists gonna start printing the positive facts about the low-carb lifestyle? Is there even a handful of people working in the media today willing to go against the trend of bashing the Atkins diet and low-carb just long enough to pay attention to the GREAT news showing just how right Dr. Atkins really was?! Anyone? Hello?

Be sure to send your comments about Amelia Hill's failure to do adequate background research about the Atkins diet to her editor at reader@guardian.co.uk.