Cake Diet Author Calls Atkins Diet A 'Travesty'

The Let's Eat Cake Diet author jumps on Atkins to prop his fad

You know my philosophy when it comes to weight loss -- find something that works for you, implement that plan as prescribed and then do it for the rest of your life. If you do those three things, then you have found the secret to permanent weight loss.

But something that absolutely baffles me about some diet book authors is how they choose to bring another nutritional approach down in order to supposedly make their diet look even better in comparison. What's up with that?

One of the things you see me do at my blog is highlight the reasons why I believe in and highly recommend the low-carb lifestyle for health and weight loss. The only time you hear me criticize another weight loss method is when it is being proclaimed as the ONLY way to shed the pounds and improve health or when livin' la vida low-carb and/or Dr. Atkins is attacked personally.

Such is the case today with this Let's Eat Cake Diet from author Dean Kapsalakis.

In this press release on Wednesday, Kapsalakis proclaimed that the Atkins diet has "tainted the diet world" and humans need to start eating an ultra-low-fat diet like animals allegedly do.

"The high-fat Atkins diet is a travesty," he exclaimed. “When a lion eats a deer or other animal, it gets about 4-8% fat. When deer eat bark, leaves, corn, and other plant matter, they get 0-4% fat.”

Uh, okay, so what? What's your point Mr. Kapsalakis? Fat is NOT the enemy in most people's diets, but rather the excessive amounts of SUGAR and other refined carbs they are consuming. These blood sugar spikes have done more to expand the waistlines of Americans than anything else. Haven't you seen the latest study on the dismal failure of the low-fat diet? Obviously not!

But Kapsalakis wasn't done criticizing the Atkins low-carb approach in his release.

"Unfortunately, people still want to believe that they can get away with eating the low grade foods Atkins recommends. Fortunately, the Atkins fad is fading, as researchers have noted that the high-fat consumption contributes to arteriosclerosis, and that people regain lost weight."

What "low grade foods" are you referring to, Mr. Kapsalakis? I eat very high-quality cuts of delicious and healthy meats and cheeses, fresh fruits and vegetables, and nutrient-dense foods such as flax, nuts, and seeds. Furthermore, despite what you say, even eating the right kinds of saturated fat can be healthy for you, too! GASP! It's true!

As much as you would like for the Atkins diet to be "fading," the fact of the matter is that millions of us are still enjoying the healthy benefits this lifestyle affords us despite all the naysayers like yourself. As someone who lost over 180 pounds on this way of eating and kept it off for over two years, your claim about gaining back the weight is just plain wrong. Period.

And don't get me started on your hyperbolic scaremongering with the bit about "arteriosclerosis." I won't even dignify that one with a response, although it puts you in the same category as this doctor who recently asserted one of his patients got ketoacidosis from the Atkins diet. He still can't prove it was the low-carb plan that did it to her and neither can you substantiate your reckless statements!

Contending that a "healthy" diet should consist of no more than 15% fat calories, Kapsalakis said Nature has taught him that level of fat in the diet is "more than enough to carry out the functions of fat that sustain us" while recommending people eat only the leanest cuts of meat and mostly plant-based foods.

NO THANK YOU!!! I've done the low-fat routine and it made me feel miserable, cranky, and downright undesirable despite losing 170 pounds on it in 1999. I was CONSTANTLY hungry and probably drove my wife crazy with my fluctuating mood swings. That low-fat diet threw my blood sugar into a tizzy and kept me off balance so much that I had to start eating "normal" again just so I could start to feel human. What a shame, too, what a crying shame. But the low-fat diet failed me.

Thankfully, I found the low-carb lifestyle in January 2004 and quickly saw that it was going to satisfy my need for great-tasting, fulfilling foods while helping me shed the pounds without EVER feeling hungry. I have NEVER EVER EVER gotten hungry even ONCE during my low-carb weight loss experience and even through today now that I am in maintenance mode. It just doesn't happen. If you DO get hungry on low-carb, then it means you need to be eating MORE food! :) Sweeeeet!

Best of all, I haven't gone through all those ups and downs in my personality like before on low-fat and I can honestly say I have never been happier in my entire life. Life is good when you're livin' la vida low-carb.

For Kapsalakis, it's obvious he's trying to get his book to move up just a little bit from the sales doldrums it is seeing at Amazon.com with such a scathing attack against the Atkins diet. Didn't he get the memo from the media that low-carb is dead? If so, then I guess he just likes beating a dead horse. We know better, don't we? That's why I NEVER stop defending against these attacks every chance I get!

The truth is this is just another low-fat crusader in the mold of that lunatic Dr. Dean Ornish who's trying to get the whole world to cut out ever bit of fat from their diet and it's ruining people's health. I personally don't care if you reduce your fat, calories or carbs as long as you find something that can work for you to get your weight under control if you are overweight or obese.

Obviously low-carb worked for me and I'll keep sharing my thoughts on low-carb living. However, I just wish for once that some of these self-appointed diet gurus like Kapsalakis would tell us why they favor their particular way of eating rather than bringing down MY healthy and effective way of eating in the process. What good does that do for the cause of health and weight loss? NONE in my not-so-humble opinion!

Why don't you send this Dean Kapsalakis an e-mail at deankaps@yahoo.com to urge him to stop tearing down the good name of Atkins in his attempt to make his diet look better? Let him hear from you and be sure to share your personal low-carb story with him to let him know there are STILL lots of people losing weight on low-carb. He really ought to be ashamed of himself for acting so irresponsible and ignorant.