Atkins Dieters Belong In A Mental Institution

Sarah Trammel: a small photo to match her itty bitty pea brain!

Did you know The Houston Chronicle actually has a list of local blogs that they feature on their newspaper web site? I sure didn't! That's pretty neat for readers to get exposure to all the latest opinions and commentary from the top blogs in the Houston, TX area.

And they are soliciting other bloggers to begin sharing their voice, too:

"What's your passion? What do you really care about? Want to tell the world? At chron.com, we want to give you the chance to blog on your subject of expertise. If you want to join our selected citizen journalists, let us know."

What an excellent opportunity for someone who lives in Houston and is livin' la vida low-carb to share your thoughts about this incredible way of eating through a blog to make your voice heard on the subject of diet, health and nutrition. If you are interested, then all you have to do is e-mail Dwight Silverman at dwight.silverman@chron.com. Let me know if they choose your blog to be listed among their featured blogs and I'll let my readers know. It kinda makes me wish I lived in Houston! :D

Anyways, one of the blogs featured there is one called Watercooler Confidential described as "a reader blog about the workplace with Donna Hershfeldt and Sarah Trammel." Sounds innocent enough, doesn't it? Both of these Houston residents have worked in an office atmosphere for most of their careers and use this blog to help vent some of their frustrations about working in that kind of environment. Just a playful and fun blog, right?

Well, somewhere along the way the blogger named Sarah Trammel must have forgotten what the main topic of her blog is supposed to be about because her latest blog post from July 11, 2006 entitled "The devil wears pita" is one long personal attack against the Atkins diet and those of us who are livin' la vida low-carb.

You'll never believe some of the stuff she says about us low-carbers!

Of course, the Houston Chronicle is quick to point out that "these bloggers are readers offering their own perspectives on a subject that interests them. The posts and opinions are their own and are not edited by the Chronicle. They are solely responsible for the content of this blog." Yadda yadda yadda! In other words, don't blame the newspaper for the idiocy of the bloggers they feature.

This one is so chock full of the typical anti-Atkins propaganda, it's almost as if Trammel purposefully wrote it so that "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Man" would respond. Of course, I'm all-too-happy to oblige. :)

She starts off her post stating that most people in her office are currently on a diet of some sort. Okay, that's not so bad since at any given time around the country, almost everyone SAYS they are dieting in an office environment. But Trammel didn't mince words when it came to describing how she REALLY feels about one specific diet.

"Heaven help the people trying to stick to Atkins. More importantly, heaven help the co-workers of the people trying to stick to Atkins."

Hoo boy, this is gonna be one of "those" kind of people who won't have anything at all good to say about the low-carb lifestyle. She confirms my suspicions when she cites some 2-year old blog post with a bunch of women who supposedly went on low-carb and they are now claiming "protein overload can leave women grumpy, depressed and even contribute to bad hair days."

At the risk of sounding like a male chauvinist pig, isn't that EVERY day for most women whether they are on a low-carb diet or not? HA! Just kidding. Seriously, where do these low-carb haters come up with this craziness?! I mean, really! Oh yes, didn't you hear? Those of us who are on the low-carb lifestyle run around our offices like rabid lions going into flying fits of rage looking for the next victim who we might devour!

Puh-leeze, Ms. Trammel! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. The people on low-carb that I know are not only mentally stable (which is something that cannot be said about a lot of non-low-carbers, especially those low-fat dieters who are ALWAYS HUNGRY), but actually they are thinking more clearly than they have in many years because they no longer experience the rollercoaster ride of emotions that sugar and complex carbohydrates used to take them on. In other words, we're about as stable a bunch of people you'll ever meet. Sorry to burst your bubble on that one.

Nevertheless, you can tell Trammel is extremely clueless about the REAL Atkins diet when she remarked about how her supervisor had eaten "nothing but eggs, cheese and steak" for the first three days of her low-carb program which allegedly made her fly into a fit of an angry rage.

"It made me want to force feed her old pita sandwiches until she lightened up."

Sigh. Is this the best you can do, Ms. Trammel? You are completely ignorant about what the Atkins diet actually entails by repeating the media version of the Atkins diet (meat, eggs and cheese) and then attempt to be cute about it in the procress by joking about putting bread in your boss' mouth. Hardy har har! That's so funny I forgot to laugh.

If you even spent a nanosecond worth of time researching what the low-carb lifestyle is REALLY about, then you would know there are people like me who not only went on a low-carb diet, be we also lost a whole lotta weight, and survived! Best of all, we also have continued to keep the weight off by staying on this amazing nutritional approach that has a lot more to it than "eggs, cheese and steak" thank you very much.

People who think THAT is the Atkins diet are really showing how incredibly stupid they are because most intelligent people will tell you there's a lot more to the low-carb lifestyle now than ever before as study after study after study keeps on affirming this way of eating as a healthy way to manage both weight and disease.

But Trammel savse her best public display of her ignorance for the end of her post.

Mocking low-carbers for secretly wanting to eat "stale Krispy Kreme donuts" when nobody is looking, Trammel made the claim that people who eat low-carb actually belong in a "mental institution."

You read that right, if you are livin' la vida low-carb to lose weight, improve your health or whatever, then this Sarah Trammel chick from Houston thinks you need to be wrapped up and put in a padded room somewhere. How much more insulting can someone get than to mock the way we eat and then claim we are all loony birds for doing so?! Speaking of mentally unstable!

If you don't like low-carb and prefer to remain fat, then DON'T DO IT! Nobody's twisting your arm and forcing you into this way of eating. But most people who want to do something about their weight and health problems are realizing what an incredible miracle this low-carb lifestyle is and have made the very wise choice to begin livin' la vida low-carb. I know I am a changed man because of it and so are the millions more who have made low-carb their permanent way of life.

All I have to say to Trammel is this: Na na na na na na! The next time you want to try bashing away at my low-carb lifestyle, then you had better be ready for a fight, Ms. Trammel. And I may not play so nice in the future. You know, that rage thing might be kicking in right about now...YOU HAD BETTER LOOK OUT! Hee hee!

Wanna tick of this Sarah Trammel lady even more? Of course, you might actually make her day by giving her blog all the traffic. But how about posting a comment in response to her insane anti-Atkins blog post?

Be sure to let her know how low-carb has impacted your life for the better and don't miss the opportunity to inform her what you REALLY think about her deranged opinions about livin' la vida low-carb (and be sure to tell her "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Man" Jimmy Moore sent ya! I bet she'll never forget who I am from now on!). We'll be watching you, Ms. Trammel...remember, WE are the "mental" ones...HAHAHAHAHAHA! I'll get you my little pretty...and your Donna, too (no offense to your blogging buddy).

7-12-06 UPDATE: I am hearing back from so many of you about your attempts to post your comments at Ms. Trammel's blog. It seems she monitors what comments she wants to post before they are exposed to the world. LOL! I guess she can't handle the heat when someone actually disagrees with her. We shall see.

One of my regular readers wrote this brilliant response to her (awaiting approval for posting, of course!):

Dear Mrs. Trammel,

I have a hard time believing that you are genuinely serious with this blog post. If, indeed, you really believe that the "Fatkins" diet (or any other controlled carb regimen for that matter) consists out of eggs, cheese and steak, you could hardly be more wrong.

You (should) know very well that this a deliberate, insulting, and rather gross misrepresentation of such diets. But what bothers me (even) more is the fact that you, intended or not, make a mockery out of a very intelligent, effective and scientific way of eating.

Low- and controlled-carbohydrate diets, such as the "Fatkins" diet, Mrs. Trammel, are completely based on several decades worth of scientific research and proven clinical results. Results that are often so positively dramatic that the persons in question have a hard time understanding unfounded, baseless (and useless) criticisms like yours.

From my own research, as well as the extremely positive evidence, abundantly documented in literal mountains of peer-reviewed, scientific studies, I can assure you that few diets are as healthy and efficient as well as effective as low-carbohydrate nutrition. Dietary regimens using this effective approach to proper nutrition have proven to be not only completely natural but also extremely beneficial for a whole range of illnesses and diseases, including but not limited to diabetes, obesity, artherosclerosis, kidney desease, BDM, several cancers, heart disease, epilepsy and many, many more.

Why do you try to make a joke out of a dietary regimen that poses so many clear and present benefits? That is not only shortsighted but borders to irresponsible.

Anyone else care to share what you submitted to Trammel's blog? We can hope she does the right thing and publishes our comments, but I'm not holding my breath.

7-12-06 UPDATE: Well, at least she's doing the right thing and posting all of your wonderful comments. If you haven't sent your response yet, now's your chance! Looks like she's posting them all.

7-13-06 UPDATE: Have you seen the comments at Trammel's blog today? Check out what one guy wrote about those of us who are livin' la vida low-carb:

"Right on Sarah! Mostly Bible thumping rednecks believe in the Fatkins crap, it'll be funny when they are all dying of heart attacks years from now, oh wait,they'll be the one's filing lawsuits against Atkins Co."

So, we're all "Bible thumping rednecks" because we believe in the Atkins diet? Really? LOL! Somebody should probably tell that to my atheist and agnostic low-carb friends! HA! You know you're on the right side when all your enemies can do is pull the religion card out on your. LOL! Hee hee! Ha ha ha ha! Oh, that's a good one!