Excellent. Business 2.0 magazine has published photos of Dr. Atkins taken two months before his death. That is not a man that weighs 260 pounds.
Excellent. Business 2.0 magazine has published photos of Dr. Atkins taken two months before his death. That is not a man that weighs 260 pounds.
Beau
February 13, 2004 — 4:21 am
I was reading up on the report of his death…apparently he DID weight 256 pounds at the time of his death. His widow is trying to say he weighted 195lbs at the time he fell and gained all that weight in 8 days by the time he died. She’s saying it was all the fluid via IV they were giving him in the hospital.
Now you know I’m all about the Atkins, but there is NO WAY that man gained 61 pounds in water weight from IV hydration. NO WAY and I’m a nurse.
The only other thing I can say is that perhaps he really was that heavy. Maybe he got off his diet and was packign up pounds or was putting on weight from a number of different reasons. It still doesn’t prove Atkins is bad.
Which brings up another point. Long term effects from Atkins and other low-carb behaviors won’t be shown in any clinical research for YEARS yet. It’s only now we’re getting the results from all those nutritional studies from 30 years ago saying how bad pasta, high-carbs, etc. is. Cardiovascular data will be even longer in coming so everyone needs to calm the f*** down. If you don’t think Atkins is good, then don’t do it. If you need a good program, find something that works but don’t spread the bad rumors without doing some fact checking, please.
I’m going off to eat my bunless cheeseburger now. 🙂
Kris
February 13, 2004 — 11:36 am
Excellent points, Beau. I was reading a similarly good diatribe by this guy today. He takes the PCRM director to task for “cherry-picking” the evidence that supports his argument. He says that the same medical report states that Dr. A. weighed sixty pounds less when he was admitted. He also speculates that the discrepancy was caused by an “edema”. Does that sound plausible to you?
I honestly think that a lot of the negative reaction folks have towards Atkins right now is because of the “low-carb” market saturation in the US. I read yesterday that you can even buy a bunless Whopper now! We’re still a few years away from that in Oz. The only place you can buy Atkins products is GNC health stores and they only carry a handful of items (at outrageous prices). There certainly aren’t any restaurants offering low-carb menus. So while I’ve run into some negativity from folks who doubt the diet’s healthiness, I really haven’t had to deal with anybody annoyed by its “faddishness”.
Beau
February 14, 2004 — 1:06 am
All I’m saying is bacon every morning, bunless cheese burgers for lunch and I’m down 8 pounds in a week and a half and my pants fit again. I could give a flying WhoHA if it’s healthy or not. I’m just that vain. 🙂
I have a critical care/ICU Doc on the line and I’m investigating the claims about weight gain from edema. Edema weight is certainly possible, but we’re talking about 5-10lbs…not 65. Anyway…I’ll report back as soon as I get a good answer.
aim
February 14, 2004 — 2:43 am
it’s definitely the fad that pisses me off. (what do you think inspired my pod people references? you order a “low-carb” burger from pretty much ANY restaurant these days, and they know exactly what you mean. no questions asked…) i’m with beau – it may not be the right program for everyone (ME) so i might as well not waste my time bitching about it.
meanwhile, two different people in the last week who’ve seen me eating have asked me if i was on the south beach diet! i did a quick google and apparently someone has written a book about the way i eat. verrrry interesting….