Oh my...there's so much incorrect and unsubstantiated stuff in there I don't know where to begin!
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If the indicator of a successful diet is initial weight loss (which is mainly from muscle and water initially), and not long-term, permanent fat loss achieved in a healthy way, then my hat’s off to Atkins!
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Doff that hat, my dear. Muscle loss is much less with an adequate protein, high fat regimen such as Atkins than it is with a high carb, indadequate protein regimen such as low fat. I'd like to see her tell me with a straight face that my 75 lb. weight loss is all water and muscle.
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Even Atkins admits that if you go back to a higher carb diet again, the pounds will return.
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Misquote. What Dr. Atkins says (over and over) is that if you go back to
your old way of eating that got you fat in the first place, you will get fat again. This is true of any weight loss regimen. If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten.
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Studies show that restrictive diets which eliminate several foods or food groups have the worst failure rates over time -- a pretty dismal outlook.
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Makes me wonder if she bothered to read the whole book or only the chapter on induction. During OWL, pre-maintainance and maintainance many, if not most, food groups are added back in again, including grains and starchier veggies as well as fruits as your carb level for maintaining allows. About the only thing that I can think of that remains restricted forever is sugar and the last time I checked, that's not considered a "food group".
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The Atkins diet essentially eliminates several foods and food groups like fruits, cereals, breads, grains, starches, baked goods, dairy products, starchy vegetables, and sweets.
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Initially, yes, except dairy. Cream and cheese are dairy products and are allowed even during the induction phase. Fruits, grains and starchier veggies are added back later as noted above. Baked goods aren't essential for good health and there are lower carb breads on the market as well as low carb cereals. There are also plenty of low carb sweets available, both in stores and homemade using Splenda. Brown rice, whole unprocessed oats, unpearled barley and even whole grain breads
in moderation are included in many people's maintainance plans. Check Atkins For Life.
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Many people become instantaneously hooked on the Atkins plan due to an initial rapid weight loss. The initial weight loss isn't coming from body fat though - it's coming from water.
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During induction, that's partly true but after glycogen stores are depleted, where's that rapid water loss coming from? She's trying to give the impression here again that all your weight loss is water. Not true.
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The truth is that all ingested foods stimulate insulin production.
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The truth is that insulin secretion happens in two and sometimes three phases (something she doesn't know or neglects to mention). Whenever you eat, the pancrease excretes a small amount of insulin initially and then a larger amount about an hour later to handle the amount of glucose building in the bloodstream. It's this second shot of insulin that is the largest and triggers fat storage and you don't get it if carb intake and therefore blood sugar surge is limited. Without the higher levels of insulin circulating in the bloodstream, glucagon production kicks in which makes fat storage next to impossible.
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Japan has one of the lowest rates of obesity, heart disease, cancer and diabetes in the world.
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Blatantly wrong. Asia (including Japan) and India are leading the world in new cases of diabetes being diagnosed currently. Japan also has a higher incidence of stroke than other countries.
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The Atkins plan contradicts numerous studies which have demonstrated the significant correlation between diets high in saturated fat and increased heart disease risk.
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Guess she's missed or ignored the several studies that have been published recently showing that low carb even with all its high saturated fat intake beat the low fat plans hands down in the "most improved cardiac profile" category.
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According to the National Cancer Institute, five servings of fruits and vegetables each day is the minimum amount one should eat in order to help significantly reduce the risk of developing cancer.
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Can one consume the amount of produce and whole grains necessary to significantly help prevent cancer on the Atkins diet? Impossible. Plentiful amounts of fruits and vegetables and whole grains would constitute too many carbohydrates, and would not be allowed.
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Here again, the author has failed to do her research. What would constitute five servings of vegetable a day? Let's see...how about a large romaine salad (3 cups to be generous), 2 cups of broccoli, and 1 cup of cooked spinach. That's 8 servings of veggies according to accepted serving sizes. How many grams of carbs is that? 11. Impossible?? Goodness...that's not even the 20 grams of carb allowed per day on induction, let alone ongoing weight loss or maintainance. I'd say that 8 servings
even on induction levels of carb would constitute plentiful.
Because low carb diets eliminate so many foods and food groups, getting the Recommended Daily Allowance of the nutrients the body needs on these plans is a difficult task.
Because so many other weight loss regimens restrict calories so severely (many of them 1,200 calories a day or less), getting your RDA of many nutrients that the body needs is nearly impossible there as well, unless you choose your foods very carefully which most don't. So...guess you'd need some supplements on nearly every diet plan out there wouldn't you? Most days, even at 30 grams of carb per day or less, I meet or exceed my RDA for every nutrient listed on Fitday before I even take my vitamin. The only thing that I fall short on consistently is magnesium.
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Even "supplemented" low carb diets fall short on the latest nutrition phenomenon - phytochemicals.
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Where she gets that from, I have no idea. Dark green leafy veggies and berries (all of which are allowed on low carb) are some of the best sources of phytochemicals out there.
Basically more of the usual misinformed, uninformed, opinions that we've come to expect from those trying to defend the food pyramid.