"HOLD THE CARBS, PLEASE!" ATKINS FEVER STRIKES BROOKINGS-HARBOR

Published: November 26, 2003



By ANDREA BARKAN • Pilot Staff Writer

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The new road to thin – paved with bacon, eggs and whipped cream – is proving to be a path many in Brookings-Harbor are eager to take.

The nationwide Atkins diet craze has at last reached Brookings and seems to be on the tip of everyone's tongue – and fork.

Steve Armantrout lost 30 pounds in two months, Jenna Steineke lost that much in three months and Nancy McClaflin has kept her 30 pounds off for a year.

All three are dieting.

But their diet, which includes bacon, half and half, eggs, cheese and whipped cream, is enough to make any meat-loving fan of fat drool.

"Any diet that has bacon on it, I'm going to do good," Armantrout said. "They don't make a bacon patch."

Armantrout, McClaflin and Steineke are following the Atkins diet, in which they drastically limit their intake of carbohydrates and increase protein and fat intake.

There are four stages to the Atkins diet, according to the Atkins Web site. During the first stage, which typically lasts two weeks, the dieter must limit the amount of carbs they consume to 20 per day. (One can of Coca-Cola contains 39 grams of carbs).

In subsequent stages, carbs are added back in 5 gram increments until the dieter figures out how many grams of carbs they can consume each day that will still allow them to lose weight or maintain their goal weight.

Armantrout, who has followed the diet for about two months, said he is still consuming about 20 carb grams each day.

McClaflin, who has been on the diet a year, eats between 45 and 55 carb grams each day.

At the three month mark, Steineke said she is eating less than 20 grams every day.

Steineke, whose goal is to lose 200 pounds, said her cholesterol level dropped dramatically in the first two months on the diet.

"That's what really impressed me," Steineke said. "Once I saw those numbers I was totally convinced. How can you go wrong when your numbers go down like that?"

According to medical records, in July, 2003 Steineke's cholesterol measured at 287. At the end of September, 2003, it had dropped to 145.

Her triglycerides were 281 in July and 110 in September.

"After seeing those numbers, I was really into it," she said.

Steineke said this is the first diet she's been able to stick with.

"If you do it right you're never really hungry," she said.

Armantrout said he has tried a number of diets and Atkins is different.

"It's different in that if you really stick with it you lose your appetite for carbs," he said.

McClaflin said the diet's flexibility sets it apart from others.

"It's far easier to stick with for a period of time, easier to eat out," she said. "It's easier to continue with your lifestyle and eat with your family."

McClaflin, Steineke and Armantrout all said they see the Atkins diet as more of a lifestyle than a diet.

"It's a lifestyle change," Steineke said. "I think it would be safe to stay on it the rest of your life."

McClaflin and Armantrout echoed that. Both said they plan to follow the diet indefinitely, or "forever."

But no long-term scientific studies on the diet have been performed, said Dr. Diane Stadler, a registered dietician and research assistant professor at Oregon Health and Science University.

Stadler and OHSU colleagues recently completed one of the most controlled short-term studies on Atkins yet.

The study is funded by a federal grant from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, which is within the National Institutes of Health, Stadler said.

Scientists studied the short-term impact of the Atkins diet on weight loss, body composition, bone density, kidney function and risk for heart disease, Stadler said.

They recruited 25 obese people and placed half of them on the Atkins diet and half on the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) for 18 weeks.

The DASH diet is the antithesis of Atkins, high in complex carbohydrates and fruit and low in fat, she said.

"It's kind of held up as a gold standard of how we should eat," Stadler said of DASH.

Most medical professionals view Atkins in a negative light because they believe a high-fat diet goes against cardiac health, Stadler said.

Stadler and her colleagues provided all the food for their study participants during the first six weeks.

Every participant lost the same amount of weight at the same rate, Stadler said.

They also each lost equivalent amounts of fat and muscle.

Within six weeks, each person lost 6.5 kilograms or 14.3 pounds, she said.

During the remaining 12 weeks, participants followed their diets on their own. They still lost the same amount of weight at the same rate, but that rate was much slower, Stadler said.

During the last 12 weeks, each subject lost an average of four pounds, she said.

Though weight loss did not differ between the two very different diets, what some subjects did experience differently was hunger.

Stadler said everyone following the Atkins diet only consumed 70 percent of the food provided during the first six weeks. None of them said they were hungry.

Those on the DASH diet were fed the same number of calories as those on Atkins, though the make-up of their meals varied widely, she said.

About half of the DASH subjects were satisfied with the amount of food provided during the first six weeks, but half were hungry, Stadler said.

Stadler said hormones associated with hunger and satisfaction may be triggered by different foods. Stadler said OHSU researchers plan to study that in the future.

Common side effects reported by those on Atkins were headaches, muscle cramps, lethargy, reduced mental alertness and less frequent bowel movements, Stadler said.

Atkins is a dry diet that can result in dehydration if dieters are not consciously consuming enough water, she said.

Stadler also said people following Atkins need to supplement their diet with vitamins and minerals.

"It is not a complete diet," Stadler said. "You will develop deficiencies."

The Atkins diet most severely lacks vitamin C, folic acid, magnesium and potassium, she said.

Stadler said not enough research has been performed and published to allow people to make an informed choice about following the Atkins diet.

"Yes you will lose weight, but we don't know at what risk," Stadler said.

Anyone using the Atkins diet to lose more than five pounds should consult with their doctor before they start the diet and again two to six weeks later, she said.

Inevitably, some people on Atkins will have no health complications, but others will.

"We don't know who's going to respond well and who's going to respond negatively," Stadler said.

"That's why it's so important to include your health care provider," she said.

The best course of action for an overweight person is to find a healthy dietary pattern to which they can gradually and permanently adapt, Stadler said.

"If you choose to do it for a short period of time, the likelihood of keeping the weight off is negligible," she said.

Balance and moderation should guide a diet and Atkins is neither balanced nor moderate, Stadler said.

A diet that not only causes weight loss but promotes health is the most sensible option, she said.

"The DASH diet is a complete diet, a healthy diet," Stadler said. "In the long term, it's a heart-healthy, cancer-reducing diet."