I learned about Atkins from a friend of mine. He had tried it, then started losing tons of weight. At first, I ridiculed it immensely, swearing up and down that bacon and pork rinds were terrible for you (I was on Susan Powter's non-fat plan at the time).

But then I saw how happy he was and how much energy he ha, while I was feeling sick and was losing very, very slowly, despite a religious exercise program.

So, I figured I would just pick up a copy of the book and see what it was all about. And, it made a lot of sense. Why are people so fat when they 1) don't eat anything and 2) are trying so very hard to do what they're being told? People I knew (including myself) were fat, depressed, & ridiculed for not having enough "willpower" to stick with the mainstream wisdom of fat=bad, despite following that wisdom religiously. Plus, if eating nothing but pasta and fat-free cookies and salad was supposed to make us so bleedin' healthy, then why does the US have the highest incidence of diabetes in the world, growing particularly during the 70's, 80's & 90's when low-fat diets were being pushed so hard?

After throwing caution to the wind and buying my bacon and pork rinds and tuna and eggs, I tried it. Lost a massive amount of weight in the first 3 months, then the holidays caught up with me and I had trouble with sticking to for a while. But, despite being on a rocky road for a while, I can still remember how my severe depression and manic mood swings went away. I didn't need a nap at 5 in the afternoon. Plus, I'm eating healthier, with more veggies than I was eating while being a pasta fiend (and I always hated pasta anyway).

Almost everyone *I* know has been convinced to try the diet by word of mouth and seeing their friends having success. Now, that may change as people start seeing endorsements and restaurants changing their menus, but I think this has been mostly an "underground" word of mouth thing until this past year.