A year after Atkins' death - did he change your life?


Dr Robert Atkins died a year ago today, after slipping on an icy New York pavement while walking to work. The diet to which he gave his name had already amassed a worldwide following, but since his death, the regime has reached a new level of global recognition. Dr Atkins’ New Diet Revolution, which advocates high-fat and high-protein intake at the expense of carbohydrates, has sold 17 million copies worldwide, including three million in the UK. Dr Atkins weighed 18 stone when he died and had been diagnosed with heart disease, although his wife claims this was caused by a viral infection. But his diet has also been blamed for a range of health problems. We look at the impact his philosophy has had. By Tara Womersley, Fordyce Maxwell and Craig Brown

THE DEVOTEE

JAYNE Homan, 30, of South Queensferry, went on the Atkins diet after she gave birth to her son, Cormac.

Although she admits she did not follow the diet strictly to the letter, her weight nevertheless dropped from 10st 4lb to 9.5st in about two months.

She said: "I cut out bread, pasta and pulses. It may well be that there is Atkins hysteria, but I find that it works, and I know quite a few people on it who have lost weight and look and feel great after the initial problem of bad breath.

"I think that it definitely makes a difference by not eating potatoes and pasta, which tends to make you feel more sleepy."

After losing weight last year, Mrs Homan, who works for a firm of solicitors, put on a few pounds, so returned to cutting down on her carbohydrates.

She said: "After a spell of being bad, and as soon as I start to feel my clothes tightening, I just simply go back to cutting out the carbs - and that seems to do the trick.

"I do not think I would do the diet as a lifelong thing, but cutting out the bread just makes such a difference. When I added it up, I was eating at least five slices of bread a day, which if you have chips at night as well is just terrible.

"I can totally understand why supermarkets have seen a reduction in bread. I used to buy three loaves and freeze them, and that would usually last a week and a half to a fortnight. Now, one loaf lasts the same amount of time with just my husband eating it.

"I would recommend the diet to anyone as I think it is easy to follow."

THE BOOKSELLER

MATTHEW Perren, at Ottakar’s, in George Street, Edinburgh, said the popularity of the book has been immense.

"It tends to be a lot of women buying it but I suspect that it may be for their partners as the diet is very popular with men - mainly because it’s based on meat.

"What’s very interesting is the way the Atkins franchise has rolled out. It’s spawned a lot of other titles which basically tell you the same thing in a different way. But that’s perfectly normal, as not every approach suits other people, so they choose the one that they like, even if the result is the same," he said.

However, Mr Perren said he does not see the popularity lasting.

He said: "People are always looking for the one thing that can give them control of their lives, and the diet book de jour is always the place they start.

"The problem is that you can look at one book, such as Atkins, which says ‘Protein good, carbohydrates bad’, and right next to it is a book which will say exactly the opposite, but both will purport to be the diet."

THE BUTCHER

GRAHAM and Richard Johnston run five butchers’ shops from their Falkirk base and are the fifth generation of a family business established in 1861.

Graham Johnston maintains they have responded successfully to the demands of Atkins dieters and the questions they ask.

Their red-meat sales - beef, lamb and pork - have increased and the business has expanded in the past year, not necessarily because of Atkins but because "we’re good at what we do across the board".

He added: "We make and sell a range of Atkins products, including beef olives and sausages, where the bread filling has been replaced by our own special ingredient - and we won an award with our Atkins-friendly chicken burger."

There is no sign that Atkins-inspired trade is slowing down a year after the death of its creator, but, said Mr Johnston: "The big test will be the barbecue season and we’re on the verge of that now. In the winter, customers buy steaks and chops, but they’re soon going to be looking for barbecue meals that meet the Atkins criteria.

"We get a lot of questions now about Atkins and what can be eaten, and expect more when it’s sausages and burgers to the fore."

THE FARM OWNER

HILARY Cochran and her husband, Peter, run Knowes farm, near Dunbar, and its award-winning shop, which is noted for home-grown speciality potato varieties, such as Pink Fir Apple, and home-produced eggs.

Although her main business concern this week is the opening of the new stretch of A1 dual carriageway from Haddington to Dunbar - bypassing Knowes and posing another marketing challenge - Atkins has generally been good for their business.

She said: "We have been selling more eggs in the past year and people are talking about the diet when they’re in the shop.

"Like most diets, some seem to have been on it, come off it, and gone back on again.

"I like my tatties too much and can’t see why they’re not allowed. Many of our customers agree too. Potato sales in the farm shop and at the farmers’ markets have not dropped. But we have definitely sold more bacon and a lot more black pudding. The biggest increase has been in the number of chickens sold.

"The main appeal of Atkins, I think, is not so much how it is supposed to work, but because most things on the list are easy to prepare. It’s not fiddly and it’s definitely about what you can have and what you can’t."

THE DIETICIAN

PHILIPPA Levinson, who works as a nutrition therapist, estimates that 25-30 per cent of the clients she sees for weight loss have been on the Atkins diet or are thinking about trying the regime.

But her advice to them is either come off it - or don’t go on it in the first place.

Ms Levinson, who works at Medicalternatives and Napiers Herbalists in Edinburgh, said such diets make her job of promoting optimum nutrition much harder.

"This is in no way a balanced diet, but it has become such a huge commercial industry that they are actually producing foods which meet requirements for the diet. It has just gone mad but people do it because they lose weight and celebrities have lost weight on it and we live in a celebrity world," she said.

"One of the worrying things is the lack of fruit and vegetables. World Health Organisation guidelines recommend five portions of fruit and veg a day and that is really to prevent cancer - in particular bowel cancers - and by limiting your intake of fruit and veg, you are limiting your source of vitamin and minerals and antioxidants.

"Unfortunately there are always fad diets around. Quick fixes do not work and people should follow a naturally balanced healthy diet."

THE DIETER WHO HATED IT

ALTHOUGH Dr Atkins claimed his diet "energises you and makes you feel just plain good" the exact opposite happened to June Grieve.

After just three and a half weeks on the diet Mrs Grieve, 53, had to come off it following an incident in which she could feel her heart thumping, was jittery and became worried she was about to have a heart attack.

She said: "I followed it to the letter - no coffee, no pulses, no potatoes - and I was certainly losing weight.

"But I got up one morning and my heart was pounding. I honestly thought that I was going to have a heart attack.

"I phoned my husband, and was just so shaky. He told me to go to the fridge where I found some chocolate and I sat and ate it and within 20 minutes I felt fine.

"I think the diet was just all protein and fat and no carbs and my sugar levels had just gone absolutely haywire. I did have bad breath as well but you are warned about that."

Mrs Grieve’s niece also went on the diet and had to come off it after experiencing similar symptoms.

Mrs Grieve said: "I lost about 10lb and that was lovely but I can’t say that I felt 100 per cent well on it and it did not suit me."

But although Mrs Grieve had to come off the Atkins, her husband, who was dieting with her, stayed on it and has lost more than a stone in about three months.

Mrs Grieve said: "This diet is obviously not for everyone but it does seem to work for a lot of people.

"I would advise anybody going on it to have a long think about whether it will suit them because it did not suit me."

Alison Hunter Gordon, 59, the administrator for the Institute of Directors Scotland, works with Mrs Grieve and also tried the Atkins diet. But while she felt great on it she did not lose a pound.

She said: "I was on it for ages - at least five or six months. I did exactly what the diet said and I loved it and ate miles more than I normally do. But all the protein was very expensive and it cost a fortune. I did not lose any weight, not an ounce, which was very upsetting as I should have lost so many pounds."

http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=432672004