I was just watching the show called The View.. It was showing different diets etc.. And of course when they showed the Atkins diet the only thing on that table was bacon,eggs,cheeseburger.....No salads or veges.. It's no wonder so many people think it is just an all meat plan. You would figure they would at least find out what in the heck they are talking about.. I sware.....
Angel

Remember one of the ladies on the show is promoting the Jenny Craig program. Didn't see the show, but maybe that eating style came out on top?

The media is not known for it's best work in showing Atkins what it truly it is. Atkins is not a diet, but a way of life. As long as the media continue to slam this woe some people will go on thinking it's just another diet. This woe is everything Dr. A said it was and more.

By the way, for lunch I just finished a big plate of broccoli with cheese melted all over it. Yummm

I get so sick of people calling it a Protein diet! As if all we eat is meat. Why is it OK for somebody to eat vegetable beef soup with noodles, but not ok for someone to not eat the noodles. Geeeesh! I agree that someday the word will be out. We need a celebrity endorsement here. We need some famouse person to lose weight and lose some health problems to get on TV and advertise.
As for JC, tried that too, was so hungry that a few times I woke up in the middle of the night and ate huge spoonfuls of peanut butter and threw up because my body couldn't handle it. Not to mention the stomach problems afterwards. I couldn't even eat ANYTHING without getting a gassy, bloatey tummy. I was popping papaya enzymes constantly to calm my stomach.

Wee

[turning on parrot mode]
Because we NEED carbs for energy. Our brain can FUNCTION adequately without carbs. Carbs are the preferred source of fuel for our bodies. Remember? Dr. Phil said that our brains need at LEAST 125g of carb a day for proper function! No wonder you can't remember, silly! You haven't been feeding your brain enough carbs! [/parrot mode]

It doesn't MATTER that the nutritionists who've canonized this mantra can't SUPPORT these assertions with any documented proof or case studies. Coventional medicine makes it so.

Because after all, if our knowledgeable people (doctors, dieticians and nutritionists) keep repeating the same faulty doctrine for years, doesn't that make it true by default?

Exactly the kind of status quo crap we've all heard hundreds of times before. But you forgot [parrot mode]If you exercise without having enough carbs (carboloading), you body will attack your muscle tissue and use THOSE for energy!!![/parrot mode]

As a mountain biker, I hear that one ALL THE TIME and it drives me nuts. Of course you body doesn't use muscle tissue for energy, that's one of the most riduculous assertions I've ever heard. It uses your FAT STORES for energy once it's finished with the carbs. Bah!

I also saw The View today, the doctor said of all the eating plans, South Beach was the best because of the veggies and lower fat. He also said people on Atkins are more likely to be constipated.
You would think they would get educated on a subject before they give recommendations.

..but how many "HELP, I can't poop!!" threads are posted here? Plenty. SO, hey, they got PART of it right....

I agree they at least go that part right.

I have a friend who is doing the South Beach Diet and she told me she is so CONSTIPATED! So there you go another ASS-umption.

The first time I did Atkins I hardly ate any vegetable because the book specified only 3 cups a day during induction and I was so scared that I was going to go over my 20 carbs. This time I am eating pretty much as many low glycemic veggies as I want and I'm not having the constipation problem anymore. I guess in that sense we are all different.

Wee

..and if you want to get a good idea of where some of the misconceptions come from, look through the Newbies Questions area. You'll see an awful lot of people who say they've been "doing the Atkins" and all they've been doing is eating meat and cheese...and often haven't bothered to read the book at all. A lot of these people go on to complain that it's "not working"...

Chicken and the egg, here, but did they learn this from the media, or did some of the "reporters" (and I use the term loosely) meet some of these people? I know I've read quite a few that heard it through the grapevine what Atkins was...

<shakes head> I guess it doesn't matter which came first, as long as there are people who jump into something without caring to find out all the facts...

There was a similar problem with a DATELINE show. Several people trying to lose weight for a reunion all tried different methods. The top "loser" (I think around 100 pounds) was on Atkins, and you'd think all he ate was bacon and cheeseburgers.

However, everywhere I turn these days I'm seeing more and more about Atkins and low carbs, so hopefully some more truth will be getting out there!

Teresa

I understand the frustration. I read a transcript of Sarah Ferguson on the Larry King Show(since I missed the program), and the things she said was completely inaccurate, something about us not being able to eat broccoli. I never ate broccoli before, now I do, lol. But ya know, on the bright side(maybe Im just in one of those, lets look on the bright side mood..I dunno), at least its in the media and people are hearing about low carb. Inaccurate? YES. But I believe the more exposure it gets the better, because people will research it and eventually the truth about eating low carb will come out, and the lies will be exposed. Its just a matter of time I guess.

I agree with Potatofree there are many misconceptions, there are several people at work who say they are on Atkins but when I get into a discussion with them it turns out that they have never read the book (I tell them they should hoping they respect my opinion a tiny bit since I have lost 61 lbs in 9 months). One guy told me the other day that he was doing LC turns out he had no idea that things like milk, beer and cashews are not part of the plan and have lots of carbs (at least not induction or OWL). They get their info from the media or from someone who claims to be on a certain LC plan.

I agree with LIV2004, before last sunday, all I knew about Atkins that it was some short of fad/sham diet thing, but the more I heard about it the more I wanted to know for myself what was really up with the whole thing, although I am still waiting for my book, I have found alot of info and guidence on this site and online in general.

This woe works on word of mouth, the best type of media their is, people choose this diet and many seem to be sucessful at it, the more people who choose to eat this way, the more the truth will come out about the misconceptions the media portrays about low carb diets/Atkins. How can so many people's bodies be wrong.

Sccuffy