Apr. 9, 2004. 01:00 AM

Celebrity hairdresser stands up for Atkins diet
Healthier than ever, says Robert Gage


LUCAS OLENIUK/TORONTO STAR
Robert Gage, hairdresser to the stars, lost 55 pounds on a low-carb diet and says he's never eaten more vegetables.

JUDY STEED

To be on the receiving end of a call from an "infuriated" (his word) Robert Gage, hairdresser to the stars, is stimulating, to say the least.

The man has strong opinions.

He is "enraged" (his word) about criticism of the Atkins Diet that have arisen in the Star's Get Healthy Challenge, as a result of Darryle Cromwell's passion for the late Dr. Atkins' low carb diet prescriptions — red meat, butter, cream, bacon etc.

Cromwell, you may recall, is part of our father-daughter combo. He's 48, working out with his 21-year-old daughter Sara. He's had two heart attacks and he smokes cigars. At his peak, he weighed more than 300 pounds and chain-smoked cigarettes.

His GoodLife trainer, Betty Parcher, is worried that with his high fat diet and smoking, Darryle is setting himself up for another heart attack.

To Gage, who's been following the Get Healthy Challenge, Darryle is being "silly" if he's just eating protein without vegetables.

"I've never eaten more vegetables in my life," says Gage, who has lost 55 pounds in the last year on the Atkins Diet, "and I've never been healthier."

He rhymes off delectable Atkins' recipes involving cauliflower, cream, bacon and grated cheese; desserts with real whipped cream and berries. He eats no potatoes, no pasta, no bread, no white flour. No apples, oranges, bananas, pears or mangos. "Not allowed," he says. "The secret, for me, is living with an appetite that's not stimulated by flour, pasta or bread. If I have a bowl of pasta, I can't stop. If I have a piece of pie, I can eat the whole pie."

Nowadays, his favourite meals are: prime ribs or turkey breast with broccoli; meat loaf made with eggs; Atkins flour-less pancakes. He uses Splenda instead of sugar. He eats chocolate truffles sweetened with Splenda. He takes a lot of vitamins and supplements.

"I used to live on Tums. I had acid reflux. I don't, anymore. My arthritis has disappeared."

Gage says 10 friends have been on the Atkins diet and have lost considerable poundage. One of them, Peter Ziliotto, a retired high school teacher, has lost 45 pounds. "I'm healthier than I have been in years," Ziliotto says, "but I don't want to proselytize. The Atkins diet has worked for me, that's all I can say. The hardest thing was to eliminate pasta."

The progress he's made, and the weight he's lost, provide him with all the incentive he needs to keep going.

"I had heart problems, high blood pressure. Now, with medication, exercise and weight loss, my blood pressure and cholesterol levels have gone down considerably. I made my doctor aware of the potential for kidney problems (on the Atkins diet), and I've been tested and I'm fine."

Canada's pre-eminent expert in the field, Dr. David Jenkins, Canada Research Chair and professor of nutrition at the University of Toronto, was invited by the Atkins Foundation to attend a meeting of 20 selected scientists in New York last year — after the death of Dr. Atkins.

"They're aware of concerns about the diet," says Jenkins, who developed the glycemic index in 1980, "and they're trying to address those concerns."

The issues are carbohydrates and saturated fat: the Atkins diet prohibits the former and allows endless amounts of the latter.

"In nutrition we believe in the value of carbohydrate foods — fruit, vegetables, whole grain cereals, legumes (chick peas, lentils)," Jenkins says.

The "question mark" hanging over the Atkins diet, he says, is "what happens when you're no longer losing weight?"

He acknowledges that the Atkins diet has "obviously struck a chord, but it's only one chord. The data we have shows that most people go back to their previous calorie intake after six months on the diet." What worries Jenkins is that "there are no long-term studies showing its impact on cardiovascular health."

His advice: learn to incorporate healthy, low G.I. carbohydrates into your diet. Eat whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

And remember, "Most restrictive diets will help you lose weight — if you follow them."

http://thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Conten...ol=969048872038

Thank goodness someone finally said it.

The funny thing is, it just goes over peoples heads. They somehow miss reading that part.

They are STILL talking about kidney problems! When there has never been any instances of kidney problems on a low carb diet!
Sheesh!
But it's nice it works for them.

Yeah but the veggie thing is coming around!

I think it's funny, well actually it's annoying, when they always say the part about endless butter, sourcream etc. I mean, what are you going to out the butter on? A spoon? Yes you can technically eat it that way but most people probobly won't. I think that people prpbobly don't eat a ton more butter, sourcream, mayo etc than they were before, but they make it sound like we live off the stuff. Yes we get fat from meats, along with the protein, etc, but we don't just sit around and tuck into a vat of sourcream and eat it off a spoon proclaiming our new found health. The thing that pisses me off is they REFUSE to see any kind of balance in LC and that is exactly what it is! They complain that it is too restrictive, well what about weight watchers? you are restricted to you X# of points and you can eat 20 pount worth of crap and starve the rest of the day but this is a good balance? And not restrictive? They always preach that people have to learn the balance but weight watchers certainly does not seem to think that!

"His advice: learn to incorporate healthy, low G.I. carbohydrates into your diet. Eat whole grains, fruits and vegetables."

Hmmm, seems to me that I have READ that somewhere before. Could it have been ........in one of Dr. Atkins' books???

"What worries Jenkins is that "there are no long-term studies showing its impact on cardiovascular health."

Exactly. So why all the gloom and doom predictions that we are killing ourselves with this diet?

Another worry is Eskimos tending their crops by night.

I found the following in the Neaderthin and Paleolithic Forum placed by Hellistile. Check the attached image.

Attached Images

igloo.jpg (6.3 KB, 17 views)

Well, Mr. Jenkins, I followed a Sugarbusters type diet, eating only low glycemic carbs, but I'm so carb sensitive, I couldn't stop overeating them! I GAINED WEIGHT ON YOUR WONDERFUL LOW-GLYCEMIC DIET.

I gained weight and did not feel well at all, eating all those low glycemic legumes, fruits and pasta.

I feel great doing low carb. I follow a diet very similar to Atkins, the only difference being we don't have to count low starch veggies. Aside from the veggies, I keep my net carbs to 40 per day, eat lots of very healthy, delicious foods and don't feel "restricted" at all, a term Jenkins likes to use.

I will eat this way forever. My maintenance plan won't be any different than my weight loss plan, so Mr. Jenkins' criticim is unfounded. I may up my carbs a bit, but that's it. This is it for life for me.

I feel great. I'm so sick of all the low-glycemic experts bashing Atkins-type diets. They work!

Oh, and Gary Taubes, remember him? He's the one who wrote "What if It's All Been A Big Fat Lie" for the Times; he's writing a well-researched book on the benefits of a low carb diet. He is such a fantastic scientist, I'm sure it will blow the lid off any remaining criticisms (at least I hope!). I can't wait until it is published!

Why do these articles never mention that Atkins himself recommends returning whole grains, legumes, and fruits back into your diet(re:Pre-Maintenance and Lifetime Maintenance)? Atkins isn't about "dieting" for the rest of your life... it's about developing the skills to make better food choices.
I wish these so called "journalists" would actually research the topics they write about. I'm sure they'd all realise what garbage they're spewing if they took just a few min to even skim the chapters of DANDR.

=)
Cori

If you have ever read Dr. Bernstien, you have hit a VERY important nail on the head.
They have NEVER tested the bodies reaction to these so called "low glycemic' is that they didn't test the bodies response 2 or 5 hours AFTER ingestion. So if you read his book, those of us sensitive to these are going to have a very different response to his diet than others.
Its not to say that for others this form of "low carb" may work , but for my diabetes ridden family its a joke.