UK Breakfast TV station GMTV are running a series this week on various ways to lose weight, highlighting various low-fat diets (Slimming World, Rosemary Conley, Weight Watchers etc). However, they also actually have someone trying the Atkins Diet!

I have to admit to being somewhat sceptical about this, as they describe the Atkins diet as "A high protein low carbohydrate diet that allows you to eat lots of fattening foods and not many vegetables!".

Although only members in the UK will be able to view it, I thought it might be of interest and, even if you can't watch it, you can follow the Atkins dieter's experiences through the GMTV website:

http://gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=6645

Wish I could send them an e-mail to say:

1) This isn't a "diet", it's meant to be a permanent change in eating habits. Diets don't work because once you stop dieting, you gain the weight back 90% of the time. Lifelong changes in eating habits works.

and

2) If Fiona doesn't like veggies and doesn't drink water, she's in for a rough time in more ways than one (can we say really constipated?). I eat more veggies now than I ever used to and I like them (always have).

I have to wonder why she was chosen to try Atkins. Almost seems like a failure setup!

So what's a stone in pounds?

There are 14lbs in a stone.

Not to quibble Lisa, but any way of eating is a diet. By definition
a diet = The usual food and drink of a person or animal. It derives from the Middle English diete, from Old French, from Latin diaeta, way of living, diet, from Greek diaita, back-formation from diaitsthai, to live one's life, middle voice of diaitn, to treat. Its is recently that we define a diet as a temporary way of eating.

Maybe I'm just cranky today, but it bugs me we have to create a description to emphasise that this is a lifelong way of eating, just because people have bastardized the true definition of diet.

Have you ever watched a documentary about a certain species of animal? Sometime during that documentary it will discuss what the animal eats, which will sound something like this "the diet of the albino michigan wombat consists of bark, grubs, and fruit". By our societies definition of the word diet, the wombat is merely trying to shed a few pounds, and will soon return to its normal choice of foods of meat, pasta, and cola.

Not sure what I was trying to accomplish in this little rant, but I feel a lot better now .

I agree with you about the common usage of the word diet as opposed to its correct usage, but the fact is that when describing the eating habits of humans, "diet" is a word that usually connotates a change in eating habits for a short while to attain a weight loss goal; something to be endured for the sake of vanity and/or good health and when that is attained, you get to go "off" the diet and resume eating like you used to. Try asking 10 people who you know are not trying to lose weight if they are "on a diet" and see what their answer is. The fact is, that if you eat food regularly, you are eating a "diet"; the question then becomes is it going to benefit you or not?
I read the usage of the word "diet" in the article to mean just that...something that she is going to have a go at for a little while and then quit which is why I more prefer the phrase "permanent change in eating habits" because that more accurately describes what needs to occur for success to be long-term.

I generally agree, but if someone asked you, "What is in your diet?", you would take that to be asking about the things you eat normally. It would not imply you are on a diet to loose weight. Its the usage that impiles the meaning, "I am thinking of going on a diet" verses "my diet consists of the following".

Regardless, its annoying to hear that a low-carb diet doesn't really work because when people go off the diet, they gain the weight back. And then WE all say its a diet, not a "diet". If you don't know that, then you don't understand low-carb.