Got fat? Don't try Atkins diet craze

Got fat? Don't try Atkins diet craze

Date published: 3/7/2004

http://www.freelancestar.com/News/F...3072004/1271343

So, the jig is up. The Atkins high-protein-diet craze that has been sweeping the nation has shown its ugly underbelly, and it's heart disease (as well as a host of other chronic diseases linked with consumption of fatty meat and dairy products).

A consumer advocacy group released a medical examiner's report showing that the infamous Dr. Atkins suffered from obesity and heart disease.

Apparently, the dozen expert panels who reviewed thousands of diet and health studies over the past three decades were not crazy after all. Every one of them concluded that Americans should replace meat and dairy products in their diet with vegetables, fresh fruits, and whole grains. None reached the opposite conclusion.

As consumers, we need to be constantly vigilant for diet gurus who would exploit our obsession with physical appearance to promote their profit-driven agendas.

The price we pay, beyond an inflated food bill, is lifelong chronic afflictions and a curtailed life span. Let's hope that this lesson does not come too late for victims of the Atkins diet.

George Seppala, Fredericksburg

Date published: 3/7/2004