I was never a true purveyor of Atkins, but the diet did proclaim two things which appeal to me. 1) There are too many carbs in the American diet, and 2) Eat all the meat possible.
The meat part of the diet was easy, since I love meat anyway. The carb part, while initially difficult, took a wee bit of mind over matter. Hence, get a burger, don't eat the bun. Pass on that basket o' bread they set down in front of you in restaurants, and avoid the rice and potatoes served with the main course.
Chris: you state Atkins people are whacko, and you most probably are correct. Americans are whacko in general when it comes to dieting. It's an all-or-nothing thing with them, which is why they burn out after six weeks and head back to the buffet bar with the lame excuse of, "I can't do it! It's too hard!" The strong fact about dieting is dieting does nothing without two other key elements, which is moderation and exercise.
Atkins, while a potential ploy for the meat industry (
) is not the only way to lose weight. And beside, eating meat exclusively should be done only in the first six weeks of the diet. After that, one should introduce carbs to their diet, or they'll have some sort of catastrophic internal organ implosion or something.
As some may remember, America's leaning toward carbs came about in the 70s when it was said meat causes high cholestoral. So the pasta was piled on with the spaghet and all the rest. So we got our cholestoral from somewhere else, and our fat too.
My agreement is with CJ as the main way a person loses weight is diet and exercise. IMO the gut will leave if one keeps up the crunches. The gut and waist are the hardest places to lose weight. And remember, if you continue with the diet and exercise, your body is doing one of, if not two things simultaneously: losing weight and gaining shape.
The most true thing I can say is of a diet, one also has to be active to see/feel results.
Now, where's that goddamned Krispy Kreme doughnut!
