The Atkins Diet: Vernon Coleman's comment from 1982!

There are said to be over five million copies of this diet in print already, and Dr Robert Atkins himself has attracted so much attention in the United States that he has found himself defending his diet against charges made by the American Medical Association and before a Select Committee of the US Senate.

In fact, although the Atkins diet is one of the most successful to have been published in recent years, it is not new. Similar diets have been recommended for about a century, and basically Dr Atkins recommends that you eat no carbohydrate but lots of fats. You can eat cream, butter, mayonnaise and other fatty foods as often as you like . . . but no carbohydrates.

There are two main dangers with this type of diet. First, there is a risk that because you are eating lots of fats, you'll be more likely to develop heart and artery disease.

And second, there is a risk that because your metabolism will change as a result of the absence of carbohydrate in your diet, so there may be an associated risk in your health.


My Verdict

If you follow it, the Atkins diet will probably work. But I think that the risks involved could perhaps be too great. And, incidentally, Dr Atkins does suggest that anyone following the diet should see a doctor both before starting the diet and while on it.



Copyright Vernon Coleman 2003

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