I assume that you believe that the diet is simply "No bread, but eat all the fat and meat you want", right? Pick up the book and read it. That is not what the diet is about at all.
The diet is the reduction to a minimum of refined carbohydrates (i.e. sugar and processed grains mostly) and an increase in protein in percentage of calories consumed. This alone, even with no weight loss, would significantly reduce the number of diabetes cases in America, which is the hidden epidemic of our time, much worse than polio ever was.
A healthy diet which depends upon vegetables and meat as it's prime source of calories and is accented with fruits and breads and regular exercise would get kudos from the medical community... if it didn't have the name "Robert Atkins" attached to it. He has made them look like fools and has revealed them as co-conspirators in our obesity problem in America.
It would be wonderful if the food companies only put sugar in their wares. High fructose corn syrup is the bane of America.