I think most people who had good success with Atkins end up living with a variant. Me, I look at bread and potatoes the way I used to look at icecream. I can have them, but I need to be aware it's naughty.
Atkins is nothing new. Our granparents knew starchy foods made you fat.
It's pretty obvious, too, that alot of kids are fat because of the snack food and excessive sweets and potato-based products they eat. Our grandparents didn't do a bag of potato chips while watching a hour of tv. Nor were two pieces of cake a standard, nightly part of dinner. Plus, if you lived within a mile from school, there was no bus service (forget "car pool")--and you walked.
I think the best thing to do is stay out of the middle isles in the grocery store, canned, packaged, etc. Only buy fresh fruit and meats. With our busy lifestyles, it is hard, I know. I still eat out at fast food, but I don't buy fries, and take one of the buns off my burger.