More Dieters Ditch Carb Counts (AP)

AP ^ | Aug 2, 2005 | AP staff

[summer]

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- More dieters are ditching carb counts and biting into baguettes with gusto these days. ...

This week's bankruptcy filing by the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins' old company provide fresh evidence of the low-carb diet's demise, a downward spiral that began early last year. But no single new diet has filled the void.

Observers say the only sure thing -- given the boom-and-bust nature of weight-loss trends -- is that something will pop up eventually.

''There isn't one single strong contender,'' said Anne M. Russell, editor-in-chief of Shape magazine. ''If you look at what the single largest trend is, it's weight gain.''

Chapter 11 filings by Atkins Nutritionals Inc. on Monday came about a year and a half after books like ''The Atkins Essentials'' rode the best seller charts, bread makers were back on their heels and Burger King introduced a Whopper without a bun.

But Atkins has been in decline since February 2004, said Harry Balzer, a food industry analyst at market researcher NPD Group. Balzer claims Atkins was one of those demanding diets that simply ran its course, going from fad to fade like so many others before it, including the Scarsdale and the cabbage soup diets.

How far and how fast did Atkins fall? By September 2004, surplus low-carb products were being shipped to food banks in Appalachia....

Ruth Kava, director of nutrition for the American Council on Science and Health, figures it might be something like a high-protein diet.

''Somebody will come up with something new,'' she said. ''There's a lot of creativity out there in Diet World."

----

On the Net:

Government dietary guidelines: mypyramid.com

[muawiyah]

Fruit in EXTREME MODERATION. The only ones you can eat that contain little sugar are strawberries and blueberries.

Everything else has sugar. And, if you eat a lot of it, you get a lot of sugar.

[muawiyah]

Not if you do it fast ~ they don't feel a thing.

[muawiyah]

Nuts are nuts. Forget about the grains, use nuts.

[k2blader]

If only people understood they can lose weight *without* these stupid diets.

[k2blader]

Fruits are good for you.

What folks should really be avoiding is soda..

[NormB]

http://www.mattfurey.com would agree with you that's for sure.

I do about what you said, but I do lift weights as well.

Hindu Squats, and back bridges are great too!

Don't do sprints though, I should....

[NormB]

The thing that killed Atkins is the simplicity. It is easy to follow a low carb diet without ever picking up an Atkins product.

I would guess that as many people are on an LC diet as when Atkins was all the rage, they just are doing their way.

[summer]

But I understand why you had to do it: since there have never been cases of kidney damage from carb-restricted diets, you certainly couldn't just pony up the proof.

LOL...uh, excuse me, but -- YOU are the one who suggested the above specific research topic. So, go to it!

[summer]

Time is on your side sweetie...so don't waste your energy. ;)

Thanks, najida. :)

[summer]

Re your post #217 - A link for...what?

[summer]

Thanks. :)

[xzins]

the new pyramid

[ConservativeDude]

I am a huge Furey fan and have sung his praises at FR many times. Most freepers would love him, his attitude and his politics.

From time to time I left weights...I consider it really more of a sport or recreation and I think it is great, so long as you are doing the bodyweight exercises under that. The point is to make sure you are strong. Then if you want to lift weights for fun or for aesthetics, then so be it. But weights won't make you strong, except for the limited function of weight lifting.

You should try to work in the sprints...they are wickedkly difficult. But I do believe they work. On occasion I do jump rope and other things, but really, the sprints are what really hurt the most.

Geez, I am just repeating what Furey says....and for that I apologize. I'm sure you get enough from him already!

[Chena]

Hi brytlea, there is plenty of information regarding the damaging effects of low-carb dieting on the internet so you may want to do some research. I researched it a few years ago when a friend decided to put her and her hubby on the low-carb diet. I have serious concerns for her health and that of her husband. I'm not a doctor but was advised BY my doctor against going on these sort of drastic diet fads.

Personally, I prefer the commonsense approach to dieting and staying in shape. Counting calories and making those calories count in a well-balanced diet. And of course, exercise.

[summer]

BTW, you believe anything written in the NYT?

I thought this article, in today's NYT, about Atkins, was interesting (it also mentioned South Beach Diet but I deleted that part):

Atkins Diet Saga Now at Chapter 11

FOR more than two decades, Dr. Robert C. Atkins was a pioneering, yet simple diet doctor. He wrote best-selling books, saw patients daily at his alternative medicine center in Manhattan and had a regular radio show. There was no high-profile company and there were no products with his name on them in supermarkets all across America.

Maybe it should have stayed that way.

On Sunday, what started out as a modest attempt to create products for patients on low-carbohydrate diets unraveled into a $300 million corporate mess, with Atkins Nutritionals, the company Dr. Atkins founded in 1989, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

In the face of declining numbers of low-carb dieters, there was some question whether the nutritional philosophy of Dr. Atkins, who died in 2003, was really served by a company that worked aggressively to hawk low-carb candy bars, desserts, frozen dinners and shakes.

"Dr. Atkins had amazing success with patients and that was his true life's work," said Dr. Stuart Fischer, who was associate medical director at the Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine from 1988 to 1997.

"His legacy is not all these products," Dr. Fischer said. "But unfortunately the more people hear about bankruptcy and products disappearing from shelves, the more that is what they are going to remember."

It is hard to pinpoint where exactly Atkins Nutritionals went wrong and what could have been done differently to avoid the current situation, but industry experts say that rapid expansion in the middle of the low-carb craze did not help. While Atkins Nutritionals was founded by Dr. Atkins in the late 80's, the company did not sell its first food product until 1997. For the first eight years, the company was a sleepy operation, selling vitamins and other supplements directly to patients and in some natural foods stores....

One spot of good news from the Atkins saga is that the sale of the company left the Dr. Robert C. Atkins Foundation, which finances research on nutrition, obesity and obesity-related diseases, well provided for. It is flush with $50 million and will get another $450 million when Dr. Atkins's widow dies.

Dr. Eric Braverman, who once served as chief of medical research for the Atkins Center and worked with Dr. Atkins on and off for 20 years, said that this would have pleased Dr. Atkins.

"He had a vision of a new medicine and of the role diet plays in some of our biggest medical problems," Dr. Braverman said.

[summer]

Yes, I posted it already, at the bottom of the original article.

[Shalom Israel]

LOL...uh, excuse me, but -- YOU are the one who suggested the above specific research topic. So, go to it!

That's the usual bogus claim advanced by people like yourself. Any specific health risk, other than someone with an MD saying, "It's just obviously, like, really really bad for you," would be an acceptable start toward shouldering your burden of proof.

[brytlea]

I'm actually pretty conversent in nutrition. And, interestingly, my most recent doctor was non plussed when I told her I ate a low carb diet. And we were both pleased with my cholesterol results.
I could find information on the internet on the danger of almost anything you care to pick. But, honestly, thanks for caring about my health.
susie

[brytlea]

I tried spelt flour once. But it made me feel just as bad as regular plain old flour.
susie

[summer]

ROTFLMAO....next time you choose a research topic, be willing to follow through! Instead of hoisting it onto others! ROTFLMAO...