Doctors' group urges Atkins diet ban

Washinton Times ^ | August 22, 2003 | UPI

[Cincinatus' Wife]

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Nutritionists are urging the top 10 U.S. hospitals to ban the Atkins diet, reports said Friday.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine announced Friday in Washington it hopes the hospitals will emulate England's Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, which is eliminating the controversial diet from its menus, fearing a link to kidney damage.

[templar]

I can't see the criticism of the Atkins diet. There is little that is more debilitating than extreme overweight (more than, say for a large man, 40 pounds or so), and whatever works to lose the weight should be encouraged. But a diet alone will not solve the problem. It's like quitting smoking or drinking. You got to develop a new lifestyle based on being trim and fit (or a non-smoker or a non-drinker) or you will go back to being whatever the lifestyle you live supports (overweight, smoking, drinking, or whatever).

[SamAdams76]

Not only that but these doctors have dug themselves in so deep with that "food pyramid" that they are scared of class-action lawsuits once the general public realizes that their low-fat/high-carb recipe is a national disaster.

For decades, we have been stuffing ourselves with bran muffins, bagels, pasta, breads, cereals, etc., and getting fatter year after year. And they have been preaching against the evils of meats, cheese, and eggs, etc.

It has all been a lie. In fact, I've been eating meat, cheese and eggs every day since April (along with plenty of vegetables, nuts, yogurt and a little fruit) and I've lost 70 pounds. Never in my adult life have I been able to take the weight off with those "low-fat" diets. In fact, the low-carb diet I put myself on has given me the energy to sustain a very vigourous exercise program, which has accelerated the weight loss to a large degree.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A diet where you aren't hungry. Gracious what will publishing companies do now without the latest fad diet to get out to stores?

[At _War_With_Liberals]

When your in Brooklyn, you best watch your back

-Wrong Side of the Tracks, Biohazard

[I still care]

I was on the Carbohydrate addiction diet for years. Not only did I lose 48 lbs., but for the first time in my life my Triglycerides and my cholesterol tumbled big time.

I couldn't believe it, especially since I was living on whipped cream and cheese, but it did.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Yes indeed. And with Atkins it's possible to eat well, maintain a healthy weight and have good blood numbers.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

...but for the first time in my life my Triglycerides and my cholesterol tumbled big time

Bump!!

[Miss Marple]

I am with you. I feel much better (although I had one bad day when the lack of caffeine and the cravings made me a tad grumpy right at the start). But I knew to expect that, and I now feel great!

I tried low-calorie, low fat diets and I couldn't stick with them. On this I am not hungry, and in fact I think I am eating less in calories as well because I don't feel the urge to snack and I am not stuffing myself due to excessive hunger.

[Timesink]

I'm sorry, I made an error. Doctors do not make up 15% of the PCRM's membership; they only make up FIVE percent. I posted the following in another Atkins thread a little over a month ago:

It's really not in your best interests, [name redacted], to post links to wildly left-wing political organizations as "proof" that Atkins doesn't work. Here's what consumerfreedom.org has to say about the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Who would guess that a fanatical animal rights group could pass itself off as a physicians’ organization concerned with health issues? Judging by its stated positions, PCRM’s goals are to abolish the use of animals as food (including milk, eggs, and other animal products) and to eliminate the use of animals in scientific experiments. The group furthers its mission by continuously misinforming the American public about animal research and providing potentially dangerous dietary recommendations. The American Medical Association has rightly labeled PCRM “an animal rights front organization.”

While PCRM claims to be primarily a network of doctors, the group’s own literature shows that physicians make up only 5% of its membership. Furthermore, the group’s member physicians represent less than 0.5% of America’s doctors. Far from being an unbiased source of health guidance, PCRM has asserted itself as a home for anti-meat, pro-vegan nutritionists who are committed to removing beef, dairy, poultry, and other animal products from our diets for good.

These people are not "nutritionists." They're animal rights activists. And UPI should be ashamed for running this story without bothering to research this organization first. No wonder today's UPI is but a tiny shell of the proud wire service it once was. (Billybob, do you know someone at UPI we can scream at about this pseudo-news pablum?)

When even the AMA - hardly a friend to conservatives - publicly attacks another organization as a bunch of ultra-left-wing lunatics, that's a pretty damning indictment.

[Timesink]

Just out of curiosity, have you guys lost all that weight with or without adding exercise into the mix?

[Timesink]

UPI lies! See post 29 for proof this entire article is a fraud!

This is the nascent Mainstream Media Shenanigans ping list. Please freepmail me to be added or dropped.
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[Rome2000]

Can you dig it?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

.....feel very close to my goal.

Bravo!

[leadhead]

I dropped 30 lbs. in two months on a low carb, low fat diet. Atkins doesn't impress me because of the hi fat. I've hit a plateau for the last two months and haven't lost weight, but I have lost dimensions and everyone remarks that I must be losing weight.

If the low carb diet is to use up fat, why add fat to the diet? Since I've hit the wall, I had to examine what in my diet was still carb heavy. It turns out that the W,F,S,S beers were the only big deal left so I've switched from Bud to Mic Ultra.

This has caused a lot of comments at my local haunts but in a week and a half, I dropped another 5.

5 more and I'll quit smoking and deny the ruling class their tax source.

Healthy and patriotic!

[Paulus Invictus]

But...this guy is extinct! He's a Neanderthal. He ate nothing but meat and died out soon enough.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

As the wheel turns! Charcole steaks? Or Not! Birth control pills or Not! Atkins or Not! Fat free or Not. Fat free for 20 years, fatter than ever! Atkins?

[Rome2000]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Experts!? Hardly.

[shadeaud]

congrats Sam for the success.

[Servant of the Nine]

Why would the Atkins Diet be any harder on your kidneys than a non diet of the same meats and fats with added carbs?

It is only harder on your kidneys than a theoretical balanced low calorie diet, not harder than what us fatties are already eating.

So9