Carb-makers rejoice at demise of Atkins empire

In Boise, staff members of the Idaho Potato Commission gave each other gleeful high-fives when they heard the news. In Houston, the folks at the U.S. Rice Producers' Association declared "good riddance." And fruit farmers in the Central Valley said they were "happy to see them go."

Across the United States, producers of carbohydrate-laden food exulted at the decision by Atkins Nutritionals Inc., the Ronkonkoma, N.Y.-based designer of the once popular low-carbohydrate weight-loss program, to file for bankruptcy protection.

The company said it planned to reorganize and focus mainly on selling nutrition bars and shakes. But analysts and nutritionists said Atkins' bankruptcy filing effectively signaled the demise of the low-carb lifestyle and an era when tens of millions of Americans embraced high-protein diets rich in meat and cheese while eschewing carbohydrates and sugars in grains, fruits and vegetables.

In court papers, the company indicated that it was a victim of fierce competition from large food companies such as Unilever, Kraft Foods Inc. and General Mills Inc., which in the past few years rolled out their own lines of low-carb food.

The water thing is probably true. I know of two of these women myself. They were both young marrieds and ended up with the kidney stones after starting the Atkins Diet. I also received a pamphlet from the Kidney association warning of the problem. Women were the ones being affected. Maybe we need more carbs than men for proper kidney function.

"It just proves that what Atkins was trying to do was just too extreme," said Jeffrey Yankellow, a South San Francisco baking instructor and winner of the World Cup of Baking in Paris in April. "Bread has survived as a nutritional food for thousands of years, and Atkins isn't going to kill it."

Bah!
Atkins is certainly NOT "extreme".
And bread IS still banned from my house.

I have a genuinely bad back, not the "I don't WANT to help you move furniture" type, the "I'm lucky I was able to get out of bed this morning" type.
Excess weight is literally a PAIN for me.

So diets that actually rely on heavy exercise to get results are out of the question.

I lost over forty pounds on Atkins, only gained back about five when I stopped paying as much attention to what I eat.
I never did go back to the heavy carb foods, no longer liking their taste, and knowing what they would do to me.
I just decided to get serious about Atkins again, and am very surprised at how quickly I regained my "ketosis" state.
So this time I am going for the gusto, intending to lose another thirty pounds, bringing me down to 190!

But I am very disappointed that so many low-carb food products have disappeared from the market.

To be successful prepared low-carb foods need to taste good enough to stand on their own, and not be overpriced.
So far, only a few truly meet that standard.
I understand they are at a disadvantage, they cannot exploit the subsidized sugar and corn syrup (CARBS) used in their competitors products.

I will be doing Atkins for life, as will many other people who are serious about losing weight, and keeping it off, instead of merely looking for something new to complain about.

There's really no way around counting calories. But if Atkins works for someone, than more power to them, I say. The main problem with Atkins is that it doesn't change habits, it just finds a technicality. I lost 100 pounds counting calories. Before that, though, I did lose five pounds on Atkins. I only made it two weeks doing that. I miss bread too much.

Which sucks, because I lost 60 pounds and managed to get off my diabetes medication...

There's of course nothing keeping you from sticking with this diet. It does wonders for me to. I don't eat anything that's white (white bread, white pasta, white potatoes), and steer clear of cheese too (too much fat).

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Bankruptcy shows diet is 'too extreme' for U.S., baker says.