I want to point out that for those of us who are diabetic, a low-carb diet is one of the best ways of controlling weight and blood sugar, not to mention high cholesterol and triglycerides. When I went on Atkins a few years ago, my doctor was practically doing cartwheels when he saw my test results.
I was on it for a long time and it did work for me. I remember the fad phase and the restaurants having special low carb choices. My side effects included extreme weakness, but then I never really left the induction phase (which is 20 carbs per day, my own fault).
Getting off of it I think tends to make your body go haywire. For example, previously carbs weren’t much of a problem for me, but now I can’t even eat a turkey sub sandwich without getting terribly bloated. Forget pasta. In fact, after being on the diet for a while and getting off it for Christmas a few years back, I blew up about 20 lbs. of water weight, and even received comments on my “swollen” appearance.
Just my personal experience. Also, I gained it all back and more when I went off it. YMMV
From the point of view of the sellers of Atkins products the problem with the diet is that if is being done correctly it requires no special products at all. The entire diet should be meat, vegetables, nuts, fish, berries, seeds, healthy oils. You can be on an Atkins diet quite successfully and never purchase any meal replacement shakes, power bars, vitamins, flour substitutes, or similar products. In fact, when I don’t use those products I feel better. I occasionally use them in an emergency, but overuse does tend to promote laziness and poor dietary habits.
A couple of years ago Atkins Nutritionals went through a bankruptcy of some sort, chapter 11, 15, something like that. A lot of products disappeared, but there are still plenty of people on the diet.
Concepts like “carbohydrate” and “protein” and “fat” are too nebulous to tell you much about nutrition. I use them when discussing certain technical aspects of nutrition, but that’s it. Table sugar and broccoli are both carbohydrates; that doesn’t make their impact on your body the same. Good nutrition isn’t as simplistic as “low carb” or “high carb.”
That post just shows a lack of knowledge of how Atkins actually works. You don’t count Fiber, ever, as a carb, you count only carbohydrates other than fiber. 1 cup of broccoli has only 2g carbs other than fiber (and only 24 calories).
Atkins greatly encourages eating high fiber veggies. Its not the all-bacon diet.
Its funny. If you say “I’m doing Atkins” people shriek “AAGH your death is immnenet!”
If you say “I’ve decided to lose weight by eliminating processed food, sugar and white starch, and getting a lot more protein and high-fiber vegetables” people say “how sensible.”
All that extra protein messed up my kidneys, and I suffered from kidney stones.
I decided to watch my portions and hit the gym instead.