At It Again

Everyone at some point in their lives has encountered something that is not as promising as they originally thought. A fad diet explodes and becomes something that every weight-conscious patient needs to try. However, as fast as it spreads, it disappears just as quickly. The popular Dr. Atkins diet is one, like many others, that guarantees instant weight loss and a much healthier lifestyle. Unfortunately, for many of your patients who have fallen into the trap of false hopes and empty promises, many will finish the diet feeling mentally and physically worse than before they started it. This is a result of using techniques that leaves one's body, literally starving for vital nutrients. Many patients initially lose weight, but over time gain it back because these types of diets, Dr. Atkins in particular, do not offer advice on how to approach eating after one has lost weight. The issue of exercise in diets, is not one; it plays a small role or is not mentioned at all.

In conclusion, Fad diets, the Dr. Atkins in particular, offer an unrealistic approach to weight loss and maintaining it. This is because so many of them result in failure. When patients actually, on a rare occasion, achieve their goals, the majority of them gain the weight back most of the time. In many cases, a diet that requires depriving oneself of essential foods in the basic food groups and then suddenly incorporating them back into their life, causes problems for many patients. These diets focus on one specific aspect of nutrition, not nutrition as a whole. Dr. Sarah Schenker (2001), Nutrition scientist, wrote:
Not only do very-low-carbohydrate diets go against all current healthy eating advice, which is to increase starchy carbohydrates and lower fat intake, but they can lead to ketosis. This is a dangerous state for the body to be in as the pH of the blood falls, and can lead to unconsciousness and eventually coma. Furthermore, anyone trying to exercise while following this diet will find it a real problem. Stored carbohydrates are the best source of energy for exercise; this diet is likely to make the person feel tried, lethargic and irritable (p. 118).
According to Dr. Atkins, eating foods that are low in carbohydrates or foods that practically have none, and reaching the goal of eating only meat is good nutrition. Therefore, bad nutrition is eating, because the majority of healthy food products contain carbohydrates. If this is true then why did Dr. Atkins die from heart disease?