First off, Terry - if you happen to be reading this you may want to make a quick exit and immediately hit the back button on your Browser.

Here's the news from Yahoo's News Service wire:

Report: Diet Doctor Atkins Was Obese
54 minutes ago Yahoo News!

NEW YORK - Dr. Robert Atkins, whose popular diet stresses protein-rich meat and cheese over carbohydrates, weighed 258 pounds at his death and had a history of heart disease, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Atkins died last April at age 72 after being injured in a fall on an icy street.

Before his death, he had suffered a heart attack, congestive heart failure and hypertension, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a report by the city medical examiner.

At 258 pounds, the 6-foot-tall Atkins would have qualified as obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention body-mass index calculator.

Diet is one potential factor in heart disease, but infections also can contribute to it.

Stuart Trager, chairman of the Atkins Physicians Council in New York, told the Journal that Atkins' heart disease stemmed from cardiomyopathy, a condition thought to result from a viral infection.

Atkins' weight was due to bloating associated with his condition, and he had been much slimmer during most of his life, Trager said.

The medical examiner's report was given to the Journal by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group that advocates vegetarianism. The medical examiner's office told the Journal that the report had been sent to the group in error.

There was no immediate response Tuesday to a call seeking additional comment from the medical examiner's office.

The diet guru's widow, Veronica Atkins, was outraged that the report had been made public.

"I have been assured by my husband's physicians that my husband's health problems late in life were completely unrelated to his diet or any diet," she told the Journal.

Last month, Veronica Atkins demanded an apology from Mayor Michael Bloomberg after Bloomberg called her late husband "fat."

In April 2002, Atkins issued a statement saying he was recovering from cardiac arrest related to a heart infection he had suffered from "for a few years." He said it was "in no way related to diet."


Hmmmmmmm?? Seems like somebody let the cat out of the bag, no? And although I don't agree in a strict Vegetarianism diet either -(they said the medical report got into the "wrong" hands by mistake didn't they? ) I'm glad for the sake of the truth that the report was published nonetheless. And even though the 'Atkins' people say his health problems and obesity were not related to his Atkins diet eating habits, it still makes a person wonder. If they didn't want the report published at all - "it got into the "wrong" hands and was not suppose to be made public from what I gather" then would it seem unreasonable that their spiel about it having no relation to his diet (Atkins diet) could also be maligned and untrue also? You know, for the sake of M-O-N-E-Y perhaps? They've built an empire and their getting filthy rich from it. Do you think they want their empire to evaporate? Not on your life! PS: These are my thoughts about the whole thing and are my opinions, okay? I can hear the 'flames' starting to spew forth already...

So anyway, this confirms my suspicion to an even greater degree about the Atkins diet and all it entails. Sorry if I offend any of the Atkinites on the Forum and any Vegans but it's better to be cautious and on the safe side and look at things from an objective opinion instead of falling in line (Yes Sir!, Sir!!) and taking something hook line and sinker and supporting something to the 'death' if need be all because of some pre-conceived notion that because "I'm on the diet and I'm losing weight therefore it must be okay for me" type mentality.

As it has been said: The Truth Will Set You Free. And my response to that is: "Long live the Truth!" Instead of:




Best regards,
Mike

[This message has been edited by keybplayer (edited 02-10-2004).]

Once again, second and third-hand information. He said, she said.
It's like knocking a keyboard you've never tried because you heard somebody say he didn't like it.
Now for the "back" button.
DonM

I have candidiasis (an over abundance of yeast in my intestines). The doctor put me on an extreme Atkins/Cave man diet. I'm not allowed to eat any starchy foods (no grains, no potatoes, no cooked carrots,etc.), just meat and low carb vegetables. No sugar, nothing with vinegar, no junk food, no fruits, but all you can eat. Phew! I lost 5 pounds last week.
Can't even have an Atkins wrap at Subway, because the wrap is made with wheat. Sigh.
I have never eaten so much vegetables per day in all my life. Vegetables are good for you right? Fortunately, it's only for two weeks, and then I can add some grains for the next 6 weeks.
The point I want to make, which has been made by others here, is that the Atkins diet works.
Starkeeper

keybplayer ... Perhaps they (whomever "they" are) didn't want the report made public because even if his condition positively had nothing to do with diet, it would raise questions in some people's minds (as it obviously has), and the pundits would have a field day with it ... I can hear Leno saying ".. but OF COURSE Dr. Atkins obesity had NOTHING to do with his diet WINK WINK..."
Pre knee replacement surgery I went on Atkins and lost about 15 - 20 lbs in a month... haven't been on it post surgery and regained about 5-6 lbs in 3 months ... As an Italian I KNOW I could never be on Atkins as a lifestyle, and I personally am not convinced that they diet is perfectly healthy for you forever ... but I feel that way about any regimen that eliminates certain food groups ...
I am now looking into the South Beach diet as it is not so restrictive of carbs...
t.

The doctor (naturopathic dr.) told me about a product called stevia. This is the first time I've ever heard of it. It is a natural, safe sweetener, with no calories, safe for diabetics and people with candida. http://www.stevia.net/
I started using it this week and find that it has no horrible aftertaste, like Aspartame. What a cool product.
Starkeeper

Stevia is good, but can be hard to find. Splenda is my sweetner of choice and recommended by Atkins also. Diet Rite cola uses Splenda, and now there are ice cream and other treats available that use it.

Dang, I said I wasn't going to get into any more of these "my opinion is better that yours" strings! . . . even if it is.

DonM

DonM,
I appreciate your opinion. I thought all diet soda pop where sweetened with Aspartame. Ucchh.
Aspartame is the most widely used, and is not good for you.
Splenda is a better product and is used less widely.
Stevia is all natural, tastes good, absolutely safe, and the U.S. and Canadian governments do not allow it to be advertised as a sweetener. It must be labeled as a supplement.
What's with that?
Starkeeper

Starkeeper,

Everything is natural--even doggy doo--just don't taste real good!

Keybdplayer,

As for the way Atkins passed away, he died of congestive heart failure and other complications related to severe myocarditus, for which, he was likely placed on a heavy regiment of steroids--nasty drugs that cause lots of nasty problems--especially with weight gain.

Don't put a lot of stock in what was in the press, especially when you consider most reporters do not have sufficient medical knowledge to safely clip their own toenails.

For an extremely large, and seemingly growing number of individuals, the Atkins diet works, and works quite well. Their are a huge number of success stories out there and those successes can be directly attributed to the diet itself.

I tried Atkins for a few weeks, lost a lot of weight quite rapidly, but had to go off of it because of other medical conditions (unresponsive Lyme Disease) which triggered a severel drop in blood pressure. I've modified the diet to some degree, kept off some of the weight, and I'm now able to retain a reasonable blood pressure of 110/55-60 with a resting pulse of 70.

Damned, I sure wish I was rich instead of so good looking!

Cheers,

Gary

Diets high in meat and saturated fat are correlated to increase risk of many types of cancer such as stomach cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer.

You might lose weight with the Atkins diet. You would also lose weight with a diet that includes complex carbohydrates (such as whole grains and legumes), unsaturated fat (olive oil, fish oil, nuts), and fruits (not fruit juices) and vegetables. There are many nutrients and micronutrients available in whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables that Atkin people are missing.

There are dozens of carotenes in a carrot and in a sweet potato. You can only get one carotene from a vitamin - beta carotene. These carotenes fight cancer. There have been studies that show no correlation between taking beta carotene and lowering cancer risk, but there are correlations between eating lots of vegetables and lowering cancer risk.

My dad is on the Atkins diet. I just visited him in Florida. He has gained back all of the weight he lost, and he is sluggish and tired looking. I am concerned about him.

Beakybird

Hey everybody, let's not knock the Atkins or any low carb diet. These have been the best things to come along in years for us Diabetics! More companies are now making a wider variety of low carb products. The products fit nicely into our diabetic diets giving us more variety. Finally!!! Of course, our diets are set up by certified dieticians and nutritionists and we have to count carbs and stick to these diets. All I can say is "Thanks for the low carb craze, healthy or not!!!!"

Peter

I'm not a big Rush Limbaugh fan, but I had his show on in the car just now.
He was wondering why everybody was trashing Dr. Atkins. He got an answer. It seems there was a phony organization of "Doctors" formed to get Atkin's medical records and then proceed to trash him by leaving out the details that Gary mentioned.
Further investigation showed that the group behind the phony organization was made up of radical animal rights advocates. In other words they were trying to discredit him and therefore stop all the meat eaters! If this is true it is really amazing. I would have thought the bread or sugar industry was behind it.
After all, Dr. Atkins died at age 72 after falling on the ice and hitting his head on concrete. It's not like he dropped dead at 40 from hardening of the arteries.
One thing Rush said that I do agree with is, "Why are so many people seemingly looking for reasons to discredit others?" As he said, if you don't agree with this eating plan, or any diet, just don't do it.
DonM

[This message has been edited by DonM (edited 02-10-2004).]

We all read the news as we sign on. Why the need to repost and waste space here? I read it this morning and made my opinions of it then. Read the whole thing and then move on. This is a terrible waste of bandwidth.
It's as bad as that preaching pilot story.
C'mon ....... stop with the mindless REposts, please. We can all read.

Come on Dave ol' buddy. LIGHTEN UP, will ya'!??!? The thread plainly said "OT" - OFF TOPIC okay? Maybe you should take my advice I gave to Terry at the beginning of this thread and just don't even bother reading this or any OT threads. But you have and you do bud, right? Like the recent Football threads. No mention from you about wasted Bandwidth then right? The reason your belly aching now is because this thread has struck a nerve am I right? I have nothing against Dr. Atkins personally I am just providing some pertinent info to the group as a follow up on our recent discussions of the Atkins diet. And as a side note Dave I NEVER posted ANY Off Topic threads until fairly recently. Off Topic threads that are constructive in their content which I have tried to do in posting mine is just a little diversion from the main theme on this Forum which is Arranger Keyboards and Music related stuff in general. Don't be so uptight UD about OT threads. As has been suggested by the Forum Administrator of this site, if you don't like OT threads (which I know you do Dave) then just ignore them. There are plenty of members here that don't mind a little diversion from Keyboards now and then and in the process we all might learn something.

Best regards,
Mike

Mike,
This has nothing to do with the Off Tpoic nature. It seems that you like to post entire diatribes of info that we can all see, and often DO in the current news.

I have no problem with O/T discussion. I think it's healthy. I just think that you seem to have a quick hand to post stuff that is redundant, that's all.

You didn't strike any nerves with me. I eat the way I do now because it has improved my health and my lowered my mass. I am only one of a few million who have found this out recently. Hmmmmm.....

At any rate - this is not an assault. It's a plea to be more consise. I don't know how much free time you have, but I barely have time to read all the current posts that interrest me, let alone answer each one.

No fisticuffs .... just some honest food for thought.

According to the Atkins people, Dr. Atkins grew an average of 7 lbs. a day from fluid retention during the last nine days he was in the hospital. Improbable.

Please pass the broccoli.

Beakybird

"According to the Atkins people, Dr. Atkins grew an average of 7 lbs. a day from fluid retention during the last nine days he was in the hospital. Improbable."

Actually, that's probably correct, and possibly could be more than 7 pounds a day. When a person is in severe congestive heart failure, the lungs rapidly fill with fluids, thereby causing the patient to essentially drown in their own fluids. It's a nasty way to die, and death does not come quickly. I should know--I spent 15 years of my youth working in cardio-pulmonary medicine, then later watched my own father die of the same malady.

Gettin' old ain't fer' whimps and dying ain't fer sissies!

Gary

Don,

Atkins and his diet went against all the recommendations which the medical establishment was pushing on us for decades. They were ridiculing Atkins when he started, discounting his success stories as anecdotal. After the years, the longer-term data makes them look like worthless fools. I guess some vindictive !@#$!#@ tried to get even, using their underhanded and deplorable tactics.

When the "reputable" news sources are repeating these half-truths without adequate medical research or counterpoint, with sensational headlines, they stoop below the supermaket tabloids (at least those are expected to print crap).

I am not on Atkins, but I truly resent the illegal release of provileged medical information by people calling themselves "doctors". I sure hope some heads will roll (or at least they will be hit by a large defamation law suit).

Regards,
Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex K (edited 02-11-2004).]

Dave quit reading this crap and get my laptop going eh?

Everybody's going to live to 70 and die or 80 if of special might no matter what they eat unless it's poison. That's a fact that ain't never gonna change.

Don't let what a bunch of people who want to save everything fool you like the animal rights advocates in the news story.

One day we're gonna find out that the Irag attack thing was sponsored by hollywood so they could make a big block buster movie someday. Who knows?

There's so much garbage out there that people don't know what to believe.

Live a good life, eat good food, of any kind in moderation, and you'll live to 70 or 80. Some of us will be fat some will be thin.

We found a few more drivers that were needed for your O/S Boo...so, it won't be long now ! I have a friend helping me out, since I have 3 days of doubles ahead of me. Sure could've used the Korg this week, so I didn't have to tear down between jobs. Sigh...