Atkins vs. Animal Rights: The Latest Diet Movement?

Attempts are being made by animal rights activists to dampen the national enthusiasm for the low-carb, meat-heavy diets that are sweeping the nation.

At a recent press conference at Washington's National Press Club, a number of people shared their stories of misery caused, in their minds, by the Atkins Diet and its brethren. There was the 53-year-old man who had no heart problems before he went on Atkins and then, after two and a half years on the diet and a loss of a significant amount of weight, suffered from heart disease and eventually had to have an angioplasty.

There was a 51-year-old man whose cholesterol went from 160 to 158 on the Atkins Diet. And there was the obese teenager who dropped dead after using the diet to try and lose weight.

One of the people speaking at the National Press Club, referring to the damage that the Atkins Diet had done to his health, said that he'd "made a deal with the devil for a 32-inch waist."

The ringleader at the event was Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), who is a self-proclaimed advocate of a plant-based diet. He represents the cadre of people who not only believe that eating meat is physically bad for you, but a philosophically bad idea as well.

Barnard and his associates are looking for a federal investigation into the long-term effects of low-carb, high-meat diets. "We are calling on the Centers for Disease Control to try to lure Americans away from its honeymoon with the diet that has made its reputation from the fact that it's so counterintuitive -- eat the worst possible food, and lose weight," he said.

For its part, Atkins Nutritionals released a prepared statement that said, in part, "All of us at Atkins are deeply disturbed by PCRM's shameless exploitation of people who have struggled through personal tragedies." The Atkins position seems simple - a percentage of people get sick, and the percentage of people who get sick while on the Atkins Diet is no larger than the percentage of people who get sick while not on it.

Meanwhile, the Atkins folks are dealing with another issue - people who eat so many low-carb snacks, muffins, and power bars that their calorie consumption gets to the point where they are not losing any weight.

"They cannot sacrifice their vegetables for low-carb products. The products were formulated to make the lifestyle easier, not as a substitute for healthy eating habits," says Colette Heimowitz, a nutritionist for the Atkins companies.

There's certainly enough temptation out there - more than 600 low-carb products have been introduced into the marketplace this year alone, and sales of these type products are expected to climb as high as $15 billion for 2003 - this from a category that didn't even exist a couple of years ago. Next year, it is believed that sales in the category could hit $30 billion. As the new recommended Daily Values become known we can only surmise that more foods will become "lower" in carbs, not necessarily "Low-Carb" and our consumption of carbs will decrease. In the meantime, want to lose weight? Eat less of EVERYTHING and excercise more. And make sure you start your own Personal Fat Diary. CLICK HERE.