It's official! Jenni Murray is a convert!!

[Katy131]

Hey all!

I'm brimming over with this piece of news! Run out and get a copy of the December issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. They got Jenni Murray from Woman's Hour on Radio 4 to try Atkins and it's a totally positive and balanced 1 1/2 page review! She lost 3/4 stone in a month and says at the end "I feel well on it and it works. I shall continue on the weight-loss phase until I'm down to 10 1/2 stone." I've been showering her photo with kisses! (well almost)

I've only skimmed the other two articles about Detox and Weight Watchers, but in her month of the diet the guinea pig who tried Weight Watchers lost a hilarious 1.5 pounds!

[LittleAnne]

Well spotted Katy. Can't say I know who Jenni Murray is, but any balanced article is good news.

[Demi]

Excellent article - a very interesting read - but it's the January issue of GH, not the December one.

I remember that Jenni was actually fairly pro-low carb in her attitude when she interviewed Leslie Kenton on Woman's Hour a couple of years ago - when Leslie's low carb book 'The X-Factor' had just been released in the UK.

Here's a short synopsis of the article (it's far to long to type in full, and unfortunately is not available as an article on the internet).

Jenni's first reaction:
Just my luck to be asked to go on the Atkins diet - the only one everybody says works - in the same week that it's all over the papers, described as dangerous, unhealthy or worse, 'implicated in the death of an American teenager'. I paused and wondered why it was only now hitting the headlines ...

Jenni then goes on to say that high-protein, low-carb weight loss plans didn't begin with Atkins, but with Banting ... her 'natural scepticism' led her to think that 'if it's been around that long and no one seemed to have come to any harm - there's no proof the American girl died as a result of the diet - it was probably doing pretty weel. Far better than the junk food and ready meals with high sugar content that seem to be a cause of obesity yet are still consumed without too much worry. And obesity is known to take out a significant number of us each year because it results in diabetes, heart disease and strokes.'She concludes that the sugar, potato and flour industries are behind the adverse publicity in the UK at the moment :thup:

She also explains in the article that Atkins is low carb, not no carb , and details how it works. She explains how the diet works on a day-to-day basis, from the 2 week induction period to the ongoing weight loss phase. She does also talk about Dr Charles Clark (author of the High Protein Diet).

She also talks about how she npow eats much more fresh food, and how there is a huge range of vegetables and fruit to choose from, as well as nuts.

Here's how Jenni sums it up:
The results? I haven't felt hungry or too deprived. I've eaten fat whenever I've felt like it, usually in the form of lashings of butter on vegetables and the crisp, crunchy bit on the edge of a nice piece of rump. And in a month, I've lost three-quarters of a stone, haven't been constipated and have plenty of energy and a glowing skin.

In an update at the bottom of the page, Jenni has now lost a stone and has no plans to stop the Atkins diet: 'I feel well on it and it works,' she says. 'I shall continue on the weight-loss phase until I'm down to 10 1/2 stone.'



Anne: Jenni is a fairly well-known broadcaster - she has presented 'Woman's Hour on Radio 4 for quite a few years.

[LittleAnne]

Thanks for all that typing Demi.

[Katy131]

Thanks for that Demi - I always find it confusing that next month's issue arrives when this month has hardly begun! It's especially confusing when January arrives in December talking about "now that Christmas is over .... " Thanks also for taking the time to input all that info from the mag.

Yes, Anne, Jenni Murray is the regular presenter of Woman's Hour on Radio 4, plus other R4 progs, a (generally!) well-known and respected writer and
broadcaster. She is/was also very overweight and I've heard her
cover the Atkins thing several times on her programme, always hoping
that she would one day try it. She is just the kind of high profile
broadcaster we want to be on the side of Atkins. Her bio is here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/presenters/murray_biog.shtml

[Tortie]

Thanks so much for alerting me - I don't tend to buy magazines but this is a good excuse to buy GH. Jenni Murray is one of my heroines, being a Woman's Hour listening since childhood as my Mother once did a piece for the programme about our American exchange teacher when I was in the second year of primary school. And I too find the way magazines appear so far ahead annoying. Only exception is Oprah magazine which is imported so tends to be a month late!