Atkins, Shmatkins -- fad diets are all the same

link to article

A lot of people have been asking me about my thoughts on the widely popular "it" diet of the moment, the Atkins diet.

Actually, no one's asked me, but I'll tell you that, for what it's worth, this "diet," once a semi-interesting dinner table and talk-show conversation item has officially slipped into the abyss of cliché and is spiraling dangerously toward being a full-fledged, overexposed marketing tool.

There.

The idea of throwing out the window the traditional weight-loss rhetoric of expending more calories than you take in through exercise and a balanced diet had turned Dr. Atkins into the fifth Beatle before his sudden death last year.

Now all of a sudden, Dr. Atkins is Van Gogh as the regard with which he was held by his contemporaries has just gone through the roof since he died.

Case in point, when Dr. Atkins was still alive I'm sure it had never crossed the mind of any bigwig at the Burger King corporate think tank in Miami to begin offering bunless Whoppers as an actual menu item.

Now, the science of the Atkins diet is pretty simple: Eliminating carbohydrates from your diet will send your body into a state of ketosis during which it will begin burning fat for energy.

Seems logical enough. Medical research is now telling us that Dr. Atkins wasn't such a quack after all, that the diet actually has some merit to it.

But is medical research telling that man or woman in your office who's dropped a few pounds on Atkins to say, "do you have any idea how many carbs are in that sub?" while they proudly throw their pizza crusts in the trash? Is it telling Hardees to serve its sourdough melt sans the sourdough and between two pieces of lettuce? Or worse yet, is it telling every marketing wizard in the country to trot out all of their bogus, "hip" commercials with flashing colors, rapid camera shots and hip-hop jingles to advertise some boring, mediocre, low-carb wrap-thingy?

No.

I haven't read that report yet.

Which brings me back to this bunless Whopper.

Burger King has launched a full-scale advertising blitz to promote this silly idea that its customers are completely incapable of removing their own bun from their own damn sandwich.

They'll tell you it's because they feel that they need to offer their loyal customers a "nutritional" alternative to the usual fries, onion rings, calorie-loaded sodas -- and especially those evil buns. (I'm thinking that if you're a loyal customer of Burger King, a four-inch bun on your Whopper is the least of your worries. You might want to rethink your commitment to Dr. Atkins' holy diet if you're still running out to BK a few times a week for a Whopper -- bun or not.)

What they mean to tell you is that they feel they need to offer their loyal customers whatever they need to offer them to keep them coming in as the fast food nation suddenly looks down at its collective love handle and gets a temporary (aren't all diets temporary?) conscience.

Who knows, maybe the bunless burger will change the face of the fast food industry. Maybe you'll look around the U.S. in a couple years and we'll all be as thin as Frenchmen, sucking down turkey-wraps like they're Big Macs.

I doubt it, but for you Atkins devotees, enjoy it while it lasts. Once this latest ploy runs its course, you'll have to start taking off the buns yourself again.

Jack Buehrer's column appears every Thursday on the Go! Weekly page. Contact him at 419-334-1050 or jbuehrer~fremont.gannett.com.

Originally published Thursday, January 22, 2004

Man, why such animosity?
Quit being such an asshole and LOOK UP your facts before commenting.

Am I wrong or are fast food chains still also serving burgers with the buns. It's not like those who don't lc have to bring their own bun. Why shouldn't those of us who choose to lc have some convenience?

Also, I have personally never asked anyone if they know how many grams of carbs are in something they are choosing to eat. I wonder what the real issue is here?

I dont think gotbeer was being an ass,but he just posted a link that he read.

I took TBoneMitch's comments as directed against the author of the article, not me personally.

Not that I care - I've been called much worse.

Yeah, we all make fun of the authors of the articles gotbeer posts, not him!

I wonder if this author would find it perfectly acceptable to replace the burger with a high-carb veggie burger? Probably.

Heck, don't shoot the messenger. Gotbeer somehow gathers a lot of stuff for us to peruse, contradict, and fuss over. It's not that he agrees with all this drivel.

Personally, I LIKE reading throught he things he uncovers -- even if some of it (most of it) is brain-numb nonsense.

Um, hey...I don't think anyone here was directing comments at gotbeer...only at the asshole who wrote the stupid, uninformed article.

It amazes me that he actually got paid to write such crap.

Indeed, I think it is important to reveal the "brain-numb nonsense", for several reasons:

1. This group is stunningly adept at engaging and refuting the nonsense.

2. Members of this group frequently go back to the media source of the nonsense with complaints and they often win corrections for their efforts.

3. Newbies often want and need to see the latest rubbish engaged and refuted.

4. Nonsense left unchecked can fester.

The Atkins diet was dismissed as nonsense for decades - no one would engage it, they just ignored it. If only they had studied it, the current obesity epidemic might have been stopped before it ever started.

I love the "feel-good-about-Atkins" articles but I recognize they don't advance our knowledge in the way that exposing and challenging the nonsense does.

Goodness! Such hostility. It's not like you can't low carb without patronizing Burger King (or any other fast food corporation that is currently catering to the dietary preferences of low carbers). I don't think I've stepped foot in a fast food joint in over a year and have managed very nicely without it.
OTOH, what's it to him that several restaurant chains have chosen to give low carbers an option to keep them patronizing their establishments? Methinks someone was on a sugar crash and feeling crabby when he wrote that article.
I have yet to say to anyone in a horrified tone of voice (or any tone of voice for that matter), "Do you know how many carbs in in what you're eating???"

Well, I THINK it, but I don't say it.
Every new idea has a hard time...from the planets revolving around the sun to Dr. Atkins.
It's discouraging though...did you ever notice, that when the news reports on something you know something about...that they always seem to get it wrong?
Chilling reality, that.

I really wonder where gotbeer finds these articles sometimes...

The author sounds a little bitter, I think. How a wrap or a bunless burger could cause so much animosity is a mystery, though.

Hello everybody...as pointed out, I wasn'"t pointing my comment against GotBeer, but against the author of this rubbish!

No harm, no foul.

Ladies and gentlemen of the low-carb kingdom:
Good morning. I'm the brain-numb author of the "Atkins Schmatkins" column that was recently posted to this wonderful forum by a gentleman who, I'm assuming, very unironically calls himself "gotbeer." I was recently told by a friend to check this thread out because of the hilarious attacks that were made as to my character, my knowledge of my subjects, my motives for writing this particular piece, etc. Before I go further, let's all give all praise to Atkins. First of all, as I write this, i'm ingesting a delicious Kelloggs Pop Tart (75 grams total carbs). But that's not important right now. Rather, I'd like to simply say: thank you for reading my obscure little column and giving me yet another idea to write about — the angst-ridden low-carber. Praise be to Atkins. And by the way, at 6'5'', 220 lbs, there are no "other issues" at work here as some have suggested. I was just airing out a grievance I have about this little fad (and that's exactly what it is) and, apparently, I've struck a nerve. Praise be to Atkins. Lovely. I welcome your retorts. Please, let the games begin. I'm off to eat a blooming onion.
Yours in The Zone,
Jack A. Buehrer
Gannett News Service
jbuehrer~fremont.gannett.com

ps. You were right, however ... the media is 100% wrong 99% of the time. And believe me, I'm well aware how "lucky" I am to get paid for this as someone seemed to doubt.