I'm a long-timer here, and strongly believe there's a place for these products, for some people. I do drink protein shakes (Atkins and not) frequently, and sometimes have the bars. The bars are great to take to work with me. I never eat breakfast when I have to drive in to the office, and I take one Atkins (or other) bar with me. I eat that halfway through the day (or not), and I'm still good until dinner.

My husband asked me to put him on a low-carb diet in September, and he's down about 25 pounds. He drinks one Atkins shake a day, and it keeps him from eating cookies and pretzels. I call that a win. He usually comes in around 70 carbs per day. If he can still lose at 70 carbs, that's great. I know I can't.

Yes, I agree "whole foods" are best, but there comes a time for a lot of women (and men, I suppose) when they'd rather get beat up than cook a meal. I'm that way, which is one of the primary reasons I lean heavily toward carnivore. Most days I can force myself to make a dinner of a protein, but ask me to add side dishes to it and I rebel. Sometimes I'll make a small starchy side for hubby, but I won't eat it.

It's like what Dr. Westman says. Eating bunless burgers from McDonald's is not great, but it's better than having the full burger with bun and French fries. Small steps.