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  #1   ^
Old Mon, Dec-01-03, 11:03
gotbeer's Avatar
gotbeer gotbeer is offline
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Plan: Atkins
Stats: 280/203/200 Male 69 inches
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Default "Atkins Diet: Warning follows BBC trial"

Atkins Diet: Warning follows BBC trial

Last Updated: Monday, 1 December, 2003, 05:26 GMT


link to article

Anyone on the Atkins Diet must "follow the programme to the letter" to avoid the risk of side effects, the company behind it has warned.

Followers of the fashionable low carbohydrate, high protein diet were advised that mixing it with other weight-loss programmes could be dangerous.

In particular, it could be "deadly" to mix high carbohydrate foods with high fat foods, Collette Heimowitz, vice president of Atkins Health and Medical Information Services, told the BBC.

She made the comments in an interview with the Real Story programme, following an experiment in which three doctors followed the diet for a month on behalf of the show.

'Worse and worse'

One of the doctors was hospitalised and given morphine to control chronic stomach pains. He had to be fed intravenously.

Maurice Gleeson, 42, a psychiatrist in London, was taken to hospital after suffering from acute constipation.

Dr Gleeson said: "The pain just started getting worse and worse. I could not find any position that was comfortable so in the end I called an ambulance.

"I was concerned I would need an operation to unblock the bowel."

The former A&E doctor said that if there is complete obstruction of the bowel it can lead to death.

"I was very, very, very cold because with the pain I was sweating profusely and then shivering. I was very, very shut down - my fingers were blue," he said.

"I was almost crying on several occasions because I have never had pain like this before. I was completely convinced that was due to the Atkins diet."

'Chocolate biscuits'

Dr Gleeson fell ill after a month on the diet, which has been tried by four million Britons in the last five years.

He kept a video diary for the duration of the diet and admitted to deviating from the low carb, high fat regime on a number of occasions. He drank small quantities of alcohol and ate ten chocolate biscuits.

Then, when the pains in his intestine became so severe, he ate bread and drank mango juice "to try and get things moving".

A few hours later, he had to call the ambulance.

'When you cheat'

Commenting on Dr Gleeson's ordeal, Ms Heimowitz said he had cheated and had not actually been on the diet.

She said: "When you cheat with alcohol, when you cheat with juice, when you cheat with bread, you're switching back to a carbohydrate metabolism.

"It's a different metabolism, so the risk factors associated with high carb', high fat is the most deadliest of combinations and you're not on the programme if that's what you're doing.

"The only reason why taking in high fat is safe is because you're burning it as a primary source of fuel."

Very successful

Another doctor who tested the diet, Gill Jenkins, an air ambulance doctor and GP, found that her levels of "bad" cholesterol had risen above a clinically safe level.

But medical journalist Dr Sarah Brewer found the programme very successful.

Her bad cholesterol fell slightly and so did her fat tissue.

She lost 11lbs in weight and has decided to continue with the Atkins diet.

Aggressive efforts

Ms Heimowitz said only highly motivated individuals should follow the diet.

She said people who suffer from side effects should see a doctor and follow their advice.

The company was making aggressive efforts to educate doctors about the Atkins diet, Ms Heimowitz said.
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  #2   ^
Old Mon, Dec-01-03, 13:47
adkpam's Avatar
adkpam adkpam is offline
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Plan: Atkins
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Ah, gee, I didn't know cheating could be life threatening!

And I would think (DOH!) that doctors would know better....

Bunk, I'm sure.
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  #3   ^
Old Mon, Dec-01-03, 16:08
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Angeline Angeline is offline
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Plan: Atkins (loosely)
Stats: -/-/- Female 60
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Progress: 40%
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
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I find it pretty darn cheap on their part to blame it all on the patient for not following the rule to the letter
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  #4   ^
Old Mon, Dec-01-03, 16:25
Lisa N's Avatar
Lisa N Lisa N is offline
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Plan: Bernstein Diabetes Soluti
Stats: 260/-/145 Female 5' 3"
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Location: Michigan
Default

More likely he wasn't getting enough veggies and if he was, his system wasn't used to the fiber. Generally, though, there's not enough information there to say what did or did not happen since the only information regarding what he WAS eating was that he cheated on several occasions (in a month's time).
Was he drinking enough water? Taking any supplements? Eating enough veggies? Using a fiber supplement if he was constipated?
Constipation during the first few weeks is not that uncommon. Any time you make a big change in your eating habits, you can have equally big changes in your bowel patterns (either constipation or diarrhea). You'd think, though, that a doctor (psychiatrists are MDs) would be able to recognize that they were constipated and know what to do about it.
The article also doesn't mention what the final diagnosis was. Was he constipated? Just had a bad case of gas? Food poisoning? All are possibilities.
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  #5   ^
Old Mon, Dec-01-03, 17:09
alaskaman alaskaman is offline
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Plan: Dr Bernstein
Stats: 195/175/170
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The good dr was indeed constipated, and is still full of s...
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  #6   ^
Old Wed, Dec-03-03, 02:57
Micha2 Micha2 is offline
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Posts: 87
 
Plan: Reduced carbs
Stats: 163/148/132 Female 160
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Progress: 48%
Location: Buckinghamshire, England
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I watched that programme. It was really bad, totally biased against Atkins and out to discredit him. This was disappointing because just a short while ago there was a much more balanced programme on another channel here in the UK.

When that particular doctor started on the diet, he lifted Dr Atkins' book up to the camera, saying, oh, this is far too big, I won't read it. How pathetic was that!! Then he complained about diarrhea, then about constipation. And it is not just a question if he followed the diet to the letter, did he follow it at all without reading the book??

Another of the test subjects complained that she couldn't remember what day it was (my brain needs carbs and I am not giving it any, therefore my mind has gone blank...). Oh dear!

I am not doing Atkins but I have reduced my carb intake drastically. I am a computer programmer and I am doing just fine, don't think my brain has turned to mush just yet...

Michaela
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