Registered: Jul 2000
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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=sto...ort_1&printer=1


Dr. Robert Atkins, whose popular diet stresses protein-rich meat and cheese over carbohydrates, weighed 258 pounds at his death and had a history of heart disease, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Before his death, he had suffered a heart attack, congestive heart failure and hypertension, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a report by the city medical examiner.

At 258 pounds, the 6-foot-tall Atkins would have qualified as obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites)'s body-mass index calculator.

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AHAHAHAHA.

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Registered: Aug 2001
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I seem to recall that Mayor Bloomberg got into trouble for saying something like 'heart condition? He was a fat bastard'.

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Actually, it was that he didn't believe that Atkins died as a result of a slip on the sidewalk, but because he was a fatty with a shitty diet.

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Registered: Jul 2001
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Even he knew it was bullshit.

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From the article linked above:

"...Atkins' heart disease stemmed from cardiomyopathy, a condition thought to result from a viral infection.

Atkins' weight was due to bloating associated with his condition, and he had been much slimmer during most of his life, Trager said.

The medical examiner's report was given to the Journal by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group that advocates vegetarianism. The medical examiner's office told the Journal that the report had been sent to the group in error. ..."

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Oops, seems Quincy sent the report to a bunch of doctors for a vegetarian association. Quite the fluke, eh?

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quote:

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Originally posted by rodney
Even he knew it was bullshit.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Peter_Torque
Tell that to JEB and BnB, among others who have lost weight on the Atkins diet.

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taste the fucking rainbow

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Registered: Aug 2000
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I think the issues are with people who become fat because of not exercising or eating properly, then they lose a lot weight by not eating properly, then they switch off. They have the health of an obese person but with the body of a, um, less obese person.

Maybe.

I'm one of those bastards who eats a lot of bread.

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Losing weight is only part of a good diet, you might as well say not eating is a good diet, or being bulemic.

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Registered: Jun 2001
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just because the diet helps you lose weight does not in the slightest mean it's a healthy way to lose it

in 5 years time people will be ranting and raving about the increase in cholesterol levels and what a total farce the diet is ...

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Registered: Feb 2004
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I eat everything I wanna eat and I can't seem to gain weight. Getting pregnant was all that helped me gain weight.

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Just because he died a fat bastard doesn't mean that the Atkins diet doesn't work, or is bad for you; it just suggests that for some time before his death he wasn't following it, or else he picked up maybe 50 pounds of 'bloat' as the Atkins people have claimed. Both sides have clear vested interest in portraying him either as an unhealthy fatty or as a victim of disease because the Atkins thing is worth a lot of money (and it clearly works in terms of losing weight, it would seem). Bloomberg apparently doesn't like him; he ate at Atkins' house, he says, and thought that the food was so revolting he spat it out into a napkin when no one was looking, on top of the comments that he was a fat bastard with a shitty diet.

If it isn't good for you, millions of people are conducting a mass trial into it for free and we'll know in 10 or more years, I guess. I know that many doctors here are suspicious of it, and nutritionists too, but maybe they are just being conservative, or protective of their own research. I personally am suspicious of anything that causes rapid change in body behaviour, given that the body is an equilibrium system, but if other people want to go on the diet, good luck to them.

Last edited by Smug Git on 02-10-2004 at 07:38 PM

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quote:

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Originally posted by Smug Git
Atkins died as a result of a slip on the sidewalk

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I think the kick in the pants about the Atkins diet is that it leads to things like pork rinds being labelled "healthy" just because they are low on carbs. I can not think of a single thing that is less healthy to eat than pork rinds. Except maybe poison.

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quote:

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Originally posted by morgana
AHAHAHAHA.

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Probably better to read independent research about Atkins' diet than the books themselves, unless you are a nutritionist yourself. After all, it isn't as if most of us could critique what he says with any specific level of expertise, unless there are some nutritionists here.

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[mysogynistic rant] Why is it that men's worries deal with things like nuclear war and rampant corporatism while women spend so much of their god-given precious time worrying about things so trivial as how much their bodies happen to weigh?[/mysogynistic rant]

I'm not turned on by grossly obese women, but I do prefer ones that are full figured to those who are bony and squiggly.

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Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:

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Originally posted by Smug Git
I personally am suspicious of anything that causes rapid change in body behaviour, given that the body is an equilibrium system

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Sorry plum, but you blew your misogyny quota for the year with the water weight thread.

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I can claim to have a level of expertise in this field and as far as I understand it Atkins theories were wrong but the diet does not unduely increase colesterol levels nor does it in fact lead to a weight gain.

Ketosis does not account for the weight loss and neither does the slightly less efficient metabolism of protein when compared to carbs etc. Latest accepted theory suggests the greatest impact is on the drive to eat when on a protein rich diet.

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I read a consumer test on different diets once and they put in a made-up diet where you ate a raw carrot before and after each meal, with the raw carrot working best pretty much entirely because of appetite supression.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Smug Git
Probably better to read independent research about Atkins' diet than the books themselves. . . .

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If I wanted to follow the diet, I'd read the book, but not if I wanted to work out whether or not the diet is healthy; I'd follow the opinions of people with expertise in the particular field. There are too many shysters in physics for my liking (although not many, by general standards), but anything to do with medical issues and its big bucks, there are many more shysters and I know that I don't know enough to judge. In fact, if someone in another area of physics printed some claims, even though I am also a physicist, I'd take the advice of physicists in that area and I'd only read it because it is my general field. If it was chemistry, I wouldn't read it because I know that my technical expertise isn't up to following it critically. For medical stuff, I'd take expert advice, because I don't know much about medicine. Certainly not enough to be cavalier about my health on account of what someone who is trying to sell me something tells me.

Last edited by Smug Git on 02-10-2004 at 09:52 PM

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