Dr. Atkins is dead. He slipped on some ice on his walk to work. He had a severe head injury and had to go into surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain. Atkins never came out of his coma. The man who invented a diet that would allow us to eat as much fat as we wanted, as long as we stayed away from the sugar and carbohydrates, can no longer walk us down the path of his genius. We are left with his books to guide us along, giving us the will to eat steak and eggs for every meal. After all his turmoil, he passed away without ever knowing the true long term findings on the health effects of his diet.
Dr. Atkins, Robert Coleman Atkins, was born in Columbus, Ohio, on October 17, 1930. When he was in the seventh grade, his family moved to Dayton, where his father owned restaurants. He became a shoe salesman at the age of 14, and by 16 he had dreams of being a comedian. His ending career was a far cry from being a jokester. Robert Atkins went to the University of Michigan. When he graduated, he took a job as a waiter (which, from what I hear, is a common college graduate job). He eventually graduated from the Cornell University Medical School with his residencies in cardiology and internal medicine.
Dr. Atkins opened his own office in Manhattan in 1959; he was 29. By the age of 33, he became depressed. He was also overweight so he decided to go on a diet. This was the origin of his often-debated Atkins Diet.
Dr. Atkins actually got his ideas from a doctor by the name of Alfred W. Pennington, who had done breakthrough research during WW II. Dr. Pennington had pioneered a no-carbohydrate plan for 20 test subjects. In a little more than 100 days, the 20 test subjects lost an average of 22 pounds each. Atkins, with a few twists and changes on Pennington’s plan, decided to give his own version a try. His goal was to lose three pounds in the first month, but he lost 20 instead.
By 1972, Dr. Atkins had published his first book, Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution, which emphasized a diet full of meat, eggs and cheese while discouraging bread, rice and fruit. His book was published at the same time the public was being bombarded with messages of a low-fat diet being the only efficient and safe diet. Atkins’ diet was quickly termed “unorthodox.” It even went so far as to the American Medical Association dismissing his diet as “nutritional folly.” Regardless of the critics, the book sold 15 million copies. People wanted to lose weight and the diet worked; in their heads there was no going wrong.
Now studies, many studies, have shown that people can be healthy and lose weight on the Atkins diet with no problems at all. The studies have also shown that being on the Atkins diet actual changes the dieter’s cholesterol profiles and cardiovascular risk factors for the better. It does seem hard to believe because the diet is high in fat, but the studies prove it. And people on the Atkins diet do lose a lot of weight if they follow it closely and without cheating; I have seen the results in many of my friends and acquaintances firsthand.
The saddest part of Dr. Atkins’ death is that he will not be alive to see the long term results of his diet. The first research on the long term effects of the Atkins diet began recently by the National Institutes of Health. It is too bad that he will never be able to look into the eyes of his critics and say, “I told you so.” But who knows, maybe it was a blessing in disguise. The research may show some long term health effects of the diet that may not have pleased Atkins.
Well, at the end of his life Atkins did have a pleasant experience when his diet ideas had a second wind in the public. In the 90’s, Atkins published his book, Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution. The book spent five years on The New York Times best-seller list and sold more than 10 million copies. Another surge came with the last book he wrote, Atkins for Life. It has been on the best-seller list since its release in January.