Atkins Belly-Up?

Not So Fast


After the 2003 death of its founder and namesake, Atkins Nutritionals, Inc., had to file Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection.


This might be due to the fact that the Atkins diet has been treated as a fad, a quick weight loss, temporary crash diet. As anyone knows who has ever followed Dr. Atkins’ principals of low-glycemic carbs balanced with moderate amounts of protein and fat, (a) the diet works, and (b) all body fat lost will be re-gained upon the diet’s abandonment.

Low-Carb is a lifestyle, a philosophy, even a religion to some. It’s an entire paradigm shift in one’s relationship with food and with the earth that provides it, in one’s sense of history and kinship with past generations of relatives human and pre-human, and with the Creator who put it all there.

I believe this is the “problem” with the Atkins diet: No one actually reads the book, but everyone knows about it.

Everyone has heard some frumpy woman in the lunchroom at work say something along the lines of: “My neighbor’s friend’s daughter-in-law did the Atkins diet and lost 20 pounds in 3 weeks for her reunion… I lost 14 pounds on it once for my cousin’s wedding. It’s easy, just eat all the meat and cheese you want, but don’t eat any bread.” After a month of ketosis, the dieter binges on pizza and Coke and bounces back to her corpulent self.

But if one actually takes the time to read one of the late doctor’s books, read his magazine, or visited any of the newsgroups on the ‘Net, one would learn that Atkins is a life-long choice. It is a new way of seeing foods for their macro-nutrients: Rice and pasta are no longer staples, they’re garnishes. Bread retires its title as Staff-of-Life and becomes little more than a condiment, reborn in the shape of croutons. Forget about soft drinks.

So it’s no wonder that the company, having invested too much energy and money in recent years competing in the convenience foods market of snack bars and TV dinners, finds itself over-extended.

Let us just hope that this re-organization actually will “not affect its day-to-day operations.”