Touchy Topic: Dr. Atkins' death

[tracymitch]

I get a lot of flak from people who hear that I'm doing Atkins. They tell me I'll have a heart attack from eating all that fat, etc. I tell them all that it's a better way of eating, and that I'm healthier than they are because I don't eat processed crap.

A few people have gone on to tell me that Dr. Atkins died of a heart attack from doing his diet. If I remember correctly, it was a severe head injury from a fall. I have a friend who has a friend who's a doctor, and she claims this friend treated Dr. Atkins in the hospital, and claims it was the diet that did him in.

I don't mean to speak ill of the dead, and I'm sorry if I offend anyone in this post, but can someone set the record straight? I'm a huge supporter of Dr. Atkins and almost don't really care if he had a heart attack. It may have been special circumstances. All I know is that his way of eating has proven successful for me.

Any thoughts?

[TitianWasp]

Re: Touchy Topic: Dr. Atkins' death

I checked the urban legends site, and came up with this: http://www.snopes.com/medical/doctor/atkins.asp

It appears inconclusive. He was 72, he was head of a huge, high pressure corporation and he had had a heart attack previously. Anybody fitting that description would be a poster child for a heart attack, regardless of whether or not they were a famous diet guru.

A lot of the members here can attest to the fact that they have seen their health improve dramatically since being on Atkins. You can (if you have a grim sense of humor like I) tell people that while Atkins may or may not kill you, being obese enough almost certainly will. How many people not on Atkins have died of heart attacks?

[MrsBrittney]

Re: Touchy Topic: Dr. Atkins' death

I was on Atkins Diet originally when he passed and that was my first concern as well! =)

Your friend has her stories mixed up. In 2000, Dr. Atkins did develop a heart condition (cardiomyapathy, typically a degeneration of the heart muscle due to genetic conditions) which he states was unrelated to his diet.

In 2002, it caused him to suffer cardiac arrest.

In 2003, he slipped on a patch of iced-over sidewalk, causing a severe head injury that lead to a coma. Upon admittance to the hospital, he was 196 lbs and just under 6 foot, so he was fine for his size. You do hear occassional rumors that he was "obese" as, at time of death due to the water retention of his organs failing, he was closer to 255 lbs.

When people think of Atkins as the "Cheeseburger Bacon" diet, tell them to pick up the book. While I eat less fat than he suggests, he supports veggies and fruits and whole grains as the process continues. People hear about Induction and conclude the entire WOE shuns vegetables, fruits and grains for a lifetime - and are wrong.

There are also, especially in the height of the Atkins diet, many dieters who chose to not read the book or to follow it in an unhealthy manner - by eating NOTHING but eggs, meat and cheese and for long periods of time. This is NOT healthy and its NOT what he advocated.

I've also found that his PR company took a good solid idea and turned it into what PR companies do best: a booming business. Their Atkins food products often seem to not match up to what the Dr himself said was right for his diet plan.

I'm guessing this is why this forum sticks to the only version of the book/rules written by the physician himself, the 2002 version.

[MrsBrittney]

Re: Touchy Topic: Dr. Atkins' death

Here's some quick info on why I personally feel a lot of the Atkins-brand products are bogus and not what Dr Atkins would advocate:

"On July 31, 2005, Atkins Nutritionals—the company that Atkins founded in 1989—filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York. The company had been hurt in recent years by the fading popularity of its namesake diet and the rising popularity of other high-protein/low-carb diet plans (South Beach, etc).

The company emerged from bankruptcy January 10, 2006 with a business strategy that softened the emphasis on the low carbohydrate diet and concentrated on the sales of prepared nutritional bars and shakes."

[tracymitch]

Re: Touchy Topic: Dr. Atkins' death

Yeah, I have the book and was flabbergasted the first time I read it. It wasn't the "bacon diet" like everyone had told me. I was one of those people who thought it was all hogwash until 2 people at work lost a ton of weight and told me they felt great. I tell everyone who poo-poos my way of living to read the book.

Thanks for the answers.

[kate58]

Re: Touchy Topic: Dr. Atkins' death

"While I eat less fat than he suggests"

Do you mind me asking why?

[Hudson]

Re: Touchy Topic: Dr. Atkins' death

Don't just tell them to read the book. Give them a huge challenge. Read TAUBES book! It will blow them away. Sugar is the killer. Saturated fat is good for you. Fat people eat the same amount of callories as thin. Deficiency diseases caused by too much sugar not vitamin deficiency. Exercise does not help you lose weight.

You could just carry that book around and when they start their mess, just crack open the book and start reading.

At the very least they will BEGIN to question the standard diet/health/obesity line we get from the media.

[Chicklady]

Re: Touchy Topic: Dr. Atkins' death

Don't know the details of his hospital stay or death. I do know that when the Wall Street Journal printed that he died because of his diet, they later printed an apology and retraction.....so they must have found something out to change their minds.

[*Emma*]

Re: Touchy Topic: Dr. Atkins' death

I was on Atkins Diet originally when he passed and that was my first concern as well! =)

Your friend has her stories mixed up. In 2000, Dr. Atkins did develop a heart condition (cardiomyapathy, typically a degeneration of the heart muscle due to genetic conditions) which he states was unrelated to his diet.

In 2002, it caused him to suffer cardiac arrest.

In 2003, he slipped on a patch of iced-over sidewalk, causing a severe head injury that lead to a coma. Upon admittance to the hospital, he was 196 lbs and just under 6 foot, so he was fine for his size. You do hear occassional rumors that he was "obese" as, at time of death due to the water retention of his organs failing, he was closer to 255 lbs.

When people think of Atkins as the "Cheeseburger Bacon" diet, tell them to pick up the book. While I eat less fat than he suggests, he supports veggies and fruits and whole grains as the process continues. People hear about Induction and conclude the entire WOE shuns vegetables, fruits and grains for a lifetime - and are wrong.

There are also, especially in the height of the Atkins diet, many dieters who chose to not read the book or to follow it in an unhealthy manner - by eating NOTHING but eggs, meat and cheese and for long periods of time. This is NOT healthy and its NOT what he advocated.

I've also found that his PR company took a good solid idea and turned it into what PR companies do best: a booming business. Their Atkins food products often seem to not match up to what the Dr himself said was right for his diet plan.

I'm guessing this is why this forum sticks to the only version of the book/rules written by the physician himself, the 2002 version.

Spot on!

Though i dont understand why you have lowered your fats, the more fat i eat, the more i lose

[Chicklady]

Re: Touchy Topic: Dr. Atkins' death

There are also, especially in the height of the Atkins diet, many dieters who chose to not read the book or to follow it in an unhealthy manner - by eating NOTHING but eggs, meat and cheese and for long periods of time. This is NOT healthy and its NOT what he advocated.

I knew a woman who lost a ton of weight "doing Atkins" (not really) eating only canned tuna and drinking whiskey. I wonder if she's still alive.....

[MrsBrittney]

Re: Touchy Topic: Dr. Atkins' death

I just opt to balance out my calories/carbs/proteins/fats/sat fats a certain way. No method to my madness! =) I don't tend to like fattier meats as it is, I'm just more a chicken/fish type person than a beef person. ::shrugs::

[mitzimarie]

Re: Touchy Topic: Dr. Atkins' death

I get a lot of flak from people who hear that I'm doing Atkins. They tell me I'll have a heart attack from eating all that fat, etc. I tell them all that it's a better way of eating, and that I'm healthier than they are because I don't eat processed crap.

A few people have gone on to tell me that Dr. Atkins died of a heart attack from doing his diet. If I remember correctly, it was a severe head injury from a fall. I have a friend who has a friend who's a doctor, and she claims this friend treated Dr. Atkins in the hospital, and claims it was the diet that did him in.

I don't mean to speak ill of the dead, and I'm sorry if I offend anyone in this post, but can someone set the record straight? I'm a huge supporter of Dr. Atkins and almost don't really care if he had a heart attack. It may have been special circumstances. All I know is that his way of eating has proven successful for me.

Any thoughts?

JANUARY 21--New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is apparently a conspiracy theorist when it comes to the circumstances of Dr. Robert Atkins's death last April. Bloomie, it seems, ain't buying the story that the anti-carb diet guru died as a result of injuries sustained during a fall on an icy Manhattan street. During a lunchtime photo op yesterday at a Brooklyn firehouse, Bloomberg announced, "I don't believe that bullshit that [Atkins] dropped dead slipping on the sidewalk." The 61-year-old billionaire added that Atkins was "fat" and served "inedible" food at his Hamptons home when Bloomberg visited. The mayor's inference, of course, was that Atkins was actually felled by his meat-heavy diet, that his arteries were clogged with beef drippings. However, if Bloomberg had just checked with his own Department of Health, the pol would have discovered that Atkins's death certificate (which you'll find below) chalked up the "immediate cause" of the doc's demise to "blunt impact injury of head with epidural hematoma." (1 page)

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[mitzimarie]

Re: Touchy Topic: Dr. Atkins' death

About that heart attack... This is the CNN story

Atkins diet author home after cardiac arrest

April 25, 2002 Posted: 5:13 PM EDT (2113 GMT)






Dr. Robert Atkins

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Nutrition expert and author Dr. Robert Atkins, creator of the high-protein/low-carbohydrate "Atkins Diet," was released Wednesday from hospital care and is resting well after his heart stopped, a condition called cardiac arrest.

Atkins was waiting for breakfast at a restaurant near his office last Thursday in Manhattan when he went into cardiac arrest. He was quickly revived by an associate and taken to the New York Weill Cornell Medical Center.

The episode was caused by cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart's ability to pump blood is weakened because of enlargement, thickening or stiffening of the heart muscle.

In Atkins' case, cardiomyopathy was caused by an infection that spread to his heart muscle.

"I have had cardiomyopathy, which is a non-coronary condition and is in no way related to diet," Atkins said in a statement.

A statement by The Atkins Companies also said the hot weather in New York may have been a factor in the cardiac arrest. Temperatures last week in New York were in the 90s.

"We have been treating this condition, cardiomyopathy, for almost two years," said Patrick Fratellone, Atkins' personal physician and cardiologist. "Clearly, his own nutritional protocols have left him, at the age of 71, with an extraordinarily healthy cardiovascular system."

Atkins told CNN, "I want the public to know the truth, not every condition affecting the heart comes from a blockage." He said "a controlled carbohydrate lifestyle really prevents risk factors for heart disease."

Doctors have checked for blockages, Atkins said, "and I don't have any."

Dr. Clyde Yancy, a cardiologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and a member of the American Heart Association's national board of directors, said: "Despite the obvious irony, I believe there is a total disconnect between the cardiac arrest and the health approach he (Atkins) popularizes."

Atkins' doctors have advised him to curtail his travel plans for the next 30 days as a precaution, but Atkins hopes to return to his work within the next week or so.

Paul Wolff, chief executive officer of The Atkins Companies, said: "Up until today, this has been a personal and private family matter for Atkins. It is unfortunate for the family that this has not remained so."

-- Medical Correspondent Rhonda Rowland contributed to this report

[ValidRouge]

Re: Touchy Topic: Dr. Atkins' death

Don't just tell them to read the book. Give them a huge challenge. Read TAUBES book! It will blow them away. Sugar is the killer. Saturated fat is good for you. Fat people eat the same amount of callories as thin. Deficiency diseases caused by too much sugar not vitamin deficiency. Exercise does not help you lose weight.

You could just carry that book around and when they start their mess, just crack open the book and start reading.

At the very least they will BEGIN to question the standard diet/health/obesity line we get from the media.

Hudson, I <3 you! I'm reading Taubes book right now. Very hard core reading, but very insightful and I love the fact that the guy has DONE his research. I'm about half way through the book and he hasn't mentioned Atkins once but has fully supported his research using countless other studies. The bibliography alone for this book is overwhelming! I'm loving having their (the fat phobes) own research used as evidence to support Taube's points. It is fascinating stuff..

[MrsBrittney]

Re: Touchy Topic: Dr. Atkins' death

Whats Taube's book? Im googling with no avail. Is it "Good Calories, Bad Calories"?