ATKINS: CUT BACK ON MEAT, SATURATED FAT

In a bombshell development for the pro-meat protein pushers, "the promoters of the Atkins diet now say that people on their plan should limit the amount of red meat and saturated fat they eat." This comes directly from the director of research and education for Atkins Nutritionals, Colette Heimowitz, seemingly reversing years of advice to dieters "to satisfy their hunger with liberal amounts of steak, eggs and other saturated fats." It makes one wonder what the results of the latest Atkins-sponsored research might hold...

Oddly, this comes courtesy of The New York Times, whose Magazine in 2002 kicked off the latest fad with an article arguing that saturated fat had magical slimming properties. I say "oddly" because the writing of the piece definitely cops a certain attitude about the charlatanesque qualities of this company:

Paul D. Wolff, chief executive of Atkins Nutritionals, said the company is trying to get its message out clearly. 'The way the book was promoted was, here's the program that is counterintuitive," he said. "'You can eat a lot of bacon and steak.' It was the marketing of the book. The media saw it as a sexy story."
"Perhaps what was communicated in the past was unclear," he said. "We would agree with that."
So why not tell people straight out that you can't eat all the steak and eggs you want, Mr. Wolff was asked.
"Interesting question," he said as he hung up to catch a plane.

UPDATE 1/19: The ink was barely dry on this entry before Atkins people were denying the substance of this story. CBS New York has a representative "second-day" story trying to provide some balance. But of course that includes the views of those who had gone on the diet on false premises and now feel betrayed. "Elizabeth Pakkala, a former Atkins dieter, says she thought she could eat all the meat she wanted. But she was only on the high protein plan for eight days and couldn't handle the headaches and mood swings. 'If they're reconsidering what they said in the beginning, then you know, I'm happy about that for them,' Pakkala said."