Just like the people who cut the fat off a steak or eat lean hamburger because they’re scared of getting fat, yet the have no qualms about having a box of solid corn syrup based non-fat candy while sitting on the couch.

They look at us low/lower-carbers cross-eyed during dinner when we eat our fat, then think we’re weird yo-yo dieters when we don’t partake in the candy eating.

In as much as I have never read any of the books by Dr Atkins, I can truthfully say I am not, nor ever have, followed the ‘Atkins Diet’ but I don’t get defensive if people think I am when I tell them what I will and will not eat. I think we owe the man some respect for getting this type of diet into the popular consciousness and defending it against it’s detractors. So, having not read any of his books but having read a lot of information on the man and his work on the web, I can see that there are many common factors between the Atkins diet approach, paleo diets and low carb/high fat diets in general.

From what I have pieced together it seems Dr Atkins suffered from cardiomyopathy brought on by a viral infection in his younger years, so it was not heart disease in the usual sense and not related to diet. His death was due to the head trauma he suffered after slipping on ice and falling. While in a coma in hospital, after this unfortunate accident, he suffered system systemic organ failure, which resulted in the swelling of the body’s tissues due to the accumulation of fluids (any combination of ascites, peripheral oedema or pleural effusions). All of these factors were spun by pro-vegetarian factions to give the impression that Dr Atkins died of heart disease as a grossly overweight man due to his, in their view, ‘foolhardy’ dietary preferences.

A rather malodorous post mortem character assassination in my opinion!

First of all, low-carb DOES NOT equal optimal health. However, optimal health may be (or resemble) low-carb. Do not mix the two up.

Secondly, as has been pointed out, the MI suffered by Atkins was likely related to his pre-existing health “issues”. We can even assume that a.) the MI was independent of the trauma, AND b.) that it was related to his diet. What does this tell us? Absolutely nothing. I am sure we could find a person who smokes, never goes outdoors, and drinks corn syrup all day that lived to be 100 years old. One person does not a sample make.

And lastly, even if Atkins’ MI was related to diet (which it appears it was not), this does not necessarily affect the validity of the message. The facts and research should stand on its own, regardless of what happens to one person or another. Can you face the facts? What do vegetarians agree with; what do they disagree with? Now they say “well it provides evidence against it.” I agree completely–I agree that we need evidence. After all, the only thing that matters in life is what actually works. Let’s look at the evidence then: extensive anthropological studies that have shown paleo/primal diet to be consistent with healthier peoples, evidence that the diet-heart hypothesis has increased obesity, heart disease, and other nasty life-altering ailments, the numerous success stories on this site and others, etc.–and instead of facing the facts, they point to the death of one man which was likely not even related to his diet. Wonderful.

Heck, maybe if he was a vegetarian he would not have had the energy to get out of the house and walk that fateful day in NYC. Maybe it could have saved him!

When your “religion” depends on hating a man, facts and checking of those facts don’t matter.

Best,
Skyler