Courtney~
Dr. Atkins, the founder of the Atkins diet, did NOT die of a heart attack or from anything even remotely related to his diet. He slipped on ice and hit his head and died as a consequence of that.
From an article by Laura Dolson:
"On April 8, 2003, at age 72, Dr. Atkins slipped on the ice while walking to work, hitting his head and causing bleeding around his brain. He lost consciousness on the way to the hospital, where he spent two weeks in intensive care. His body deteriorated rapidly and he suffered massive organ failure. During this time, his body apparently retained an enormous amount of fluid, and his weight at death was recorded at 258 pounds. His death certificate states that the cause of death was "blunt impact injury of head with epidural hematoma"."
In fact, he was a cardiologist and when he tried a low-carb diet, he not only lost weight but all his cardiovascular lab values improved. He initially used the diet for his patients who had cardiac problems and problems with labs. (They all improved, btw....you can research this for yourself). Eventually, he began to promote and wrote books on the diet for weight loss (and for improved health) but initially, it was only for his own patients.
Many endocrinologists are now using versions of the Atkins diet for their patients who are diabetic or insulin resistant....as low-carb works much better for them than the previous 1200 cal. ADA diet did (that they had used for many, many years).
And a carb addict is not simply one who loves carbs. I think at least 90% of us all love carbs.
A carb addict is one who displays addictive behavior when eating simple carbs, much like an alcoholic or drug addict......obsessed with, cannot stop, binges, hides behavior, etc.
And like a drug or alcohol abuser, the carb addict pretty much has to stop eating simple carbs or the obsession kicks back in and the addict cannot stop and and will begin to obsess about them and to binge on them again.
And like drug and alcohol addiction, when the behavior is completely stopped (eating simple carbs) the obsession gradually recedes and the addictive behavior recedes along with it.
The benefits of eating a low-carb diet are particularly helpful for true carb addicts.
deena
PS I have a yahoo acct. and not being computer-savvy at all, will have to wait til one of my sons comes over to make me a google acct. One of my sons set up the yahoo acct. for me several years ago.