Atkins: the diet and the man

One of his co-authors recalls the late Robert Atkins as well as her experience on the program.

Dr. Robert Atkins

Millions of people were touched by Dr. Robert Atkins' death April 17, those whose lives were changed by his diet program and those who worked with him on nutritional approaches to medical problems. I was affected in both ways: I worked with him for almost two years as the co-author on his second book, and when I wrote the book, I went on the program and felt its effect.

We were brought together in the 1970s in New York, where I was writing books and doing features for magazines and medical publications. A literary agent in town asked me if I might want to work on an unnamed book with an unnamed doctor. It turned out to be Bob Atkins.

Atkins and I met a number of times, sizing each other up. About the fourth meeting, at a house in the Hamptons that he rented, his big English sheep dog, Bumbles, started joyously bouncing about, licking and jumping all over me.

"Bob, your dog loves me, how bad can I be? Let's just get going and do the book!" He said "Okay," and that's how we got started.

We worked first with a tape recorder. Then I wrote a first draft, and we worked to revise it. Bumbles did not help with this part of the operation. Once, we took a TV break (Atkins didn't miss Star Trek if he could help it) and Bumbles ate most of one page.

Most people think of Atkins just in relation to diet and weight loss, but his vision involved more than that.

The book we wrote was based on his observation that people on his diet program came back to him saying that they felt better than ever and had newfound energy. We decided to call the book Dr. Atkins' Superenergy Diet.

Four individualized diet programs were in the book: the Superenergy Weight-Reducing Diet, the Superenergy Weight-Gaining Diet, the Superenergy Weight Maintenance Diet, and the Special Situation Diet. We also described a vitamin and mineral program, an important part of the program if one was to get the best results.

In addition to increased energy, the program often had other important beneficial effects: lowering blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, lowering high blood pressure, improvement of heart arrhythmia, improvement of digestive problems, often a change in mental health, and a decrease in allergy symptoms, headaches and skin problems.

I talked to many patients, and as I do with any program I write about, I went on the diet.

As I wrote in my preface, "In the past, despite being a fairly bubbly and energetic person, I was usually utterly drained and exhausted by late afternoon. And in the past, I never really felt right unless I had nine hours' sleep. Now my energy level is sustained through the day . . .

"I'm staying on the diet - and I plan to stay on it for another, say, 75 years or so."

Being on the diet is difficult for the first 10 days. You eliminate sugar, caffeine and carbohydrates, and if you are a sugar addict, as I was (glazed doughnuts, cookies, cola, candy several times most days), it is hard to give them up. I had caffeine/sugar withdrawal headaches for several days, but I ate protein every couple of hours (chicken leg, hard-boiled egg, a few shrimp, some cheese), and the headaches gradually disappeared. By day 10 the cravings for sugar were gone, and I felt like a new person. Irritability over little things was replaced by tranquility, late-afternoon fatigue was gone, and a troublesome skin abscess quickly healed.

Once this initial period is over, you gradually add some carbohydrates to find your best level, but you add in the form of salads, vegetables and whole grains, not refined flour products.

Have I stuck to the diet? I keep sugar to a minimum, I seldom drink alcohol, I choose whole grains over refined white stuff, I often eat my salad for dessert. After a year I found that I could have some no-no foods without feeling fatigue or my skin breaking out. And I still brake for chocolate.

I also regularly use vitamins, minerals and herbs, some regularly, some for specific occasional problems.

Atkins knew from the millions of people using his diet that it worked, but it hurt him that many in the medical establishment questioned his work. The last words in our book were "That is my one desire: for truth to prevail." He got some validation last year when a study presented at an American Heart Association meeting showed that people lost more weight over six months on his diet than they did eating a low-fat diet. Also, his diet didn't raise their cholesterol.

Atkins was not just a diet doctor. He used nutritional and preventive medicine along with conventional medical treatments. He renamed his offices in New York the Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine.

He slipped on the ice in an unseasonable storm in New York on April 8, hit his head on the sidewalk and a few days later died at age 72.

- Shirley Linde of St. Petersburg has written 37 books, including Dr. Atkins' Superenergy Diet, No More Sleepless Nights, No More Snoring, and The Charleston Program. She is editor of www.smallshipcruises.com

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