To Diet For

‘IF words were cream pies, enough has been written about the Atkins Diet in the past few weeks to create a world full of Andrew Gilligans and Vanessa Feltzes.

Three devotees of the high-protein, high-carbohydrate diet

Is it good for you? Is it bad for you? Can I have a fried egg on my 12oz steak? WHO BLOODY WELL CARES?

This morning, the Telegraph and the Times both waste enough acres of newsprint on the ”controversial” high-protein diet to wrap up Lisa Riley several times over.

The reason is a warning from leading nutritionist Dr Susan Jebb that faddy diets like the Atkins were unbalanced, untested and posed serious health problems.

The diet only worked because it reduced calorie intake, she said, while staying on it could be harmful in the long term.

Fellow nutritionist Dr Jane Ogden agrees, saying most of the benefits of the diet were in the mind.

”The reality of dieting is that you have to modify the behaviour that you have learned from being a baby,” she said, ”and that’s extremely difficult.”

As Andrew Gilligan would testify.’

Posted: 13th, August 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink