for me it was desperation, in nov 96 i was at my all time high weight, high blood pressure,stasis ulcers in my leg which required surgery and my doc put me on another low fat diet which by the fall of 99 i had lost 50lbs all the while struggling with cravings all the time and forever hungry, then in oct 99 i saw the drs heller (cad/calp) on the oprah show and thought at the time their low carb plan was the craziest thing i ever heard of,eventho i recalled something about atkins in the 70's (as i stuffed myself with pretzels!) and pooh pooh'd the whole idea but i started to think about it more and more.in dec. i bought the calp bookand did some research. i decided to start the plan jan 2000. now i'm a total believer that i am a carb addict, sorry i did not know sooner about low carb. i still don't have my doctors full approval but he can't argue with no more bp medication, complete recovery of leg and continued weight loss albeit slow. i have not felt so healthy in yrs and yrs. ,thanks to LC