Tue, Apr-06-04, 17:25
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Senior Member
Posts: 2,018
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Plan: Atkins
Stats: 320/220/195
BF:
Progress: 80%
Location: Pensacola, FL
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UWF offers Atkins Diet, but students aren’t biting
http://uwf.edu/voyager/archives/031704/page02.pdf
Quote:
Melissa Hatfield and Angela Fail
Voyager Staff
Robert Atkins may be dead, but his legendary diet has made a lasting impression, or at least stirred controversy, in popular culture. Introduced in the 1970s, the low-carbohydrate, high-protein approach to weight loss has engaged its proponents and critics in serious debates regarding the health risks some associate with the program. But neither the diet craze nor its surrounding controversy show any signs of slowing down, at least in the commercial world.
As the mania surrounding the Atkins diet continues to grow, many restaurants are hitching a ride on the low-carb train. And the University of West Florida's Dining Services is no exception. New Atkins-friendly menus are now offered in the Food Court and the Argo’s Grill and Gameroom, providing student dieters the opportunity to eat on campus with low-carb wraps and bunless Burger King burgers. But while the meats and cheeses are plentiful, student dieters are not. “There has been very little student response to the lowcarb menu,” said Leslie Bell, a Dining Services manager.
Some students are questioning the effectiveness of the diet. “I think it’s a fraud,” said Aimee Shook, a primary education major. “The guy, like, had a heart attack. I think you need carbs.” Rusty Black, whose major is undecided, did not know much about the diet, but doesn’t have a good impression of it. “Somebody told me that it’s bad,” he said. “They said it wasn’t good for you.”
According to the Atkins Web site, processed and refined carbohydrates make up 50 percent of regular diets through breads, pastas, cereals, starchy vegetables and highly sugared foods. Atkins recommends a four-phase program through which adherents restrict carbohydrate intake to induce weight loss, then add grams over time, maintaining gradual loss. Although the Web site contrasts the program as being a “lifetime nutritional philosophy” and “unlike a diet,” the word diet actually comes from the Greek “diaita,” which means “manner or living.”
Atkins calls for abandonment of “the catastrophic American diet of refined carbohydrates,” promising good health, a sense of well-being and lowered risk of disease. But despite its promised rewards, the concept has a lot to overcome, especially in the medical community. Atkins’ Web site devotes an entire page to debunking myths about the plan and doles out advice for patients trying to convince their doctors that the diet is right.
Despite the opposition the diet has faced, restaurants have even incorporated Atkins friendly fare into their menus. Chili’s is one local restaurant now offering a special low carb menu to guests. Items include burgers without buns, fajitas with steamed vegetables and no tortillas and salads without croutons. Carbohydrate and fiber counts are included in menu descriptions.
While some people outright oppose the plan, some just think the diet is too hard to stick with. Mehgan Burroughs, a UWF English major, said she would follow the diet if it did not require so much discipline. “I think it’s way too strict, but it definitely works because I’ve seen it work on people,” she said. But while eliminating most grains and consequently carbohydrates from a person’s daily food intake may seem an extreme exercise of self-control, some see carb-cutting as a way of life.
Rick Puckett, 21, who is in the Air Force, has been skimping on carbohydrates since early childhood by avoiding bread. “I just don’t like it,” he said. “It causes me to gag. It disgusts me.” Instead, Puckett follows the high-protein aspect of the Atkins plan, eating steak sometimes as often as three times a week. “I eat lots of meat,” he said, “a lot of chicken, a lot of steak, a lot of beef jerky.”
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