For all of you in the UK, and anyone else who would like to follow it via the website, a new BBC series begins this evening called Diet Trials(click here) - one of the diets on trial is Dr Atkins.



Am looking forward to watching this, just hope that I don't end up shouting at the TV screen

I watched the first episode last night. They made sure they got in a few digs about Atkins being potentially unsafe and doing monthly kidney tests to see if the diet was dangerous for the kidneys (I don't disagree with regular testing but if it scientific they need to do the same tests for everyone) as wellas regular cholesterol testing - for everyone I think.

The funny thing was that it was the GP who got allocated to the Atkins diet......

Also if you look on the website message board you'll see that quite a lot of the messages are from Atkins/low carb people.

One final thing - the first episode threw into sharp relief the meagre nature of most diets as opposed to the fullness and satiety of Atkins.

Watching this programme has reinforced my belief in LC!!

I well remember my attempts at Conley/WW/slimfast

The gentleman who is doing Atkins is a GP. I was so pleased !!I see this as a great opportunity to show what low carb can do.

one poor gentleman got the Slimfast.....what can I say.........

They are checking the Atkins people s blood monthly.... at first I was a little annoyed but have realised it is a great opportunity to show what LC can do.

So hey, Doc..... if you call in and read this...... please be aware that your cholesterol can rise at first.... but then it will fall..... and remember to check the HDL as well as LDL !!Plese read all the scientific studies posted here !! My worry is that they will see a small rise in total cholesterol and take him off it.

I do hope the BBC can present Atkins properly and not as the fad diet it was veering towards last night.. we'll see....

An interesting programme, although I did find myself muttering at the screen a few times , but feel this will be worth watching.

My only reservation is that the person they profiled last night (out of a number chosen to undertake the Atkins diet) was not at all happy to have been selected for this particular woe. I hope that this won't have an adverse effect on his experience. I found his 'imagine never being able to eat bread again' attitude annoying. But as Plum has already pointed out, this participant is a doctor, so I do hope his pre-conceived views on Atkins are soon dispelled.

The study aims to provide information on the following:

Changes in body fat
Changes in body weight
Changes in waist circumference
Changes in fasting blood lipids (eg cholesterol)
Changes in fasting insulin, glucose
Changes in dietary intake
Changes in physical activity levels and fitness
Changes in psychological parameters
Experiences of the programme

I know which 'Diet' my money is on when the results are analyzed and it will be interesting to see if the BBC then veers away from the 'fad' label it already seems to have given Atkins when they are.

I was very pleased with this programme last night and did not get angry at all with it. I thought it was good scene setting. I was amused that the Dr got the Atkins plan. I think his comments about bread, etc were more for the camera and I think it is a typical reaction for many when they start.

I'm glad that they are measuring many variables throughout and I hope that the last programme summarises the end results for all 300. I also wonder how many of them will make it to the end? Six months is a long time and whilst we have been living this way of life for a long time I think that for many 2 months is about average for lasting on a diet.

Interested that they are taking blood samples on the Atkins people monthly to ensure there is no problem with their kidney function. This could be very positive and act as a reassurance for many.

Looking forward to programme 2 tonight. I aim to video all 6 together on the same tape.

Thanks everyone, keep us" over the Pond low carb'r's" informed please.
Thanks Kathy

I'm beginning to wonder how many episodes Diet Trials is as I see it is also on every day next week. From the synopsis of those programmes it even suggests there may be more to come.

The second programme introduced more people and the plans they are following. It also covered peoples attitude towards alcohol. Very interesting and I think the people were very typical, not wanting to give up alcohol or else finding ways around the plan so they could go for broke on one evening.

Tonight we should find out how they have got on after the first month. I'll be interested to see the pounds lost on the various programmes.

I very much enjoyed last night's programme - especially as the Atkins woe was shown in a far better light this time - the two people profiled were happy to be following it (though one was definitely having a bit of trouble keeping off the alcohol).

I'm pleased to see that the presenters Eamon Holmes and Lyndel Costain are allowing the diets to 'speak' for themselves. It is refreshing to see a programme where Atkins is not being criticised - although Lyndel did say that she had to use the Atkins Center site to find out certain info as she felt that the book did not cover it - I think the problem is that the participants appear to be using the 'old' DANDR book However, I was pleased that she pointed out that there is a lot more info available through the Atkins website.

Click here to see what the BBC site has to say about the Atkins diet.

Anne, Diet trials will be shown every weekday evening for the next 3 weeks.

yes, I was pleased to see the dietician not being pre-judgemental about LC... and pointing out the website too was encouraging.... pointing people towards extra research, hopefully.

I had thought the programme would be anti - LC at first but it is proving much more balanced. Lets hope this continues.

hmmmmm I'm missing out here in Aussie. Any idea when it will screen elsewhere? Please keep us posted as to the results...very interesting

I am glad that all posters seem to share my opinion that the diet trials programmes are pure class. I am speaking as someone who has previously dedicated a huge number of months of my life to three of them (Conley/WW/Slimfast) and know how soul destroying it is to be doing something to the letter and having such disappointing results. I have been doing Atkins for the past 9 weeks and have already beaten the results of the other three although I stuck to them for more than six months.

I know that the other ones work for other people because I have seen it happen but I also know they didn't work for me. It must all depend on the way that your body deals with food. If this is true then it will be difficult to come up with an answer as to which diet is best as the results will be mixed. I just hope the negative health comments of Atkins are proved to be nonsense as I get a bit of a hard time from my husband who is worried that I might make myself ill. At the moment I can shut him up by comparing how my body and joints must be suffering now compared to if I were thinner. I think that might not work for much longer though.

Anyway, all my thoughts are with the tanker driver on slim fast. My heart just sank when he opened his envelope. The poor man is going to starve! Also, don't you just love the couple who can't stop drinking? I want to spend New Year's Eve at their house!

Don't forget that they have a message board at the BBC on this topic so that all of us experienced Atkins followers can make our views known. I have posted X2 so far.
This is a great opportunity.

After setting the video to record Sunday's programme I got home from work to find that hubby had been messing with it and had scrubbed the timed recording . I also forgot about it being shown every night and missed Monday's edition as I was at the gym (at least it's a good excuse!). Hopefully I shall get to see tonights programme. I'm looking forward to it after seeing the comments here. I'm going to check out the Beeb site now. Back later.

Hi people.
Well aren't these trials fascinating.
What immediately struck me was how quickly some people failed. This is sooo typically the norm. People try a diet and fail within days. Then start again...fail..the cycle goes on.
Others who are determined, such as the Liverpudlian lady with the dog, have really taken their chosen diet to heart and after just a month have lost a significant amount of weight.
It definitely is all about determination and whether you trully are ready to lose the weight.
I also found it interesting that they chose the individuals diets for them. Later, after the 6 month trial is finished, they will ask other individuals to be part of the trial but they can choose for themselves which diet to follow, based on the evidence of the other section of dieters. Won't it be interesting to see which they choose. I suspect WW and Rosemary Conley will come out on top.
I have tried all 4 diets. Slimfast when I was a teenager, I failed day one. I lived on coffee and cigarettes in those days and wasn't fat at all...the start of my slide into fatdom.
Both WW and RC (which I still go to but only for the exercise class) I was very successful at but I was always hungry.

Atkins I've been doing since last October and now it's just a WOL for me. I'm now back at that teenage weight, maintaining it and I'm never hungry.

Atkins is being concentrated on tomorrow night, so eyes peeled.

Ali

Tonight featured the first scientific weigh-in for the participants after a month on their various regimes. Those on the Atkins diet had lost the most amount of weight. However, the expert did try to dismiss this as 'water weight' I wonder how they'll describe the weight loss at the end of the 6 months