I remember when they started saying, or at least implying, in the media that sugar did not make you fat, that fat makes you fat. My experience was that people began eating more sugar. Also it was felt that you could eat as much high grain carb food as you wanted if it was low in fat.

I think a lot of people have this point of view still. Every word against Dr. Atkins reinforces this deadly view.

Hi everybody this is my first post I am also excited about Dr Willett moving away from the USDA pyramid and singling out the need to completely remove Trans Fats from our diet. He states:

"Trans fat does not appear at all in the pyramid, because it has no place in a healthy diet."

However, the para above this statement he states:

"This pyramid recommends that the bulk of one's diet should consist of healthy fats (liquid vegetable oils such as olive, canola, soy, corn, sunflower and peanut)"

Reading Dr Enig's papers when you go and buy canola, soy, and corn oils you are getting oils that have been granted extend shelf lives due to hydrogenation (trans fats). I think he needs to make it clear that what most people get in their local markets when they buy any oil in a clear bottle is a trans fat.

I also think his bias against saturated fats will be alleviated when the food databases are updated and trans fats become listed separately from satruated fats. Once this is accomplished and studies are updated with trans fats being controlled for independantly from naturally saturated fats; the negative aspects that he associates with natural saturated fats are will be related to unnatural trans fats vice natural saturated fats.

YAK

We can only hope your right.
Thank goodness for the research of Dr Eng.
She makes great reading.
Nedra

I get a kick about the long term studies, atkins has been around since, what?, the early 70's. Didn't the low fat, low protien, phase come into being in the 80's?. So what about the fact that in the last 25 or more years we have gotten more unhealthy, obesity is up, diabetes is up, heart disease is up. Can't we connect the dots and say that there is something wrong here?
It drives me crazy. My first year in nursing school nutrition didn't make sense, and now it makes even less sense than it did in 1984. Reading TSP was like connecting all the dots that I learned that never connected.
Tanya

Yes the maligned tropical oils are finally being vindicated. Palm oil is one of the very few sources of tocotrienols, which are powerful antioxidants. It also provides vitamin E and carotenoids. In cultures where palm oil is a dietary staple, heart disease is low.

Frannie, anything you want to know about fats can be found at the following link. There's great information on this site, which may settle some concerns. After following a fat-free diet for many years (and becoming terribly ill), it was difficult re-introducing it into my diet. I had to re-brainwash myself by reading everything I could on why some fats are good for us and why others are harmful.

http://www.westonaprice.org/know_yo..._your_fats.html

Enjoy

the Atkins Diet has been on the back of my mind for a while. . .maybe not in name but in practice. . .for the past two years I have been puzzling over hippos and lions. . .cows and wolves. . .elephants and weasles. . .plant eaters vs meat eaters and which animal did I want to look like? I like the Atkins diet because I am not thinking of eatting. . .dying to eat. I am eatting healthier than I have in years. . .my carbs come from romaine lettuce and brocilli. .. although I need to add more carbs I am off my induction diet today. . .but I don't know where to spend them! This will work. . .i can feel it! And i tried WW. . .I was miserable. . .I hate counting calories! redawn