by Amby Sarabia
Staff Writer
Despite the recent death of Dr. Robert C. Atkins, students on campus are still jumping on the Atkins diet band wagon.
Atkins died at the age of 72 and, according to the Wall Street Journal, at a weight of 258 pounds.
On the official Atkins web site www.atkins.com, the company denies the fact of its founder’s obesity at the time of his death.
But the death of the diet guru, who suffered a heart attack, put the Atkins diet into a discussion about the healthiness and use of the new and trendy food plan and products.
The low carbohydrates, high protein diet has become a way of life for people, who are trying to lose as much weight as they can in a short duration of time.
“I’ve been on the diet since September of 2003,” said political science major Xochitl Garcia. “I’ve lost over 60 pounds in six months.”
Initially starting the diet as a bet between her and her father, Garcia’s willpower deemed to be stronger than her father’s as she cut carbohydrates from her diet and stocked up on high protein foods.
“I like the diet because I can go anywhere and find something to eat,” Garcia said.
As a student living on campus with limited funds, Garcia opts for Atkins-made food such as cookies and bread. Unfortunately the food can be expensive.
At Davenport, Garcia makes sure to have a salad with every meal, a type of meat, cheese or vegetables.
“It was hard in the beginning, but now it’s not hard at all,” Garcia said. “It’s a way of life.”
Along with cutting carbs out of her diet Garcia has begun to exercise on a regular basis, a must when on the diet she said.
The diet does cause many people to become skeptical. Garcia’s mom forced her to undergo a physical with her doctor before supporting her choice to continue the diet.
After discovering her blood pressure and cholesterol level had lowered, Garcia was in the clear and ready to start the diet and loose some pounds,
An article posted on www.atkins.com titled “Talking About Atkins to Your Doctor” helps dieters to better understand what type of concerns their doctor will bring up at their visit.
The article discusses the myths and truths of the diet, such as myth No. 1, which explains that eating so much protein will in fact lower high cholesterol rather than raise it.
Sophomore liberal studies major Nancy Reyes is very critical of the Atkins diet.
“I don’t think you have to cut so many things out of your diet to lose weight,” she said.
“All you have to do is exercise once in a while and just eat smaller portions.”
Junior Claudia Funes agrees, “When I need to lose weight, I make sure to exercise more, and I eventually end up losing the weight,” she said.
But for some, eventually is too slow.
Once on the diet, Garcia lost 12 to 14 pounds within the first two weeks.
“I can’t go back to eating the way I used to because I’ll gain all the weight back,” Garcia said. “I tend to lose weight slowly.”
Losing weight at such a fast rate does not appeal to Reyes, “You only live once so eat what you want,” she said.
It is also not the main reason why Garcia has chosen to stay on the diet. “I figure get healthy now so that you don’t have to worry about it later,” she said.
