Darned funny that you should ask the question. I just check read three of his books after hearing about his diet. Within the last week I have done a lot of research on the Atkins Diet vs. all of the others.
My opinions, for what they're worth.
The Atkins diet restricts carbohydrates to less than 40 grams per day, which is almost impossible to do. It seems EVERYTHING has a little carbs in them. (His original book dated 1972 had 20 grams as the limit.) Lowering carbohydrated certainly DOES stabilize glucose levels as he claims. The new catch phrase in dieting today is called the "Glucose Index." Lowering carb intake removes the spikes that high sugar/glucose foods produce. Glucose Index stabilization is basically what Dr. Atkins advocated way back in 1972. Modern doctors are just now "seeing the light." If I had diabetes in my family history I would be concerned about this too. That's about the only think my family doesn't have! Heart disease, cancer, strokes, high cholesterol...we've got that covered.
I have been unable to reconcile his statements that cholesterol and LDL, triglycerides, etc. drop on the Atkins Diet. I am worried about eating all of the high fatty foods over time. Heart disease, etc. I know that he says his diet will reduce these things, but I'm not convinced. Other dieticians, cardiologists, etc. say that he is a liar, huckster, etc. I just don't know, especially now that everyone is "discovering" that his low glucose diet ideas are sound.
Dr. Dean Ornish, low fat guru, "Reversing Heart Disease" diet fame says that, "Dr. Atkins diet is criminal." When you only eat bacon, eggs, steak, pork chops, cheese, butter, etc. the saturated fats that are taken in are tremendous. I find it hard to believe that this can be good for you in the long term. It's hard to believe that the bun is worse for you than the nice juicy hamburger inside.
Basically, I decided that I can't risk going on the Atkins Diet 100% due to the high fat levels in the diet. I have taken a modified approach, namely eat Egg Beaters instead of the eggs Atkins recommends. Canadian bacon, instead of the high fat bacon, broiled fish, brown rice, vegetables, more salads, which he doesn't recommend. No sugar - I use Equal substitute. As little bread as possible. These two things I agree with Atkins on. Cutting out the sugar EVERYONE agrees on! Dr. Atkins had a heart attack himself, so that puts a large degree of doubt in me. I tried to follow his diet for a few days, I ate all the time according to the diet, and I stayed hungry. Beef, eggs, bacon, butter, etc. Eating all of this stuff is supposed to be "taboo." It's amazing to me that with all of the Billions of dollars spent on diet, exercise, etc. each year...that we still don't have concrete sound advice on this subject.
Another thing. I researched diet pills to try to help lose some weight.
Bad news! Most of the leading pills have Ephedrine, MaHuang (which is a herbal equivalent of Ephedrine), or super high levels of caffine. Why are all these so bad? Because they are vascular CONSTRICTORS! If a person has heart problems, like I do, high cholesterol, vascular occlusions or stenosis, etc, a constrictor is just like Russian roulette. I was interested in possibly taking Metabolife, etc. to lose weight since they so such highly published testimonials of weight loss. True, but they have ephedrine or the equivalent in them. No deal. Too risky! I think that drinking Diet Cokes WITH caffine would be about the same as taking a diet pill. Dexatrim and others have a new formula that is "Ephedrine Free." What did they do? Replaced the ephedrine with super high levels of caffine. Sounds like that soft drink "Jolt."
All in all, I have come to conclusion that I will try to reduce the fats to 10% maximum, eat as little bread and sugar as possible, increase protein in the form of Egg Beaters, tuna, broiled chicken and fish, vegetables, brown rice, etc. and exercise more.
I am also thinking of buying a treadmill and walking at least 3 or 4 miles a day. I have done research on this also. I think that the best bang for the buck treadmill is found at the following site. I will be pricing and walking on one in MY house probably within a week....hopefully. Check out their heart rate models.
http://www.pacemaster.com/
I would like to believe Dr. Atkins...I really would. Some of the weight lose results of his patients are tremendous...hundreds of pounds in some cases. Worse case scenario I would try to follow it strictly and see what happens. I would think that a person would have to keep close tabs on their cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, etc. to make sure it was doing was he says it does. His diet goes 180 degrees against the basic diet fundamentals as we know them today. I am not yet convinced of his claims, but I am willing to keep an open mind. If my modified diet doesn't work....it has in the past though (semi-vegetarian), I might try his diet. By the way, I researched vegetarianism also. They live much longer and healthier than any other group. Example: China/Japan. Vegetarians have lowest cholersterol, HDL levels, heart problems, etc. I, personally, think that a modified vegetarian diet (add broiled chicken, fish, tuna fish sandwiches, Egg Beaters, pasta, brown rice, etc.) is probably the way to go at this point. Especially if you have had a heart attack, have a family history of heart problems, have high cholesterol, cancer, etc.
I hope my research helps!
Sam
(as if loosing the weight isn't enough) 