When my father did not like the number on the scale, he put himself on his football training table diet for two weeks.

Weight gone. “It works for me,” he say. “I don’t know why.”

The diet was composed of meats of various kinds and salads. He skipped the bread. Bravely passed up the nightly ice cream.

In two weeks, the scale would be back where he wanted it.

In the column, Eat, Drink and Be Healthy, The Washington Post’s Jennifer Larue Huget, reviews the latest rethinking of a diet long ago sent to Food Hell by clinicians.

The Atkins diet. Atkins believed that it was carbohydrates, not saturated fat, which made people hold or gain weight. In light of the obesity problems we have as a nation, any food plan which can get the weight off can get another look.

Her column is based, in part, on a March study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Huget’s column is good reading on a topic which has caused conflicts for years.

The Washington Post

“For half a century, we’ve been told that saturated fats are bad for our hearts. That belief led to what many now consider the disastrous switch from saturated-fat-filled butter to trans-fat-filled margarine as the bread-spread of choice. It also led to the government’s recommendation, through its Dietary Guidelines for Americans, that we limit saturated fat to less than 10 percent of our daily calories.

“But the latest science has many experts reconsidering saturated fat. A study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, for instance, found insufficient evidence linking saturated fat intake to cardiovascular disease or coronary heart disease. Another study in that issue suggested refined carbohydrates and being overweight are the true culprits. And they’re just the latest to suggest that sat fat has gotten a bad rap. (Emphasis added)

“Riding high on the wave of saturated fat’s rehabilitation, the famous Atkins Diet has been revamped with an eye toward making it easier to understand and maintain. “The New Atkins for a New You” (Fireside, 2010) allows dieters to eat more vegetables than the old version did. But the diet’s core concept — that carbohydrates, not saturated fat, are what makes us fat — remains intact.”

Source: Washington Post, Online, March 2, 2010 (Publication date: March 4, 2010)

Citation: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March, 2010, specific citation information not located.